Radiohead at Nissan Pavilion 5-11-08

Ok, I don't want to write about the rain, the miserable, cold, driving rain. I don't want to write about the two hours it took my crew to travel 45 miles to the show (leaving 3 hours early no less). I don't want to talk about sitting in the parking lot without moving for more than two and a half hours after the show. I don't want to talk about the countless others that experienced the exact same thing or the countless others that couldn't even get to the venue due to flooding and ridiculously bad venue management. I don't want to write about all these things, but these aspects so dominated Radiohead's set at Virginia's Nissan Pavilion that it would be impossible to not talk about them.

Leaving several hours before the show was supposed to start, we sat in traffic on the 20 mile stretch from the DC beltway to Bristow, Va. It rained the entire time and there were no signs of the rain stopping. Getting off the highway, traffic was backed up miles from the venue. It rained the entire time and there were no signs of the rain stopping. Finally pulling into the parking lot we huddled in our car until the very last minute. It rained the entire time and there were no signs of the rain stopping. Walking to the venue I was soaked within minutes. It rained the entire time and there were no signs of the rain stopping.

Ok, you get it, it rained alot.

The benefit of going to a venue in the middle of nowhere and that lets cars in one at a time is that by the time you finally get there it is time for the headliner. Colin Greenwood was the first band member to appear from backstage and bounded to his bass in typical Colin manner. The rest of the band joined him and they started into "All I Need" which felt appropriate at such a miserable time. The primary set was heavy on songs off of their new album, "In Rainbows", with "Jigsaw Falling Into Place" and "Bodysnatchers" showing that the band can still rock and "Reckoner" and "Videotape" being delicate, yet powerful. Thom Yorke had some trouble on "Faust Arp", not being able to get in sync with Johnny Greenwood and having to restart the song. The rain, which was blowing onto the stage, may have been the problem, in which case nobody in the crowd could blame Yorke. Old favorite "Paranoid Android" took on new meaning, as the soaked crowd sang out "rain down, rain down, rain down on me". "Myxomatosis", "Idioteque", "Just" and "Everything In It's Right Place" rounded out a heavy primary set.

The first encore featured a sharp version of "Optimistic" and an inspired (by, as Thom put it, "those people on the Hill") "Karma Police". Radiohead reached back into their catalog and finished their encore with "Planet Telex".

The second encore started with the always passionate "Fake Plastic Trees" before Colin Greenwood's bass started pounding out the opening notes of "The National Anthem". The crowd, which had been mostly beaten down and docile the entire night, finally responded as Radiohead's brilliant new set flickered and pulsed behind them. After genuinely thanking the rain soaked crowd, the band ended the night with "House of Cards", sufficiently bringing things down a notch before sending us back to reality.

At no point in my life had it ever been so apparent that music is a necessary distraction from the hardships of life. Immediately upon leaving the venue, the crowd was faced with calf-deep streams and mud, not to mention the rain that continued to fall. Seeking refuge at our car, we thought the worst was behind us, after all we were no longer being pounded by icy rain, so things had to be better, right? The physical hardship may have been over (well, somewhat, as sitting in wet clothes in the backseat of a Mazda 3 is not exactly comfortable), but the psychological hardship was just beginning. On the walk out, we saw cars headed for the exit, sadly those were the last cars we saw move for more than two hours. Literally, we did not move for two hours and it was just as frustrating and miserable as you can imagine. I'm not sure how the Nissan Pavilion people can sleep at night, knowing that thousands of people are literally trapped at their venue following shows (not to mention the safety risks), but I'm sure they are working on it, since the $6 per ticket parking fee HAS to be going toward something.

Sadly, a(nother) tremendous Radiohead show will be forever linked to miserable weather and an awful venue.

Arcade Fire at the Beachland Ballroom March 3 2008

Holy fuckin' shit. Holy fuckin' shit! HOLY SHIT MAN DID THAT JUST HAPPEN?!

72 hours ago, I heard that the Arcade Fire would be putting on a free show in Cleveland. Free. Cleveland. Holy shit. 48 hours ago I was devising a plan with my brother on how the hell we'd get in line early enough to get in (the show was announced as first come, first served, no advance tickets). 24 hours ago it was announced that a late show had been added, and tickets could be picked up in advance. Holy shit! Not long after, I heard that my brother had scored some of these elusive tickets (big ups AMart). JESUS CHRIST HOLY SHIT I'M SEEING ARCADE FIRE TONIGHT FOR FUCKING ZERO DOLLARS IN A PLACE THAT HOLDS 500 PEOPLE.

Setlist:
1. Intervention - very solid. Neon Bible didn't do nearly as much for me as Funeral, but there were two songs I was hoping to hear from the second album, this and "Keep the Car Running". We got this one and I was happy to have it. Just like on the album, it started slow but its power was undeniable from the jump. Soon enough, we had a full-blown anthem on our hands as people were singing and dancing along. Because the show was for a political cause, and the general tone of the evening was a hopeful one, the song seemed a bit desperate and the lyrics took on a new meaning ("I can taste the fear/Lift me up and take me out of here/Don't want to fight, don't want to die/Just wanna hear you cry") and especially "Working for the church while your life falls apart/Singing hallelujah with the fear in your heart". Beautifully done and really a powerful moment. But only a hint of what was to come.

2. (Antichrist Television Blues) - I'm not crazy about this song and the performance didn't do too much to make me reconsider. All I took from it is that at times Win sounds a hell of a lot like Bruce Springsteen.

3. A Gimme Some Truth (John Lennon cover) - This was really nice and well done, but nothing compared to...

4. Change is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke) - My favorite Sam Cooke song (the only one on my iPod, regrettably) and probably one of the best bands to pull it off. Really an understated rendition, Win obviously doesn't have Cooke's vocal chops but the band worked hard to put their heart into it and the results were phenomenal. The song came across as the classic that it is, and it was an appropriate choice for the evening - "It's been a long time comin'/But I know a change is gonna come". This sentiment echoed the prevailing (at least in the Ballroom) attitude that Barack Obama represents real and significant change for our country.

Then shit got completely out of control.

5. Rebellion (Lies) - You may have seen photos of this one. Right off the bat, the crowd goes absolutely crazy when we recognize the song. This is a great song on the record, but when played the way it was last night, with seemingly primal desperation, well it's something special. When it really got rolling, about three minutes (where everyone starts yelling and the subtle part of the song is over and emotion takes over) Win just jumped into the crowd, mic stand and all. He's covered in sweat, and he's wading through a throng of adoring backup singers (screamers, really) and people are losing their shit. Everyone takes a picture, touches his vest, jumps up and down and basically goes hoarse yelling. Then he keeps moving through the crowd and settles literally right in front of me (albeit with his back turned to me). I was within about 6 millimeters of Win Butler for the next 4 minutes, as the extended chorus ("Every time you close your eyes/Lies! Lies!") is screamed over and over by people who seemed to really mean it, including me, and there are some pictures of me looking pretty nerdy (but heartfelt) out there. By the way, he's like 6'3'' - interesting side note. He goes back on stage and the band launches right into...

6. Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) - Absolutely no let down here, as the band and the crowd both relished screaming the "Whoo-hoo" parts between verses, and for a minute I really thought Regine was going to pop a blood vessel - she can't possibly perform like this every night, can she? Or can she? Amazing. Before we knew what hit us, Win threw the mic triumphantly down and they walked off to something more than applause - just the sound of heartfelt thanks and sheer admiration. This would have been a great way to end the night, except the mood at that moment wasn't one of optimism or hope, but closer to extreme excitement, the kind that in young people (a group to which I luckily no longer belong) would probably create a riot. So it was lucky that they came back for a quick encore.

7. Wake Up - Another amazing singalong moment. After a quick false start, there was much more OOOOOOOOOOOOing, and the crowd jumped the gun at one point at the band nearly lost their spot again as they laughed at us. I think they forgave us because they knew we were in awe. A totally triumphant moment, and as I walked out I just couldn't believe what I'd seen. People were delirious. Arcade Fire in a 500-capacity club, with electricity in the air. Incredible.

A Lost (Vampire) Weekend

The groundswell began in late 2007. A new band was out there, "the new band" was out there. Songs started popping up on indie rock websites, shows started selling out and claims started being made. This could be it, the band we had been waiting on, the band that defined an otherwise undefinable era, addictive, intelligent, undeniable, yes, Vampire Weekend could be them all.

First off, that's alot of pressure for any band, much less one putting out their very first release. But if anyone could do it, it was Vampire Weekend right? They are from New York City, they went to an Ivy League school, they are four white guys from the United States playing music based on a combination of chamber music and African beats. That sort of pedigree implies an inherent greatness, since most people don't live in a city as cool as NYC, didn't go to Columbia and don't know much about Jeff Von Der Schmidt (conductor of Southwest Chamber Music and two time Grammy winner, in case you were wondering) . With Vampire Weekend's impressive background, it's no wonder that many in indie rock circles have absorbed VW's expected greatness into their opinions and reviews. After all, we all want every album we hear to be transcendent, so preconceived expectations can easily modify notes and ideas as they are transfered from the ear to the brain.

Unfortunately, track one of Vampire Weekend's self titled album reveal most of what you are going to get with these guys. "Mansford Roof" is playful and brimming with potential, but ultimately unfulfilling. It wouldn't be a bad place to start, but "Oxford Comma" follows and sounds alot like a Pavement discard. Of course I like Pavement, so the song isn't without some charm. "A-Punk" follows and sound like every bad ska song you have ever heard, except it doesn't have a ska band's redeeming horn section, so yeah, worthless. "Cape Code Kwassa Kwassa" drowns in it's own pretension, there is literally nothing here, not lyrically, not musically, nothing. "Is your bed made, is your sweater on?", has indie rock fallen on such hard times that these are the lyrics we have deemed acceptable? "M79" follows and is a charming song that pits lead singer Ezra Koenig's lyrics against chamber strings before naturally blending the two.

The rest of the album really hits on what Vampire Weekend really is. Songs like "Campus" and "I Stand Corrected" are inoffensive and pleasant, despite lacking depth and being easily forgotten. However, "One (Blake's Got a New Face)", "Walcott" and "The Kids Don't Stand a Chance" are really garbage. I wish I could be more poetic or descriptive, but I can't. If you heard these songs at a campus battle of the bands or at your corner bar, you would walk out.

Vampire Weekend's debut will draw parallels to Pavement, Weezer (the pop radio version of Pavement) and Madness, while Koenig's vocals are reminiscent of a Police-era Sting. The question for you, dear reader, is will you accept bastardized versions of these classic, original bands simply because it's "new" or because of the zip code the band lives in?

2007's Best Albums

10) Kayne West - Graduation - Chi Town's favorite son (well, at least according to him) returned with his third and most complete album to date. Solid hooks, beats and lyrics mean that Mr. West will be wrapped in Louis V. and hatin' on presidents for many years to come.

9) Wilco - Sky Blue Sky - Easily Wilco's most grounded effort to date, Sky Blue Sky represents a more mature Jeff Tweedy. Gone are the frantic, out of control moments that littered Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost is Born, replaced with smooth, jazzy "dad-rock". Kinda fitting since Tweedy has slowed down his life and, in fact, is a dad.

8) Low - Drums and Guns - Drums and Guns is an album as intense, dark and cold as a January night in Low's native Minnesota (ed. note: I've never been north of Chicago, so I'm making that analogy based on hearsay alone). While Low may not be the easiest listen, the have succeeded in creating an album filled with interesting textures and a rewarding, underlying honesty.

7) Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Some Loud Thunder - CYHSY's follow up to their critically acclaimed self-title debut was predictably met with scorn from the same hipster dipshits that lauded the band less than two years before. While Some Loud Thunder may not be as infectious as its predecessor, it is more ambitious, more intimate and a much more complete idea. And if you still wanna boogie, well, it's got "Satan Said Dance" too.

6) Battles - Mirrored - On their debut album Battles proved that you don't need lyrics (at least recognizable ones) when you are in complete control of your compositions. Intense and transient, Mirrored is an album worth listening to (especially if you want to know what music will sound like after the robotic uprising of the mid '90s).

5) Arcade Fire - Neon Bible - Neon Bible was a disappointment. Frankly, after the Arcade Fire's epic debut anything would have been a disappointment. Coming to the conclusion that Neon Bible isn't Funeral is similar to the period after a real funeral; less emotional, less intense and more than a bit confusing. Neon Bible represents the Arcade Fire's uncertainty, growth and, yes, disappointment as a band. Oh yeah, the songs are still pretty good.

4) Bright Eyes - Cassadaga - I've probably written more in this space about Bright Eyes than any other musician and Cassadaga is the main reason why. While the lyrics and emotion are classic Conor, the arrangements are light years beyond anything Oberst and his bandmates had attempted before. A complete, well thought out and adventurous album.

3) New Pornographers - Challengers - Challengers is the album I was waiting for the New Pornos to make. On their fourth album, the Canuck superstars finally stopped assaulting their listeners with wide open rock songs, replacing power cords with restraint. Challengers explored more of the Pornos individual personalities, from Neko Case's soulful "Challengers" to Dan Bejar's playful "Myriad Harbour", without sounding like they simply sampled from each members catalog and really, that's all I ever asked for.

2) Radiohead - In Rainbows - Radiohead's 7th studio album proved to be completely typical. Typical Radiohead re-invention, typical freshness, typical political and social snear . The only thing unique about the record (besides the amazing songs) was the "fuck you" Radiohead sent to their old record label by releasing In Rainbows under the "pay what you want" tag. Then again, this is what we have typically come to expect from the best band of the last twenty years.

1) Peter Bjorn and John - Writer's Block - Writer's Block is really everything I look for in an album: driving/danceable beats, emotionally honest lyrics and, above all, well crafted songs. Plenty more could be written about Writer's Block (much of it can be found in the Bitchfork archives), but why read about it? Go listen and enjoy 2007's best album.

What a medium-in-length and somewhat unusual trip it's been

The Harvey Danger Story

(as told by a lazy researcher)

As almost 100% of the information that is contained in this post was gleaned from Wikipedia, citations will be omitted and you can judge for yourself the likelihood that apocryphal information is included herein. But if it makes you feel better, Harvey Danger's official website itself links to their Wikipedia article, so it can't be too far off, right? Furthermore, even in the ever-expanding universe of the interweb, information on this band is frightfully scarce. But if you need to know the whereabouts of Amy Winehouse right this second, we can get that for ya.

Anyway, Harvey Danger banded together in Seattle in 1992, although singer Sean Nelson and longtime drummer Evan Sult didn't join until the next year. Their first drum kit employed in the early live shows consisted of a bucket, some hubcaps, and a pickle jar (that is according to Wikipedia, but I've long heard that it was a mayonaisse jar). The University of Washington students played some local gigs for awhile, and when they were unsuccessful in gaining actual employment, they did what we all do - band practice!

The band released a seven inch sometime in 1996 which contained the song you probably know them for - "Flagpole Sitta". On the strength of that release, they recorded their debut full-length, Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone? Released in July 1997 to relatively little fanfare, the album would surge into the Top 40 in early 1998, weeks after the band had contemplated a break-up. Although the record was rumored to contain other tracks, the commercial success was directly attributable to the omnipresence of "Flagpole Sitta".

This would have been a pretty straightforward account of a one-hit wonder except that Harvey Danger (and I'm guessing here that Sean Nelson is responsible) really had a lot to say, and they decided to use simple but elegant rock n roll to say it. The album that their fans will remember them for, King James Version, was released in 2000. Although it was an artistic triumph, the group had been pegged as a one-hit wonder and forgotten by a nation torn apart by the "red state - blue state" debate of the day, Limp Bizkit versus Creed. Furthermore, the album was mishandled by the band's label, Slash/London. Fueled by driving beats, a diversified set of instruments to accompany their rather straightforward guitar sound, and of course Nelson's sneering-then-sweet vocals, the band addressed everything from loneliness and idol worship to organized religion and art house theater-going hipsters. This was a record that really made you feel a little smarter after listening.

Then they disappeared, like for real. They played their last show in April 2001, seven years to the day after their first real show, leaving a nation of disinterested people interspersed with some seriously bummed out superfans. The break turned into a three year hiatus, and then they returned in April 2004 (yep, on the exact same day - ten years after their first show). Still, very few people cared until they released a freely downloadable album (perhaps because they had been burned by the usual label bullshit earlier in their career, although their articulated reason can be found here) in 2006. Little by Little... was fairly well-received and was actually downloaded 100,000 times in two months. However, it lacked the sharpness, both of riffs and lyrical content, that made their second album so special. A few gems, most notably "Cream and Bastards Rise" stood out in a record that is best described as uneven. Since it's free, it's highly recommended. But King James Version is probably available on the cheap too, and it's a wonderful record. The band still plays shows, mostly in their native Seattle. They've experienced the gamut of the experiences the recording industry has to offer, and they still seem to enjoy making and playing music. They probably have little to complain about. Fuck Fred Durst anyway.

A comedian who doesn't get South Park?

Dom Irrera is a stand-up comic who has had a successful, if unremarkable, career. Fine. But for some reason, he's blaming South Park for his lack of a TV show on Comedy Central. Couple problems here. First, South Park is far from the worst show that's been on Comedy Central over the past ten years. Blue Collar TV? Endless Mad TV reruns, anyone? Secondly, if a comic doesn't understand that South Park is about more than "characters that talk about poop", it might be time to hang up the ol' mic.

Full disclosure: I actually saw his stand-act in some comedy club in Columbus, OH, and he wasn't half bad. Then again, he didn't blow anyone away and he didn't get it when I heckled him and called him "unclefucker". Ok, back on topic...

What Makes "Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?" So Good

1. The album tells a story, sort of
Well, maybe we're not sure about this, but I think there's a central theme to this record. It sounds like a band documenting their attempt to make a go of it. Frankly, the Unicorns didn't have a lot to say. Hence, the "Ghost Trilogy", the three tracks devoted to some imaginary spirits. The lyrics might as well be gibberish. Sure, maybe the writers of the songs thought there was some basic truth of the human experience that they were singing about, but that's a big maybe and even if so they did a shitty job of conveying it. But here's where the genius part comes in. It doesn't matter what they're talking about. The lyrics are fun and you have a sense that there's a beginning, middle, and end (witness the bookends of the record, "I Don't Wanna Die" and "Ready to Die"), and most importantly, the lyrics are principally there to serve the vocals. David Thomas of (Cleveland's own) Pere Ubu said that "music exists for the sole purpose of having a singer." Luckily, David Thomas is a fucking moron. Music exists, of course, to move people and to convey emotion, regardless of lyrical content. This is the same man who said that Brian Wilson's "Smile" was "flawed", after all. Obviously, David Thomas cannot be taken seriously. But I digress. What lyrics there are are clever, and often funny (We're the Unicorns/We're more than horses). No mean feat for an outfit with nothing to say.

2. Even if it didn't, the music is sublime
If you listened to the first fifteen seconds of each of the songs on "Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone", you'd probably hate it. Many of the songs start out with tossaway little intros, be it pan flutes or electro-organs, that will inevitably become lodged in your brain not unlike a polyp. Not worth removing surgically, and even if you did, you'd probably miss it a little. These guys were focused on making the perfect pop record, and it's fairly difficult to make a rational argument that they failed. The listener comes to love even the faulty moments, the beginnings of songs that struck them as frivolous at first listen but become essential upon further study. Perhaps not since Mr. Bungle has a band been so good at rope-a-doping listeners, then smacking them in the face with unstoppable melodies. Each and every song here will stay with you for days, and you might even wonder why you didn't think of it yourself. You'll realize that the Unicorns made no missteps, only well-crafted weirdness.

3. The album won't be lessened by later transgressions
The Unicorns were a shooting star. 18 months after this record was released, the Unicorns were finished. Perhaps their relentless touring played a hand in their demise. Maybe (probably) we missed out on some great music because they split. But it's unlikely they would have ever recaptured the spirit of this record, and if they had made a bunch of corny records, which is exceedingly likely, it would have only detracted from the legacy of "Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?".

If you had to impress someone with one record that they didn't know, give them this record. It's unassailably catchy and has a huge of indie cred cache. If you didn't know, now you know.