Queens of the Stone Age @ The Moon

John Homme led the Queens of the Stone Age to The Moon last Thursday (Sept. 20) night.

Opening bands Dax Riggs and Howlin' Rain failed to catch my attention. (Sometimes you can just tell by the band name, right?)

Riggs had already started when I got there, half the band naked to the waist, and the singer doing his best Nickelback over the lighter-than-Nickelback backing band's sounds. It was painstakingly mindnumbing until the singer introduced one of the later songs -- "Ride the Death Wall" -- by simply uttering "Ride the Death Wall" right before going into the song. Then it got funny.

Howlin' Rain executed a performance of a less embarassing level, keeping the set short despite its long and rambling songs. The band emitted a strong "southern rock meets jam band" sound, playing out an instance where CCR met a jam-hungry Dave Matthews, or possibly ... Bad Company met Trey Anastasio. The result was that it wasn't nearly as painful to listen to as Dax Riggs, and it was short.

Queens of the Stone Age then took the stage after a brief time to show the first two bands how it's done. Homme ripped through a virtually banterless performance, pounding away with the band with no concern for dynamics. It was just loud.

I have a limited listening history with the Queens (amounting to the radio airplay plus one day of downloading a few songs) and the concert, albeit outright loud and rockin', did not persuade me to investigate further into the recordings. Heck, if I didn't get in for free, I wouldn't have paid $20 to see the band (and if I did pay that for whatever reason, I don't think I would have enjoyed it enough to rationalize the spending).

One of the key moments of the night came when the otherwise silent Homme started yelling after the completion of a song. He was upset about a pair of guys near the front of the stage who apparently were intruding on other people's good time. He said something along the lines of "I'm not playing another note until these guys are thrown out." And I was surprised, because less than five seconds following, a bouncer came over and started pointing and escorting the guys off.

I've been to a lot of shows and have put up with various levels of crap. I was glad these two were thrown out, because Homme had given them a warning about 10 minutes before, and they were still acting up. It was a sweet revenge against all the people who talk at movies, push in crowds, and are just, generally, jerks.

So, enjoy a song that was sadly not performed at The Moon:

Queens of the Stone Age - Make It Wit Chu

Move over to the band's MySpace for two songs that were performed -- "3s and 7s" and "Sick Sick Sick".

John Vanderslice with Bishop Allen - CDU

Last night delivered a concert that I expected: a pleasant opening band followed by a lackluster (but not bad) headliner.



Bishop Allen, a band I knew only through supermusic Blog You Ain't No Picasso (which I read, yes, only due to MDL [-- BTW, thnx, d00d; P.S. getta new Blog, L0l]), performed opening duties for John Vanderslice Wednesday night at CDU.

The place was well populated by the time I rolled in at 9:33 p.m., and the band was already well into what I assumed was their opening song. I got an immediate "ultimately indie" vibe from the band's dress -- button-down shirts topped tightly fitting pants, strands of hair conveniently obscured the singer's face. The drummer was in a cowboy garb, complete with cowboy boots.

The songs were okay. Not very innovative, never threw any curves, but delivered in melody and soundscapes. The band had a pretty good lead guitar player who had some interesting sounds to complement the essentially powerpop nature of the band. Bishop Allen's stage presence left a little to be desired, although they were certainly not the least energetic live performers I've seen (Tapes n' Tapes comes to mind).

It was a pleasant set marked by some interesting numbers here and there. Definitely not anything to write home about (though something to Blog about, I suppose). Not a performance that makes me seek out recordings, but if I had spent up to $5 to see the band, I would not have been disappointed.

Speaking of recordings, Bishop Allen ventured to release a separate EP each month of 2006. I can admire the dedication needed, and just the idea itself, although it seems a bit gimmicky.



John Vanderslice soon followed, with a band of apt musicians. They were able to make some neat sounds, combine some cool elements, have a drummer that also played keyboard (Bishop Allen's drummer doubled on glockenspiel from time to time). But for the most part, I just wasn't impressed -- much like the first two times I saw JV at CDU. There's an element of playing it too safe involved in his performances, coupled with a lack of fast-paced tunes. I can handle cutesy songs about a bunny that ran away backed by electronic beats and sounds, but you could speed it up about 10 clicks to get something going every now and again.

Vanderslice can put together a recording, but it seems he cannot rock out. (Again, I must note Tapes n' Tapes with respect to this.)

I suppose I will have to wait an excruciating 12 hours to get my rock on at the Queens of the Stone Age show tonight at The Moon.

Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Merge)

I thought it necessary to Blog one of my favorite current bands (just check out the title of this Blog), and I was just given a strong reason to when Spoon appeared on Leno earlier this week. The performance is a very nice indication of what to expect at The Moon in a couple months -- a top-notch original band with deep groves and tight hooks locking in together.


03/26/08 Edit: I've replaced this video with a YouTube of the same song at a different live performance. The Leno video was great, and the following fact still applies. I've read that, with this performance, Spoon was the first band from Merge Records (which hosts Arcade Fire, Dinosaur Jr., and Superchunk, among others) to play Leno.

For Spoon's latest, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, the band revisits its earlier aesthetics following the marvelous albeit meandering Gimme Fiction. Outside of the catchy, sparse, and minimalist single "I Turn My Camera On," Fiction teemed with rambling songs that differed from previous Spoon outings, requiring a degree of patience and repeated listenings to fully appreciate it. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, however, strives to catch the listener on the first pass and keep him hooked, much like earlier albums Girls Can Tell and Kill the Moonlight.

In fact, Ga could be seen as a compromise between Girls' infectious grooves and Moonlight's experimental nature. Ga offering "The Ghost of You Lingers" immediately reminded me of the arguably superior experimental effort "Paper Tiger" from Moonlight.

Album opener "Don't Make Me a Target" could be the most typical Spoon song on Ga (not necessarily a bad thing), while the middle section of "Don't You Evah," "Rhthm and Soul," and "Eddie's Ragga" display the band's ability to form the deepest of grooves. And although every song could be considered "pop" to a degree, horn laden tracks "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb" and "The Underdog" constitute some of the best offerings of the pop realm by an essentially "indie" rock band. (I don't think Spoon is inherently indie outside of being on an independent label. Britt Daniel has acknowledged a significant influence from indie icons The Pixies, but also from mainstream groups like Fleetwood Mac and The Clash, and given the right opportunity -- this album release, for example -- I think Spoon could do very well in a Wilco-esque realm of mainstream rock without national radio exposure.)

At under 40 minutes, Ga clocks in at what Daniel would consider to be a perfect album length (he cites Beatles albums in his argument), and the surprisingly short running time for everything that is happening during the course of the recording certainly demands repeated listens. Longtime Spoon fans shouldn't be disappointed with this group of songs, although it does veer away from Fiction territory and heads a little more towards pop territory. But rest assured -- Spoon is one of the few amazingly consistent recorded bands in existence. The band takes its time to deliver excellent recordings every time, and it's about time that it is getting the attention it deserves in the form of TV spots, movie soundtracks, and general pop culture awareness.

The National - Club Downunder

(Photo by Abbey Drucker. L to R: guitarist Aaron Dessner, singer Matt Berninger, drummer Bryan Devendorf, guitarist Bryce Dessner, and bassist Scott Devendorf)

Brooklyn quintet The National performed to an unusually responsive crowd at Florida State's Club Downunder Tuesday night. Touring in support of the recently released Boxer, The National exhibited its craft of atmospheric sounds, driving beats, and chilling, emotional lyrics to a sizable crowd (70+) of mostly college-aged young adults.

Previous visits to Tallahassee yielded significantly smaller turnouts for the group, a fact recognized by singer Matt Berninger early in the set. This time around, the band was embraced by an energized core of young people near the stage, who jumped up and down and danced frantically around Berninger whenever he ventured into the crowd.

One of the noted hallmarks of The National sound is a competing dichotomy of rhythm section versus accompaniment. What makes for a fantastic live experience is the seemless combination of a driving, almost dance-y rhythm section and a floating accompaniment in the form of guitars and keyboards. Berninger is in a sense the lukewarm water of the music, asserting his lyrics sometimes very rhythmically, other times floating along with the guitars.

The other striking thing about The National's live sound are the dynamics. Many bands tout themselves as the loudest thing around, others introduce loud sections with tiny sections of quiet brooding, and still others distinctly separate "soft" songs and sounds from "loud" ones. The National moves effortlessly from one plain to another, and the mix was so remarkably refined at Club Downunder that listening without earplugs was a viable option, even in trying to keep track of every sound that was emanating from the group. That said, when The National wanted to rock out, it certainly rocked out, complete with a touring violinist who went violently insane at certain times throughout the performance.

All of the musicians in the group are an artful, talented bunch. Drummer Dryan Devendorf rivals Larry Mullen Jr. as best human portraying a robotic drummer. Although his movements are slight, Devendorf's drumming is hyponotic and precise. Both guitarists flaunt picking and lead lines drenched in reverb and chorus, as well as very clean, crunchy tones. Berninger ties everything together with a strong baritone that prevails even during the noisier sections. When everything comes together and ascends out of the softer sections, it seems like the sounds expand the physical space of the club itself, pushing everything outwards.

The live show was definitely a thing to behold. The first time I saw The National (also at Club Downunder), I left feeling genuinely concerned about singer Matt Berninger. The emotion put into each National show is a thing rare to behold in any band.

The National performing "Fake Empire" - The Late Show with David Letterman - July 24, 2007

Guitarist Aaron Dessner mentioned that the intial chord structure for "Fake Empire" (the opening track on Boxer) was created the last time that the band was in Tallahassee -- on the piano in Club Downunder's hospitality room.