Quiet, Too Quiet

 

I found this new (new to me, at least) Swedish band, The Morning Paper, on the Skipping Stone Records website today.  Pretty nice.  Kinda ethereal. I’m looking forward to hearing the rest of their stuff.

 

Kat and I saw yet another show last night, making for a very exhausting weekend.  Luckily it was the always great Kevin Devine, along with Brian Bonz opening.

I wish I could find a photo of the line up Kevin used last night, but it changes so often I wasn’t able to.  That’s too bad because I’m friends with his backup singer Carey, who had an amazing duet doing a cover of a Pedro the Lion song.  And my roommate Russel played guitar with him last night as well.

He gets a bit of a younger audience, which gets kinda cute.  A girl yelled to him, “will you go to my prom?” There was also another teenage girl weeping softly in her hoodie in a corner. They all sing along with all the lyrics too. It sounds pretty good on the quieter songs where you can hear them.

One of the things I really love about Kevin’s shows is how he brings on the musicians from the other bands to play with him. At one point he had seven people on the stage with him. It makes the event feel really special.

It’s been pretty great watching Brian’s music grow. I remember when he was just this kid that crashed a party I was at five years ago. He plays with EJ and Jinda who used to be in Nixon Agnew. Actually, all these guys have been in tons of bands, so I won’t enumerate them.

The Paxen Films guys were there too.  I guess they’re working on a concert movie.  They had a pretty serious film crew for the concert.  They were pretty busy so I didn’t get to chat with them too much.

Kat and I got to see Palomar and My Teenage Stride last night at Union Hall. It was a great show. I’d seen Palomar several times about five years ago. But the funny thing is their bass player’s boyfriend is now a coworker of mine and they live right down the street. It was good to see them again.  Apparently they haven’t been playing as much as they used to so I’m glad I got to go.

It was pretty packed in the basement.  Palomar had gotten a mention in one of the AM/Metro papers.  It might have sold out, actually. So good for them.  They were fun, just like I remembered.

My Teenage Stride’s show was amazing. I had seen them before last year at NYC Popfest and had bought their album.

I don’t know if their sound has changed. Maybe it’s their new bass player, but they blew me away. I felt like I had learned something about how to compose a song. They have three guitar players each doing their own thing and the bass is what’s keeping the song together. I guess that doesn’t come through as much on the album which is mixed more traditionally.

Also ran into Courtney, the queen of the twee scene again. Kat and I saw her at the last show we went to as well, Peggy Pains’ Birthday Extravaganza. If I do this enough times, maybe she’ll remember me.

 Kat and I saw The Insect Guide band play at Peggy Pains’ Birthday Extravaganza at Cake Shop.  Great show.  They also played with Manhattan Love Suicides and The Pains of Being Pure At Heart.  I think I would have liked a little more variety in the line up, although I loved each band individually.  Manhattan Love Suicides could have played a longer set too.

There was also this terrible band that I think snuck into the show.  They weren’t listed on any of the signs and the girl manning the door had no idea who they were.  They did this sorta punk cover of Thank Heaven for Little Girls (I think) on toy piano.  And their drummer looked like Dave Grohl in fur.

 A small start for a new hobby.