Streaming Out of the Magnets-a
Posted on | October 4, 2005 at 10:54 pm | 5 Comments
First, go check out Alan’s account of the New Pornographers show Monday night at the Gothic. Back yet? Okay. Here are my own notes (contains spoilers)…
I probably said that Immaculate Machine make happy music because that’s what I thought Alan was saying about why he didn’t like them. I have a hard time figuring out what Alan is saying sometimes. Anyway, the music is very energetic and uptempo with some catchy melodies, which is why I liked them. The group has new New Pornographer (and niece of founding New Pornographer Carl Newman) Kathryn Calder doing the Ray Manzarek double duty bass-and-keyboards-on-the-keyboard thing since the group doesn’t have a bass player. They are Canadian and a power trio, but that’s pretty much where the resemblance with Rush begins and ends. All three members sing and have good voices, which is really nice, and they trade off lead vocals, sometimes within a single song. The drummer is a total wild man on the kit, pounding out busy, quick beats, and on one song sounding somewhat Fred Schneider-ish on interjection vocals. I bought their latest CD, Ones And Zeros (co-produced by the NP’s John Collins), at the show and listened to it today. The sound seems a bit thin at times, but I really enjoyed the songwriting and performances. “Broken Ship” is one of my favorite songs of the year so far. Oh, and Alan – the lyrics are not as happy as the music would imply. Good stuff. Really good.
On the other hand, Destroyer didn’t do much for me, which is strange because I have a few of their albums and don’t dislike them. But neither do I pull them out often. Not much of a stage presence there, and all the songs sound a bit samey, even the ones I recognized. I like Dan Bejar’s voice, but something about it wears on me after awhile. Not an awful performance, but I was mostly bored and just waiting for the main event.
I was totally kicking myself for forgetting to bring my digital camera, as I would really have liked to get a shot of Neko Case in full Stevie Nicks mode with that turquoise chiffon dress and the tambourine. This may be the only time on the tour so far when she wore it, since I haven’t turned up any other descriptions of it on da internets. I think the guys should’ve worn suits or something. Other attendees were taking pictures, so hopefully those will show up on flickr or some place. I wonder if she was making some statement about Colorado, though I don’t know what that would be. Drummer Kurt Dahle (who did a spectacular job) tried hard to engage the band in an impromptu jam of “Rocky Mountain High”, but the rest of the band looked at him like he was insane. The aforementioned Kathryn Calder filled out the sound some on keyboards and background vocals, which ramped things up a bit from when I saw the group two years ago. I can’t begin to describe the high I felt watching and listening to seven (sometimes eight) people on stage with five of them singing/harmonizing at the same time. Tight. The only bummer for me was that the acoustics could’ve been better. I don’t know if it was because of where I was sitting (in the side balcony) or just a general problem with the venue, but when things got really loud, there were some awfully dissonant harmonics going on, especially with the vocals. Could be a drawback of having so many people singing at once. And also, it didn’t sound like leader Carl Newman’s mic was turned up enough. Or maybe he just wasn’t singing very loud that night. But still, that wasn’t enough to mar the experience. The Gothic was packed and the crowd seemed to be having a good time, such that Neko remarked (hopefully not sarcastically) on the enthusiasm compared to other stops on the tour.
They managed to hit most of my favorite songs, though I would’ve liked to have heard “To Wild Homes”, “The Body Says No”, and “Testament to Youth in Verse”. “Execution Day” is one that I like live better than on record, but they didn’t do it this time. When I saw them before, Dahle sung the Bejar songs (and did a good job). This time, of course, Bejar came out to sing them (trusty bottle of Corona always in hand), and sounded really good, but he did not play guitar or sing on any other songs . The only Bejar songs they did this time were “Jackie, Dressed in Cobras”, “Streets of Fire” and (I think) “Breakin’ The Law”. No “Jackie”, strangely. They ended the main set with a killer “Sing Me Spanish Techno” (yeah!) and did two encores (five songs). No cover songs.
FYI, tonight’s new episode of Gilmore Girls featured the NP song “Twin Cinema” playing in the background of one scene…
And yes, I did see Serenity this weekend, but haven’t had time to gather my thoughts on it yet. Short version: Great, go see it.
Latre.
Comments
5 Responses to “Streaming Out of the Magnets-a”
October 5th, 2005 @ 11:25 am
Rog,
Neko was wearing jeans when I saw her in San Diego. And Dan was drinking Heineken (lot of it). Oddly enough, I thought they were better when I saw them last month without Neko and Dan. Kathryn did an excellent job on the Neko parts. It was funny – on Letter…, Carl sing along with Kathryn on the first chorus. On the second he started to sing along. By the third time, he let her do it all by her lonesome. He must be so proud.
Doug S.
October 5th, 2005 @ 1:19 pm
That’s interesting, Doug. Kinda makes me wish I could see the non-Neko/Dan version, to contrast and compare.
BTW, I’ve modified the flickr link above to point to a pic someone took at the Gothic show. Unfortunately, Neko’s getup isn’t real clear in the pic, but it should give you some idea.
October 6th, 2005 @ 7:02 am
Curses! Neither of you guys could take a picture of Neko? Anyway: following up on summervillain’s post about bands that are cursed for him, NP apparently is that for me. Last time they were playing anywhere near me, I was out of town or something. So I find out they’re playing Madison, just up the road – and it’s with Neko and Dan, and with Destroyer (which I like), and even the opening opening band (I forget who) I like. But…it’s on the same weekend I’ll be in Dallas for a friend’s wedding. Grrr.
October 6th, 2005 @ 10:40 am
Hard to take a picture without a camera. At least until I get my bionic eye implant.
Weddings can be postponed.
October 6th, 2005 @ 4:34 pm
No camera here either. However, I don’t really need one. When I swung by the club a couple of hours early to pick up my ticket (to avoid the last-minute queue at will call), TNP were just wrapping up their sound-check. The image of Neko standing on the stage all by herself in the full light of day will be permanantly burned into my retinas.
Really, how long will the marriage last anyhow? My love for Neko is eternal.