She Held His Heart In Her Hands

So I might not be able to go to Lollapalooza. I figured this out a few days ago so I've had time to cope, hence my lack of exclamation points. Anyway, we'll see how last minute plane/train/bus deals come, but unless I suddenly get a marvelous price that gets me back to Minneapolis in time for a class I apparently cannot miss, I will either be selling my pass (if anyone contacts me via my Craigslist ad!) or sucking it up and driving through the night on that Sunday in order to get back here in time. Luckily, I experienced a way less sunstrokey three days of fabulous concerts here in (his stomach turns as he types his half-assed attempt at wordplay) Musicapolis. I don't remember the last time I went to three concerts three days in a row and they were all top notch. For those of you who yawn at the "independent rock" coverage, I've tried to work in some unnecessary flash-bangy pop culture references to pique everyone's interest. Keyword: tried.

The Mae Shi @ Uptown Bar: If it weren't for constant traverses past The Uptown Bar's posted calendar as the Minneapolis Blogulator contingent skip merrily to hipster midnight movies, hipster restaurants that media vixens have eaten at, or hipster clothing stores, I would have never found out about this show, which is definitely my favorite of the year thus far (don't let that keep you from reading the rest below, though!). Like most bars that happen to have stages (as opposed to venues that happen to sell alcohol), The Uptown Bar usually prides itself on welcoming any band that owns a guitar, a drumkit, and a bong onto their small risen space at the back of the room. Somehow they managed to book the fairly well-known former-5RC recording artists (along with Xiu Xiu and BARR) The Mae Shi, and they sure were ecstatic. There was a giant sign that advertised the two local bands bookending the event in small print, then in the middle in oversized font read, "THE MAE SHI (LOS ANGELES)." That's right, the place dreams are made of. Okay, enough exposition. Waiting patiently through a Rhett Miller-meets-Semisonic opener, The Mae Shi basically said, "hey drinkers, we're playing now, and we're not even on stage yet." Armed with a wireless guitar (oh how I need that) just in front of our table, a simple melody began and then suddenly the foursome scattered throughout the room began singing, "I want almost everything / And I get almost anything I want," one of the members climbing a booth and clawing at a post leading to the ceiling. They meandered on stage eventually and tore through a continuous set of synth-punk, dance-pop, art-damage, and general musical theatrics (so many harmonics and vocal overlapping! plus a bed sheet given to the audience to wave around during a couple songs!) with a sweaty, screaming, and smiling vigor that is virtually indescribable. Suddenly their 2008 release Hillyh shoots to the top of my list of the best of the year so far.

The Dodos @ Triple Rock: Buzz hype buzz hype hype be damned, the San Franciscan duo (a trio on some songs) manages to attract both the Jennifer Aniston's boy toy set and the Animal Collective, err, collective by being both quiet/pretty (not bland or boring though) and poly-rhythmic/wild. Guitar licks that are majestic, noodly, and bluegrassy combat a non-traditional drum set-up, where a hi-hat is nowhere in sight. This boggled me. The hi-hat is (maybe was) my favorite aspect of a drumkit and yet, I never missed its glorious "tsk" when The Dodos' drummer went wild on toms and rims of toms and snares unsnared to sound like toms. Then there's the third guy, who alternated between sitting on the floor against the Trock's trademark padded wall and jumping up to bang on an oversized garbage can and/or vibraphone. Add a microphone hooked up to a delay pedal, making for haunting and swirling vocals, and you've got a modest quirky set-up that packed a wallop, especially for a band who just put out their debut album, Visiter. I have never left a show wanting an oversized garbage can more than a glass of water until Tuesday night.

Wolf Parade @ First Avenue: Back when it was just Qualler and I in the ancient year of 2005, we gushed about the Montreal quartet's debut album Apologies to the Queen Mary quite a bit. I've also already gone apey over the new At Mount Zoomer at Radio K's blog, despite my tumultuous pessimism of sophomore slumps (I couldn't get on board with Broken Social Scene or Bloc Party, despite my love for their first albums). Also weird is that I tend not to enjoy wayyy crowded shows in First Avenue's Mainroom (where Prince, who just turned 50, filmed Purple Rain - I know, this was a cheap reference) as I do in smaller, more intimate venues, or even midsize ones or theatre shows. Even though there's usually always a good spot near the back that allows you to breathe and see the stage comfortably, I always feel so isolated from the experience due to the sheer number of people who would rather talk and clink bottles than watch the band. But that was not the case last night. I became totally absorbed in watching the songs volley back and forth between guitarist Dan's paranoid anthems and keyboardist Spencer's madman romps, which made me realize how incredibly satisfying it is when a band has two lead singers that are equally captivating but also complement each other really well in tenor and energy, even if their styles are distinctly different. Not to mention they're the only modern band to integrate the keyboard successfully and prominently into the rock genre (overstatement? I think not).

To top off all the loud crash bang aural excitement, ten of the Blogulator crew plus friends finally got around to catching the quietly endearing WALL-E this evening, which I (like Doktor, who mentioned this a little while ago) don't really feel needs discussing. It was elegant and heart-warming, and she held his little computer heart in her hands for crying out loud. What else needs to be said, really? Well, that's where you commenters come in of course...

This entry was posted by chris, on Thursday, July 10, 2008. You can leave your response.