Live: Frog Eyes and Sunset Rubdown

Well, there seems to be no help for it.

Despite procrastination, heavy sighing, and the occasional tearful refusal (as well as a feigned case of lysdexia), I am finally getting around to writing the live review for the two bands I saw play Broken City on tuesday: Frog Eyes and Sunset Rubdown.

Not that I didn't totally enjoy myself (more on that later). However, I am possibly the world's number one believer in the way of the slacker. ...Or at least, the version where you slack off for most of the time, then frantically try to finish everything on time (and WELL), all while berating life in general at top volume.

It's an art. XD

Anyways, the setting for our little tale was this smoky little dive bar known to the local musician set affectionately by the moniker "Broken Shitty". (hahah, aren't we witty) But really, I probably inhaled enough secondhand smoke to put me forward to the "two packs a day for ten years" mark of lung disease.

The reward for my martyrdom, however, was definitely worth it. First, Sunset Rubdown (Spencer Krug, of Wolf Parade fame, in an increasingly recognition-winning side project) took the stage. Or rather, "the boxed in, designated area of the bar floor". Whatever. The fact remains that even though this four-piece didn't talk overly-much with the audience, or swan-dive into their drumkit, they have this certain desperate edge to their performance that is both incredible and immediate to watch. Spencer Krug's emulation of a music-enduced epilleptic seizure while playing...just about any of his parts, really, is as visually arresting as any stage gimmick adopted by less genuinely-eccentric bands. Even his few statements made to the audience had this genuine, naive edge that's both endearing and funny. Lastly, the presence of, like, half his family in the audience lent the gig a feeling akin to a music recital, rather than a steriotypical show. Only, like, the coolest, most intense recital you've ever been to, where the little kid lights the priceless Gershwin instrument on fire at the end. Yeah.

Frog Eyes were more of the same kind of desperate stagemanship that makes you worry about whether the artists are just performing, or REALLY having a heart attack onstage. Krug played keyboards for them, leading me to learn that he had, at one time, been in the band, before forming Wolf Parade.

That's one mystery solved. >.>

So, wicked show overall. The wierdest thing, though, was probably the way that it didn't feel like any other show I've ever been to...part crazed recital, part bar show, part worrying about the mainstream accessibility of the music (my dad was in the audience...THAT's a new one. >.>). So, definitely worth the $10 I paid for tickets. And yes, I would (and probably will) do it all again.

Even the lunge disease part.


*EDIT* On the suggestion of teh Philip, here's an mp3 each, from the bands, for your listening pleasure. ^^

Sunset Rubdown - They Took A Vote And Said No

Frog Eyes - Sound Travels From The Snow to the Dark