popwreckoning updates |  |
| Modest Mouse @ Uptown, Kansas City Posted: 05 Mar 2009 01:24 PM PST With eyes bulging and a vein-popping in his neck as he dropped his jaw to deliver his signature indistinct, yowl-like vocals, Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock was prepared to deliver a great show for the sold out crowd at the roughly 2,500 capacity venue in Kansas City that particular night. And for the hardcore fans that had followed the band since its inception in 1993 and probably bought 1996’s This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing to Think About at least 10 times on every available format, this show was probably brilliant. For fans that like radio singles or the newest album, We Were Dead Before the Ships Even Sank, this show probably sounded like too much jam and experimental noise. This show was definitely a treat for the older fans. At one point, an audience member shouted, “Play some old stuff”. Brock, aghast, retorted, “You have heard some old stuff you douche bag. What the hell was that last song?” I would say that Brock was actually peeved, if he didn’t continue his rant and humorously add, “You just pushed my grumplet.” Brock was enjoying the show that night. I think I would have preferred somebody shout, “Play some new stuff.” I don’t know if it was because guitarist Johnny Marr wasn’t on this tour so it was a tribute to him or if it was that former 2006 touring guitarist of Granddaddy fame, Jim Fairchild, had taken his place and didn’t learn all the new songs, but they were scarce. Fairchild is a tight musician, but there was a noticeable difference in the sound of “Dashboard” during the encore. With the plethora of jam songs, “Spitting Venom” would have been perfect to have added to this set. I left this show with mixed feelings. I love Modest Mouse, but this show was a little on the boring side for me. Even the openers, Japanese Motors and the Fleet Foxes-esque Mimicking Birds failed to blow my mind. As far as Modest Mouse goes, this was almost too blasé. Heck, I’ve seen this band play a set with Brock’s chest covered in blood (yes, I was in South Dakota for that infamous show), while Brock plucked his guitar with his teeth. No, this show was just a simple treat for the fans who had been there from the beginning and nothing more.           Set list: Modest Mouse: website | myspace  Related Posts |
| Listen to “True to the Game: vol. 1″ out March 24th Posted: 05 Mar 2009 10:01 AM PST Tracklisting: Related Posts |
| Paper the Operator - Solemn Boyz Posted: 05 Mar 2009 09:24 AM PST Jon Sebastian is good at writing pop songs. Good thing too, because he seems to write a lot of them. In addition to fronting Paper The Operator, Sebastian also fronts the jangletastic The Color Wheels with his drummer-wife, Psalm, and even has a solo project under his own name. With the four-piece Paper the Operator on their debut Solemn Boyz EP, Sebastian continues to write more of the catchy, Teenage Fanclub-esque tunes coated in late-80's jangle that those of us familiar with his work have heard from his other projects, though Paper The Operator delivers it with a different aesthetic. Compared to The Color Wheels, Paper The Operator rocks a little harder, plays a little faster, though with a bit of a forced punk feel. With Paper the Operator, Sebastian also seems more open to forward thinking composition, making inspired use of a drum-machine for the break in "The Heart's Hardest Part" and going into grungy, sludge-rock for the outro of "Words You Never Learned". By comparison, his work with The Color Wheels is strictly classicist. Despite a tight and powerful backing band, Sebastian's melodies are just far too sentimental to ever convincingly push his pop into rock territory and at times, Paper The Operator come across as trying a little too hard to format their songs as radio-oriented punk/pop rock. When "Salty and Sweet" kicks into overdrive with a wall of distorted guitars, it's simply too close to the sound of a Nickelback production for any self-respecting band to feel comfortable with. At its core, Sebastian's songwriting is inherently twee, or at the very least his compositions would simply be better suited to a more homespun aesthetic than the pop/punk one he goes for on Solemn Boyz. It's only the strength of the writing and the outright catchiness of songs like the title track, "The Heart's Hardest Part" and "Divorce Court" that make it forgivable that the band is foregoing the sound that would suit them best in the hopes of courting a wider audience. Paper The Operator - “Solemn Boyz” Solemn Boyz comes out April 1st on Viper Bite Records. Tracklisting: Paper the Operator: website | myspace  Related PostsThis posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Rachael Yamagata Philly show postponed Posted: 05 Mar 2009 07:46 AM PST The previously announced show at Philadelphia’s TLA featuring fabulous local acts Rachael Yamagata, Birdie Busch, and Andrew Lipke scheduled for next Thursday, March 12th, has been postponed to a date TBA. Ticket holders can receive a refund at their point of purchase. The show will absolutely be rescheduled — stay tuned for updates! Related Posts |
| You are subscribed to email updates from popwreckoning To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
Inbox too full?  Subscribe to the feed version of popwreckoning in a feed reader. | |
| If you prefer to unsubscribe via postal mail, write to: popwreckoning, c/o Google, 20 W Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
