Modern Minstrels

Screaming is for Babies

Went to the Screaming Is For Babies tour tonight featuring: The Starting Line, Copeland, Gatsby's American Dream, Cartel, and New Atlantic. What an amazing line up. Got to Slim's right at 7 and was able to park less than a block away. No line at the Will Call window, and the line to get into the show moved quickly, though I did miss most of New Atlantic's opening song. On with a review of the show:

New Atlantic
AP.net has been posting downloadable demos here the last couple weeks, so that gave me a good idea of what to expect. They played a good set and the crowd as a whole seemed into them. A great way to open the show. I definitely plan to pick up their album when it comes out.

Cartel
I've been totally digging Chroma for about the last month, so needless to say I was stoked to see these guys (and they said this was their first time in SF, so that was neat). I loved the seamless transition from Say Anything (Else) into Honestly. They sounded great live and I ended up picking up their album after the show for a mere $10. I'd say I was disappointed they didn't play Minstrel's Prayer, but I already knew they weren't playing that on this tour. As for the songs they did play (not quite in order:)

• Luckie St
• Runaway
• Say Anything (Else)
• Honestly
• If I Fail
• Burn This City

Gatsby's American Dream
Volcano is another CD that has been in heavy play the last couple months. After reading Mike's and Meri's respective posts on the NYC show, I had some pretty high expectations for Gatsby's live performance. They did not disappoint in the least. The lead singer definitely knows how to handle the stage and get the crowd going. They were all just really fun to watch. The one thing I did notice was how short most of the songs on Volcano are. The album itself is only 33 minutes and most of the songs clock in at under 3. I hadn't really noticed that before because Volcano is one of CDs that you just let play all the way through and the songs transition nicely from one to another. I was hoping they'd play Your Only Escape, but alas they did not. That said, Shhhhhh! I'm Listening to Reason was a great song to end the set with. And now to steal Mike's setlist since it looks about right for what they played tonight:

• Theatre
• Pompeii
• The Loosing Of The Shadow
• (new song #1)
• A Mind of Metal And Wheels
• Recondition, Reprogram, Reactivation
• Fable
• (new song #2)
• Shhhhhh! I'm Listening To Reason

Copeland
Not too much to say about these guys. I was only vaguely familiar with them beforehand. Their set was really low energy. That's not to say the set was bad, it's just a result of the type of songs they play. I think they would have fit in better as the first or second slot. If I had known more of their songs, I definitely would have enjoyed it more.

The Starting Line
I've seen TSL a three times before (twice as openers, once as headliners), but this was without a doubt their best performance ev4r. Loved hearing lots of songs from Based on a True Story live, as well as their classics from Say It Like You Mean It. The crowd definitely had a good time, and was considerably tame. Which made the fact that this over 6' tall security guard would occasionally appear in the middle of the crowd and just stand there for a song or two. So lame, especially considering how tame the crowd was being. My favorite two songs of the night were Photography and Ready. That was the first time I heard Photography live and Wil from Cartel came out and sang with Kenny during Ready. Good stuff. And because naming a song that wasn't played seems to be a running theme, I'll say I was hoping to hear The World because it's got some good crowd chanting parts. Now for some sort of setlist:

• Surprise, Surprise
• Inspired By The $
• Up and Go
• Leaving
• Bedroom Talk
• Artistic License
• Ready
• Photography
• A Goodnight's Sleep
• Decisions, Decisions
• This Ride
• Best of Me
• New Song
• Cheek to Cheek
• And I think I'm missing 1 or 2

This was a great show and one of the best line ups of bands I've ever seen.

Wanted: CD Recommendations

Plane rides are a great time to listen to new CDs and just take in take in the music. I've got a cross country flight to Cleveland coming this Saturday and then Jeff and I fly to Japan on Monday, so I'm looking to stock up on a couple new CDs.

To get myself started, I just purchased Joshua Radin's new album We Were Here on iTunes and I'm loving it. Nice, mellow music.

Know of something I ought to be listening to? Drop me a line.

Listen-Watch TV

I've discovered a handful of great songs this week from TV shows and TV show DVDs and figured I'd share:

• Disarm by The Smashing Pumpkins is the closing song on The Shield Episode 5x10
• Hold on Hope by Guided by Voices is used towards the end of Scrubs Episode 1x22
• Beautiful World by Colin Hay is the closing song on Scrubs Episode 1x24
• Overkill by Colin Hay was used as the opening for Scrubs episode 2x01

Disarm was the perfect accompaniment, both lyrically and musically, to the end of that episode of The Shield. The bells in the song are particularly haunting.

Disarm you with a smile
And leave you like they left me here
To wither in denial
The bitterness of one who’s left alone
Ooh, the years burn
Ooh, the years burn, burn, burn

Hold on Hope has a catchy chorus and fit the montage perfectly: "Everybody's gotta hold on hope, it's the last thing, that's holding me".

I first heard Colin Hay on the Garden State soundtrack (I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You), but apparently he was in the 80's band, Men at Work. At any rate, his solo acoustic stuff is pretty good.

Men, Women, and Children

"You don't need a reason
to get out on the dance floor!"

So goes the chanted chorus to the opening track of Men, Women, and Children's debut full length album. And that phrase perfectly describes the feeling you get when you listen to this CD. This is one of the most fun albums I've heard in a while and has lived in my car's CD player for the past week.

Every song on the CD has a great dance beat. The second track, Lightening Strikes Twice in New York, could totally be the opening theme for a James Bond movie (think Die Another Day). Lest you think the album is nothing but dance beats, I should also mention you'll also find an array of catchy choruses and just general fun lyrics:

Give me your right hand
But keep your left hand free
Let's run in circles
Yeah, let's make history
- Monkey Monkee Men

They say boys are messy
but you know girls just make a mess
So we don't care if we get dirty
We ain't here for cleanliness
- Messy

A, E, I, O, U nothing!
- Vowels

My favorite tracks include Dance In My Blood, Who Found Mr. Fabulous, Messy, Monkey Monkee Man, and Vowels. Check out their PureVolume page to hear a few tracks.

With spring just around the corner, I highly recommend you pick up this album (it's out on March 21st) and blast it in your car with your windows down.