Two weeks ago (I can't remember what day... fuck...) Holy Shit and I made our way to the Triple Rock to catch Thunderbirds Are Now! opening for bands we really didn't want to see (i.e. These Arms Are Snakes, Minus The Bear (Funny story: did you know that Minus the Bear used to be a nameless band with a bear for a hypeman? Well they did. Then they lost the bear. So then they were [nameless] Minus The Bear. GET IT?!)). We were both having fairly shitty days (which is kind of Holy Shit's style, to be honest) and things didn't get better. Somehow, even though I live down the street from the venue, we ended up looking for parking forever, and definitely miscalculated when TAN! was going to go on. We finally got to the Triple Rock in time to hear the last three songs of the band's set.
I had been wanting to see the band since my friends' rave reviews and missing them at Intonation. We weren't disappointed. Although Ryan's singing was a bit weird (we couldn't tell if it was mocking the hardcore kids, or if he just sings a little funny live), the band was super energetic and rocked their songs extra hard, using the space in some of the arrangements to change the song up a little. They closed with the last song on their album Justamustache and it rocked. Holy Shit and I agreed that we wish there were more solid indie/pop/punk/rock bands like TAN! around.
The band has a new video up for "Eat This City" on their Frenchkiss site. They will be back to Minneapolis twice in October, headlining the Whole [!!! small venue] in Coffman Union [!!! school sponsored event] on the 14th and opening for the Hold Steady on the 30th. I will definitely be at the Whole show. Me and Craig Finn and co. have our issues, so I may or may not show up for that one. Can't wait to catch this band again. Note to band: get different merch. One of us would have bought a t-shirt, but we were not digging the one you had out. Also, you potentially could have crashed at my place like you said you needed to, but were nowhere to be found after your set (and we were mos def not staying for the other bands).
Last Tuesday at the Triple Rock I was fairly fucking excited to see Black Mountain at 7th Street Entry. The self-titled debut album from the Canadian five piece is easily one of the best records of the year, a multi-faceted stoner-rock anthem for the end of the fucking world that gets better every time I listen to it. Each song shows a different side of the band, a side that surprises me, but is definitely from the same band. Brilliant stuff that cuts most of my friends' tastes and has them enjoying it across the board.
The show had two problems. One is that they neglected to play album opener "Modern Music", the closest thing the band has to a single, albeit a highly self-referential one. The second is that they opened with "No Hits", by far my favorite song, possibly my favorite song of the entire year (I will devote a future post to it entirely), but played it a lot slower and not up to my expectations.
After "No Hits", however, the band exploded into the beyond heavy "Don't Run Our Hearts Around" and proceeded to blow everyone's fucking mind. I attended the show with my friend Pushkar from work, and ran into Chris and Zach, and my friend Blake, and they all have different tastes, and I'm pretty sure they all loved it. Well, Chris and Push loved it for sure, and they make up the music dept. at work, and we have different tastes, but all couldn't put our heads around the show. I don't even know how to best explain it. I will attempt to better in my post about the actual album. But it was just great, great music. Everyone agreed that the highlight was a new song with a killer bass line and absolutely insane drumming.
My writing is degrading fast, so I apologize. If you like the Velvets, or Sabbath, or Dungen, or hippie heavy metal music that is actually good, or just 'modern music', check out Black Mountain. A hippie frontman that actually knows what he's talking about, a female vocalist with chops to kill, a modest heavy metal drummer, a keyboardist/electronics guy who listens to actual pop/rock music, and a bassist who knows how to wind grooves in, out, and around songs, carrying them to the next level, make up for one of the best bands around today.
They just finished opening for the first part of Coldplay's tour that night. Worst pair up ever. There were some definite bitterness there, as the best insult of the night from the band was asking an audience member "How was Coldplay?" (Coldplay was playing the gigantic Target Center across the street). Actually, that was after the audience member had been invited on stage... long story. God, and I call myself a blogger! (No, I don't really call myself that, but.. you know...)
I finally got a poster from Twin Cities designers Aesthetic Apparatus, too. I had been waiting forever for a really good show to come along with an equally fantastic poster, and that night I definitely scored. It was like they made the poster specifically for moi.
I guess I technically did see another concert before these, and it was Green Day, and it was amazing, but that's for another time chilluns.
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