double vision

the rainy weather and my soggy chucks weren't a good omen for the rock show i was attending last night at mercury lounge... but somehow i was vaguely optimistic about the lineup. george hasn't stopped raving about shy child since i met him. i've seen inouk play with stellastarr* at that +1 launch party at don hill's so i knew that they would at least not suck. and i've been hearing so much buzz around the double for the past few months, even with my ear plugs in, so i thought they should be able to bring it awwwwn. so do it already, right?

i walked in to see jay, who staunchly had told me earlier in the day that he was NOT going to the merc that night, but whatever. he was hanging with the lovely ladies of demander, karen and sivan, who impressed me with their toughness the other night at vicious. rawr. i owed johnny a tequila shot from the one he bestowed me at rothko during the trail of dead show (oh yeah i did go to that show... and i think i forgot to mention that on this here blog -- woops. in short, it was crazy with lots of instruments and amps trashed... though they did manage to do one encore with the double drums and one guitar). so anyways, we did shots of cuervo, and my tummy instantly felt warm and better. mmm, tequila tuesdays! jay also told me he was going to become a portland cop and has quit drugs. WHA? he should have his own reality tv show. seriously. mtv, are you reading this?

i was really impressed with shy child... in fact, they might have been my favorite band of the night. they are a dancey indie rock two piece. the lead singer reminds me of ad rock from the beastie boys -- imagine if he sang instead of spit -- that's the dude from shy child! he had his keyboard slung around his neck and was playing the cool-ass shit out of it. ok that phrase sounded retarded, but whatever. you get the point. the drummer, who i guess is friends with george, was also pretty rad, especially when he peeled off his shirt to reveal... a skinny indie rock boy. the dynamic duo would do these start and stops in their songs that would get the crowd hooked. a whole bunch of girls ready to dance were up front and center, and some of them went crazy for the last song of shy child's set. sweet! here's a shy child mp3 that bidi graciously sent me last night: "you're all a glow"

before inouk took the stage, i went out for a cigarette break with joe. we stood inhaling our ciggys in the rain and talked about the impending tour. jesus, i'm so siked! everyone please meet and greet us if we come to your town. it's going to be so much fun, and we're depending on you to show us a good time in your city. we are ready to rock! i am ready to tour manage. wheee! here are the tour dates if you haven't checked them out yet... link to dirty on purpose "no sleep til [we get back to] brooklyn" tour dates

ok back to inouk, i always have my doubts when i see a band that has one guy with a flock of seagulls haircut, but if the music is good, the music is good, right? the cd has been pretty cool to listen to, and inouk seems to be able to transcend their recording for the most part... though i do prefer the vocalist who doesn't have the flock of seagulls cut. i don't know his name, but he had this voice that actually baaaahed like a friggin sheep. a friggin sheep! that's a voice that sorta hard to forget. there weren't many theatrics to their performance which was both a good and a bad thing. while it gave them rock cred, it also made them kind of ... boring to watch. but the music was still good. and i prefer non-theatrical performance when it comes to the straight up rock that they bring. they're from philly, keepin it real. here's a link to one of inouk's best songs: "searching for the bees"

up next were the double. i ran into susan somewhere. i haven't seen her in so long it seems so it was nice to reconnect with her. she has a soft spot for the double, so i really wanted to check them out. i listened to this mp3 that bidi sent me on repeat for like an hour -- until it was making me physically ill, in a good, eerie way: "blanket on the beach"... so when they actually stepped on stage, i was ready for incredibly strange, but mellow music that makes you feel slightly unsure of yourself in the dark. what i found was something less eerie, but just as interesting. the guitarist did some really cool tricks on the guitar that made the music more experimental (like plugging his guitar in and out to create some dirty squeals). i wasn't sure what i thought of the lead singer. but he won me over towards the end of the set -- why? because while he was singing this one song, he pushed up his glasses with the hand that was holding the mic, and i thought it was so adorably shy and dorky. that's the kind of nuances i like in bands! the effects guy all the way on the right was also cracking me up because you could tell he loved the music so much he was bopping and singing along to it with a proud smile. i love that too. the drummer was also hitting everything super hard and jauntily. and the guitarist sings on a song too! so while some of the songs blended a little too much and sounded the same, there were several bright points to their set that i simply adored...