Musical interlude

Last night we went to see Blonde Redhead and Interpol, neither of whom I'd seen live before. I felt a bit schitzophrenic about the Blonde Redhead set. They've listened to one too many Radiohead albums, in all the ways that that's good and bad. I'd heard a few tracks before on KEXP and liked what I'd heard, and I liked most of the songs they played last night too, but I wasn't always such a fan of the interstitial bits between songs. Sometimes it really came together, and sometimes it was aggressively experimental in a way that just didn't work.

Interpol's performance was in every way the opposite of the Modest Mouse show I saw a few months ago -- Interpol hardly talked to the audience much at all, and they were musically really together. I enjoyed their set a lot, even though I still don't like the Paramount as a venue for music like that. I think I'm only going back there for non-music or for bands I'm really dying to see.

I'm looking forward to getting Ivy's new album when it comes out in a couple of weeks. I remember first hearing this band when I was 17 wandering around Newbury Comics in Harvard Square -- I was there to buy something else, and they were playing Realistic, and the song that suckered me in was "Don't Believe a Word" -- and I was immediately hooked and bought the album in addition to whatever other schlock I was picking up at the time. And they've remained one of my favorite bands ever since. The bits I've heard of the new album have me all excited to get it as soon as I can.

Yesterday I was looking through the music calendar on threeimaginarygirls for good upcoming shows that are going to work with my schedule:

Tues 2/22 Bettie Serveert/Slender Means/Viva Voce, Crocodile
Sat 2/26 Mates Of State/Aqueduct/Smoosh, Chop Suey {7pm}
Sat 3/5 The Pale/Math & Physics Club {album release}/Racetrack, Chop Suey {6pm}
Thu 3/10 Tegan and Sara/The Dirty Bops, Crocodile {8pm}*
Sat 3/12 Kings Of Convenience, Neumo’s {8pm}
Fri 3/18 The Decemberists/Okkervil River, Showbox
Fri 3/25 Low/Pedro The Lion, Neumo’s

There are several other good shows that I already know I'm not going to be able to go to. It's slightly alarming how many of these shows are early shows... and how happy that makes me. It either means I'm getting very old or reverting back to some strange childhood state. Either way, we'll see how many of these shows I'm able to make it to, and whether I can drag anyone along for any of them.