Note to self: although the Santa Barbara Bowl’s site says quite clearly that there are no cameras allowed, security doesn’t seem to care about such things.

The Shins did a great job on Saturday, and we enjoyed ourselves despite bad seats. I can’t track down a set list anywhere, unfortunately, but they did play all their big favorites (Caring Is Creepy and New Slang got the most cheers, of course) and they played the two I wanted to hear: Sea Legs and Phantom Limb. The show-stopper, though, was during their encore: they pulled off an amazing rendition of Pink Floyd’s Breathe that made the crowd go insane.

If anyone ever doubts that The Shins have the talent to prove their worth beyond their run-of-the-mill indie pop, go see them live.

It looks as though my goal to blog each Coachella act was a bit too lofty. I’ve lost all motivation to write up the rest of the bands. If you want to read my overview, the Buzzgrinder California posts are here: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3. If there’s any particular band you’d like to hear about, leave a comment and I’ll see what I can do.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming. Whatever that is.

Having nothing better to do after Nickel Creek, I stuck around with the large crowd that had formed to see Of Montreal. I’d heard enough of their stuff to be familiar with them, but it hadn’t ever really pulled me in. Now I can understand their appeal.

I wasn’t quite sure what to make of their weird outfits and strange stage antics at first, but after a couple songs it was amusing and added to the entertainment value. I’m pretty sure there are a lot of psychedelic drugs being passed around back stage with these guys, but that didn’t stop them from playing like their pink, flippy shoulder pads depended on it.

Their unique blend of freaky dance pop was addictive and catchy, and I was a big enough fan by the time I left that I ended up buying a t-shirt. That’s saying something, because all shirts at the Coachella merch booth were $25. Hooray for festival ripoffs.

Once again, there are more pictures than you can shake a stick at over on Flickr.

Well, first off, let’s get this out of the way: I was at Starbucks that Friday morning and held the door for Nickel Creek violinist Sara Watkins on my way out. I didn’t realize it until I was out the door. There’s a lot more back-story to that, but we’ll leave it at that.

This was the second time I’d seen Nickel Creek, so I had my expectations and they didn’t disappoint. They played a shorter version of their normal set (the curse of every music festival). The only song I was unfamiliar with was a new one that I’m guessing mandolinist Chris Thile wrote post-divorce. Something about “don’t set me up with one of your friends.” It was funny. But kind of sad at the same time.

I’m glad I got to see them again, considering this is their final tour before they take an indefinite hiatus to work on their solo projects and such.

I didn’t take my camera to Coachella (intentionally) but if you want pictures, Flickr has plenty.

I apologize. I said I would be let you know how Coachella went and it’s been a week already. That’s like ten years in blogger news time. Or something. Now I’m probably going to go into overkill mode; I intend to review each of the twenty-some acts I saw. If you’re not a fan of overkill, you can read daily summaries over at Buzzgrinder California, where I’m starting to help out.

Going chronologically, my first victim shall be the Comedians Of Comedy. The only non-music act all weekend. Whatever.

I was excited to check these guys out because I’ve gotten my share of laughs from a few of their comedians on Comedy Central and I’ve always enjoyed Patton Oswalt’s character on King Of Queens.

Oswalt was the emcee so he was out first to warm up the crowd. I’m not quite sure where he went wrong, but nobody was laughing. Maybe it was because his first words on stage were asking everyone to sit down, and then pointing out and making fun of individuals who couldn’t find room to sit. Then he sang some random “hobo songs” that made no sense, and gave a disgusting description of what it must look like for a 60-year-old woman giving birth. Then he introduced Jasper Redd, who got even less laughs, if that were even possible. I decided to leave before things turned violent.

These days I don’t really take the time to talk about an album unless it’s captured me in a big way. There are so many new releases every week that it can be hard to stay afloat and really give each the time they deserve to be absorbed well.

Neon Bible had a bit of an advantage because of a preexisting love of their last album, Funeral, combined with plenty of publicity. From playing two of their new songs (Intervention and Keep The Car Running) on Saturday Night Live right before the release to Idolator’s persistent hype, the Arcade Fire crew was hard to ignore.

That said, I can’t help but plug Neon Bible for myself, because saying it lives up to the hype hardly does the album justice. From start to finish, Win Butler and company get innovative with instruments and sound effects, channeling equal parts David Bowie, Talking Heads, Neutral Milk Hotel and Springsteen, but still making it their own by throwing in more fresh and unique sound than you could shake a stick at (does that even make sense?).

As Pitchfork noted, the lyrics aren’t anything hot, but I’m not much of a lyrics guy in the first place, so that’s fine with me. The ‘Fork put it well: “Butler’s words, however, have always carried less meaning than the way he sings them and the sound in which his band envelops them.”

I highly recommend this album to, well… anyone. Those with less broad tastes may find it a bit hard to digest at first, but those records are often the ones that stick with us the longest. I know I won’t be getting tired of it any time soon.

Underoath and Taking Back Sunday played at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo tonight.

Underoath live: absolutely great. Taking Back Sunday live: not so much. Considering TBS went on at 9:15 pm and it is currently 9:55 pm as I write this and it takes at least twenty minutes to walk to my car and drive home from Cal Poly and I’ve been home for 15 minutes, you can conclude what happened here.

And I very rarely leave a show early.

Stay tuned for some deep thoughts in the near future. Spare time is… sparing lately. I have not abandoned you, blogosphere.

I had the opportunity to see The Faint this last Saturday in Pomona at The Glass House.

The openers were The Deadly Syndrome and Passage. The Deadly Syndrome was creative, pulling in a wide variety of styles that reminded me of everything from Wolf Parade to The Decemberists to The Violent Femmes and a thousand other references I couldn’t possibly put names on. They’re apparently a pretty new band on the circuit, but I think they’ll do well. They really engaged the crowd and had a lot of positive energy. They did their best when the vocalist wasn’t playing guitar or bass, because his stage presence worked wonders.

Passage, on the other hand… Well, let’s just say that he didn’t follow a cardinal rule of opening acts: don’t perform like you’re better than your audience, or in any way make your crowd feel as though you are patronizing them. You don’t gain fans that way. Aside from that, he was a white hip hop/rap act playing for people who like 80’s synth pop, so he was going to have to work hard to make fans. During an awkward pantomime to random commercial audio clips, there were several shouts of “We don’t get it!” and “You’re not funny!” but he just kept on going. Enough about him though…

The Faint were great. As someone who doesn’t like to dance in any way, shape or form, this was probably the most fun I’ve had listening to dance-ish type music. They played a great mix of songs from Blank-Wave Arcade, Danse Macabre and Wet From Birth, as well as two or three new songs that I’m assuming will appear on their upcoming release. The new stuff was good; not anything unexpected, but a little darker at times, especially during one Depeche-esque number. They also had the entire show synced to video that went along with each song, making the experience complete in every way.

In no particular order (and excluding the new songs) here’s what I remember them playing:

• Dropkick The Punks
• Paranoiattack
• Worked Up So Sexual
• Desperate Guys
• How Could I Forget?
• In Concert
• Let The Poison Spill From Your Throat
• I Disappear
• Call Call
• Glass Danse
• Agenda Suicide
• Birth

Unfortunately, no photography was allowed at this show, so I have no Flickr goodness to share.

I’m almost a week late on this, but better late than never I suppose.

Explosions was, as expected, absolutely amazing. The songs they played, in no particular order (because I can’t remember) are:

• First Breath After Coma
• Your Hand In Mine
• A Poor Man’s Memory
• Yasmin The Light
• The Moon Is Down
• The Only Moment We Were Alone
• Six Days At The Bottom Of The Ocean
• With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept

There were also at least two songs that I didn’t recognize, which either means they’re new or from their Friday Night Lights Soundtrack.

If you are interested, there are a few pictures on my Flickr.

In other Explosions news, they recently announced their new album, All of a Sudden, I Miss Everyone, will be released on February 20, 2007, after which they will begin touring again. The album art has also been released.

Update: Stream the new track: Welcome, Ghosts

I’ve been enjoying Cloud Cult for a while now, mostly thanks to a random tipoff from The Sneeze, but over the course of the last day or two I’ve realized the genius of their 2005 album, Advice From The Happy Hippopotamus.

If you like Band Of Horses, Modest Mouse, Radiohead or The Flaming Lips, these guys might be for you.