Oh, hey… it’s October already! Time for last month’s playlist.
September saw me visiting people I love in Ohio, buying lots of music (explaining Of Montreal and John Mayer), watching the VMAs (explaining the Timberlake, Timbaland, Rihanna appearances), listening to Kanye and 50 Cent face off with albums releasing on the same day (Kanye clearly won) and making an alt. country playlist for a friend (which explains Ray LaMontagne, Patsy Cline, Emmylou and the always-intriguing Ryan Adams) and anticipating the release of Iron & Wine’s new album (which is amazing, by the way).
Last winter Matt and I ventured into the great(?) city of Pomona to see The Faint. One of the openers was a new band called The Deadly Syndrome. They were a great way to start the show, but I have to admit that they didn’t stick in my memory for very long. This is partially my fault, but it may also have something to do with the fact that they had yet to release any recorded material at that point.
When I noticed that one of my fellow writers at Buzzgrinder was prepping a short feature on the band, I recalled their jaunty, rousing noise pop and wondered if they’d released anything yet. Let it be known that not but two days ago on September 11th, The Deadly Syndrome released their first album, The Ortolan. I just finished listening and was so inspired and uplifted that I wanted to write something down before I let them fade back into my failing memory.
If you like Modest Mouse, Cloud Cult, Wolf Parade or any of the other thousand great indie/noise/pop/alternative bands making it big today, do yourself a favor and check out The Deadly Syndrome.
BONUS: The band has also created several laugh-worthy videos and put them on YouTube for your enjoyment:
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.
