Scripted Failures

The Weakerthans put on a hell of a show last night in Birmingham, AL.  My wife and I arrived a few minutes late, but caught most of Christine Fellows‘ set.  I need to listen to some of her albums now.  Afterwards, The Bottletree pulled down the famous “screen” and we waited.  Next up was local singer/songwriter AA Bondy, who sang mostly acoustic love songs with strong Christian overtones.  Then came the screen again

Finally, the main act arrived.  John Samson looked so much different than I remember from pictures.  I thought I remembered him with facial hair and glasses, and a bit older.  I realize he must be going on 30 at this point, as he started The Weakerthans in 1997, but he looked really young for some reason.

They started off with “Bigfoot!”, a slow, almost lullabye-like number from the new album.  After that, they broke into “Our Retired Explorer (Dines with Michel Foucault in Paris, 1961)” from Reconstruction Site.  Then they hit “Civil Twilight,” followed by “Night Windows,” both from Reunion Tour.  The full set list (from my faulty memory) is below.  The slashed tracks comprise the section I’m not too sure of, but I think I have the order mostly right.  I’ll confirm with someone else that was at the show.  (If you were, feel free to comment and correct me).

“Bigfoot!” [Reunion Tour]
“Our Retired Explorer (Dines with…etc.etc.)” [Reconstruction Site]
“Civil Twilight” [Reunion Tour]
“The Reasons” [Reconstruction Site]
“Sun in an Empty Room” [Reunion Tour]
“Night Windows” [Reunion Tour]
“Tournament of Hearts” [Reunion Tour]
“Benediction” [Reconstruction Site]
“Reconstruction Site” [Reconstruction Site]
“Aside” [Left and Leaving]
“Virtue the Cat Explains Her Departure” [Reunion Tour]
“Watermark” [Left and Leaving]
“Left and Leaving” [Left and Leaving]
“Confessions of a Futon-Revolutionist” [the only track from Fallow]
“Plea from a Cat Named Virtue” [Reconstruction Site]
[Encore]
“One Great City!” [Reconstruction Site]
“My Favourite Chords” [Left and Leaving]
“This Is a Fire Door, Never Leave Open” [Left and Leaving]
“(Manifest)” [Reconstruction Site]

It was a fairly balanced set.  I was expecting a run-through of the new album with some older songs interspersed, but I was happy to hear a good mix of new songs plus some of the songs that I never had a chance to see when they were touring for previous albums (esp. “Aside” and “Watermark”, both of which I was very excited to hear).

It’s hard to pick highlights when the whole show was excellent, but I think the encore might’ve been my favorite part.  John Samson came back onstage to play “One Great City!” (before which I kept hearing people yelling “I Hate Winnipeg!” and during which I sang “I Hate Birmingham!” which elicited a smile from a couple of people next to me).  “My Favourite Chords” is such a great song, and when I was convinced these two solo songs were going to end it, the band came back and joined in on cue for the ending, after which they threw in “This Is a Fire Door…”, a song I hadn’t thought about in a while, and had forgotten how much I loved, and then, to top it off, a postlude of “(Manifest),” my favorite of the 3 segues on Reconstruction Site (due to how much more rocking it is than the others, and how awesome the words are).

After the show, we waited outside for a few minutes, hoping John would come out.  Stephen came by, and I looked at him, but by the time I recognized him, he had gone inside.  He looked to be in a hurry, and I’m not for hassling bands after a show, but I did want to meet John and tell him how much I enjoyed it.  I bought a tour poster and Reconstruction Site (I’m horribly embarassed that I didn’t own that until yesterday), completing my Weakerthans catalog.

I have pictures!  But they’re at home and I’m at work, so bear with me.  They will be posted tonight post-haste!  To everyone that came out, I hope we gave ‘em a warm enough welcome that they’ll consider hitting AL again on their next tour!

Update: I found a video someone took of Civil Twilight from the show at al.com.  Check it out here (http://videos.al.com/2008/03/the_weakerthans_live_at_bottle.html).

Death Cab revealed the art for Narrow Stairs.  I don’t know what to think, really.  Anyone else?

Straight from Starflyer’s Myspace Blog:

“The new Starflyer 59 album “Dial M” has just been completed and is off
to be mixed next week by JR McNeely. We are looking at a late summer /
early fall release with select tour dates to follow. We are very
pleased with the results and hope you enjoy the new record. More info,
new songs, etc. coming soon.”

I guess I’ll be finding out soon if my supposition was correct that all the A-sides of “The Ghosts of the Future” 7″ boxset are an album to themselves and not the next true album Starflyer 59 was recording.  Either way, I’m excited and you should be too.  After all the release of a new Starflyer 59 or Joy Electric album is always a monumentally exciting event.  Speaking of that, don’t forget that the new Joy Electric record “My Grandfather, the Cubist” comes out May 26th!  Hopefully we can get some rad coverage of that leading up to the release.

Okay kids, it’s finally available to order!  You know you want it!  So go order it at Velvet Blue Music!  Of course you can order it from CDbaby, but I’d rather give Cloud my money!  That said I just ordered it!!  Oh yeah, for those of you weirdos who don’t like owning actual copies of the album and would rather buy mp3s you can get it at the iTunes store.  I just used it to find out that the name of the song in the video we posted months ago is called “Strength Early”.  I guess I may as well give a tracklist, while I’m starting at the iTunes store listing. Here you are:

01. A Concealed Weapon
02. Strength Early
03. Business Casual
04. The Life Highrise
05. The Mayflower Compact
06. It’s Not Effective
07. That’s Getting Personal
08. Love My Way (Psychedelic Furs Cover)
09. Don’t I Know the Way
10. The Pure in Heart

Death Cab for Cutie released (streaming from their MySpace) the first single from their forthcoming album, Narrow Stairs.  It’s an 8 and a half-minute jam called “I Will Possess Your Heart,” where the at least the first half is a bass-infused groove reminiscent of a more mid-tempo, jammier, “National Anthem.”  It’s pretty good.  The lyrics strike me as typical Gibbard fare.  I think it could’ve been shorter, but they warned us.  People are already preemptively calling this Album of the Year, which is a bit far to go after one single, but it definitely has promise.

Honestly, though, it’s not quite as much of a change as I was expecting, given the original promises/threats.  Take a listen:

I’ve been seeing the newest Fair to Midland album, “Fables from a Mayfly: What I Tell You Three Times Is True,” at Best Buy for a long time, and while its artsy cover and long title always intrigued me, I never bothered to take a listen to it.  Not too long ago, I stumbled upon their earlier “Drawn and Quartered EP” for $1, and so I picked it up.  It contains older demos and a few live tracks from their independent releases.  The reason I’m writing all of this is because the first track on this EP is killer.  I can’t stop listening to it.  So I thought I’d share.

Fair to Midland, “Orphan Anthem ‘86″

I’ll admit, upon listening to this song, one of my first reactions was that they were a Christian band.  The following lines piqued my curiosity:

Instilled in us ethics, not by god, but by our choice
I can’t even imagine, but I can see it
and
Encompassed by standards, and we give ourselves all of the credit
Can’t put my finger on it, but I can see it

I did a quick Google Search and came upon an interview that the lead singer, Darroh Sudderth, did with Mp3.com.  Here’s what he had to say on the subject (I thought the interviewer was not-so-subtle in his questioning):

Chris Rolls:You said you were out on the road with…who did you say, Flyleaf?
Darroh Sudderth:Yes.
Chris: Not now, but before…the Christian hardcore band?
Darroh: Yes, sir.
Chris: Now, I have to ask: Do you have any particular religious affinities?
Darroh: It all depends on which one of us you ask. I wouldn’t say we’re a Christian band, but some of us are Christians in the band.
Chris: I see. I see. But it’s not something that you’re promoting as a band?
Darroh: No. No.
Chris: OK.
Darroh: It may be something that subconsciously comes through at some points, with one or more of the members. But…yeah.
Chris: But is it something that you work into your lyricism?
Darroh: Well, I grew up…me personally…I’m sure it works its way into a lot of the lyrical content because I grew up in the Bible Belt.  So it’s almost…  But I won’t say which ones of us are Christians and which ones aren’t and which are atheists. But it’s about a 50/50. We’re cut in half.
Chris: Well, that must make for some interesting conversation on the road, especially if you’re doing a rock tour.
Darroh: Oh, yeah.

The whole interview is worth reading, actually.  They sound like an interesting band.  I’ll have to give their latest endeavor a listen.