Featured Blog Articles
The Melismatics – Melody Inn 5/18/2012
Please Don't Stop! As I watched Minneapolis power-pop juggernaut the Melismatics tear through their set Friday night at the Melody Inn, this was the thought that kept running through my head. Every song they played was a brain wormer, immediately catching hold of the happy, hooky spots in my pop-addled brain and refusing to let go. The band, frequent visitors to Indy, have been tearing up the road for about 10 years. Friday's show was … [Read More...]
St. Vincent w/ Shearwater – Deluxe 5/10/2012
What a double-bill! Annie Clark, aka St. Vincent, is a gift of soaring, expressive vocals mixed with jaw-dropping guitar shredding. Shearwarter is Jonathan Meiburg's art-rock tapestry of swelling emotion and catharsis. Together in one night? To say I'd been anxiously looking forward to this show is an understatement. Meiburg, sometimes linked to Okkervil River (a band that needs to swing through Indy pronto), has built Shearwater into dynamic … [Read More...]
Old 97′s w/ Sam Roberts Band – The Vogue 5/3/2012
Considering how frequently the Old 97's make it through Indy, it's been a shocking 5 years since I last saw them at the Vogue. That show, like every 97's show, was a rollicking blast, so I have few excuses for waiting this long to get reacquainted. Coupled with the late addition of the spectacularly under-appreciated Sam Roberts Band as the opener, this one had an extra dose of sizzle. Roberts has been building a stellar catalog of music for … [Read More...]
Fresh Droppings: Budokan – Spin A Little Gold
Budokan -- yes, as in Cheap Trick's At Budokan -- understand two of the key principles of good power pop: Make it loud and make it catchy. The Vancouver band doesn't reinvent the wheel with their debut, Spin A Little Gold, but they know exactly what works and they throw everything into it. Saint Joan is a snarling machine of crunchy power and bouncy ooh-ooh backing vocals. Gone Back Home could have been written by Sloan. Opening track The … [Read More...]
Feist w/ Timber Timbre – Old National Centre 4/30/2012
Leslie Feist is enchanting. Forget the arguably albatross 1234, which she didn't play at Old National Centre Monday night, and focus on the fact that she's one of the smoky-coolest singer/songwriters around. For almost two hours, Feist bounced between passionate noise and comfortably intimacy with the sizable crowd. You won't hear me complaining. Any indications that this might be a low-key show were immediately removed with the ferocious 1-2 … [Read More...]
Fresh Droppings: The Successful Failures – Here I Am
I've been following the Successful Failures since I read about 2007's Ripe for the Burning in the Big Takeover (best music mag on the planet, fyi). As a die-hard fan of chunky power pop bands like Superdrag and Sloan, the Failures immediately hit all my sweet spots. But what sets them apart is their lyrics. Writing about love and relationships is easy; Vikings, Mickey Mantle, China's rise to superpower status, and the Civil War -- those topics … [Read More...]
