The Run Down - Thursday February 28, 2008

Baltimore's got Thursday on LOCK DOWN. That's right. Three shows. Pick 'em. At the 8x10 you can catch Caleb Stine and The Brakemen along with John Doe. At the Metro Gallery you can groove to Laromlab along with Notendo, Net Dreams, and Robot Cowboy. Finally at the G Spot you can get along with Beach House and their newly released album. They're performing alongside Diapensia and Papercuts. Get in on it!

mp3: Caleb Stine and The Brakemen - Devil --> website --> buy
mp3: Laromlab - Phat and Phunky Pt. 1 --> website --> buy
mp3: Beach House - Lovelier Girl --> website --> buy

In (brief) Review - Among Wolves @ 8x10 - January 30

Our Pastappreciation (yeah, I made that up) for Among Wolves has been well documented HERE and HERE, so I'm just gonna give you some quick hits from their 8x10 show last night:

~ Billy Tiedeken is a trooper. He has been fighting laryngitis for two weeks, but still tried his best to make it through the set. Sadly, he lost the battle with his throat.

~ These guys clearly love playing together. They constantly joke and laugh. It's refreshing to see a band that really likes playing shows.

~ Among Wolves pulls off the mid-set band member switcheroo (that's a technical term) better then any band I've ever seen. Jason Butcher sings like his life depends on it.

~ I like doing quick hits. Take your "paragraph structure" and shove it! I didn't like you anyway!

Mp3: Among Wolves - Baltimore ---- Website ---- Buy

Vast is vastly impressive

I've really been diggin these guys since I picked up their new release, entitled April. Vast offers complex, beautiful songs driven by strong melodies and powerful vocals provided by front man Jon Crosby. April, released in October on Crosby's own label, 2blossoms Records and Media is extremely well produced and sucks you in on the first listen. Vast will be setting out on a US tour on November 30th, with a stop in Baltimore on February 16th at the 8x10. Should be a good time.

Tix available here.

Full tour details available on their Myspace.

Mp3: Vast - Dedicate
Mp3: Vast - Tattoo of Your Name ------- website-----buy

You can also buy the digital version of their new album, or older stuff here

Or Get This Music With 25 FREE Downloads from eMusic. No Restrictions - Own Your Music!

Nada Surf - Live at the 8x10

Its taken me three days to actually be able to process my thoughts enough to post about this amazing show. Laurent the Laurent has posted about Sea Wolf opening this show, and I second everything he wrote. They were a great opener, but the crowd was there for the main event. This was the second sellout crowd for Nada Surf at the 8x10 club in lovely Federal Hill in Baltimore.

Nada Surf took the stage to a serious ovation. They commented on how it was great to be back, and thanked the crowd for coming out. They opened the show with Happy Kid, but about a minute into the song, Matthew stopped playing, and said something along the lines of, "forget all that, I'm really in the bathroom right now," and ran off stage only to return with a different guitar. He quickly reiterated all the previous remarks, and started Happy Kid again. This set a playful and loose mood for the set that would ensure a good time for all. After rocking through a few favorites, the real nature of the show and the crowd was revealed when they played Fruit Flies. It would have been great no matter what, but when the song got to the whole "I'm sorry, you've got no where to go" part, the Matthew let the crowd sing along, and WOW, what a moment. I've seen a LOT of Nada Surf shows, but never have I witnessed a crowd so well versed in their music, or so into the show. All throughout the set, the crowd sung along loudly (myself included). It's great to see that people have finally discovered this incredible talent.

Anywho, Nada Surf rocked through an amazing set that included two new songs, Whose Authority and I Like What You Say which can be found here as part of a live acoustic show. The new material sounds great; Certainly they fit well with the Nada Surf library of music.

As far as the older material, Nada Surf really brought the fire to this show. Maybe it was because this was the last date of this tour, or maybe because of the great crowd, but they played at a whole new level. Every transition was sharp. Matthews voice sounded better then I've ever heard. They were clearly having a good time on stage.

The last two songs of the main set, Paper Boats and Hyperspace rocked to no end, with extra crazy jamming at the ends, that included Matthew playing his guitar on his mic stand during Hyperspace. After a very brief break which had the crowd chanting Nada Surf, they returned to the stage and brought with them Lisa Fendelander, the keyboardist from Sea Wolf to play the accordion for Blonde on Blonde. It was a nice addition to the song. After absolutely killing Do It Again, the crowd got another bonus. Alex Church, the front man of Sea Wolf joined the band for a song. I don't know what it was called, but it was pretty cool. After that, they closed the set with Always Love and a crazy singalong version of Blankest Year that had the crowd screaming "fuck it" back at the stage. The song concluded with two separate crazy breakdowns, only to return to the main of the song.

What else can I say. This was easily the best Nada Surf show I've ever seen. I can't wait for the new album in February, or the tour that is sure to bring them back to Baltimore. Wow. I sound like a total fan boy. I guess I am.

Do It Again
Blizzard of 77
See These Bones

Full Setlist:

Happy Kid
Hi Speed Soul
What is Your Secret
Fruit Flies
Killians Red
Whose Authority
Blizzard of 77
Concrete Bed
Inside of Love
80 Windows
I like What You Say
Imaginary Friends
Paper Boats
Hyperspace

Blonde on Blonde
Do It Again
The Killing Moon by Echo and the Bunnymen w/ Alex Church
Always Love
Blankest Year

Update:

A new Nada Surf song called "Weightless" will be featured on Heroes tonight. Even more reason to watch the best show on TV.

Sea Wolf @ the 8x10

I had been looking forward to this show for a long time, and I wasn't disappointed at all. Listening to their CD and EP I knew I was going to hear some fantastic music, but I didn't know it would ROCK THAT MUCH! Hell yeah it did! Coming onto the stage, Alex Brown Church(the lead singer/songwriter of Sea Wolf) looked the part of good natured traveler and musician. The first notes of Winter Windows got the crowd pretty pumped letting me know that they had a pretty sizable following in attendance at the small sized 8x10. The Cold, The Dark, & The Silence and Middle Distance Runner followed and were spectacular. The arrangement of the songs live was put together really well. Everybody seemed to have a tamborine near by for some timely percussion. Then came the time where, in my opinion, Sea Wolf went to 11(ala Spinal Tap). They flat out rocked Made A Resolution. There was no stopping it after that with Sea Monuments and Song For The Dead following. Mr. Church then made me a happy man by slowing it down a tad to play a mezmerizing rendition of The Garden That You Planted. This was basically the set up song for the final one two punch of You're A Wolf and Black Dirt. They played these songs with the highest amount of emotion and energy giving them more power and meaning than they had before. When they left the stage they had me wanting more. Where was the encore? Oh yeah they were the opening act for Nada Surf(who took the show to a higher level...more on that later). With this show Sea Wolf has put them in the 'must see live' category for me. If you have a chance do yourself a favor and see them. They still have a couple more dates on this leg and hopefully will launch another one sometime next year. If you can't make it, pick up a copy of their EP or full length. Stay tuned for more on the Nada Surf half of the show.

Sea Wolf - The Garden That You Planted.mp3 --> website --> buy
Sea Wolf - Black Dirt.mp3

Thanks to Ted Licinski(Sea Wolf bassist) for giving some great feedback about the tour, life, crappy jobs, good jobs, and poster design. Keep on rockin that Devo suit.