Lucius and Hey Marseilles at The Earl, Atlanta, October 19, 2013

I hadn't been to The Earl since August 9, 2013 (T Hardy Morris and Roadkill Ghost Choir).  In the 10 weeks I'd been away, the club hung a metallic sign with the word Earl over the stage, but otherwise it's the same redoubtable venue.  Last night, I saw the Brooklyn band Lucius perform beneath the new sign. Seattle's Hey Marseilles opened.

Hey Marseilles are a folk-rock sextet, but sound almost like a mini-orchestra as they feature a string section (cello and violin), guitars (electric and acoustic), keys, accordion, and drums, giving their full-bodied songs a memorably rich texture. Prior to last night's show, I had been out for most of the day at the L5P Halloween Parade watching marchers in horror costumes and listening to punk, rockabilly, and garage rock, but after just a few bars of Hey Marseilles' soothing music, my attitude snapped into position to fully enjoy their set.  They're a band I've wanted to see for some time now (I missed them when they played Vinyl earlier this year), so I was glad to finally have the chance. 

Headliners Lucius are primarily the duo of Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig, two singers and keyboardists with near-identical haircuts and both wearing the same outfit.  Their specialty is harmony, and I don't think that we heard a single line of any song not sung by the two of them together in unison.  This is a good thing, as their harmonies, along with the quirky rhythmic structures of their songs, are what makes their danceable indie pop so intoxicating to hear.  

They have no drum kit but everyone contributes to percussion, even Jess and Holly, often giving their songs a tribal urgency.  The resulting songs mix everything from Americana to torch ballads to ESG-influenced disco-punk.  

For their encore, they played an acoustic song, unamplified, in the middle of the audience.

Lucius are touring in support of their first full-length record, Wildewoman, which dropped just last week.  Impress your friends and be among the first to own a copy! 

Shaky Knees

Not a bad recap at all, and much better than my "video digests" of the rain-soaked event.

ZZ Ward

ZZ Ward at Bumbershoot, August 31, 2013

Dude, I was here!  I didn't know of ZZ Ward before this KEXP Music Lounge set at Bumbershoot this year but liked what I heard.  Performing somewhere near the intersection of blues, hip-hop, and rock, she won over the audience, most of whom seemed to have been pretty excited to be there even before she took the stage.  Every time I thought that I had her pigeon-holed into a "Oh, she's one of those types of performers" category, she'd take a turn and surprise me again.

This was just the second set of my first day, right after Thao and company, and served notice that I was about to discover a lot of new music over the next nine days.

Noah & The Whale at Variety Playhouse, October 15, 2013

From the comments section on NPR's All Songs Considered website:

"I'm 50 and hubby of 32 years is 55. Just returned from the Austin City Limits Festival . . . What I loved in Austin was being about 30 years older than everyone else in the first three rows at the Noah and the Whale concert. The young twenty-something next to me screeched, "Oh, my god! He's so cute" when the lead singer took the stage. I know most of the words to their songs (better than the young 'uns surrounding me). Noah I found on my own but our adult kids love to share their music and new finds with us."

Yesterday, I said that Wednesday night's Noah & The Whale show "was a concert you could have taken your mother too without fear of embarrassment." NPR has now confirmed this. And yes, I'm aware of the irony that I'm older than both the commenter and her husband. 

Here's another letter from someone my own age:

I'm 59 and find I'm often one of the oldest, if not the oldest, attendee at indie rock concerts. Whenever I drag my friends, they have a good time. So I don't understand why there aren't more of us boomers at these concerts. Who cares if we're the oldest ones in the crowd? The young people are great. I ran into one of my daughter's friends at a recent Alt-J concert. He thought I was one cool dude to be there. LOL!

And there was another letter from someone even further down the road than I:

I'm 70 and way into indie music. My daughter and her husband, now in their early 30's, are pretty much imprinted with the music they liked in high school. My daughter did turn me on to Radiohead and Tori Amos back then, but when they go to concerts, it's Modest Mouse, Garbage, Sting and she'd rather listen to the Beatles and REM - with NIN the big generation bridger - I liked them first - but I don't think she's listened to Hesitation Marks yet. My biggest conversion success has been Arcade Fire and MMJ. I'll just have to take it slowly with them when it comes to Kendrick Lamar, Flying Lotus, Deerhunter... & the Rolling Stones. =)

Chris Rock does a routine about "that one guy you always see in the club who's waaaaay too old to be there." I may be that dude, but at least I'm apparently not the only one. And I'm pretty confident that I have better taste in music than the young 'uns lapping up the formulaic folk-pop at the Noah & The Whale concert.

LP at Variety Playhouse, October 15, 2013

Last night, LA-based singer LP performed at Atlanta's Variety Playhouse, her powerful and soulful vocals blowing the roof off of the theater.  

Noah & the Whale opened.

No, LP didn't really play last night.  I'm just engaging in wishful thinking - LP bowed off of the tour and cancelled her scheduled performance last night with Noah & the Whale, who would have headlined anyway. I guess I'm just trying to blow the mind of anyone who bought tickets but didn't go last night due to LP's cancellation.

I was almost one of them. 

I don't really know much about Noah & the Whale, other than they were the band in which both Laura Marling and Emmy the Great go their starts and that both are no longer with the band, and that Pitchfork included their debut album among the "Worst New Music" of 2008. 

Onstage last night, they seemed to be a pleasant enough group of guys, and were reasonably proficient on their instruments, but at the same time came off as far too restrained and inoffensive, and too eager to please everyone.  This was a concert you could have taken your mother too without fear of embarrassment. Worse, no whale ever appeared on stage.

LP would have shaken things up a bit.

Dude, I Was There! (The Joy Formidable)

Bumbershoot.  KEXP.  The Joy Formidable.  Dude, I was there!

Song List:
The Ladder Is Ours
Little Blimp
Maw Maw Song
Cradle
Whirring

Prisoners

"Prisoners" by J Mascis and Sharon Van Etten from Aimee Mann 

There's so much win here, from Sharon Van Etten and J Mascis collaborating on a John Denver tune to Aimee Mann playing a Denver wannabe geek.  

Actually, that's pretty much everything there is to like in this video.