MP3 The Concretes - "Seems Fine"
This is the lead-off track on the latest Heavy compilation, Sumosonic 29, which was waiting for me upon my return from Los Angeles a week or so ago. It's totally smiley, make-your-Monday-morning-more-pleasant pop music from Swedes The Concretes, and it also appears on the band's self-titled album. Sweetly coy girly vocals + a driving horn section = a more upbeat beginning to the new week.

Also waiting for me when I got back from LA was a strange box of records entitled "Diesel's Greatest Hips" that frankly had me stumped for several days. Finally, I did some snooping & discovered that they must have been a free gift through my subscription to Heavy. Isn't getting random & cool stuff in the mail totally unexpectedly fun? I just wish I had a decent turntable.

MP3 Kings of Convenience - "I'd Rather Dance With You"
Okay, so I'm been listening to this bouncy Kings of Convenience track somewhat obsessively since I turned my attention back to it last week, when I found the song's video online & started watching it repeatedly. The song is from the excellent Riot on an Empty Street LP released by Astralwerks, and it's one of the album's most uptempo numbers - so it's not too suprising that it's the latest single. I get a kick out of how KoC takes on simple subjects with a their wry sense of humor, in this case poking fun at the silly pretense of making conversation when out at the club:

Even if I could hear what you said,
I doubt my reply would be interesting for you to hear.
Because I haven't read a single book all year,
and the only film I saw, I didn't like it at all.

Rockstar Jessica & One-Eyed Willy make a frightening combination.

I'm recovering from an annoying cold. I've had it since last week, though for some odd reason it gave me a day off. Thursday was JRDN's 26th birthday (the pix are from our nite out @ Psycho Suzi's), and for whatever reason I felt fine (if not downright dandy) the whole day, despite being ill both before & after. Strange things are afoot at the Circle K.

Earlier that same nite, Rachel & I headed downtown for the Killers show at the f**king Quest (which I may be calling it from now on). The evening got off to an auspicious start when I tried to buy some advance tickets & was denied on two occasions. Rachel had expressed interest in this week's Scissor Sisters show at the Fine Line, which was (not all that surprisingly) sold out a week in advance. While I should have planned ahead better for that show, I certainly should have better anticipated that the fantastic September 29 triple bill of Franz Ferdinand, Delays & The Futureheads would sell out well in advance. After blowing my opportunity to see Franz Ferdinand back in June, you might have expected me to learn from my past mistakes. I guess not. I was trying to avoid extra Ticketbastard/Clear Channel fees, but I simply waited too long. Thankfully, as you can see, there are still plenty of good shows to see here in Mpls this fall.

Once we got to the f**king Quest, Rachel & I were forced to go up to the balcony in order to drink at the all ages event, where it was damn near impossible to get a view of openers Ambulance LTD unless you were positioned right on the railing. We decided not to even make an attempt, choosing instead to sit & relax with our beverages. We went down to the floor at the end of Ambulance LTD's set & managed to find a pretty decent spot towards the front of the crowd. Unfortunately, we were nearly surrounded by lots of very stupid high school kids, some of whom had even brought their 11 year old sisters. There was a little bit of pre-set bickering between us & a couple of young guys who were making bad jokes about "black tar heroin" and looking forward to all the "techno beats," but it was more amusing than truly annoying.

Once The Killers finally took the stage, it stopped being so funny. The band put on a great show, but there were far too many idiots in the crowd. There was so much pushing & shoving that you could see the whole audience move this way & that, as kids who thought it was 1992 decided that borderline-moshing was a novel idea. Rachel & I were separated for most of the show, and she almost had to throw down with a underage drunk girl who had nailed her in the head several times. It was all quite frustrating.

I had an odd moment toward the end of their main set, when the Killers played "Indie Rock 'n' Roll" (which Said The Gramophone wrote about back in May). The song is only on the British release of the band's debut album Hot Fuss, so many in the audience weren't all that familiar with it. Now I go back & forth about this song, and I still don't know what to think. Is it a nice tribute to the stereotypical "indie" lifestyle? Is it a honest jab at a scene that often thinks too much of itself? Or is it just a horrible, horrible song that should never have been written? So I'm pondering this while all of these kids are being utterly obnoxious, and this guy behind me says, "I can't wait to hear the single." The next song was "Somebody Told Me" and some other doofus yelled, "Alright! The radio song!" My mouth was agape. Something was terribly wrong. I'm still perplexed by the whole incident.

My thanks to JRDN, whose birthday celebration helped salvage the nite.


JRDN finished this gigantic drink, called "The Erupting Volcano" or something like that.

This entry was posted by mr gilbert at 9/13/2004 10:30:00 AM.