120 Days And A Long Ass Night...

Seattlest read enough "Band to Watch" articles to get either mildly excited or moderately annoyed at the latest Norwegian band to bring their act to the states – 120 Days (file under this year's Serena Maneesh). Formerly known as "The Beautiful People" – these fresh-faced Oslo boys had all the girls swooning at Chop Suey with a formulaic mix of Roland Samples and sexy drum beats (think New Order), oversaturated guitars (think My Bloody Valentine), and a singer with enough swagger and skill to make it all flow (um, Bono?). It's a sound with influences we dig; we just question the concept of originality. One thing is for certain though; their live show definitely lived up to the "Pitchfork-Hype" we expected to regret and the tinge of rock was a pleasant surprise from a band known for 9 minute songs. In fact, after listening to their latest self-titled release, most everything about this band surprised us – mostly their amazing on-stage energy. Not typical from a band with such shoe-gaze aspirations. We just wouldn't want to be their roadie – we've never seen so much damn equipment on stage for one band! 120 Days seem poised to assimilate most of North America as they close out a successful tour here on the West Coast. Holding it down on hump day, Seattlest took in all the experimental/ambientness we could handle from local opening bands Joy Wants Eternity and New Grey Area – unfortunately we probably needed to drop some E to really enjoy the mix of slide show and live show. Really now, that hasn't been done well since The Knife....

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Poisoned by Beauty