Results tagged “manman”

In terms of music, Saturday was definitely our biggest day at Bumbershoot. We spent most of the time running from one partial set to another. Along the way we caught Thao Nguyen and her backing band, the Get Down Stay Down. Thao's breathy voice is much bigger than the tiny girl it comes out of, and with her solid, clap-happy set, she managed to be energetic (for a singer-songwriter) without verging into crazy territory (even if she did almost perform one song twice).

Donte's blurb for Man Man is "warpaint!"; our motto for the fun-time Philly circus band is "everybody hits something!" Regardless, the "Viking-vaudeville punk-wop rock-and-soul collective" consistently puts on a great live show. Last night at Neumo's, even their sound check was awesome, and that was way before they donned the all-white outfits and face paint. In fact, the over-the-top performance is so central to Man Man's appeal that we don't even bother to listen to them in recorded form. For us, it's all about the charms of the live act: the aluminum buckets and slide whistles, the melodica and marimba, the crazy-eyed drummer, the mulleted singer/keyboardist occasionally playing the Rhoades with his butt.... It's the simple things, really, that make us smile.

Saturday night's Man Man performance was going along just as we expected after seeing them just a few months ago. The Philadelphia band was tearing through songs in typical uninterrupted style, and the crowd was finally starting to really get into it. We saw a lone crowdsurfer, then we saw said surfer get tossed from the venue. Moments later, the band took a break to call for their friend's return. The ejection we saw wasn't the one of their interest, but their friend Tracy, who was "violently" thrown out. There wasn't much explanation other than what the band said, but we later heard that their friend was drinking from a bottle of booze smuggled into the crowd. In any case, the band tried to make a case for their friends return, pausing the show for around ten minutes with claims of never returning to Neumos, that it was all bullshit, etc.

Friday's Junior Boys show was pretty much what you saw in the preview post video from the West Hollywood show. Three guys on stage (although the drummer was barely visible way in the back), playing beautiful songs that melded rock and electronic elements ("electro-rock" as some will call it, but more Cure than Ladytron). If you actually watched the video rather than minimizing the window to listen, you will have noticed that there wasn't really much to see, as the band members were a bit...lacking in stage presence. Not a lack of confidence or musical skill, but Friday's show on-stage amounted to a lot of "nothing to see here," leaving you to find other places to land your gaze.

For weeks we've been waiting for the opportunity to share our latest obsession. Unlike previous obsessions with curling, competitive eating, or most recently Rock Paper Scissors, this obsession is more academic in nature. It concerns the rare, not yet standard punctuation mark known as the interrobang. It combines the exclamation point and the question mark to express both excitement and disbelief. If you've ever said "What!?" then you know how it should be used.

Another copious serving of live tunes (not to mention opportunities to leave your smelly apartment), courtesy of Seattlest. You can thank us later.

The Fiery Furnaces show at Neumos on the day of June thirteenth in the year of our lord two thousand six was awesome. Even if you don't like the Fiery Furnaces, even if you don't know who they are, even if you don't like music, you need to go to a Fiery Furnaces show. New experiences are the spice of life. Treat yourself.