Superfunkomatic - Observations of the Socially Inept

i’m surprised by the latest group of buzz bands, at least the canadians ones. seems that to be “cool” now means to look like you should be on IT support staff - “can i defragment your harddrive miss?”.

latest attempts - the band “ladies and gentlemen” touring with matthew good across canada, the “arcade fire” (who’s music is actually quite good) and “death cab for cutie”. what’s with the geeky sweaters, buttoned down look and pasted down hair. geek chic? ugh, whatever. they look like the kid that sat in the back of the class in elementary school that wet themselves anytime anyone talked to them.

music used to encourage rebellion and dare i say the oft overused term “angst”. it used to bring about emotions and actions contrary to what your grandparents thought. anti-sexual, almost asexual. maybe youth is tired of rebellion, and is rebelling through conformity.

plus, WTF is up with “kids”, 16-18-20 year olds and there cellphones and text messaging. i’m all for technology and communication, but do you need to answer your phone in the middle of a concert. what the hell are you doing there if a phone call is that important? i’m guessing that there were very few multi-national corporate executives in the crowd. show respect for the performers, those around you and yourself - put away the cellphone you pretentious, self-absorbed twit. can’t people go out for an evening of fun without being tethered to their blackberry or cellphone, ugh…

for the record - there’s been buzz about the “ladies and gentlemen” band and i can provide an independent report of their performance - lacklustre. take equal parts of the cure’s bontempi organ tricks, a rick ocasek (the cars) voice poorly executed, three monkeys clapping and shaking maraccas and tambourines, all clad in white shirts and pants and you get a sad display. is it a joke? are you a joke? apparently i missed something mixed into their lyrics something along the line of “stay if you want, but not in my bed” repeated 50 times in a plucked bass number. awful, capital ‘A’, awful.

and now i digress, matthew good - fantastic. consumate performer. many acoustic and semi-acoustic portions in the show. a different pace from the last time i saw him in 99, more mood less raccous. played some standards and new faves - “hello timebomb”, “load me up”, acoustic “apparitions”, “advertising on police cars”, “alert status red”, “avalanche”, etc - all to the note of the albums, but with a live edgy feel. no idle chatter, he ripped through his set, which by my recollection was about an hour and a half. and one can’t help but covet his collection of guitars old gibsons and gretsch guitars - truly masterpieces.

i’m always amazed by performers that can sing unaccompanied and still have the full “sound” of the song. didn’t sound like anything was missing. i’d highly recommend his concerts if he tours your way.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS