MENOMENA Put On A Fine Performance!
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Track:Wet And Rusting
Last night I went into San Francisco to see the incredible Portland, OR band Menomena who I fell in love with when I heard their new 2nd cd at the end of January. They played at this really cool venue called Cafe Du Nord which has two stages, one dowstairs & one on the main level. Lots of gorgeous wood in the downstairs space & a great intimate venue. There were two other bands that played beforehand, neither one I'd heard of before.The Panda Band, from Australia, were first up. These guys were pretty amazing for an opening act. Very talented & live the lead singer reminded me alot of Brock from Modest Mouse as well as the music. But there were some other influences as well, like The Beta Band & maybe some Flaming Lips but they are pretty hard to describe. Here's a link to their myspace page so you can have a listen:http://www.myspace.com/thepandabandThe Bon Savants were up next from Boston, MA. These guys were sonically large. They reminded me somewhat of Pulp, Radiohead, U2 & TV On The Radio all mixed into one. They were quite impressive w/ their guitar work. They did a brilliant cover of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" that they slowed down. It was amazing & I actually found a vid of live on YouTube, although there is some distortion. Here's a link to their purevolume site as well:http://www.purevolume.com/bonsavantsAnd finally we come to the headliner, Menomena! I have to say, that Menomena live is a fascinating, exhilirating thrill ride and it's obvious they love what they do. They put so much energy into their performance, they were incredible! Each one of them shares singing responsibilities as well as playing numerous instruments. And they do alot of sound affects vocally. Very creative blokes these guys. It's so hard to describe their sound since they are such a hodgepodge of influences but melded into their own very unusual style. I like the fact that they incorporate alot of saxophone into their music which reminds me alot of Morphine. In some ways they remind me of Peter Gabriel as well as The Flaming Lips, maybe a little Yes as well. They certainly have some progressive rock influence in their music. Here's a vid of them live w/a backup choir in their hometown of Portland. Would've loved to see this(although they did perform this song last night, just w/o a choir).By the end of their set all three of them, Justin, Brent & Danny were drenched in sweat. They worked hard. The only drawback is that they only played for about an hour total. I was quite surprised but I guess since there were 2 other bands & they didn't start playing until 12:20 that put them close to when the bar closed(yes, CA bars close EARLY). They pretty much set up & tore down their own equipment so that was probably another reason they didn't play as long. But I wanted MORE damnit! Here's another clip of them playing live at the Triple Rock in Minneapolis. The song is "Twenty Cell Revolt" which they also performed live last night:And finally here is their 2nd new cd that you can hear in it's entirety:http://barsukmusic.blaireau.net/menomena/I LOVE MENOMENA!!!!
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