12/9/07 - Tartufi, Matthew and the Arrogant Sea, Handclaps and Harmonies

had to go to haileys to see tartufi again - bands that good just cant be missed, no matter how hard it is to get up and go to work the next mornin.

and hey! knuckles came out, after learning aboot the joys of hard licker and sody-water. heh heh, after a few of those, you'll be up for anything.

first up was handclaps and harmonies, a 5-man band with a sound reminiscent of the beatles and the beach boys. after hearing their myspace page, i was worried i was gonna hear a bunch of sappy, happy silly songs, but these guys were much better than that. yes, there was a bit of sappiness (turn your frown upside down), but the 50/60's-inspired happy pop songs were very well written and executed. nice job with 3-part harmonies, too. love that. have to say, tho - the all-white pants have gotta go (or at least a few of them need to move up a size, IF you know what i mean. heh heh, just kiddin guys).

amanda showed up (tartufi are good friends of hers). knuckles asked me if i'd been caught cheating (goin somewhere besides dada, he meant), but i said hey, if she's here too, it's not cheating, right? then knuckles said somethin about the rules involving threesomes, how you have to pretend you're not enjoying it or something. at least that's been his experience with that sort of thing.

got to talk to brian from tartufi for a bit - he remembered me from the show the night before. super nice dude. i'll be able to say i knew him when...

next up was matthew and the arrogant sea, and i'll tell ya - these boys have something. second time i've seen them, and i liked it even better than the first time. sort of a spacey folk feel, sorta like animal collective, but much more melodic and beautiful. i'd maybe even compare it more to panda bear's stuff, but maybe thats just cuz of the filtered/echoed vocal effects that they both use. incredible set of pipes on lead - dude can belt it out. some hauntingly beautiful stuff, i thot. definitely nearing the top of my list of local faves.

Last was tartufi, who once again were phenomenal (see yesterday's post for my first review). they did an extended set (shweet!), so we got to hear both some newer and some older material (the new stuff was "for amanda", and the older stuff was "for our new friend steve, who came out two nights in a row". ha! how cool is that?). absolutely loved the way lynne would sing a line or two, loop it, sing over that and loop it, then sing over that to create a 3-part harmony. truly beautiful. sometimes when i heard her sing, it would remind me so much of Le Mystere De Voix Bulgare - how's that for an obscure reference? and man, can she play the geetar (and bass). fantastic, hard-drivin stuff. even got the thumbs-up from knuckles, a heavy metal-head.
once again, a truly fantastic performance - definitely made me glad i made the trip.

during their set, a clearly plastered chick started foolin around on the steps up to the stage, and amanda showed she could have a second career as a bouncer. now THAT was funny.

unbelievably, the joint was nearly empty. i dont pretend to understand.