THE JO-TEL … illegal blog downfield

On the walk over to The Independent I found myself behind this women walking home from work. I walked behind her for about nine blocks, with turns, and she was acting like she was a little afraid I was stalking here even though it just so happened that we had the same route. I wanted to tell her, “Look, I’m listening to Scientist Rids the World of the Curse of the Evil Vampires. No one who has ever listened to this album has ever done anything bad. It’s okay.”

I got to the venue early and purchased my service-charge-less tickets at the box office after waiting in a small line of nervous looking bearded dudes. Then I bought a tall boy of delicious Coors and drank it by a dumpster until Shanny D arrived, at which point I ate delicious Ethiopian food and witnessed the worst jukebox I’ve ever seen (online jukebox, of course).

And now to the concert! Christopher Willits was this lapbient (my term) one-man band and he was not good for two reasons: (1) he was annoying; and (2) he just looped pre-produced beats and guitar noise. Not very interesting.

Then I spat in the Deepa’s eye.

Then Stars of the Lid came on! Two dudes and a three-women string section (two violins and a cello). One of the dudes was bald and stood in the corner with his back to the audience the whole time. The other dude spoke a few times and had the stage presence of a seventh grader at a spelling bee. They opened with “Dungtitled in A Minor”, my favorite song off of SOTLATROTD. I was a bit unsure about the string accompaniment at first. The instruments were loud and seemed to weigh down the heavily treated, but quiet guitar drones of the two main guys. Any concerns I had, though, were soon dispelled by their aching rendition of “Requiem for Dying Mothers” from TSOSOTL. The accompaniment was perfect for the tragically themed song and the thundering– yes, thundering– bass in the second part was amazing. Nearly brought a tear to my jaded eye. While never again reaching those heights, the remainder of the show was great. “Even If You’re Never Awake” featured some nice background sounds. “Tippy’s Demise” (which was introduced as “another hit”) was expanded upon and droned on without droning on. The set closer was, of course, “December Hunting for Vegetarian Fuckface”, which was improved by the violins and sped up a bit from the album version. In general they pushed and pulled on the songs (with the main guy providing signals to the orchestra, etc.), giving the performance an unrehearsed feel that belied the type of music. And luckily the visuals did not tamper with this winning formula. Not compelling enough to distract, not lame enough to detract.

It was amazing to see The Independent, an indie venue, partially seated and listening to, essentially, classical music– a set where the introduction of minimal piano was tantamount to the drummer of a hair band pounding on a big drum gong with the band’s name on it that is wheeled out for one song. And The Independent was so quiet you could have heard my Blackberry ping.

-Shark