THE JO-TEL … illegal blog downfield

In typical fashion, Hip E. purchased two tickets to the Matt & Kim show at Bottom of the Hill months early with little guarantee that: (a) he would remember that he had purchased the tickets; (b) he would not lose the tickets somehow; or (c) he or anyone else would want to actually attend when the time came. We had seen these two open for someone at the Independent. But we could not remember who.

After a particularly long day of billing drudgery at the firm, I decided to go. Checking out the opening band, Best Fwends, on myspace, I determined them to be twee-punk and realized that they would be fun to watch, even if their album wasn’t going to explode anyone’s year-end list. I informed Hip E. that they were twee-punk when he was leaving to pick me up. He took it pretty well.

We got rather drunk on Jack Daniels and Gatorade before entering, which was nice. Also, I wedged the water bottle with said concoction into the fence next to the front door before entering and was pleasantly surprised when I returned after Best Fwends and it was still there. However, I was then faced with the challenge of how to bring it in to the show (which I had decided I wanted to do). My pants were too tight to wedge it in the crotch without looking too obviously like circa-1981 Judas Priest. The front of the sweatshirt wasn’t working either. But I managed to cloak it under my arm and under the hoodie– worked VERY nicely.

To rewind, Best Fwends was fun. They didn’t actually play instruments, they just sang over their pre-recorded tracks, The Blow-style. It was fun and allowed them to interact with the audience and create a most pit, for instance. Why do bands even need to play instruments, I wondered against my better judgment? Kim was watching them and looked happy, which was interesting because when they came on they told everyone that they were sick.

Matt & Kim are great. For a band that stakes their appeal on the childlike happiness of their music and performance, it’s amazing that they had no haters. No one can resist falling in love with Kim on the drums. They are just keyboard and drums– an inverted Mates of States. But in my opinion they have replaced that band– who’s neutered Re-Arrange Me is, for me, the most disappointing album of the year– as the go-to lo-fi twee-pop band for the right mood. They had a big banner that they wanted everyone to sign, but Matt commented about the trend of drawing penises on the sign and admonished that no one could draw a penis unless they actually took their penis out. After the show, Hip E. and I pulled our pants down and drew penises on the banner.

And in typical fashion, Hip E. bought their CD.

-Shark