Musical*Pasta

My Thursday night was shaping up to be quite uneventful.  Work was about to end, and my night was probably going to consist of a 6 pack of Miller High Life, Left 4 Dead, and if things got wild, chinese food.  Out of nowhere my night gets a life line tossed to it from my good friend Kodi, who told me to meet him in NYC for a Cloud Cult concert.  Before I know it I have on my walking shoes and I’m on the L train barreling towards Brooklyn.  More specifically the critically appointed hipster home planet of Williamsburg.  Now I want to get out of the way that I’m tired of everyone using the same line to describe this place.  “Oh you’re off to hipster-ville huh?”.  It’s played out. Dead.  Come up with a new joke.  If it brings anything to the table it has hot girls, good indie music, and the neighborhood reminds me of of the live action Ninja Turtles movie.

The Music Hall of Williamsburg is a pretty intimate venue.  Considering the high caliber of some of the acts in there it holds it down reasonably well.  I also don’t know why anyone would see a band at a place like Terminal 5 when they could catch them across the East River at this much cozier venue with cheaper booze.  Opening for Cloud Cult was Margot and The Nuclear So and So’s.  I can’t say that I’ve had to time to listen to their albums as tentatively as Cloud Cult, but they really brought a solid show that night.  I must admit that I’m a sucker for Piano and Violin.  Both instruments danced together smoothly with the rest of the band to create a very moving rhythm.  Their violin player (who plays an array of other stringed instruments) was spot on all night, and I ended up chatting with him a the merch booth afterwards also.  Real nice guy who seems to love the music he’s making.  Margot was a nice return for me to pure and clean sounding music.  They had a ton of elements to each song and they all seemed to blend together very nicely to deliver a delicious sound that really reminds me of the harmony created by bands like The Arcade Fire and Flogging Molly, but all their own.  A controlled chaos of sound.  If I had to be less of a sensationalist and more of a critic I’d say I wish they could get the crowd a bit more fired up.  Regardless, excellent show.

To my surprise a High Life is 5$ at the Music Hall, and while that isn’t “cheap” its still better than a lot of places.  So I got to enjoy my 6 pack, it just costed like 30$ more after tip.  Oh well. 

A bit intoxicated but still fired up for more music, Cloud Cult exploded onto the stage in their own unique fashion.  They opened with Love You All which is just an incredible song for an opener.  So many bands just pick some bad-ass song like “Oh Fortuna” to start their shows off, and it’s really refreshing for a band to come out and create a real organic and natural feeling beginning.  The entire band entered the stage as their parts of the song began, and I feel it really lets you appreciate all the member’s indivdual contributions.  You also can’t deny how kicking it is to start a show off with the menacending (That’s a combination of the word Menacing and Impending…I made it up) doom of guitar and violin.

CC delivered a dynamic set with a lot of different treats to stimulate your senses.  Vocally I felt I was hearing Isaac Brock from Modest Mouse, but their front man Craig Minowa takes his voice to some real different places .  It just did have that feel of Modest Mouse at times.  Which is a compliment in every way possible.  They also had some very easy to hear lyrics that were well thought out and inspirational.

The crowd infused “Take your Medicine” was a real highlight for me.  I was able to simultaneously see groups of people grabbing their friends and throwing their hands in the air during the song a bunch of times.  It was the most excited I saw the crowd all night.  Maybe it was the beer on an empty stomach, but their music really takes you away from life for a while.

An added bonus to their show is that the entire time a band member is painting a crazy ass painting to the music.  It’s pretty awesome, and then it’s auctioned off after the show at the merch table.  Here’s a link to the guy who was painting that night.

If anything the show felt like it could of used a song or two more, but all in all in a surprise on a cloudy Thursday night.  I’m going to look forward to seeing them next year, and I urge anyone who wants to stimulate their senses with a unique and thought compelling array of harmonies to check both these bands out.