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For the love of god, go see Wack-Ass Egyptians. Even if you don't love jokey, high-concept bands (I often don't love jokey, high-concept bands.), go and give these crazed rappers with their bizarre, obscurely clever and hilarious rhymes and their insanely tight four-piece rock band a try. Unless, you know, you don't like music that's played passionately and well. They're actually a little sloppy tonight, for them, but that still leaves them tightly together, and the mix is quite good. And there's a new song!
The Day Jobs are from Albany. Most of their songs seem very short, and I keep being surprised that they're done. Maybe time is flying. They are fun, in a bluesy pop kind of way. Kind of like Squeeze in their slower songs. It's well played all around, with really exemplary drum fills and excellent singing, and I enjoy their occasional dual guitar leads. The harmonies are sometimes a little obvious, but always really lovely and well-sung. I can almost never make out lyrics, but there does seem to be one pretty paean to pre-ops. That's always fun.
The Waxwings are from Detroit, and somehow they sound like it. I don't even know what I mean by that; there's just something in their sound that makes me think it makes sense that they're from Detroit. It's a fairly straightforward, tuneful rock with a big wall of guitar sound and some nice harmony. The songs don't really stick with me on the first pass, but that's often the case. Oh, and I'm really tired, which makes it hard to pay close attention; sorry.
Fortunately, The Brett Rosenberg Problem are all set to rock the fuck out, and even though I literally almost fall over at one point, I am well and truly rocked. They come bursting out of the gate with something like five or six brand new songs in a row! It seems like every time Brett sneezes, he involuntarily writes a song. Okay, one of them sort of starts out as "Sunshine of my Love," but the melody is nothing like it, and the song sounds good. Once again, I'm a little too tired to absorb and retain a bunch of brand new songs, but they wash over me and sound good. And Jason is playing more lead guitar on these new ones, and he's really amazingly good: less outrageously flashy than Brett, but his leads have a sort of magnificence to them. They're huge, somehow. After enough good new stuff to have me looking forward to the next new BRP album (Didn't they just release a new album?), they play some "hits" from the back catalogue and a couple of well-chosen covers. Thank god they include "Orange Line," one of the most beautiful songs ever written and a chance to showcase the three excellent singers in this band and their harmony genius.
