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Clickers pretty much get better every time I see them. There are some early balance issues between the two guitarists, so a very cool part of the first song is all but lost, but once they fix that, there's really nothing wrong with this set. It's a very pretty, melodic set for them, relatively heavy on the actual singing, and that balances their jumpy, spastic tendencies well. There's a new song in the middle, and it's gorgeous, more tuneful and accessible than most of their songs without being at all overt or simple. They have a really good crowd for 9:15.
Circle and Square start out in a kind of dirgey mid-tempo, but when the vocals come in they're much more upbeat. The singing is kind of passionate and kind of earnest. It's quite good, and it sounds a little bit like a whole lot of things I hear on the radio. The only problem with that is that I start to wonder why I'm bothering here; I get enough of this kind of thing on the radio, you know? Still, it is well done, and kind of catchy, and they seem like very nice boys.
Detachment Kit make a good answer to them, wacky and edgy and a little sloppy, wildly bouncing among moods and sounds. About half the time--okay, maybe two thirds--they're all screamo punkishness, but with some more interesting things going on in the guitars. Then they'll suddenly slow down, and the frontman will go from screaming and ranting to a really pretty high melody line. He also invades the crowd at times, and does some very odd patter. The best comes early on, when he points out an empty chair onstage and announces that the drummer wants a pretty girl to sit in it and stare at him while they play. When someone volunteers, he cajoles her to take the stage and the chair. She seems hesitant to actually do it, once she comes to understand that he's serious, but he's not taking "no" for an answer, and she proves to be a very good sport, spending the rest of the set up there, obviously enjoying herself without trying to draw extraneous attention. Oh, and she knows all the words. Their slow song is really lovely.
Minus the Bear have a serious draw, it seems. Their fans are very enthusiastic, but I'm tired, and I have a couple of problems with their set. The drumming is really heavy on a fast dance rhythm that turns me off, especially with the very sythetic-sounding keyboard part. And the mix is overwhelmingly heavy on boomy bass, a problem that is frequent in TT's and of which this night had heretofore been blessedly free. (It's now gotten so crowded that the soundguy can't possibly come out of the booth to wander around and hear how it sounds out here, which may be a large part of the problem.) There seems to be some really interesting guitar stuff going on, but it only occasionally manages to muscle its way out in front of the bass and be heard for a moment. And we're tired, so after four or five songs we give up.
