Album du jour #13 - Menomenology + Concert Review

This post has been waaaay too long in coming, but my determination to get various academic obligations out of the way and a Caputo-laden Friday (as well as pursue a small semblance of a social life for a few nights a week) has delayed me.

In short, on Tuesday I went to see up and coming Menomena with Jon at Great Scott. FANTASTIC show. What I didn't expect was to see two very quality opening bands too. The first, Land of Talk, was the biggest surprise. Elizabeth Powell is an outright amazing vocalist - and every guy in the bar was immediately in love with her. At the end of the show I purchased a Menomena poster (based on the Neverending Story...I had to), and asked Powell to sign it "I am not in this band, but I am still a stone cold fox." She found that so amusing she gave me her cd for free - which, coincidentally ehough, was given a good review on Pitchfork the very next day.



The second opening band, Fields of Music, was very tight, but just wasn't as memorable to me as Land of Talk. As for the Menomena show, it was impeccable. I was originally going to review the most recent album and then write about the differences I noticed in the show...but everything was just more dynamic. They're a fantastic life band. So I'll just talk about the album and you can imagine that turned up to 11 for the show.

(why liz powell would be popular even if she wasn't a good musician):


Menomena - Friend or Foe (2007)

Prior Relationship to Album: I was altered to it in Febuary by my good friend and fellow philosophy nerd Jon Burmeister. But it might be arrogant of me to refer to him as a peer - he's the PhD-est of the PhDs! Or something like that. Anyways, he was able to predict exactly my kind of music. Menomena is creative, orchestral, jazz, funk, and all with a passionate independent voice. I wish we had better terminology to talk about the myriad types of rock that exist nowadays...because "indie rock" brings to mind stripped down music with no extra layers. My favourite "indie rock" groups do strip away traditional rock habits to get down to a raw musical center, but then build on that and weave creativity around it, like undoing a knotted yo-yo only to tightly re-wrap it. For instance, Menomena makes as much use out of bass sax and chimes solos as they do their own voices, keyboard and guitars.

High Point: #05 Weird. I can't think of any track in recent memory that puts as much pure driving force behind each note. Second might be #10's Evil Bee.

Low Point: Mostly that there aren't more bands like this one...but as far as the album is concerned, #08 My My. Not that it is a bad song per se, but it has the least Menomena-uniqueness. Would be at home in the last half of a New Pornographer's album, easily.

What I Realized/Learned: Great Scott gets some damn good acts (I saw Jamie Lidell there awhile back). And Portland might have the best music scene in the country.

Future Relationship to Album: It makes me feel like God is rubbing my tummy!

In other news:

I mentioned the relationship of the Chinese to basketball in the NBA post...so I had to point out this link - a list of nicknames the Chinese have for various NBA stars. We have really been slacking as far as nicknames are concerned recently; at best, we've just been using things like K-Mart, or D-Wade...which aren't nicknames nearly as much as efficient names. I'm definately calling Carmelo Anthony "Sweet Melon" from here on out. And It is amazing that no one in the US ever came up with "Stone Buddha" for Duncan before.

Pop Quiz: Who's my favourite President? Yup, that's right, Franklin Pierce!! What a rockstar.