The sky darkened, welcoming Olympia's Lake and
Portland's AgesandAges to Minneapolis, last night, May 10th.
|
Tour Dates
05/13/11 Biltmore Cabaret, Vancouver BC
Read More05/14/11 Northern, Olympia WA 05/15/11 The Tractor Tavern, Seattle WA 08/05/11 Pickathon, Portland OR AgesandAges' debut album is called Alright You Restless on Knitting Factory Records. They are currently on tour to promote it, and tomorrow will be in town with K Records' Lake.
|
|
RYAN PAUL AND THE ARDENT |
Opening up for them was Ryan Paul and the Ardent, a local band, and from their biography they aren't afraid to mention that Ryan Paul was lost "in a haze of drug and alcohol addiction". But he seems all sorted out now, sober and focus. However, seems a little amateurish when band members argued about the setlist order.
Ryan Paul and the Ardent's songs seems to be about singer Ryan Paul's struggles of the heart ("Nothing Can Destroy") and loneliness ("Meet Me Where I Am"). The highlight of the show was a cover of The Ramones' "The KKK Took My Baby Away".
They did manage to fit all seven band members of AgesandAges on stage at the tiny 7th Street Entry. I was kind of impressed, no one got hurt. I actually didn't know what to expect from AgesandAges, but they did sound upbeat, catchy, happy, and melodic like I'm From Barcelona, but minus the extra 32 band members.
The title track, "Alright, You Restless" was dedicated to a "dry and boring professor", and you quickly realize their protest when they sing "but that won't happen to us". Of course, lots of hand-clapping are involved.
I don't have their album, Alright, You Restless, but from what I heard live, it sounded great.
Lake's new album is called Giving & Receiving, and I did manage to give it a listen to before I saw them to get an idea of what they'll sound like live. I'll admit, I was expecting a pretty mellow show. It does have things I like, the boys/girls vocals and brief pop songs.
One thing I've noticed is that the band members play musical chairs and switches between keys and drums and bass, etc. Their songs has a tendency to point to the heavens ("Distant Stars", "The Stars", etc), so it seems natural that Lindsay asked what those clouds in the sky over Minneapolis were called. Someone in the audience said "mammatus". Luckily, I did manage to take some pictures of the mammatus clouds prior to the show, which I'm using in this article as the title header.
As much as I liked the Ashley songs, I thought "Skeleton Costume" was the best song live. The melodies reminded me of "Lean On Me".
Most of the songs performed last night are from their latest album, Giving & Receiving, out now on K Records.
BONUS: So, last night, there was a lot of noise coming in from the main room, First Avenue. I did sneak in to see what all the ruckus was about.
Apparently, Xavier Rudd, from Australia was playing to a very full house. Judging from his audience, they are the free-spirited, earth-friendly, hippies-type (the last crusty band I saw for State Radio, there was also a massive turnout).
He spent the last four songs of his set sitting down, playing these funky instruments and drums. I didn't know any of the songs, but the last song was done in acapella and seems to be about the Aboriginal, with lyrics like frozen earth, hunting ground, and the future we hold in our hands. He held up a boomerang, which I honestly thought he was going to throw it into the audience (but wouldn't it just go back to him?) He did no such thing, apparently the boomerang meant something special to him. He held it close to his chest and left the stage.
Ryan Paul and the Ardent's songs seems to be about singer Ryan Paul's struggles of the heart ("Nothing Can Destroy") and loneliness ("Meet Me Where I Am"). The highlight of the show was a cover of The Ramones' "The KKK Took My Baby Away".
|
AGESANDAGES |
The title track, "Alright, You Restless" was dedicated to a "dry and boring professor", and you quickly realize their protest when they sing "but that won't happen to us". Of course, lots of hand-clapping are involved.
I don't have their album, Alright, You Restless, but from what I heard live, it sounded great.
Lake's new album is called Giving & Receiving, and I did manage to give it a listen to before I saw them to get an idea of what they'll sound like live. I'll admit, I was expecting a pretty mellow show. It does have things I like, the boys/girls vocals and brief pop songs.
One thing I've noticed is that the band members play musical chairs and switches between keys and drums and bass, etc. Their songs has a tendency to point to the heavens ("Distant Stars", "The Stars", etc), so it seems natural that Lindsay asked what those clouds in the sky over Minneapolis were called. Someone in the audience said "mammatus". Luckily, I did manage to take some pictures of the mammatus clouds prior to the show, which I'm using in this article as the title header.
As much as I liked the Ashley songs, I thought "Skeleton Costume" was the best song live. The melodies reminded me of "Lean On Me".
Most of the songs performed last night are from their latest album, Giving & Receiving, out now on K Records.
|
LAKE |
|
XAVIER RUDD |
Apparently, Xavier Rudd, from Australia was playing to a very full house. Judging from his audience, they are the free-spirited, earth-friendly, hippies-type (the last crusty band I saw for State Radio, there was also a massive turnout).
He spent the last four songs of his set sitting down, playing these funky instruments and drums. I didn't know any of the songs, but the last song was done in acapella and seems to be about the Aboriginal, with lyrics like frozen earth, hunting ground, and the future we hold in our hands. He held up a boomerang, which I honestly thought he was going to throw it into the audience (but wouldn't it just go back to him?) He did no such thing, apparently the boomerang meant something special to him. He held it close to his chest and left the stage.
)