The Head and the Heart
I've been meaning to make a post about the amazing bands I've seen this year, but I'm lazy and have no time, so I never got around to writing about the awesome groups and their awesome shows. We went to a lot of concerts this year, and of the new bands that I saw in 2011, my two favorite are Slow Club and The Head and the Heart.
Slow Club's a bizarre duo, a British folky, pop-y group. The New York Times loves both these albums - Their second one, Paradise, just came out in September and hot damn is it good. The sophomore album can be troublesome for a lot of bands, but the follow up to their debut Yeah, So is amazing. It's hard to explain why they're so damn good, but a big part of it is the weirdly awesome turns that the lyrics take. One song on their first album has the line "if you came back as the deep sea / I'd come back as the salt." It's so... so... quirky, but I don't mean to be dismissive. We saw them in a tiny little venue stuffed full of drunk hipsters. A great show, memoriable for a number of reasons. Par example, I was admiring the band-related swag and picked up one of the shirts. "Does this come in women's size?" I asked. "No," came the reply, "they're one-size-fits all." I turned to thank the guy and then realized I was speaking to one of the lead singers. And felt like an idiot. The pattern of being a doofus in front of people I admire continues!
The Head and the Heart is an American band. More folky than Slow Club, definitely. Picture lots of beards, lots of knitted hats. We saw them in a good size hall - Great sho with great acoustics. I'd been listening to the album NON STOP before the show and seeing them live was not a disappointment. And then I started obsessively titling stories after their lyrics. They're working on their album #2, and from what we heard at the show, it's going to be a great follow up to their first. This is driving through the country music, it's for listening to in the sun. It certainly gets melancholy at times, but even then, it's still a validation for the simple beauty in life.
Oh, and hay, Amazon's got an amazing Cyber Monday deal on The Head and the Heart today.
Slow Club's a bizarre duo, a British folky, pop-y group. The New York Times loves both these albums - Their second one, Paradise, just came out in September and hot damn is it good. The sophomore album can be troublesome for a lot of bands, but the follow up to their debut Yeah, So is amazing. It's hard to explain why they're so damn good, but a big part of it is the weirdly awesome turns that the lyrics take. One song on their first album has the line "if you came back as the deep sea / I'd come back as the salt." It's so... so... quirky, but I don't mean to be dismissive. We saw them in a tiny little venue stuffed full of drunk hipsters. A great show, memoriable for a number of reasons. Par example, I was admiring the band-related swag and picked up one of the shirts. "Does this come in women's size?" I asked. "No," came the reply, "they're one-size-fits all." I turned to thank the guy and then realized I was speaking to one of the lead singers. And felt like an idiot. The pattern of being a doofus in front of people I admire continues!
The Head and the Heart is an American band. More folky than Slow Club, definitely. Picture lots of beards, lots of knitted hats. We saw them in a good size hall - Great sho with great acoustics. I'd been listening to the album NON STOP before the show and seeing them live was not a disappointment. And then I started obsessively titling stories after their lyrics. They're working on their album #2, and from what we heard at the show, it's going to be a great follow up to their first. This is driving through the country music, it's for listening to in the sun. It certainly gets melancholy at times, but even then, it's still a validation for the simple beauty in life.
Oh, and hay, Amazon's got an amazing Cyber Monday deal on The Head and the Heart today.