Last night bookdwarf was out at a bachelorette party so I went over to PA’s Lounge to see a couple bands. I don’t get over there much but when I do, I kick myself for not going more often. It’s got an atmosphere that’s been ably described as “VFW Hall” — complete with sassy bartender who insists on showing “The Notebook” on one TV to balance out the baseball on the other, and a crusty old guy who’s been there drinking away his pension check since midafternoon, repeating himself and clumsily trying to chat with the opening band members. No attitude at all. I like that kind of vibe.
And I definitely like $3 generic beer.
The event was billed as a CD release party for The Sunsets Quick, and they were pretty good. The first band, Forsythe, have a lead singer who sounds like Cat Power, and a great drummer. Plus, they actually use a marimba for a few songs, instead of just setting the synth to marimba mode. That’s pretty nifty.
The highlight, though, was the middle of the three performers, Vivian Darkbloom. Their track “Cold War,” if there were any justice in the music biz, would be on heavy rotation. Lines like “I loved our cold war, we never had to mean what we said, we spoke like our governments” and “you list me as a friend, but it’s complicated, I guess the whole world knows now” are just brilliantly clever. And then there’s the fact that the lead has attached a Wii remote to his guitar, and wired it in some way so as to have the motion sensor affect the tones coming out of the instrument.
Secretly Ironic 