If music is my lover, you are just a tease

[beautifulduckweed]

I saw Rogue Wave open for Nada Surf this year, and I was really impressed. In my experience, most opening bands tend to, well, suck a whole lot of balls, unless the band is, say, PJ Harvey opening for U2. At any rate, I got my mitts on their debut, Out of the Shadow, last weekend, and I've been listening to it non-stop.

If the ghost of Elliot Smith made sweet, sweet love to the Flaming Lips while dressed in Simon and Garfunkel drag, the music this bastard child would produce might sound something like what Rogue Wave produces. It's incredibly pretty, somewhat psychedelic indie-folk-pop.

I can't recommend them highly enough. Go! Check them out! I can't wait until their new album, Descended Like Vultures, arrives at the library. They've entered my "check their website obsessively for new tour dates" list.

They share the same record label as The Shins. Oh, man, if they open for The Shins, my head might just a-splode from happiness.

Speaking of a-sploding from happiness: John Vanderslice! This Saturday! SQUEE!

Comments

[browse.livejournal.com]

I dunno, I've been introduced to some really excellent music by way of opening acts. I saw the Uninvited open for Chris Isaak, and they lit the crowd up with "Too High for the Supermarket". I also saw Guadaloop open for Fiona Apple, and I wouldn't have heard of Erin McKeown had she not been opening for Mike Doughty.

I need to get out and see more live music in PDX. Hmm, who is playing at Edgefield tonight...

[misshepeshu.livejournal.com]

OK, The Flaming Lips opening for Beck was pretty damn awesome, too, but I'm not sure that counted, since they were also his backup band for that tour. Also: The Flaming Lips = Awesome. Period.

In terms of discovering bands I'd never heard of, All Night Radio was very good when they opened for The Shins, but their studio album kind of sort of sucked monkey ass. The songwriting and instrumentation were good, but they were way, way too fond of using the reverb effect on the vocals to hide the fact that the lead singer couldn't stay on key even if he'd strapped himself on with a harness. Something kinda similar happened with The Hiss, who opened for Electric 6 and were absolutely brilliant live; the lead singer can sing, but the mid-tone heavy mix of the studio album turned me off.

And if I remember correctly, Franz Ferdinand opened for Interpol one time, which is something I would've enjoyed muchly, but alas and alack, I completely missed out on it.

I saw Jurassic 5 open for Fiona Apple a few years ago. Unfortunately, I wasn't very appreciative of the old-school style of hip-hop back then (any sort of hip hop, period). Given that I now really, really like Jurassic 5, I wish I could time-travel, or at least recall enough details of the show to experience some sort of retroactive pleasure.

Rogue Wave is the only unreservedly excellent opening band experience so far, in that their live performance awesomeness has translated well into their recordings.