Don't just do something, stand there

Hiatus

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 19:55:00 +0000

As if you couldn't tell, this lil' blog is officially on hiatus. Head over to Donewaiting and/or The Other Paper for current stuff.

Favorite albums of 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 21:16:00 +0000

Larry Jon Wilson takes my top spot. Full list here:
http://www.donewaiting.com/2009/12/29/favorite-albums-of-2009-by-joel-oliphint/

Saturday night

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:29:00 +0000

Bob Dylan is coming to town

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:36:00 +0000

Dylan is playing the LC Pavilion this Tuesday, Nov. 3, and (fortunately) he hasn't been playing stuff from his recent Christmas album. I saw Dylan the last time he came to Columbus, at the Schottenstein Center, and I still hold that the man is worth seeing, growling mumble-singing and all.

So as a preview, I'm just going to post my review that ran in the Other Paper after that October 2007 concert—a defense, of sorts, for why it's still a big deal when Dylan comes to town.

Other than introducing his band Saturday night, Bob Dylan didn’t say a word to the crowd gathered at the Schottenstein Center. This isn’t rare for Dylan, and it actually makes sense. When you’re an American icon/legend/cultural revolutionary who’s now 66 years old, what’s left to say?

While writing this review, the same question tugged at my own brain. The piece is necessary, of course, because Bob Dylan came to town, and one can’t ignore a concert like that. And yet, it’s also entirely unnecessary because, really, what’s left to say? I won’t pretend to add anything groundbreaking to the vast amount of critical praise that has been heaped upon Dylan over the years, but from a practical standpoint, just know this: He’s still worth seeing. Very much so. And that’s what most people wonder about Dylan these days, isn’t it? Sure, we recognize and acknowledge his influence and the sense of history he carries with him, but is he still worth paying $40 to $70 (plus surcharges) to see in person? “After all,” you might say, “he never could sing too well, and I heard he can barely carry a tune now.” Dylan acknowledged this question Saturday night in the song “Spirit on the Water” when he sang, “You think I’m over the hill/You think I’m past my prime.” The audience collectively responded no, and they were right.

Bob Johnston, who produced Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde and others, said in Martin Scorsese’s Dylan documentary, No Direction Home, “I think God, instead of touching [Dylan] on the shoulder, he kicked him in the ass. That’s where all that came from. He can’t help what he’s doing. I mean he’s got the Holy Spirit about him.” Sure, Dylan can’t sing the way he used to, and there was certainly a part of me wishing that I could hear him belt out, “How does it feeeeel.” But his other-worldly inspiration is still present; it just manifests itself in a different form these days, with Dylan in a wide-rimmed hat and cowboy boots rasping and spitting his lyrics as if they’re poisonous gravel that can only be spewed in short bursts.

Dylan also realizes the importance of a great backing band. The musicians were flawless and as tight as a band could be, following Dylan’s lead with ease--all he had to do was vaguely nod his head or slightly flick his wrist to indicate a change. Lead guitarist Denny Freeman was especially fun to hear, playing his solos with vigor and creativity while never upstaging the man we all came to see. Drummer George Recile established the groove for each song and added tasteful flourishes to keep it all interesting. Dylan only played his electric guitar on the first three tunes (“Rainy Day Women #12 & 35,” “It Ain’t Me, Babe” and “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues”), then stood behind the keys the rest of the night.

Other than those opening songs and closer “All Along the Watchtower,” the set list drew heavily from 2006’s Modern Times, mostly songs of love and heartbreak. The days of Dylan the protest singer are long gone, of course, but he can convey emotions in a surrealistic way that makes him just as relevant today. The fact that Dylan’s a creepy guy sometimes works in his favor, too--the renditions of “Ballad of a Thin Man” and “Ain’t Talkin’ ” felt vaguely downright haunting.

In “Thunder on the Mountain,” the first song of his encore, Dylan sang, “I’ve been thinking ‘bout Alicia Keys, couldn’t keep from crying... I’m wondering where in the world Alicia Keys could be.” It’s the perfect example of a Dylan song that’s simultaneously antiquated (uses a bluesy boogie structure), modern (references Alicia Keys) and somewhat inscrutable (Dylan’s looking for Alicia Keys?). He seems to realize that we’re continually drawn to what we don’t immediately understand, and Dylan certainly isn’t going to do any explaining for us, which is probably another reason he doesn’t engage in witty stage banter--all the puzzle pieces are right there in the songs. We just have to put them together.

Kurt Vile

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:13:00 +0000

My Q&A with Kurt Vile:
http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2009/10/best-of-whats-next-kurt-vile.html

Stephen Colbert and the Mountain Goats

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:46:00 +0000

Fun interview, good performance, great album.

David Bazan - Curse Your Branches

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 01:49:00 +0000

Musicians who sing about their faith often are polarizing, and David Bazan is no exception. Bazan is best-known for his work with former band Pedro the Lion, which specialized in slowcore confessionals with doleful vocals. In the past, some listeners gave his lyrics a cursory glance and snidely wrote him off as just another underperforming, devout evangelical. Meanwhile, many evangelicals bristled at Bazan’s constant, not-so-subtle skewering of their culture. And his drinking.

Bazan’s struggles with faith have been a consistent theme in his work—one minute he’s singing God’s praises, the next minute he’s doubting God altogether. Until recently, though, faith has always trumped. “I could tell you why I doubt it, and why I still believe,” he sang on “The Fleecing” from 2004’s Achilles Heel.

But doubt is back with a vengeance on Curse Your Branches, so much so that Bazan has surrendered to it. Struggle has turned into defiance, belief to disbelief. “You expect me to believe/That all this misbehaving grew from one enchanted tree?” he asks on album opener “Hard to Be.” And later, on the title track, he digs his heels in harder: “All fallen leaves should curse their branches/For not letting them decide where they should fall/And not letting them refuse to fall at all.” Of all the Big Questions, the one that seems to rankle him the most is: If God is good, then why is there evil in the world? “If you knew what would happen,” Bazan sings on “When We Fell,” “and made us just the same/Then you, my Lord, can take the blame.”

In Pedro the Lion, many of Bazan’s first-person narratives weren’t (entirely) self-referential; Control (2002) was a concept album that chronicled the destruction of a fictitious marriage. But that’s not what Bazan is doing here, and the record is better for it.

And while Bazan’s voice will always be ponderous no matter the instrumentation, this new music is less sludgy. If Pedro the Lion albums were dark basement rooms, Curse Your Branches is renovated with some windows that, from time to time, even let in soft breezes, usually in the form of longtime collaborator Casey Foubert’s pedal steel or little bits of keyboard, like the synthesized strings on “Heavy Breath.” The bluesy bounce of “When We Fell” also finds Bazan at his jauntiest, but he still loves taking things at a snail’s pace (“Harmless Sparks,” “In Stitches”).

There’s nothing breezy about Bazan’s state of mind, though. He hit a crossroads and made a decision, yet he’s anything but at peace with it. There are the possible cosmic implications, but even more so, Curse Your Branches is about the effect his decision (and his drinking habit, which is indicative of that decision) has on the people around him, particularly his family. “The gap between what I hoped would be/And what is/Makes me weep for my kids,” Bazan sings on “Bearing Witness.” He also fears that his doubt will “spread like original sin,” and wonders whether his baby daughter will “soon despise the smell of the booze on my breath like her mom.”

The most heartbreaking family portrait comes on “Please Baby Please,” a phrase that describes the look in his wife’s eyes, and then is pleaded by Bazan over the phone to his silent spouse. On the last verse, his daughter (in the future) enters the grim picture: “Sunrise at the county lockup/Now our baby’s 23/She was out late drinking/Killed a mother of three/She said please daddy please.”

Bazan’s spiritual journey is far from over. On the final track he admits he still hears the voice of the “captain,” and that his daughter is lately full of Big Questions, too. So there’s more to come. But for now, this crisis of faith has led him to create the best album of his career.

mp3: David Bazan - Bless This Mess

(Also at The Other Paper)

Things

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:49:00 +0000

Here's what I've been up to lately over at The Other Paper:

Review of Paper Airplane's new CD, White Elephants (local)

Low Anthem/Langhorne Slim live review

Reviews of Monolithic Cloud Parade's debut, Children with Wolf Heads, and Wing & Tusk's debut, The Secret of Toadflax Tea (both local)

Live reviews of Bicentennial Bear, Miranda Sound, Jon Chinn + 1803 (locals)

Brian Harnetty: Paste's "Artist of the Week"

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:21:00 +0000

I've written about Brian Harnetty before, so I won't go into a long preamble about him. But he's a talented dude from Columbus, and I was happy Paste let me write about him for its website's "Artist of the Week" feature. You can read it here.

Silent City, Harnetty's new album featuring Bonnie "Prince Billy, is out tomorrow on Atavistic Records.

CBUS Sound Project Symposium tomorrow

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 17:56:00 +0000

So tomorrow I'll be on a panel from 3:40-4:30 with Donewaiting.com's Wes Flexner and some other folks to talk about Columbus music, Columbus media and such. There's lots of other stuff going on, too, from 1-7 pm: performances, DJ Detox, booking discussions, etc. Here's the summary from the website and promo poster:

“The CBUS Sound Project Symposium is a celebration of Columbus Music. In conjunction with our Idea Lab program, this day of learning and performance includes panels on booking, promoting, and community organizing. Complimentary hand-roasted coffee is generously provided by local purveyor, Cafe Brioso. Free and open to all.”

Larry Jon Wilson, Columbus bands in Spin

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 20:07:00 +0000

I reviewed the new Larry Jon Wilson album for the August edition Spin. You can check it out on pg. 93 in print or the digital edition.

Also in that issue: Spin's list of the "100 greatest bands you've (probably) never heard of," which is a good read, especially because it includes four legendary Columbus bands: Gaunt, Great Plains, Royal Crescent Mob and Scrawl.

Antlers' "Hospice" gets Best New Music tag from Pfork

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:41:00 +0000

And it's well-deserved. Maybe next time they come through town there'll be more than three people in the bar?

Tonight: Bicentennial Bear, Jon Chinn + 1803, Ghost Shirt

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 14:58:00 +0000

The Summit is where I'll be tonight. But mainly I'm just posting this because the poster is awesome.

More Larry Jon

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:10:00 +0000

Really nice interview with LJW by Stephen Deusner here.

Royal City

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:06:00 +0000

Review of the band's new Asthmatic Kitty retrospective here. Recommended.

More Blurting

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:51:00 +0000

Review of Foreign Born's Person to Person here. Wasn't blown away.

Ch-ch-changes

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:35:00 +0000

Donewaiting head honcho Robert Duffy made an announcement yesterday, but I should probably address it briefly here, since I've been maintaining this blog on a semi-regular basis.

So Duffy's heading to New York to take a great job there, and while he'll be continuing Donewaiting from NYC, he asked me if I'd be the Columbus editor. I was flattered and honored that he would ask me, and I couldn't say no. I'm excited to get started. ...My wife is due with our second child in the next two weeks, so the exact start date is TBD at this point, but probably not before August.

I'll still be writing for The Other Paper on a regular basis. Hopefully a couple of other publications off and on, too. This blog will undoubtedly be updated less often but supplanted with posting over at Donewaiting.com, so add that to the ol' RSS reader if it's not there already.

Comfest is fun

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:20:00 +0000

The stabbing puts kind of a damper on the whole peaceful community vibe of Comfest (so sad), but Saturday was a fun day nevertheless. I particularly enjoyed Bookmobile's set (that's singer Sean Gardner above). If you're in Columbus and haven't made it down yet--shame on you!-- there's still good music and fun times to be had today.

More on my Saturday Comfest experience later...

Dirty Projectors - Wexner Center, 6-21

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:36:00 +0000

I imagine that by this point, David Longstreth, singer/guitarist and driving force behind Dirty Projectors, is tired of his band being referred to as “brainy.” It’s a tough tag to avoid when you’re a former music-major Yale grad who intricately crafts compositions that are near-impossible to categorize using other musical precedents.

The great thing about Dirty Projectors, though, is that anything that may come across as high-minded is balanced with something high-spirited, thereby dodging pretension. It takes significantly more knowledge and musical prowess than your typical rock band to sing and play the songs this band performed Sunday night at the Wexner Center. Yet the six musicians played with an organic ease and all the while maintained an electricity that was enveloping. (Not to mention the fact that, because the Brooklyn band’s van broke down in St. Clairsville on the way to the gig, they were playing with borrowed gear from the disappointing opener, Skeletons.)

Elvis Costello’s claim that writing about music is like “dancing about architecture” never rang so true as when attempting to describe Dirty Projectors. I could say that Longstreth conjures up the soulfulness and cadence of R&B singers; that the treble-heavy, snaking guitar lines have a distinct African influence; that the three supremely talented female singers contribute harmonies so complex that at times it’s difficult to even distinguish who’s singing; that the drummer’s big beats incorporate oddly-timed experimentalism, reggae and Led Zeppelin’s “When the Levee Breaks.”

But none of that really does it justice, especially those ladies—Haley Dekle, Angel Deradoorian and Amber Coffman—whose vocal theatrics were consistently the highlights of the show. “Remade Horizon,” off the recently released Bitte Orca, began with an extended vocal intro of start-and-stop, staccato harmonies that sounded so intricate yet so precise, like an entire section of computer-controlled woodwinds. And Coffman’s lead vocals on “Stillness is the Move” showcased a freakish range that could hold its own next to Mariah Carey, a singer she closely resembled on that tune. Coffman threw herself into the song, and her dancing only added to the impact.

It’s a little tough to relate to the lyrics, though, especially in a concert setting. These songs take a little while to comfortably settle. But Longstreth seems to be a lyricist more concerned with how the words sound than what they mean. The singers’ inflections and affected pronunciations convey a word’s impact more than its dictionary definition. The concert opener, “Two Doves,” which featured only Longstreth on guitar and Deradoorian on vocals, was one of the few songs that was entirely decipherable, a (love?) song with a refrain of “Call on me” that starts off describing a lover as a “geranium kisser, skin like silk and face like glass,” but later as a “geranium killer, throat of soil and mind like stone.” The soft song was the closest Dirty Projectors came to a ballad, and it was the prettiest of the night.

“Bitte Orca” wins the prize for most frenetic, cacophonic and virtuosic of the night. The level of choreography was breathtaking, as were the women’s preternatural, siren howls. I also enjoyed hearing “Rise Above” from the album of the same name, which was Longstreth’s re-imagination of Black Flag’s seminal 1981 debut album, Damaged.

Brainy? Yes, but this band-of-the-moment is also a lot of fun.

Larry Jon Wilson

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:33:00 +0000

Last year I talked to Jerry DeCicca of the Black Swans about an album he produced by a guy named Larry Jon Wilson, an old Nashville singer-songwriter who hadn't recorded a new album in almost 30 years. We chatted back and forth about the story for a while, and finally Drag City is releasing the record on Tuesday. So after a year of talking and exploring Wilson's music, I was at last able to put some words on paper. You can read the story in The Other Paper this week, or online here.

I had more fun working on this story than any others I've written in a long time. Hopefully that comes through. And I can't recommend Larry Jon Wilson's new eponymous record highly enough.

Blurting about Sinkane

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:30:00 +0000

Ahmed Gallab--the Columbus expat behind experimental act Sinkane--released his most recent album, Sinkane, pretty quietly in May. Probably because he was touring with Born Ruffians at the time. But it's his best work yet, incorporating lots of influences only hinted at on Color Voice.

I wrote a short feature on the album and Ahmed's recent escapades for Blurt, an online/print venture from the guys behind Harp. It's called "The Go-To Guru," and you can read it here.

Jenny Lewis with the Sadies - Wexner Center, 6-6

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 20:40:00 +0000

Before Jenny Lewis played the Black Box on the Mershon stage at the Wexner Center on Saturday, the venue screened Welcome to Van Nuys, a documentary about the making of Lewis’s most recent album, Acid Tongue. Much of the doc focused on guests who contributed to a track or two. There was Elvis Costello lending his scruffy vocals to “Carpetbaggers,” M. Ward playing some moody guitar on “Pretty Bird” and actress/musician Zooey Deschanel—who, with Ward, make up 2008 breakout duo She & Him—singing all sorts of oohs and ahs. There were some fun fly-on-the-studio-wall moments, but it also conveyed the feeling that these big names were an essential part of the songs.

The live show proved that isn’t the case at all. Lewis doesn’t need any help. She certainly has a terrific, talented backing band, but her shockingly strong voice carried the show. In fact, I’d take Lewis any day over Deschanel. Even when she’s singing in a low whisper, this redhead’s got soul.

The former child actress also has charisma to spare, hopping back and forth between playful dork (wearing her own shirt) and sensual diva (flaunting her curves). The crowd was putty in her hands, especially drooling fanboys, whose occasional between-song shout-outs (“You’re amazing!”; “How do you do that?!”) were some of the few low points.

Lewis got her start in indie-pop act Rilo Kiley, but her solo projects have found her pursuing a much rootsier vibe that, to my ears, fits her voice and songwriting style more comfortably. When the band left the stage to allow her to tackle some songs on her own, Lewis played an acoustic version of the Rilo Kiley tune “Silver Lining,” a song she said she has recently “reclaimed,” and it’s all the more gorgeous for it. Most of the songs came from Acid Tongue and Rabbit Fur Coat, the 2006 album Lewis put out with the Watson twins. Drummer Barbara Gruska and singer/guitarist Danielle Haim were more than capable of handling the country-style Watson harmonies and backing vocals from Acid, sounding especially nice on the gospel-tinged “Trying My Best to Love You.” And Lewis’s beau, guitarist and oft-songwriting collaborator Jonathan Rice, played the Costello role just fine on “Carpetbaggers.”

I’m not sure why the band chose to have its sound tech onstage during the entire performance—tuning guitars, scribbling things and looking awkward—but that was the only distracting element. The band buoyed Lewis superbly, from the loud, stompy blues of “The Next Messiah” to the backing choir effect on “Acid Tongue.” Columbus also got a taste of two new songs. “Just Like Zeus” was “kinda” about Lindsay Lohan (“Outside of Silver Lake, I am the biggest fake”), and “Big Wave” was the most epic rocker of the night. Both got me excited for what Lewis has in store for the next record, with or without high-profile guest spots.

Openers the Sadies from Toronto were impressive, too, though not quite as much as they were a few weeks ago playing with John Doe at the Rumba Cafe. While the Wex is a great place to have crystal-clear sound and a mostly quiet crowd, some bands just look and sound more at home on a cramped stage in a sweaty, crowded bar. Brothers Dallas and Travis Good’s virtuosic guitar skills still blew me away, especially Travis’s lightning-fast licks and liberal use of tremolo, which gave even his most country licks Dick Dale surf-rock overtones. His throaty singing was cool, too, but Dallas’s delicious baritone trumped it on “Anna Leigh” and “The Story’s Often Told.” In general, though, the Sadies let the guitars do the talking, throwing in lots of short-and-sweet instrumentals and approaching it all with ferocity.

It was the Sadies’ last night on this tour, and they were very gracious, thankful dudes. Hopefully next time they come through town it’ll be in a setting a little less stale.

mp3: Jenny Lewis - Silver Lining (solo live 4-13-09)

Jenny Lewis can sing

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:14:00 +0000

That may seem obvious, but listening to her records doesn't do her voice justice. She can really sing, and her show at the Wexner Center Saturday night proved it. Full review coming soon. For now, more pics from the show here.

Free Grievances

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 16:19:00 +0000

If you're a person who has thought, "That band Titus Andronicus sounds interesting, but not interesting enough to pay for," or, "I really wish I had a job and/or steady source of income so I could afford that Titus Andronicus album," then today is your lucky day.

The Glen Rock, New Jersey boys' 2008 debut, The Airing of Grievances (which was picked up by XL Recordings and re-released this year), is available as a free download today only.

The Decemberists with Blind Pilot - LC Pavilion, 6-1

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:35:00 +0000

Conventional wisdom says that once a band jumps from an indie label up to the majors, the band satisfies its new corporation and larger audience with a more mainstream version of itself—something safe, with all the edges smoothed out. The Decemberists proved that notion false on 2006’s The Crane Wife as Colin Meloy, the band’s singer, songwriter and driving creative force, traded in some of his Brit-folk tendencies for a more grandiose vision, accompanying a bizarre Japanese legend with a (somewhat) unexpected dose of prog rock—keyboards, noodling guitars and all.

It wasn’t just a novelty experiment, either. The Portland band’s second outing on Capitol is this year’s The Hazards of Love, an audacious, ambitious, riff-heavy rock opera with a storyline about a woman named Margaret and her lover William, the son of a forest queen. There’s not an obvious single on the album; it plays more like one long song, titles merely indicating the tale’s progression. Not your typical major-label product.

Monday night at the LC Pavilion, the Decemberists played The Hazards of Love from start to finish, no breaks in between songs, no banter. For someone who wasn’t as familiar with Hazards going into the show, it felt a little lengthy and lacked some energy during the slower tunes. But for the most part, I was enthralled by the epicness of it all.

Meloy still has his Victorian Literature professor persona, but watching him was like realizing that not only does your nerdy college prof listen to Deep Purple and the Who, he can rip it up just like them, too, bounding around the stage pseudo-shredding and head-banging. And wow, the metal. The Decemberists threw in some rafter-shaking, low-end power (guitarist Chris Funk was a treat) that make you forget this band ever played folk ditties like “Eli, the Barrow Boy.” They’d never fit into Rock on the Range or anything (fortunately), but if this were the ’70s, people would just assume the Decemberists made sacrifices to Satan, or at least had an unhealthy obsession with Lord of the Rings.

Adding to the theatrics of it all were female singers Becky Stark (aka Lavender Diamond) and Shara Worden (aka My Brightest Diamond). Stark came out dressed in all white and accompanied her singing parts with flamboyant gestures and dancing, as did Worden, who stole the freakin’ show every single time she stepped up to the mic. Her manic stage moves were captivating, and her voice, oh man, her voice. During “The Wanting Comes in Waves,” as she belted out “Consider it your debt repaaaaid!” the whole crowd spontaneously cheered in admiration and excitement. I find Meloy’s affected, overly enunciated vocals mostly endearing, but Worden was still a welcome reprieve.

After The Hazards of Love was completed, the band took a long break before coming back to play favorites like “Leslie Anne Levine,” “We Both Go Down Together,” “16 Military Wives” and “Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then).” All sounded great, demonstrating the depth and diversity of the band’s catalog. Before the encore, Worden and Stark returned to the stage for Heart’s “Crazy on You,” a fun cover that may have been my favorite song of the night. It also made me really want to hear Worden front a real-deal rock ’n roll band—something a little less, er, arty, than My Brightest Diamond.

The band ended the show with “Sons & Daughters,” a song with wonderfully quirky instrumentation: bouzouki, accordion and hurdy-gurdy. As the crowd sang along to the refrain, “Hear all the bombs fade away,” it was a good reminder, along with “16 Military Wives,” that Meloy can do topical material (remember Iraq?) in addition to proggy tales of unrequited love and folky Civil War ghost stories. With the Decemberists, you can have your johnnycake and eat it, too.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least briefly mention opener Blind Pilot, also from Portland. Israel Nebeker’s buttery vocals sound even better live than on the band’s lovely folk-pop debut, 3 Rounds and a Sound. It’s probably a bit too breezy for those who only like the Decemberists at their most ELP, but Nebeker’s uncommonly good songwriting shouldn’t be ignored. Expect to hear lots more about these guys in the future.

More pics