Four Bands, Part I

(This is a two-part entry that continues in the series of posts about a few select cultural items that readers should check out. For other reads in this series, please see: “Five Songs;” "Five Blogs;" “Films: They Don’t Make ‘em Like These Anymore;” and “Cooking up a Great Holiday Read.”)

by Caitlin Servilio

I’ve rarely had a more musically rich week than this past one. It’s not often you get to see so many great bands over the course of five or six days — usually at least one is a disappointment. Not this time. These four great bands definitely deserve props, but unfortunately last week, in addition to being musically rich, was homework rich as well. (Apparently my professors differ from me in their idea that college should be about education instead of live music.) So rather than a traditional concert review, I want to give a brief rundown to make sure these amazing musicians get their due.

BANDS YOU SHOULD SEE:

My Brightest Diamond: This temporarily three-piece band opened for the Decemberists at the Strathmore in Bethesda, Maryland, last week. I had very low hopes for this opener because I had seen Lavender Diamond open for the Decemberists in October and thought they were terrible. I assumed these two bands in addition to having similar names would both suck. I couldn’t have been more wrong. My Brightest Diamond (signed to the Asthmatic Kitty label, which is also Sufjan Stevens’ label) had an absolutely fantastic sound, thanks to Shara Worden, lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist. She sounded to me like the love child of Bonnie Raitt and Ella Fitzgerald, with maybe a little KT Tunstall mixed in. Worden has a very commanding presence and sings with so much conviction and emotion that it’s not easy to pay attention to anybody else on stage. These days, when the stereotypically indie sound (small, purposefully amateur production values, low-maintenance) is getting to be so ubiquitous it’s annoying, it feels refreshing and wonderful to hear an indie band that’s not afraid to let loose with a truly tremendous power ballad, guitar riff, or banshee yell. My Brightest Diamond played a really great show. Check out their myspace site.

Say Hi To Your Mom: The name about gives it all away — this guitar-keyboard-drums trio is funny, cute, and an all-around good time. As one of the three bands to play the Rock n’ Roll Hotel in D.C. last week, Say Hi To Your Mom went on first and did a great job warming up the crowd with their brand of humorous pop rock. Belting out lines such as, “Your brains are no match for my tractor beam,” lead singer Eric Elbogen cheerfully sang about decoder rings, lamented that his girlfriend could beat his high score on video games, and announced that the band's new album (2006’s Impeccable Blahs) was all about vampires. Elbogen’s the main creative force behind Say Hi To Your Mom, but his band compatriots also chimed in on vocals and played with flair.

There was a very small but intense Say Hi To Your Mom fanbase in the crowd (five or six young guys) who were extremely into the band and kept punching each other excitedly and yelling things like “This song gets me to work every morning!” It was obvious that Say Hi To Your Mom was surprised and thrilled by this display of affection and upped their game even more. The band isn’t exactly as musically complex or innovative as the kind this blog normally endorses, but sometimes it’s nice to stop thinking about that kind of stuff and just bob your head to the beat.

(For the other two bands that you MUST check out, please scroll down, or check out Part II.)

(Photo of My Brightest Diamond's Shara Worden by Oslo in the Summertime of Fairfield, PA via Flickr, using a Creative Commons license.)

music
rock music
My Brightest Diamond
Say Hi To Your Mom
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