Checked out Cymbals Eat Guitars, Depreciation Guild, and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart last night at One Eyed Jack's. (Sorry for the crummy picture quality, the NOIR professional photography crew were tied up elsewhere.)
A really solid crowd showed up for the show, and people were excited from the start. Cymbals Eat Guitars kicked it off, a band I hadn't seen in concert yet. I'm really digging their album lately, but for whatever reason the sound didn't really connect live. The band seemed to be trying to add energy to their show by playing the everliving shit out of their instruments, and the muscle car approach to a live show added some excitement but for the most part just left me straining to hear what song they were playing. Again, I really like this band--I just wish someone would sit them down and tell them to let their songs speak for themselves. (All that being said, the average age in the band appeared to be like 17 years old, so I'm sure they have plenty of time to clean it up.)
I was really blown away by The Depreciation Guild, a two-man act out of Brookyln (they bring a drummer out for live shows.) I'd heard their music described as "Super Nintendo Shoegaze", which actually holds up pretty well. A video screen blasts blocky SNES color schemes in the background, the band is tight, the songs are good--it's all pretty overwhelming. Also, I soon learned that the lead singer in DG is the drummer for Pains of Being Pure, which who knew.
The most polished act (understandably) were the headliners. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, say what you will about them, know how to construct a 4 minute song, and their sound came through beautifully in the venue. They stuck mostly to songs from their self-titled debut LP, but played a few songs off their new EP as well. (EP songs seemed just as strong, worth checking out.) The revelation of the show (and best moment) came when the keyboardist for The Pains, Peggy Wang, revealed to the crowd that she grew up in New Orleans, had attended Newman School, and that her mom was at the show. As embarrassed that I was that I didn't do any research and had no idea about it, the information really pumped the crowd up and got everyone excited. Wang went on to ask if anyone from WTUL (Tulane radio station) was in the house, which elicited a huge response from a small group of kids. Wang confessed that WTUL had been her savior growing up for finding new music, and the WTUL kids went nuts, and the whole energy level of the show picked up.
A couple more songs followed, a strong encore, and that was that. It was great seeing everyone out.
