This is probably the first show in a long time that I wasn't annoyed for 98% of it. The opening acts Zola Jesus and Mools were the best. Zola Jesus is a big, haunting voice in a little package that gave me goosebumps. Mools is a Japanese rock band that continues the tradition of great, riff based 90's alternative music. Their singer had this crazy big hair and the most random and fascinating on-stage persona. Could not stop smiling or looking at him.
When Wolf Parade came on, the geeking out began without stopping until the last note was played. Dancing, jumping, headbanging, singing every word, playing air guitar and air drums all to the possible dismay of the surrounding concertgoers who just stood there for whatever reasons I cannot fathom. We were touched when Dan intro'd "Little Golden Age" by saying "This is a song about nostalgia and the dangers of nostalgia" and how its best to live in the now. Snail and I were talking about that in between bands and forever and a day and it really amazed us that (yet again) someone we admire so much is THERE. At the end, we left that moment soaked in sweat and stank to go home to a world where this is all considered past tense.
Wolf Parade is one of those bands that is consistently delivering. My process with them usually has me loving specific tracks right off the bat then I grow to love the rest yet there's always a track or two I only like and listen to the least. Their recent one, Expo 86, continues this trend. I was instantly hooked on "What Did My Lover Say? (It Always Had To Go This Way),""Ghost Pressure," and "In Direction of the Moon" and they are still my absolute favorites. "Cave-O-Sapien" and "Little Golden Age" grew on me quite fast. Songs like "Oh You, Old Thing," "Two Men in New Tuxedos," "Pobody's Nerfect" have parts within them that love more than others but I like them a lot. "Cloud Shadow on the Mountain" "Palm Road" and "Yulia" are the ones I'm more quick to skip if I'm listening to the album with iPod in hand. Otherwise, I like them, too.
Each album has a particular feel as well and this one boasts guitar and drum prowess. This is the album Dan Boeckner and Arlen Thompson shine more than they ever have in my ears. As Snail assessed, Dan's songs have always been the most straight-forward and instantly catchy while Spencer Krug's more cerebral and take more time to get used to.
This album as an 80's inspired composition has made me think comparing Dan and Spencer to two of the decades most important singer songwriters, Bruce Springteen and Morrissey, respectively. Dan's effortless cool and songs about living as a small town outcast who has a love/hate relationship with his hometown and the modern world that threatens to obliterate the purity and realness he associates with it is undeniably Springsteen while Spencer's literary background, complex yet heart-wrenching and oft times absurd narrative and reclusive nature is so Morrissey. I love that these two geniuses come together to make a perfect balance. Everyone else in the band also has their role we can stuff them into: Arlen is the drumming and production wizard while Dante DeCaro is the multi-instrumental accent that ties the band together.
They are the best band of the millennium our book.
Especially since their existence has taken Snail and I's friendship to celestial levels as the only other band besides Radiohead that has sent us up for a twirl and made us realize how blessed we are to be alive and be friends and be able to share this beyond-the-realm-of-reality love of music, writing, art, etc. and the artists who make it. We turn into total saps about experiencing such things together that we bring each other to tears and (now we're not ashamed to say) that's okay.
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