Recent Concert Adventures

Feist:Feist was okay. I like her, but really, I love, love, love The Good Life, who opened for her, so I was a little done by the time she got on stage. It was chilly. The chiggers were out. Feist was nice, but so was going home.

The Good Life:One of my favorite bands right now. In fact, I am downloading their most recent album currently. The Good Life's "Album of the Year" is really, actually my album of the year, I think. I like every single track and haven't stopped listening to it since I discovered it in February or so. They are sort of a compilation band of members from other Nebraska bands that wanted to have a side project. Funny thing is, I like them better than any of the original bands. (Also, I like that when I go to Slowdown, a venue in Omaha, I recognize that the bartender is the drummer from the Good Life. It makes him feel like such a normal guy.)

HEALTH:I was uber-happy after HEALTH, because it was one of the best shows I've ever been to and because the hot Asian bassist/drummer pictured above gave me a free HEALTH sticker. The sticker was exciting because a few weeks ago I was riding bike to work very early on a Saturday morning, before 7 a.m. even, and passed a nice, new-model, older-person's car with a single subtle bumper sticker proclaiming "HEALTH" in bold sans-serif font. I actually turned my bike around to see if the sticker could actually be for the band HEALTH or if it was telling me to, you know, not smoke, and believe in Jesus, or something. It was actually for HEALTH, the noisy indie experimental rock band! On like, a shiny new hybrid Honda! And now I have the same sticker, given to me by the hot Asian HEALTH guy!

Fuck Buttons:I like Fuck Buttons very much. I used to study to them in the coffee shop. They were one of my favorite shows at Pitchfork. I like that they used a really old gameboy on several of their songs. Their music made the rain go away for me; instead of feeling sopping wet and grumpy, they made me feel good and grounded and much less wet.

The Ruby Suns:This British band made me think that even I could like the neon, geometric patterns of the '90s again. Also, she wore sparkly gold-threaded black tights. I have a pair of those that I never thought could ever be cool. Now I think maybe they could be (although you may have to be in a British indie rock band to pull them off). Also, although I'd never heard their music before, they were very enjoyable.

Atlas Sound:Hands down, Atlas Sound was my favorite show at Pitchfork. I waited through three other bands I didn't particularly care about (hence--no pictures on here) to be in the very front row, right up against the stage, center, to see Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox's solo project. He is good stuff. He is very weird, or so it would seem from the crazy YouTube videos I've watched of Deerhunter shows. But he was remarkably normal and personable and chatty and nice. His music was great. (I still prefer Deerhunter, but I knew that going in.) He played a couple of my faves. My only regret is that I left Atlas Sound early in order to get a good spot for Animal Collective. I still didn't get a good spot. I got a spot in which I could not see the screens, let alone the stage, and a huge, sweaty, smelly, drunk man was practically on top of me. So I left early to stand at the back, and met this fox, and I liked her more than most anything else that day: