Music

I saw Art Brut and The Hold Steady a few months ago with J&L. Good shows both, but there's not much that needs be added past AG's previous reviews of each. (Okay, this venue/audience size didn't quite permit the same finish-with-a-bang AG got to enjoy, but still...)

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More recently, a bunch of us made it to see Cake's Unlimited Sunshine Festival. Most of the opening acts varied from meh to mostly-cool, except for King City, who entertained with unrivaled energy from the orchestra pit between a few of the sets -- they alone made the show worth the ticket price. After a particularly unimpressive act had the audience booing and shouting for Cake, King City stepped back out, announced "we're back", and were met with raucous applaus.

Cake was even better. They took a song or two to find their groove, but even then there was plenty of rock to be had. Killer live performances of many of my favorites (though I know better than to hope for, say, an encore that includes Mr Mastodon Farm), interspersed with no shortage of amusing banter, from booty grinding in the 1700s to the history of avocado trees in California's agriculture!

The audience sang along to every song -- far moreso than I've ever heard at a concert before. That didn't stop Cake from pitting the balcony and lower decks against each other, though, making us compete to see who could sing louder. The best part was the audience participation singing along to "Guitar" (my favorite Cake song, no contest), which, to my surprise, is apparently a big deal at their concerts.

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On a mildly-related note, I've been trying out The Sixty One, a music site recently mentioned on Boingboing. It more or less makes an MMO out of finding new, good music, and I've discovered a few real gems already. My favorite, so far, is probably the VanShe remix of "1234" by Feist, which you can find here.