So I heard from a friend that Albert Hammond Jr. of the strokes is gonna quit the band soon and their last show in the UK might be the last show ever for the Strokes. They will play at Treasure Island Music Festival in SF and then after that they're heading to the UK to do a small tour and then call it quits... maybe. lol

I for one am not cool with that but I've seen them once and it was amazing. But they rarely tour and when they do its big ass music festivals that cost shitloads of cash. I might catch them at Treasure Island if this rumor is true.

Besides that, I got to see the kooks at BFD and they were awesome. Panic at the Disco was suprisingly awesome too, they did a Bohemian Rhapsody cover and fucking nailed it!

So recently, a friend got me into The Mountain Goats. And then I saw that they were going to be in Seattle, so a few weeks ago, I went to see them play the Showbox. And, like, holy shit! They put on such a good show. Not only is John Darnielle's songwriting insanely imaginative (he basically comes up with little self-contained short stories for most of his songs), but he's really entertaining to listen to live. He'll just like pause after a song, and start rambling and telling a story or some amusing anecdote. It kind of makes the atmosphere feel really intimate and like he's sharing a lot of emotion with every single person in the audience.

I don't think I've had that much fun at a show since I saw Starfucker play a crazy rambunctious super-fun New Year's Eve party show.

[quote="Orochi"]So recently, a friend got me into The Mountain Goats. And then I saw that they were going to be in Seattle, so a few weeks ago, I went to see them play the Showbox. And, like, holy shit! They put on such a good show. Not only is John Darnielle's songwriting insanely imaginative (he basically comes up with little self-contained short stories for most of his songs), but he's really entertaining to listen to live. He'll just like pause after a song, and start rambling and telling a story or some amusing anecdote. It kind of makes the atmosphere feel really intimate and like he's sharing a lot of emotion with every single person in the audience.

I don't think I've had that much fun at a show since I saw Starfucker play a crazy rambunctious super-fun New Year's Eve party show.[/quote]

People are fucking *diehard* for that band/dude. I haven't heard much of their stuff, but I do know there's quite a difference between the early material and the new stuff. This is one song I'm particularly fond of, it's pretty simply, but it's all I need to hear to know "this guy has *serious* songwriting chops". [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tra6IXI55ss[/url]

[quote="GoldenRhino"]This is one song I'm particularly fond of, it's pretty simply, but it's all I need to hear to know "this guy has *serious* songwriting chops". [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tra6IXI55ss[/url][/quote]
Holy shit, this "Jenny" keeps showing up, even in his most recent material: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIr82azRFqM

Wow, suddenly I love this guy's work even more.

Very cool! I should revisit.

This line is so sweet: "And you pointed your headlamp toward the horizon/
We were the one thing in the galaxy God didn't have his eyes on"

I'm a pretty big fan of the Mountain Goats. They've got a really good, fresh sound and their lyrics can be fucking powerful:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRP6egIEABk

"I am drowning
There is no sign of land
You are coming down with me
Hand in unlovable hand
And I hope you die
I hope we both die"

Something about that song just gets to me. If you like the Mountain Goats, you might also want to check out Red House Painters. Skool got me into them a few years back and they've got some reall cool stuff going on. They're a bit more mellow and less folksy but they've got a more acoustic sound and I like em a lot at least.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5gk1aIDfX8

[quote="Blank"]I'm a pretty big fan of the Mountain Goats. They've got a really good, fresh sound and their lyrics can be fucking powerful:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRP6egIEABk

"I am drowning
There is no sign of land
You are coming down with me
Hand in unlovable hand
And I hope you die
I hope we both die"[/quote]
Duuuuuude, they played No Children as the final song in their Seattle set, and like my god it was so moving. I already liked that song beforehand, but seeing him bellow out with that anguished passion on stage, with the entire audience rocking back and forth and singing along with him... "powerful" almost feels like an understatement.

Also, at the risk of hijacking this thread into a "post your favorite Mountain Goats songs" (hehehe): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYYPeq4Aotc

"Get stomped like a snake
Lie down in the dirt
Cling to my convictions
Even when I get hurt
Be an upstanding well-loved man about town
In your child’s mind that's how it goes down"

Like, fuckin' A, man. Something about Darnielle's songwriting just like reaches in and tugs at my soul.

I'll have to check out Red House Painters; that song you linked reminds me a lot of Bryan John Appleby (a local folk/indie artist who sounds a lot like that). Very cool.

Saw Mew three times over the past week, going down to Arizona to see Kevin Devine and Brand New (and Thrice and Manchester Orchestra and Jimmy Eat World and Spoon, but mostly those two) tomorrow.

2015 has been pretty great so far as shows go.

Saw Empire of the Sun last week. Aside from the fact that the openers were kickass in and of themselves (Holy Ghost! and St. Lucia), Empire of the Sun is [i]incredible[/i] live. I feel like this is as close as it gets to what it was like to see a Pink Floyd show back in the 70s. Everything was highly stylized and choreographed, and of course the music was excellent. Great show all around.

Saw Circa Waves on their first US tour a few weeks back in Seattle.

Seeing Tame Impala for the second time next week. So PUMPED

I just realized a day or two ago that the last show I went to was the Aquabats' Super Show announcement concert in San Diego during Comic-Con back in 2011. I really, really need to get my ass to a show at some point.

Shit dude, hop on that sooner rather than later, for sure. Lots of good bands touring lately.

Anyone going to see tricot on their first US tour?

[quote="Marekenshin"]Shit dude, hop on that sooner rather than later, for sure. Lots of good bands touring lately.[/quote]
One of my problems is I've rarely picked up any new non-ska music since like 2008 and even the ska I listen to is the same handful of bands. I've gotten pickier over time with the music I like and it's not even genre-based or anything, it's kind of arbitrary. Trying to get back into listening to music, but it's largely listening to albums from bands I used to like that I never bothered listening to and a lot of them aren't together anymore or rarely tour; like as of writing this post, trying to give some more of the Mars Volta's discography a listen to and they broke up a few years ago.

tl;dr my music taste has been pretty stagnant since like 06-08~

Nothing worse than getting into a great band only to realize that you can't go see them live.

I feel like my tastes remain more or less the same, but I more quickly come to a decision on whether I'm into something or not when trying to listen to new things. It's either "I'm all the fuck about that" or "meh, bored of this already" before the song's over.