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Live Show Review - Death Cab for Cutie - [ Live Rock Reviews ]

Artist: Death Cab for Cutie
Members: Ben Gibbard, Chris Walla, Nick Harmer, Jason McGerr
RatSkull's Live Rating: Excellent (On a scale with Morrissey at the low end and Tool on the high)

It would be fairly difficult to overstate my indifference towards Death Cab for Cutie until recently. I listen to indie rock, sure, but it's sorta by default or something - it's a rare indie band that gets me real excited, and Death Cab were no exception. Emphasis on were.

This band seems to have come from nowhere in the span of time between my college graduation and my move to the west coast, where their fan base is even huger than their already-massive popularity in the midwest. More and more acquaintances of mine started listening to them religiously, in much the same way that Modest Mouse staged a coup d'stereo three or four years back. All this time I remained indifferent - I am RatSkull, and I gotta stay true to form for the most part. Maybe I bandited a couple MP3's here and there, in that 'you-gotta-admit-President-of-what-is-a-good-song' sorta way, but the thought of seeing them live, or even buying one of their records seemed remote at best. All that changed last month.

I'd always imagined a Death Cab show would look much like the following: a theater packed with white-belted, overly skinny hipsters in girl pants and backwards hair. A band that never moves or looks at the audience. A cloud of cigarette smoke so thick you'd get sick even if you're used to smoking four packs a day. I've been to enough indie shows to know what to expect.

So, come November 12th and I get a message from a friend asking if I'm going to the show. I reply no because of course I didn't buy a ticket. She wants to give me her ticket because she's sick and doesn't want to drive across the bay. I can't turn down a free ticket after all, and they were charging like 35 bucks or something so I figure why not? I could just leave if it sucked. Besides, it seemed like half the city was going or wanted to be going and I didn't want to miss out on the fun.

Something was obviously wrong with my prediction before I even got into the theater - I didn't see a throng of white-belt-types hanging out front. I met up with my friends and went in, and scene was no different inside. Random thought - as much as I hate the fact that you can't smoke indoors in California, it's great for concerts. I quit smoking cold-turkey a few days before the show, and I never would have been able to resist the temptation to smoke if it had been allowed.

We didn't catch any of the opening band, getting a bit toasted out at the bar instead. Sooner or later they were done and we headed onto the floor for Death Cab. I was very surprised to get a look at the audience all in one place - Death Cab are really, really huge right now. I'd expected an emo fashion show, but much of the crowd looked as if they were the type of people who's never be caught dead at a concert, or hanging in the 'scene', yet had to make it out for this one band. Nobody was there just to sit around and look cool. It lent a great feeling of fun and enthusiasm to the proceedings - most of these people didn't do this very often and were determined to make the most of the experience. Maybe it's just been too long since I saw a band at the peak of their musical output and popularity. How often do both of those things peak at the same time?

The band were introduced by a somewhat pretentious poet-type fat guy, which worried me for a sec, but the lights went down and the show was on.

It wasn't long before I understood why Death Cab have blown up the way they have: they're electrifying performers. The lo-fi aesthetic of their records belies their actual level of talent. Ben Gibbard sounds much better live than recorded, like there was another layer in his voice or something, and the same could be said for said for just about every other part of the music. Holy shit, their drummer smokes. Both Gibbard and Walla were playing G&L teles through Dr. Z amps, a match made in heaven to be sure.

The really striking part was the band's level of enthusiasm. They actually smiled at the audience when they came on, and between songs. When's the last time you saw a band do that? It was obvious that Gibbard was having more fun than the audience, if anything, in opposition to the floor-gazer indie stereotype. Before this, the last rock show I'd been to had lasted approximately 25 minutes because the band was too wasted to play by the time they got on stage. There are always stories about well-known bands charging 40 bucks a ticket and then playing for only a half hour or 45 minutes. Death Cab played for two and a half hours, at least, and added three or four songs for the encore. If all the higher-priced shows were this good I'd show up much more often than I do. ALL BANDS THAT CHARGE 40 BUCKS A TICKET SHOULD OFFER THIS KIND OF LIVE EXPERIENCE.

It'll be interesting to compare this experience to Clutch, who are coming through SF in a week or so. You know how much I've raved about them in the Blast Tyrant review, and I'll be sure to let you know how their live show compares to their record.


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Clutch - "Blast Tyrant" - [ Signed Rock ]

Artist: Clutch
Members: Tim Sult, Neil Fallon, Jean-Paul Gaster, Dan Maines
Album: Blast Tyrant
RatSkull Rating: 14
[Listen to it on Pro-Rock.com]

Clutch is a rather atypical metal/hard-rock band from Germantown, Maryland. 'Blast Tyrant' is their sixth full-length album, the first being 1993's 'Transnational Speedway League'.



'Blast Tyrant' features trippy, creepy-lookin' cover art.
It almost starts to make sense upon repeated listening.


Clutch's music has usually defied easy description, and Blast Tyrant is no exception. While most bands stick with the time-honored themes of love, death, rough sex, childhood trauma, and narcotic abuse, Clutch takes a different tack. Singer Neil Fallon seems to construct bizarre and fantastical works of fiction in his head and then write songs based upon those, rather references to real life experiences. In the past Clutch put out a record ('The Elephant Riders') that re-imagined the Civil War as being fought with zeppelins and elephants, if that gives you some idea.


Granted, you wouldn't think this could be compelling rock-n'-roll based on the high-concept description above, but it works. Somehow it works, and it works really damn well. Rock fans often lament the supposed demise of their favorite genre in favor of hip-hop, but in fact the current state of affairs is rock's own damn fault. In a world where every shitty band out there is writing songs about their crappy childhoods and chicks who dumped them, without a trace of metaphor, a group that shuns feelings in favor of imagination is a breath of fresh air.


It isn't 100% accurate to say that Clutch's songs have no relation to the world we live in - in fact they name-drop several contemporary figures on this record, including Condoleeza Rice and Bono. The key is that when such characters are involved, it's in the service of the wild-ass story Clutch is trying to tell, or the simple mockery that such demagogues deserve. 'Blast Tyrant', in as few words as possible, is a darkly comic account of a contemporary apocalypse.


It wouldn't do much good to randomly quote lyrics - they wouldn't mean much out of context. Consider that the best song on the record is entitled '(In the Wake of) The Swollen Goat', and involves the coming of the bizarre creature depicted on the album cover. Two other great songs 'Profits of Doom' and 'The Mob Goes Wild' unmistakeably reference current events, yet encapsulate them within this same crazed, other-wordly framework. An honorable mention goes to 'Army of Bono', a hilarious send-up of the U2 frontman and his constant jackass histrionics.


Musically, Clutch seem at first glance to be highly-skilled practitioners of old-fashioned Zeppelin-esque riff-rock. That they are, but upon further listening you might notice some jazz influences, or even hip-hop inspiration in the lyrics. If there could ever be such a thing as a metal jam-band, Clutch is it, which isn't to suggest that they belong lumped in with the likes of Phish. Neil Fallon delivers the words in such a redneck-growl-esque way that you'd think he looks like Dimebag Darrell - which isn't the case at all. Those who have seen Clutch live often come out remarking at how ordinary they look considering the music they make.


My first reaction to this record was a big 'What the hell?!', having not really listened to Clutch since their much rawer first album. Over time it's grown on me in a way few other records do - you can't even remotely digest it in one sitting. Of the 15 songs here, there is only one I don't care for (not a big fan of 'Spleen Merchant'). A friend of mine doesn't like 'Subtle Hustle', but I consider it one of the better songs on the album, even if it feels a bit out of place. Thus, 'Blast Tyrant' gets a RatSkull rating of 14.


Take it from Ratskull, you'll be all over this shit if you like metal, classic rock, prog-rock, or just want to hear something really different. One of the best records of 2004 - I for one can't wait until these guys are back.



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