Rants and Ramblings: random commentary about culture, media, politics, technology and whatnot.

stand by me, yeah

Ears. Ringing.

Rob and I left the Sloan concert at the Black Cat about two hours ago, yet the post-concert deafness persists.

The show itself was pretty uneven. My familiarity with the band’s music is limited to their 1998 album Navy Blues and a couple other random tracks that Rob has shared with me. Rob had mentioned before his dislike for most of their more recent music, and, based on the concert, I can understand why: It’s all bland, rawking-out stuff that blends together, one song indistinguishable from the other. Granted, part of that impression is no doubt influenced by the fact that everything was set to 11, and LOUD was the distinguishing characteristic of everything, pulverizing the vocals and instruments into one big muddy auditory mess.

But there were a few songs I really enjoyed which seemed to overcome, at least in part, the LOUD handicap because they had some kind of fun, poppy hook that I could nod my head to. I recognized two or three of these songs; two others that I didn’t know shared that same “fun pop” quality.

I couldn’t help but compare the show with the last concert I’d attended: Aimee Mann and Ben Lee at the Birchmere. I knew it was an unfair comparison — nightclub indie rock is a different animal from singer/songwriter folk rock, which I tend to prefer — but still I thought fondly of Lee’s affable performance, where I enjoyed the singer and the music quite a bit despite not knowing any of his songs.

I still can’t get over one moment in Mann’s show: A fan had requested the song “Red Vines” (iTMS), a title I didn’t recognize, and Mann obliged. As she eased into the song, I found myself slowly bopping my head and singing along. When she reached the chorus, I realized that, surreally, I was singing along to a song that I didn’t even realize I knew. I didn’t have the MP3, nor the album that the song came from, yet I knew this song, almost by heart. I’m still trying to work out how that happened.