When the Sky is Full of 0’s and 1’s
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This is the show that got me through the week, to great folk/pop/singer songer-writters at the second best place for such things (the first being schubas). The bottle tagged on a third local guy making the evening a bit longer then I anticipated but none the less great. Mike Downy was the opener, just him and an acoustic guitar. The songs were on the bright eyes-emo end of the current folk spectrum but even so, he sang them with intensity and sincerity. Although his song writing could use a bit of work, the fact that you could see that the songs wre coming from his heart and he felt everything that he sang made his set enjoyable.

Nedelle was on next, again just her and a guitar for most of the set. She started with four mellow folk numbers of which I remember 2 from the last time I saw her perform opening for deerhoof (whose shirt she was wearing). After those songs she had a violin and cello join her on stage and announced that the songs would now get sad because strings always make for sad songs. She cutely said though that we should all hang on because she was going to end the set with a real rocking couple songs. Another 4 songs passed, after which she is now joined on stage by Jens, a bass player and drummer. With the extra typical �rock� addition she broke into 2 more numbers with Jens not only providing guitar but harmony vocals. Closing the set she did a perfect version of �Good Grief� with Jens backing her up.

After a short break Jens took the stage accompanied by all the people that were previously on stage. He started the set with a real rocking song, of which I didn�t totally recognize. The next few songs I recognized and noted that he was playing with fierceness not approached on the ep�s. This is not saying that the Ep�s lack something, just that you could tell that Jens really wanted to pour all of himself into the performance. He slowed it down a bit by doing a ukulele redition of �You are the Light� that was simply beautiful. At various points Nedelle joined him on stage to add backing vocals, which she appeared more the happy to do. Realizing that not everyone at the club was there for him he gave us a special treat and did a solo, unplugged version of �The Beat of My Heart� where we �the audience� got to do the �boompaboompa�� responses during the chorus. At this point it was hard to tell who was having more fun us or Jens who had a smile on from ear to ear. Pluggin back in the electric, he and the band ran through another handful of songs. Eventually all great things have to end, and this was no exception. Another unplugged song, this time sung from the top of the steps, closed out the evening. This seem like it has been the 3 time he�s come through town in a little over a year, hopefully we wont have too long for him to come back again.

Somewhat of a spur-of-the-moment thing, we hadn�t planed ahead to go to show. I was poking around The Hideouts web page and noticed that Cass was playing a solo show and kinda joked with Kirstie that we should go. This was Monday and inspired Kirstie to put on Cass�s newest album. A few plays and we just had to go and see him but didn�t want to stay up that late (the hideout show was scheduled for 11pm) so we opted for the Decemberist�s show at the Metro where he was opening. We did see the Decemberist�s over the summer at the Intonation Fest, so we really didn�t have to see them again but knew they put on a good show. Therefore, after a wonderful dinner and a quick call to the Metro we decided to go, and I am glad we did.

Cass McCoumbs was great, joined by a bass player and percussionist (hand drum or tamborine), all three were seated and very mellow. This mellowness of the lineup and the sublime character of Cass�s voice is the reason we wanted to see him and was the reason we couldn�t hear him very well. It seems that people don�t understand that when someone is playing, even if they are a quiet musician, they should shut-up. I wont dwell on it though. Cass�s voice has a tremolo quality to it, too slow of a waver to be called vibrato, it really did resemble the sound of a fender twin, though very smooth. He sings as if he is squeezing every last bit of breath out of him, the notes coming from deep within his soul. The other 2 musicians with him did a perfect job of not only complimenting his guitar with their instruments but also harmonizing beautifully with him. The girl on percussion added an angelic overtone that was so subtle so as not to overpower Cass�s own angelic quality. He played a mix of songs, equal parts of both albums. I prefer �A� to the newest �Perfections� due to the fact that I think he sounds better with the sparse instrumentation and production on his first album. Live I was blown away by how good even the songs off �Perfection� sounded. I was able to pull more feeling and understand the emotion better of all of his songs seeing him perform. With only 2 albums under his belt he has shown a tremendous lyrical skill that was inhanced by his very restrained performance. I hope he decides to tour on his own, maybe at Schubas? (hint hint)

The Decmberists were just as good last night as they were at Intonation, a solidly entertaining band. They opened the set by coming out and making a bunch of noise with symbols and gongs which segwayed into a 4 song meddle that ranged from this psych-rock freak out to the pop-folk chanties they do so well. I was kinda confused at first, I have to admit not being as familiar with the newest album so some of the songs from that meddly might have been from that but I don�t remember them opening the show at Intonation that way. Due to my lack of familiarity it took me a few songs to really get back into their set but once I did I remembered why I liked them so much. They have the ability to have fun on stage and transfer that energy to the crowd at large. The songs have melodies that you cant help but bop your head and sing along to. They have this gypsy or sea-fairing chants to them that roll along like waves. While the songs sometimes hint on politics their stage banter was much more pure fun. At one point Petra Hayden had to give everybody in the front row high-fives because she told a joke. Later the other guitarist recounted his childhood growing up in Chicago and seeing bands play the same stage he was currently on. They played a full hour and a half and broke very shortly for an encore that consisted of a cover of �Mr. Blue Sky� (which would have been the perfect closer) and one final Decmeberist song. A great night of music that I am glad Kirstie dragged me out to see.

So I just downloaded flock , not really sure what I think yet but it will be fun playing around with it.