By: David de Young
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Brian Aubert of Silversun Pickups - Photo by Kate Harrington
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How could Minneapolis not love a band named after a liquor store?
Starting just after the Pizza Luce Block Party ended, Saturday night’s Silversun Pickups show at the 7th Street Entry had already drawn in the local folks with taste, i.e. fans of middle band The Alarmists, and the ever-elusive (at least to me) openers Shoveldance. Silversun Pickups are a relatively new L.A. band who took their name from a liquor store they once lived above. They kicked off their set with “Melatonin,” the gripping opening track from their debut Dangerbird Records full-length, Carnavas. Hustling back from the Luce Block Party and running late, this is what I walked into.
I’ve been digging my copy of Carnavas since it was still called “title tba,”, and I don’t think I’ve been so unexpectedly enamored of a new band since I stumbled half blindly across Amusement Parks on Fire in early 2005. (Though “half-blindly” isn’t fair, as Filter Magazine’s national promotions team helped turn me on to each band.) Silversun Pickups and APOF seem to share a similar integrity toward making music, focused enough not to get weighed down in self-indulgence, yet still aware all the same that the listener may wish to indulge him or herself quite a bit.
Recently, Silversun Pickups music was even featured in a VW commercial (see the commercial here and the video for the song here), and arguably, the band has become hip to like over the past few months. But their many fans seem to have come to their conclusions on their own. I had yet to hear of them when they released their six-song Pikul EP in 2005. But when I first heard Carnavas, their likable, loud, melodic, intelligent noise rock grabbed me immediately. I heard Ladytron in some vocal harmonies, and hints of early Smashing Pumpkins or Sonic Youth in the layering of sounds and song construction. I dare not compare Silversun Pickups to more bands than I already have because as singer/guitarist Brian Aubert humorously pointed out in his 89.3 The Current interview earlier that day, “We’ve found out about a lot of bands through what people say we sound like.”
The band moved into “Well Thought out Twinkles,” one of the songs featured in Aubert’s acoustic performance on the radio that afternoon. Aubert pointed to the appreciative and attentive audience that they were glad of the great reception on their first time here in Minneapolis. He dedicated another song from the new album, “Rusted Wheel” to a Minneosta music legend, saying, “This song goes out to Prince,” then deadpanned, “I’m sad he died.”
Bass player Nikki Monninger, stoically stationed by a rather rowdy bunch of male fans stage left – and remember the Entry stage is only about 18 inches tall -- started out the vocals on “Dream at Tempo 119,” which led into perhaps my favorite song on the disc, “Little Lover’s So Polite.” (I do recommend you listen to that song on MySpace if you preview no other songs today.) On this song, as on others, drummer Christopher Guanlao kept the beat on a drum kit with a cymbal so high it was halfway to the Entry ceiling, and keyboardist Joe Lester filled in what might have been second guitar parts with sounds halfway between guitar and keyboards, often distorted “blatting” drones, which definitely lend a lot to the signature sound of this band. “Future Foe Scenarios,” another album highlight, was dedicated “to breasts” in honor of the Carpe Mammae, Benefit for Breasts (actually a benefit for breast cancer patients and their families) which was taking place in the Main Room next door. During this song, the rowdy fans stage left either caused or pointed out a problem with Monninger’s bass pedal. Either way, she fixed it after it completely cut out for a few seconds and continued on in good humor. Devil horns were in the air in larger numbers than usual at this sort of show as the set closed with “Lazy Eye” and “Common Reactor.”
Aubert thanked the Alarmists, telling the crowd they thought “they were pretty good.” He added something that sounded like, “They are now purifying themselves in the lake of Chewbacca Caca,” whatever that was supposed to mean. I took it humorously, as a compliment and as a possible cloaked reference to “Purple Rain.”
Aubert claimed the band was unprepared to play the three encores they came back with, and though I believed him, they still sounded pretty good to me.
Setlist:
3 encores.
Related links:
Location Info:
7th Street Entry
Artist Info: Silversun Pickups
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