I arrived at the Fillmore Monday night to see Omaha’s The Faint along with what appeared to be a hairstylist convention for the hip and tragically ironic. This is my first time seeing the band but I’ve been a fan of their lo-fi electro-angular guitar sound for some time and was excited to check them out.
The first band to hit the stage was Shy Child from New York. The vocalist, Pete Cafarella plays the keytar, which is complemented by drummer Nate Smith. While I have not heard of Shy Child I did enjoy their set. They were energetic and a bit unpolished (I mean that in a good way). For those who might not know them either, I would describe them as dancey with a bit of edge, in a bedroom band sort of way.
The next artist up was Portland, Oregon’s Glass Candy. On a whim, I caught Glass Candy the last time they were in San Francisco at the Transmission Theatre and thought they were pretty good in a club setting and seem to get the place moving. It would be interesting to see if they could carry their club vibe into a proper music venue. Duo Johnny Jewel and Ida No busted out their electro-disco sounds to a fairly receptive crowd. While the music was great, Ida’s jazzercise dance moves were a bit distracting. If Stevie Nicks’ dancing skills were combined with a Jane Fonda workout, you would get Ida’s moves. They are definitely tapped into the 80s thing. I did enjoy watching Johnny Jewel work his instruments to build the Glass Candy sound.
Let just get this out in the open right now: The Faint rocked, plain and simple. What a great live band! They cranked into their set strong with “Agenda Suicide,” “Dropkick the Punks” and “Take Me to the Hospital.” The crowd thoroughly got into it. I enjoyed their visuals, which really set the atmosphere for a lo-fi electro band. It harked back to an era reminiscent of what one might have seen at a Cabaret Voltaire show—minimal and raw. Another visual nugget was singer Todd Fink dressed in a lab coat and goggles looking a bit like David J from Love and Rockets. Fink proclaimed that they were going to be playing a lot of new material from their latest release, Fasciination.
The first song they tackled was “Machine in the Ghost,” which had a great punch and drive to it. From what I gathered from the hipsters around me, they enjoyed it as well (at least they stopped playing with their hair). The Faint played an oldie but goodie, “Desperate Guys,” before launching into another new song, “Forever Growing Centipedes.” From this point I lost track of the order of songs but I can tell you that they played two new tracks, “Get Seduced” and “I Treat You Wrong.” The former is heavy on the electro, while the latter has an up-tempo, faster-paced style that I was digging. The crowd went nuts over their Danse Macabre double track of “Your Retro Career Melted” and “Posed to Death.” I was glad they played “Disappear,” which ended the set. For an encore, The Faint swung into “Paranioattack,” which had the kids hopping. And just when I was wondering when they might be playing their new single, “The Geeks Were Right,” they drove right into it, leaving me stoked that The Faint delivered an entertaining and energetic show.
The Faint is touring America now and I recommend you get off your ass and catch them live. For this writer, it was time well spent.
Artists:
www.thefaint.com
www.myspace.com/glasscandy
www.myspace.com/shychildmusic
Album:
The Faint — Fasciination. Buy it NOW on Amazon.com.
Shy Child — Noise Won't Stop. Buy it NOW on Amazon.com.
Mp3s:
The Faint – “The Geeks were Right (Does It Offend You, Yeah? Remix)” – [mp3]
Shy Child – “Astronaut” – [mp3]
