PAGE 8 arcade OCT. 9, 2009 TBE SOUNDS Andrew Pelesh CONTRIBUTING WRITER Despite a lackluster opening band and a small crowd, Swedish new wavers The Sounds put on an excel- lent show Oct 5 at One Eyed Jacks. The night kicked offwith Foxy Shazam, an experimental rock group hail- ing from Cincinatti, Ohio. Foxy Shazam began their set excited and energetic, but their act quickly wore on the audience. The band's first few songs were catchy, hard-rocking tunes accentuated by Schuyler Vaughn White's manic piano playing and Alex Nauth's boisterous trumpet riffs. But the set quickly went downhill from there. Lead singer Eric Nally's drunken anecdotes between songs soon became annoying. The slurred speeches came of as filler to compensate for the band's lack of polished material. Besides the first three tunes, the band's music was unremarkable. As a whole, Foxy Shazam sounded like a bunch ofamateurs ham- mering on instruments. The set concluded with Nally hanging on the rafters above the stage, wiggling his body like a wild monkey. Too bad his antics weren't remotely cool. The Sounds opened their set with gusto. Lead vocalist Maja Ivarsson had a commanding stage pres- ence; her poise and undeniable swagger made her a perfect frontwoman. The Sounds played their catchy synth-laden rock for more than an hour. Though the crowd was by no means large, Ivarsson and her crew got every person in One Eyed Jacks dancing with them by the end of the night. The set mainly consisted of tracks off the band's newest album, Crossing the Rubicon. lvarsson created a personal connection with the audi- ence by speaking about the ups and downs of being a in a band before launching into "No One Sleeps When I'm Awake," one of the finest songs of the album, and of the night's show. The Sounds' powerful performance of "Beatbox" caused the densely packed audience in front of the stage to erupt in dance. The show's true high- light, however, was the band's rendition of "Living in America," a track from their debut album. The band's passionate intensity on this song was infectious, making it the unforgettable moment ofthe night At the end of the set, the audience demanded an encore, and The Sounds responded with two more great performanc- es. This outstanding conclusion confirmed The Sounds' showing as an exceptional feat oflive music. .ARCTIC MONKEYS DAN DEACON Tim Patterson CONTRIBUTING WRITER Jonathan Estuart ARCADE REVIEWS EDITOR Approaching the halfway point of their Humbug tour, the Arctic Monkeys delivered an almost indifferent set last Friday night at the House ofBlues . At full capacity, the crowd eagerly cheered, screamed and applaud- It's not hard to dismiss Dan Deacon, a balding 28-year-old musician from Baltimore with large glasses, ed for the Monkeys at least half an hour before the show began. The excitement quickly evaporated, however, as just another electronic artist, another guy with a laptop and a couple dongles that smash together cool when the group set the tone early with "Dance Little Liar; a sleepy and lethargic tune at best. Frontman Alex sounds and effects. Ifyo u did dismiss him and weren't at The Big Top on Wednesday, you missed out on the Turner allowed a minimal amount of emotion and passion to escape the five inches of hair covering his face. best dance party since Spring semester when he last played in New Orleans on our very own campus. His supporting cast also lacked the charisma to truly let loose. at least until drummer Matt Helders picked The night kicked off with a short set by Pumpkin, a local punk group, whose music was punctuated by the up the pace as the show approached its conclusion. Even crowd interaction was nonexistent, with the one screen behind them flashing short clips and pictures of everything from golden retrievers to very old televi- exception being Turner casually telling an intoxicated fan to settle down. sion shows. The second opener, Nuclear Power Pants, were equally flashy and visually stimulating. Of the 10 In a still more confusing choice, the Monkeys played a miserable three songs from their acclaimed album people in their troupe, five were vocalists; two guys did their best shouting/singing and three women pro- Whatever People Say That I Am, That's What I'm Not Where was the band who had captivated audiences vided shrill vocals along with mesmerizing, choreographed dancing. Equally as hypnotic was the rest of the with their quirky costumes, amusing antics and memorable performances on previous tours? Perhaps the band, clad in costumes straight out of a trippy dream. While both openers gave enjoyable and interesting band decided to save their energy for the heat and hundreds of thousands of people at Austin City Limits, performances, they would have been much more memorable had they not been playing before the awe-in- where they performed two days later. It certainly seems that the Monkeys are starting to slowly fade into ter- spiring antics of Dan Deacon. rible mediocrity. When Deacon finally finished setting up in the crowd with his personal wall of speakers, putting out all Thankfully, there were high points. · if You Were There, Beware" dazzled. "Fluorescent Adolescent" de- of his flashing plastic heads and doing general sound checks, he felt a sense of awkwardness in the room, stroyed. "505" finally awoke the crowd from their deep slumber, especially with the final crescendo. But even prompting him to ask people in the art-gallery-turned-venue who were listening to silently drop to the floor at the end, the show left something to be desired with fans scratching their heads. Hopefully, this barely sev- and lie there in order to weed out the people who were justthere to mingle. On his command, everyone in the en-year-old band will break the curse ofdying British rock sensations in time for their fourth studio album room fell to the floor. And that was just the first of the theatrical audience activities that he incorporates into and remain true to the latter part oftheir name. his live shows. The rest of the night included an interpretive dance led by his school bus driver Jeff (Deacon travels across the country in a school bus powered by veggie oil), a dance offbetween one halfof the audience dubbed Team Bacon and the other half whose name was too long to remember (Deacon didn't remember it either), and the human tunnel that stopped traffic as it snaked out of the venue and onto the street. The thing about the show was that it was a community event; everyone felt the same love for the electro- BLITZEN TRAPPER pop music and its nerdy, heavyset musician, and no audience member was excluded. There wasn't a single person standing at the sides quietly bopping his head. Everyone danced to "Red F; yelled along with "Snook- Sam Primeaux ered" and "The Crystal Cat," and went crazy for the final song of the night, "Wham City." STAFF WRITER A Dan Deacon show is about as close to a religious experience you can have in a concert venue. It is a bap- tism of sweat and noise. Ifyou haven't heard of this conductor of dance and happiness, pick up his latest al- Blitzen Trapper seems pretty simple to sum up - a bunch of guys in flannel with phenomenal beards bum Bromst. Ifit you like it, grab a car and head to his nearest show. Ifyou don't care for his marriage ofnoise making freewheeling, inventive, literate folk rock. But with their distinctly American kind of music -we're and melody. grab a car and head to his nearest show. Forget The Shins, Dan Deacon will change your life. talking Neil Young, Grateful Dead and .Bob Dylan to Wzlco, Beck and Okkervil River - they've taken on a persona that is all their own and practicallyA+, sight unseen. The sextet more than made the grade Sunday night, with a loud, [Wl set mostly composed o[ material from 2.00S's exceptional Furr. Frontman Eric E.arley•s ｶ ｯ ｾ debt to Dylan is considerable, but he manages to bring a passion and ability to stay on key that Dylan hasn t managed in 20 years. Songs like "Furr· and "Black River Killer· translate extremely well live, bolstered by the band's surpris- ingly adept, ardent musicianship. "Black River Killer· in particular deserves a mention; the version on Furr and the recent Black River Killer EP is an interesting mix of traditional folk and high-pitched, distorted or- gan that sounds oddly reminiscent ofsomething by Dr. Dre. And lyrics like "So I took the first train up to Or- egon/ And I killed the first man that I came upon;" could make the case that they're singing about the most Original ofGangstas. Openers Wye Oak earned some new fans with a charming set ofethereal Americana. The two-piece band made up ofJenn Wasner (guitar, vocals) and Andy Stack (drwns , organ, vocals) brought songs from their un- der-the-radar but promising 2009 release The Knot. Tue band sounds bigger than its roster would imply, and Stack especially deserves credit for filling out their sound with flourishes of organ whilst keeping the beat. Even the powerful "For Prayer· lost none of its thundering intensity in a live setting. More than anything else, this is the kind of show that I'm happy to see pack a room in 1ew Orleans. One Eyed Jacks is one of the city's most beautiful venues, and here's hoping they draw more shows of this magnitude.