Tonight’s show was Crystal Castles at The Independent. Awesome, intimate venue. I like how it’s small, and I like how the people there are super friendly. For those of you who cannot make out the above picture, it's Crystal Castles. They performed in total darkness with the exception of Alice wearing a strobe light like Flava Flav wears a clock.
Enio, Arnold: I wish you guys could have made it.
Here’s my Top 5 for tonight. It’s late, sorry.
5- My friend Eric was majorly pumped to see Crystal Castles. His level of excitement was beyond what words can describe. He hit his “surreal live music nirvana” for about 10 seconds tonight when he was able to make it to the front and hold Alice Glass’s hand. She’s the lead vocals for Crystals. They locked eyes, held hands- for a full 10 seconds. This picture was taken right before.
9- Eric was outside having a cigarette after Lymbym System performed and before CC came on. He called me and said to just come out and hang, so I did. Right in front of us, two people got out of a cab. It was Ethan Kath and Alice Glass. It was also awesome!
8- I found out that Ethan met Alice in jail. They were in the drunk-tank after getting a DUI and just talked about music all night. Then, somehow, I got the CD, I played Untrust Us, told Arnold and Eric, and the rest is history.
2- I got bapped in the head again. I also didn’t wear a belt tonight. I don’t know why this is a top 5 and #2 at that.
1- LastFM, iTunes Genius. All science’s way of suggesting new music. An opening gig is the old school way, and it’s still the best way. You know you’re in the same genre if you’re going to see an opening gig for a headliner you’ve paid to see. And tonight, it was an uber success.
We saw Lymbyc Systym. They sound like Ratatat, but without guitars. They sound like M83, but without vocals. I guess their official genre is instrumental rock and electronic music. I knew I hit gold when I turned around and said to Eric, “Dude, are you hearing this?”
I was able to meet Mr. Jared Bell, the keyboardist. Michael, his brother, is the drummer and he also played with CC. He was one of the best drummers I've ever seen. Seriously. Jared was a super nice guy. I think he would have been just as nice if we didn’t buy a CD from him. That’s him below and not Screech Powers. I highly encourage you to listen to their stuff. I’ll get you a copy. Just e-mail me. Mr. Bell, if you’re reading this and you don’t want that, let me know. (I shared with him my blog!)
Also, I am wearing this Braves hat to every single gig now. I've never been to a good show without it. I saw Chromeo without it, and it sucked! It's a luck thing. On the left is Eric's. We made a pact we would wear it at all gigs.
