Last Monday, I was taken for my birthday to see Art Brut at Great American Music Hall. I have to admit that I had pretty low expectations; the wave of newfangled post-punk bands is starting to leave me cold, it was Monday for pete’s sake; the place was about 1/3 sold. (Seems that they had just been in town in March. Even more cruelly, they had been in Coachella at midnight Sunday, then had a gig in San Diego on Tuesday. Nice work, booking agent!)
Boy, was I pleasantly surprised. While Pitchfork thinks their live show is like “Hives crossed with Monty Python,” I’m going to dissent and go with Steve Coogan fronting The Damned, because they were funnier and had better songs than that (or perhaps more succinctly, had songs). It makes you want to rock out and it’s pretty darn joyous to boot.
If you’re idea of a good time involves pop-perfect 2-minute songs, stage patter, impromptu visits to the audience and BBC sitcoms, you can still catch Art Brut as they make their way across the US. If you are already on the Art Brut tip, they are playing many new as-yet-unrecorded songs — all at the same quality level as the, um, classic material — so it’s still worth revisiting their live act. Check their MySpace page for gig info.
Speaking of funny punks, I saw a Yellowcard video this morning as I was waiting for the hair-straightening to end — and do I believe my eyes and ears, but is this a so-called punk band with a VIOLIN PLAYER??? Yes, I’m afraid it is. I’m not usually this closed-minded, but this is so very not rock and roll. Yellowcard, the Dave Matthews Band of alleged alternative music.
[Soundtrack]
I’m not up for posting MP3s right now, but the three tracks posted at MySpace should suffice. “Formed A Band” is required listening for those that still think that punk should be funny.
Art Brut’s “Emily Kane” video
