Art Brut/Princeton - Black Cat - Oct 18 2009

Princeton - This Los Angeles quartet plays pop music with a little jangle now and then. Full time keyboards augment the guitar bass drums with a couple of vocalists. The band seems ridiculously clean-cut to the point where I would have been razzing them in my punk youth. Now, I would be happy to let my (fictitious) daughter date them, unlike 90% of the rest of the bands I see. Decent enough, but a bit too clean for me. They did stun me with a killer guitar break in the fourth song, so there were some fun moments. Just not enough of them.


Art Brut - I tend to get a little skeptical about bands that become critical darlings whether they are behind it or not. But after a few disappointments, I feel like I am on a positive roll. First Wavves was great and now Art Brut was completely deserving of the press I have read. The five piece band with a couple of guitars and no keys came out rocking with a cover of Roadrunner that morphed into another song. The songs kept coming with sort of a garagey take on those late seventies punk-new wave crossover bands. I am thinking Adam Ant or the Cleveland-to-Indiana scene, but with a rocking garage feel as well. Great humor, abundant energy, killer hooks and strong playing. Flat out fun with post modern comments from the clearly intelligent and humorous singer. The crowd definitely got into it and the only problem there is that the club was only half full, if that. Go see Art Brut and have some real straight ahead fun. I know I need the fun fix as often as I can get it.

Quote of the Night: Interesting exchange from the Door personnel to a group of three, one underage (more paraphrasing than actual quotes due to length). "You Can't leave the premises after you've gotten stamped." Why is that? "It's the law, liquor license controls" But what is the reasoning? "Once stamped, we are responsible. If you were to come back drunk and discovered here, we could not defend ourselves" Can we leave to go eat and buy another ticket then? "No, it doesn't work that way. The same issues apply. You can eat at our cafe through there or go up to the club. That's it".