It List: Tuesday

Goddamn it man. Two great shows tonight, and unless you drive really fucking fast, you'll have to pick one (post written by Stonedranger):

Architecture In Helsinki/Glass Candy/Panther (Hailey's): For some reason, every time I hear Architecture in Helsinki, I think about Fiery Furnaces. Perhaps its the manic, hyper short attention spans of both of these bands that causes it, but whatever the reason, I always come to the same conclusion: Fiery Furnaces are overrated, and Architecture in Helsinki are not. I know I know, they aren't really similar enough to compare in this way, but I just like taking shit. I mean talking shit. To me, Architecture's songs often seem to border on gimmicky, but the underlying chaos of their work is often refreshing thanks to a solid emotionally provocative core that ties most of their music together. Its tempting to dismiss some of their more restless material as little more than throwing shit against a wall to see what sticks, but for me, more careful listens have revealed something more happening beneath the surface, which is something I don't find in the work of, say, Fiery Furnaces. Glass Candy returns to the area after quite an upswing in media recognition over the past few months. In addition to playing a major role in making the Italians Do it Better compilation After Dark one of the more thrilling dance releases of the year, GC's Johnny Jewel has also earned quite a bit of praise for the Chromatics album Night Drive, which came out a few weeks ago. If disco for heroin addicts sounds appealing to you, then you'll probably enjoy taking in the Italo/Eurodisco/synth pop influenced sounds of Glass Candy, who despite what you might think at first glance, put quite a bit more thought into what they do than the average hip dance act. Panther is obviously the least substantive of the three groups here, and although I'm not crazy about his record, I've heard so many things about his shows that I would be interesting in checking him out.

Jens Lekman/Sarah Jaffe (Granada): Maybe it was because the first Jens Lekman review I ever read was written by an annoying dork, but for some reason I sort of ignored this guy until like three or four months ago when I heard his single "Maple Leaves" for the first time and was completely blown away. Lekman's combo of audacious samples, over the top crooning and twee inspired smart ass love lyrics might all be pretty awful on their own, but they certainly come together to produce some moving and genuinely funny pop songs for people that would never really listen to funny pop songs. His latest record, Night Falls Over Kortedala, contains so many strong moments that it is a bit hard to take in one sitting for the first time, but Lekman's charm, which seems to draw from Morrissey and the sweet yet cynical energy of bands like the Pastels, makes it a pretty easy listen after a while, and one of the better pop albums I've heard this year.

And Fishboy is playing a free show at Good Records at 630.