Seattle Subsonic

Of sugar, sap and pap - The Little Ones, Chop Suey 11/10

November 17th, 2008

Alright–so pap is a bit harsh, and none of these bands were deserving of such a off-handed dismissal. But I came to this show anticipating an evening of upbeat sugary pop, and through no fault of my own I really wasn’t in the right frame of mind for any of it. So out of fairness to the bands and in hopes of staying awake, I brought with me the only antidote guaranteed to keep me in the there and then…leftover Halloween candy. Not the rare treat of Bottlecaps, or the always gobbled Butterfingers. No, these were the leftovers. These were the trick-or-treat rejects. Not a chocolate or gum among ‘em. The uninteresting Smarties, the uninspiring Nerds, and the generic unbranded candy-corn taffy. Unloved, and untouched in the bowl on the counter. A week past Halloween and still waiting to be asked to the big dance. These candies were the fat-kids and uncoordinated geeks that get chosen last for a team. And somewhere within this bad-analogy paragraph are all the elements and personalities displayed at Chop Suey on this subdued Monday evening.

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Being not exactly full of vim & vigor, I grabbed a handful of candy on my way out the door to the show. I wasn’t selective. Just a few crinkly packages of brightly colored, far from naturally-flavored corn-syrup confections. I figured, I’ll pop a few of these during each band’s set, and that way I should not only make it to the end of the evening, but I might even get enough gas to get my ass movin’ to the grooves. I even laid off the obligatory social-lubricant libations. I was on dead set on finding candyland.

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Did I ever find it. But it was more chutes and ladders than visions of sugarplums. I don’t eat a lot of candy, but I don’t go out of my way to avoid it. And there’s always a bowl full at work. But I can’t remember the last time I got a full-on sugar buzz goin’. The candies didn’t last more than midway through the second band, and I was already flying high by the end of the first band’s set. And as the night wore on, it became clear to me why sugar isn’t my drug of choice. Sugar, and candy specifically, have their appeal. But with the rush comes the crash, and after that you’re left just as unsatisfied as before you had it. As the first band schlepped their gear off the stage, I found myself no longer craving energy and instead wondering if I’d be able to get to sleep that night.

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Apparently the crowd didn’t get the same idea or buzz I had. Maybe it was the 6 day hangover from election night elation, but the crowd seemed either a bit reserved or a bit lethargic. Chalk it up to a Monday, but there were a lot of wallflowers in attendance this night. Maybe they were waiting for someone to ask them to dance?

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Other Lives, hailing from Stillwater Oklahoma, opened the show with a cleverly off-kilter set of songs and tempo changes that captured the attention of the room, and at least a fair amount of curiosity. OL is your typical five-piece ensemble with the atypical addition of a full-time cellist. The band came on with energy and enthusiasm, but the buzz was just a bit blunted (for me) when singer Jesse mentioned in between songs something to the effect that ‘they’ (the band) like long pauses (for tuning) between songs. This after the first song. Thankfully OL didn’t make good on this claim, because the songs bookending the breaks were challenging enough without the distraction of pregnant pauses. This was no straightforward 3 chord pop jangling. Other Lives manage to blend downbeat americana with some of the moodiness of Radiohead and Rufus Wainwright thrown in to boot. The sound on this night in Chop Suey was not top notch, but it’s often hard to tell if that’s due to the soundboard or the way the band is playing. Nevertheless, it would be hard to pull off the type of orchestral arrangements, hooks and changes Other Lives threw at us that night. I couldn’t hear through to the real songs, but I could hear enough to know this band was taking a risk and trying to say something interesting. A listen to their debut EP a few days later on their MySpace backed that up and my only complaint is that I couldn’t hear the cello well in the recordings. Nevertheless, some interesting tunes, from a quirky but interesting band far from Oklahoma (the state with the highest % vote for McCain).

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Enter band number 2, What Made Milwaukee Famous. Another five-piece, this one from Austin, TX. With vocals vaguely reminiscent of Jeff Buckley, and musically parts Aqualung mixed with Weezer, these guys were a loaded combination to begin with. Add to that the presence of an apparent local fan base, and you have the makings of some energetic pop-rock. Which is what WMMF delivered. (is that a new wrestling federation?) These guys were pros. They wasted no time in drawing out the crowd, exhorting the locals with chants of F*CK PORTLAND!, and diving into tunes so immediately catchy that they recalled the tunefulness and heyday of The Posies pre-Dear 23 period. And while there’s a bit of the Posies in this band (the tunes, songcraft and tightness), live they come across as less the college crowd favorite and more like crafty and well-traveled barroom conquerers. You can imagine this band on an endless tour of small to medium-sized venues, always winning ‘em over, but not necessarily selling a belief beyond the good time had on any particular night. I won’t look for these guys to suddenly be on everyone’s lips, but I won’t turn the station if their songs come on. “Cheap WIne” and “Self Destruct” being the kind of particularly catchy songs (from their latest, “What Doesn’t Kill Us”) that remind me of those innocuous little pop songs that seem to capture the very essence of a moment and portray it so simply that they become personal. They become ‘your song’ for ‘that time’. Mixtape fodder, so to speak. In that sense, selling a belief captured in a moment doesn’t seem like so small an accomplishment.

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Or perhaps they were selling something more at the merch table. I dunno, but something happened, because somewhere between WMMF and headliners The Little Ones about half the crowd left. (or so it seemed). Again, blame it on Monday, or perhaps it was past some people’s bedtimes, but The Little Ones played to a smaller house than they deserved. And that’s a shame, because these guys made it worth the sugar crash. On record TLO sound like The Shins–if The Shins woke up to find themselves on a desert island and a beach littered with inflatable toys and buckets of Corona. Or like Bow Wow Wow–if Bow Wow Wow spent a summer surfing and replaced Annabella with the singer for The Stone Roses. Okay, maybe if you took The Shins, Bow Wow Wow, The Stone Roses and The Pixies and put ‘em in a blender with some ice and then poured ‘em into a glass with salt on the rim. This band just plays fun music, and they make it fun to listen to on its own merits (no sand or margarita required). And the Pixies comparison comes across most when The Little Ones play live. The interplay between brothers Ed & Brian Reyes–not to each other but as they share singing duties with the crowd–reminds me very much of Black Francis & Kim Deal. They both do their own thing during each song, but each contributes a piece that fits, and it’s up to the audience to assemble it into a meaning. For a pop band to put together fun, hooky, quirky songs with the dynamics and delivery of a humming engine is no mean feat. And this band does it effort-fully. Not effortless, as without passion–these guys play and generate energy with their effort. And there’s nothing wrong with that. The new album, “Morning Tide” is an immediate carjam heavy-rotation candidate. There’s not a song on it that doesn’t get my fingers drumming or toes tapping. They could write a jingle for a yogurt company and I wouldn’t even raise an eyebrow. They’re like yogurt. They’re sweet, a little tangy, colorful, and even probably good for you. And so it was on this night that The Little Ones put the crowd through their paces with a steady stream of beachy grooves and bouncy pop. And like any good sweet just desserts, they took a mercifully short break after their set, then they bounded onto stage to finish the night with an encore of a couple of somehow even more energetic tunes. It all left me thinking that what they had before their show must’ve been much better than the candy I had that night.