Okay I am AWFULLY excited about this one - Out the Other faves Menomena are in town this evening to play TWICE - first an all-ages show at Grimey's at 6 p.m., and then a full-blown show at Exit/In with Illinois and Don Caballero later tonight. I certainly would have been satisfied by one Nashville performance, so two within the space of a few hours feels like Christmas. Er... Halloween. :)
In case you missed the memo, let me catch you up. Menomena is from Portland, OR, and the band is a three-piece consisting of members Brent Knopf, Justin Harris, and Danny Seim. They got my attention early this year (actually, the tail-end of last year) with the Barsuk-released Friend and Foe, which has been one of my favorite and most-listened to albums of 2007. The album is the follow-up to 2003's self-released debut, I Am The Fun Blame Monster, which is cool for three reasons (more actually, but particularly these three): the title is an anagram of "the first Menomena album," the CD comes with an 80 page flip-book, and the album got an 8.7 on Pitchfork - when the band had never heard of the website. Fun Blame Monster has since been re-released on FILMguerrero and the band has also released a three-track instrumental album called Under an Hour, which was written for a experimental dance company and is delightfully weird and beautiful.
I was fortunate enough to catch Menomena while I was in Austin for SXSW this past year, and while the mid-afternoon set I caught at a day party was tragically short, it was certainly long enough for the band to make a terrific impression on me. I've been waiting (im)patiently for this Nashville date to arrive since the band announced this tour back in July, and I hope you decide to check them out tonight (at least at the free show - because really, what do you have to lose?). Of course, all the words in the world can't persuade someone that a band is worth seeing live, so I'll let the music do the convincing:
"Wet and Rusting" (from Friend and Foe)
"Air Aid" (from Friend and Foe)
"Cough Coughing" (from I Am the Fun Blame Monster)
The Grimey's show tonight kicks off at 6 p.m. - but I'd be there earlier to get a good spot. And if you're heading to Exit/In as well (and you should be), the show starts at 9 p.m., costs $12 and Don Caballero and Illinois open.
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