Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Walkmen/Golem

Knowing nothing about the opening band, and a little apprehensive of The Walkmen after their last show at the Basement, I went into this experience with less then stellar expectations. Then the show started an hour late.

"Oh dear," thought I.

"Fuck you," replied the concert.

Golem is a unique sort of band, one that I wouldn't hesitate to say sounds like a Bar Mitzvah on speed. The (female) lead singer sang in Yiddish whilst wielding an accordion, the (male) singer belonged in theater with the emotion he put into singing, and the other instruments consisted of a trombone, a violin, a string bass, and drums.

And it was great.

The crowd jumped and clapped to the old-world meets new-world folk punk, and the band was as funny as it was talented.



The Walkmen then proceeded to blow my mind. They played songs off their new album and a few old hits, striking a perfect balance between the two. Hamilton Leithauser's (haha) voice was spot on as he hit his trademark high notes with ease while the rest of the band stood back and just played...awesomely. What I could say about the live music would pretty much just echo my thoughts on their latest album, You and Me: It's great stuff! Full of emotion, off the beaten path stylistically, and exciting as hell. Drummer Matt Barrick should be especially commended with how fun it is two watch him do his stuff.

Good times.



RD

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