IWT: mr. Gnome CD release party w/If These Trees Could Talk and The Record Low @ Beachland Tavern 4/25/08

Me and ockham made our way to the Beachland, tavern side, this last past Friday. Both of us were pretty psyched to get mr. Gnome's full length album and besides it'd been too long since he and I had hung out, shot the breeze, and drank some beers together. Worst places to spend a Friday night then at the Beachland Tavern listening to live music.

First up...The Record Low... Okay, I paid 7 bucks to get in the door. After the first 2 songs from the The Record Low I was positive my money was well spent. Dug the band. Musically adept, lyrically interesting...and these guys looked like they were having the time of their lives playing up there. That sort of energy is engaging and infectious. I won't be surprised to hear more buzz about these guys soon.

Second act...If These Trees Could Talk... I've got some fairly eclectic musical tastes. I tend to dismiss the notion of genres and approach music I listen to with as open a mind as I can muster. That said I still come across stuff I can acknowledge as good but which just don't do it for me. IFTTCT is like that. I admire their musicianship and technical expertise while admitting they aren't for me. Mostly it's because they're an instrumental band and I really prefer my music with vocals. What can I say? Personal preference.

One other note...maybe, just maybe, my enjoyment of this set was curtailed by the two jerks in front of me who talked the entire time. Hell, I'm guilty of the occasional aside, but these guys...long on-going conversation I could hear over the music. If you feel the need to do this GO TO THE BACK OF THE ROOM OR TAKE IT OUTSIDE. To stand directly in front of me when I'm at the front of the room and talk over the music is to court death. Images of baseball bats to the back of these jokers' skulls was only washed away by liberal imbibing of Abita Turbodog, a much underrated beer that happened to be the special of the night....

The Main Event...mr. Gnome What can I say about mr. Gnome? Musically they pretty much defy description. Go to their MySpace and listen to them. You'll know whether or not mr. Gnome is for you is short order. It warmed my black heart to see a good sized crowd there to support the band's CD release.

But that's only to be expected. On top of the band just being, well, you know, awesome...there's been a lot of buzz locally about them in last couple of weeks. Not all of it good. Silly baseless comparisons to The White Stripes, implications that people only see them because they're a good looking band, and bizarrely that their music is "simple." All that, far as I'm concerned, it's sour grapes. Band starts making good, building momentum, and suddenly out come the knives to cut 'em down.

Anyway, back to the show. This is the second time I've seen mr. Gnome. No playlist from me which sucks, but while I do own their self titled EP, I only got my hot little hands on the new album, Deliver this Creature, Friday night. So...I can't tell you what they played. What I can tell you, I was not disappointed. It was a good solid performance and a lot of fun seeing them play again. The crowd was into it...sometimes overly so. Might just be me, but I would have saved the loud beer bottle clinking toasts and shot-downing for breaks between songs or for after the set. What else? Played a couple songs with members of If These Trees Could Talk, and I really dug what having additional instruments added to the performance. Two encore songs even after a guitar string broke. One was something like "The Soundman's Song" (?) and it was very cool.

So to ram the point home one more time. Awesome set, awesome time. Noisy crowd who prevented me from hearing anything said by Nicole Barille in between songs. New CD--wait, wait, wait...2 new CDs. Sure I picked up mr. Gnome's Deliver this Creature--large part of why I was there. But when I was buying the disc...I saw they were giving away Here to Stay by The Record Low. Giving it away...? The band rocked!?! But who am I to argue with free?

All in all, an interesting night at the Beachland and for $7, I got my money's worth...