Momus & Stereo Total in Chicago last night

Umm ... to give this thread some meat, may I tell an amusing, if snobbish, story about what happened to me after the show? This is my Suzy-on-the-first-of-November imitation:

I went to this party, at which a pretty shabby band surprised me by ending their set with a cover of "Leave Them All Behind." This girl said, "Oh, hey, we have to talk, because my friend tells me you're like some kind of indierock lexicon and so am I." (Which was funny because the only indierock conversation I'd had with that friend involved him telling me that he'd just gotten really into Loveless and was looking for more records along that line -- to which I made the bold, obscure, lexicon-like reply that he might like Ride or Slowdive. And then he was asking about Mission of Burma, and when I said there was a pretty satisfying comp out there, he tried to pull some sort of cred on me by saying that he'll only buy full albums -- to which I managed to hold in the condescending reply that eventually, he'd realize that there were far more good bands in the world than he'd be able to be completist about, and sometimes a comp can be your best friend.) So, anyway, I tried to make indie-rock conversation with this girl, but it turned out that this self-proclaimed indie lexicon was unfamiliar with a vast swath of indie, inclduing, to my well-concealed horror, Unrest. (Not that anyone should be describing him/herself as an "indie lexicon" in the first place -- but fucking Unrest?) The extent of her lexicography seemed to be that she liked the last Superchunk album and saw Smog a few weeks ago. Anyway, then she tried to pull some girly ignoring-me thing, as if I'd been the one being stupid during the indie conversation, and then after that she pulled this very guy-ish move to make sure she went home with my friend Joe, who was completely uninterested in her but pretty drunk.

That was my evening.

Oh that's a girlish move too. Believe me.

But: how was the SHOW??

What kind of person would refer to themself as an indie rock lexicon anyhow? That's sad, 'specially if she hasn't even heard of blimmin' Unrest.

I love Unrest. How was Momus?

Every time I go out I have the exact opposite of your conversation Nitsuh with the same girl. (not the same girl you met obviously, I mean with I have the conversation with the same girl each time). In fact I probably sway towards being the ignorant one, no of course not actually, that's ridiculous, never!

Lexicon though......that's kind of an odd phrase to use.

Indie rock lexicon devil, maybe. But, God, even I've heard of Unrest.

So, like, how was the show and shit?

The show was obviously great. :)

Momus was in pretty good form -- went through a broad span of recent material, played the witty entertainer as he usually does. Stereo Total were great as well -- Sterling had some thoughts about them and the "cute formalism" that Momus was speculating about a while ago, so I'll leave that aspect to his blog. Their garage-ier end seemed to be a strong point live ... they had some asses shaking, and some roughly-choreographed dance moves of their own that were quite entertaining. Most interesting to me was the fact that their more minimal midi/loop-based stuff, while sort of kitschily tinny on record, felt a lot broader live, more like electro. I'd never have mentally associated them with, say, Peaches, but that comparison suddenly seemed a lot more valid.

I dunno ... I must admit that I didn't have any very deep or insightful thoughts on this particular gig. Mainly I'm waiting for Momus to come in here and say, "Oh, I thought you said 'Free Bird.'"

Hmmm, someone just called me and invited me to the Momus/Stereo Total show in Minneapolis tonight. I think I'll also not be able to make loud noises in public places. Lucky for Momus.

Tim and I showed up seven-thirty-ish, hoping to get into Empty Bottle before the soundcheck...We did interview Momus; it went well (though the actual recorded product leaves a little to be desired in the sound quality dept). Stereo Total were lounging backstage...unfortunately we looked a bit conspicuous hanging out in the video game room and not at the bar, so we got booted for being underage...al in all a sucessful night tho we didn't get to meet up with Nitsuh & Sterling et al (not to mention missing a rockin show..) Note to self=get fake ID!

BTW from the All Music Guide about Momus :

Similar Artists: Jack Rialto Tindersticks Suede My Life Story The Divine Comedy Pulp Roots and Influences: Serge Gainsbourg Pet Shop Boys Jacques Brel Morrissey Roxy Music David Bowie Scott Walker New Order Leonard Cohen Followers: Cinnamon

SUEDE?

Actually, I was disappointed at Momus because he was an excellent and self posessed performer, perhaps partly due to his large ego, but he pandered to the crowd. Hence minimal material from Folktronic and all the "classic" dirty stuff. If I could have, in retrospect, asked an interview question, I would have said "You do know that prop humor is the lowest form of comedy, don't you?" Anyway, thoughts on Stereo-Total are indeed to follow on my blog soon, and they will be mindblowing thoughts indeed.

I haven't the balls to make loud noises in public places, so Sterling had to take the initiative and yell "cockfarmer" between songs.

Considering you were on the guestlist because you wrote to me and said that your presence was the only way I could be guaranteed a heckle-free evening, Nitsuh, it sounds like you were oddly close to the source of the heckling, and not only not trying to quell it, but actually trying to pluck up courage to join in yourself! I guess Chicago is the home of the protection racket...

Glad you were too shy in the end, glad I was too deaf to hear anything more than 'Freebird', and glad you enjoyed the show. Pity we didn't meet up... I was probably downstairs in the dressing room being interviewed by a white puppet rat for a kid's cable TV show. The damn thing told some joke, the punchline of which was 'arrrrr!' I almost throttled it.

Doubtless I shouldn't be taking the audience's reaction as my only evidence, but Momus's songs didn't seem all that intellectual. The Minneapolis crowd only got a kick out of the parts where he said naughty words, or talked about sex, or made the wig act like a cat and talk into the mic. Regardless of this, I remained reserved and did not heckle, or even request "Freebird".

Hey, the guestlisting was a project to get Melissa in, which didn't end up happening. I did greatly appreciate it, though, so: thank you, Nick.

Full-on heckling wasn't in the plans, but we did want to think up something brief we could yell to make our presence known. "Cockfarmer" seemed the obvious answer. No one yelled "Free Bird," to my knowledge -- although, now that I'm considering it, I'd quite enjoy hearing you cover it.

I'll look forward to seeing you on Chic A Go Go, home of Miss Mia and the rat puppet. Unless there's another rat puppet working the Chicago scene . . .

Unless there's another rat puppet working the Chicago scene

I believe the identity of this creature is 'Greg Kot.'

SUEDE?

Momus was an early Suede fan. I know this because of this random article that had a quote from him in it saying he was at one of their shows when Justine was still in the van and admitted pointing his videocamera in the general direction of her cleavage. ;-)

"I believe the identity of this creature is 'Greg Kot.' "

LOL!

I tried to get to the show, but I am broke as a fuckin joke. I spent my money on a copy of Return of the Giant Slits (it's finally mine!) I'm also disappointed that Nick hasn't written any tour diaries yet, only photos. A picture may speak a thousand words, but only about 900 of them are intelligent.

Promised thoughts, tho limited in scope, on Stereo Total show are now at In Review.

Also, I would never mistake Nitsuh for an indie-scenester. Although one dude he knew and said he worked in a record shop with bore an uncanny resemblence to Jack Black.

Stereo Total's cover of "Get Down Tonight" is totally bus.

One of their (numerous!) encourse featured that segued into some preprogrammed track which just sort of bleeped out a funk as they both stopped playing instruments and danced for about five minutes.

Although one dude he knew and said he worked in a record shop with bore an uncanny resemblence to Jack Black.

Aww, dude, if you think he looked like Jack Black, you should meet the Jack Black lookalike from the Wicker Park Reckless. It's serious.

Yeah but Suede as "similar artists"? thats like comparing T Rex and Brian Eno

Dude!!! That guy IS Jack Black!

I like to think of Christian as "Jack Blonde," actually.