mouse on mars, ratatat, junior boys VS ..and you will know us by the trail of dead

That's such an ILM answer.

i'd go for Mouse on Mars

If you like to see sexism at work (not only on stage but also in the public), go to the Trail.

(qualifier: haven't got the new record yet, should be delivered tomorrow. But the answer would be the same based on their past stuff).

(O/T anyone can link me up to an .mp3 of the JB's music to check out?)

Can you expand on this?

One of the dudes is in some emo band, right?

Yeah, me too. They'd finished and had done their whole rebellious "ooh, look, we're going to trash our instruments" bit, which consisted of kicking over a couple of drums and throwing a guitar in the general direction of a Marshall stack. Somebody in the audience thought they hadn't gone far enough, got up on stage and pushed the stack over, then threw a spare drum into another one which knocked it over as well.

The band came back on and tried to make out they were tough. The audience were split between the 10% that were trying to stop the bouncers laying into the stage invader (...etc being so tough they were inciting the bouncers to beat the guy up) and the 90% that were pissing themselves laughing at watching someone's fake cool so effectively shattered.

One of the dudes is in some emo band, right?

This hardly seems like a logical reason to not like them, though.

When I saw them it was Jan on keyboards/computers, Andi on bass, Dodi on drums/vox. Very fun show, upbeat & danceable.

Agreed, but I assumed that's why some people don't.

"they just rock posture quite a lot when all they're really doing is playing power chords"

Aren't these things one and the same?

Anyway, the beats hit a lot harder live and sound much more aggressive. I prefer it to the record I think.

Saw MoM last night in Detroit, and they were amazing! This was my third time seeing them, and the previous two were good but not great. This was better. More "live" playing, with Jan having a fieldday with Dodo's vocals. The three of them have gelled into quite the funk trio. I kept thinking about a hyperer Zapp. Great reworkings of their tunes, with "Send Me Shivers" an obvious highlight. Very dynamic. Very celebratory. "Very fun show, upbeat & danceable", indeed.

Ratatat reminded me of Trans Am, but their stuff seemed to wear thin sooner. My friend enjoyed it more (probably because he's a guitarist) and he suggested that despite all the posturing, he felt that they had a lot of fun (in a mock-metal way).

Junior Boys weren't very dynamic, but their set was carried by their songs. I had read much about them, but had not heard them until they played. They had a small audience (they played first), but were likeable in a very understated way. Completely opposite from Ratatat in approach. I liked them alot.

What were they playing?

I did see a band called Macha, who played both kinds of indie - vibraphone-led instrumentals AND indie-dance (I kid, they were pretty good really), and MoM. MoM killed it, but it was really all about that drummer/singer guy. He just lays into those beats right along with the sequences, no headphones or anything.

Of course, it wouldn't be an electronic show if some computer file or connection didn't get fucked up and stop a song or two, but I love seeing that shit anyway.

..and you will know us by the trail of dead
If you like to see sexism at work (not only on stage but also in the public), go to the Trail.

-- jesus nathalie (stevienixe...), September 12th, 2004.

Might be a little late but care to elaborate?

...mouse on mars:: having seen them some time ago opening for stereolab , i assumed i knew what i was about to hear.

At one point, the Junior Boys' singer (Jeremy) chastised the audience for not dancing enough, although I'm not sure all of their songs call for it. But I wanted to support the band so badly, since the crowd was still fairly small at that point, and clearly few people knew who they were, that I moved to the front and joined a crowd of dorky kids waving light sticks and moving about.

I approached Jeremy after the set to tell him how much I liked the band. He told me, upon request, that the two new songs they played will be on a new album coming out "within the next year." I also mentioned that I heard of them via ILX -- I wouldn't have said anything except for Ned commenting that J. was "very aware" of this board -- and J. turned to his friend and said, "Have you heard about this? There's this message board called I Love Music, and almost every city we go to, someone comes up to me and tells me that's how they heard about us." The other guy: "Sounds dangerous."

Junior Boys set: New Song 1, "Teach Me How to Fight," "High Come Down," New Song 2, "Under the Sun," "Birthday."

Ratatat was okay. Not as bad as I'd been led to believe, but nothing remarkable at all. N/A said they sorta sounded like Trans Am, which I can see.

Mouse on Mars was pretty cool, but also a little disappointing, because I'd seen them a couple months before at an outdoor block party, where the sound was better, the crowd way more energetic, and the Chicago skyline at night in the distance. I totally let loose during the more drum-n-bass numbers (my favorite album of theirs is still Autoditacker), but I'm so out of shape I couldn't keep up through the entire set. I left the show feeling physically drained.

I probably hyped this show too much in my mind, but I still had a pretty good time.

I warmed more to Mouse On Mars this time, mostly cos there's 2 songs I really like - which featured both times.

caught part of Ratatat, who seemed fine though not amazing - but totally resonated with my late 70's Junior High / High School years.

I'll try downloading some Trans Am.

that said i haven't listened to trans am in years and now i really want to