In the Great Unadulterated Outdoors

Tonight I had the pleasure of meeting two young people that exhibited both the clarity and strength to hold an aesthetic opinion, and the humility to defer to another one. In short, my kind of people. Mary and Greg are their names.

We were all at the Ottobar tonight, having received the Surprise! email announcing a “secret” show by the media darlings Animal Collective. I knew the group was hyped, but even I was surprised by how quickly they sold out. With tickets being sold only in person, it is remarkable how quickly Indie nation mobilized this evening. I got there within 10 minutes of the announced time, but even so I got shut out. No tickets for you! I shed no tears, though, and I decided instead to take joy in my surroundings. I met a good number of amiable folks tonight, and had that many beers and then some. There was a mind-reading DJ who played the Pains of Being Pure at Heart only moments after I had thought about how much I’d like to hear them. There was a charming and attractive young woman who was studying sculpture and who gave me pleasant conversation but no name, only a number (#99, it was my loss; if you read this, email me … be seeing you). There were fellow cold-suffererers who stuck with the fools’ errand of standing in line after the first official cut-off (there were a few more, but the final one ended about 5 people in front of me).

When it was all over I went up for one last beer (which turned into three) and met Greg and Mary. They were more fortunate than me; they got tickets. That was thanks to Mary, who dragged Greg’s ass out early. That proved to me that being single isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and goes some way toward explaining why I am still ticketless. Anyway, it turns out we had a lot in common, including the whole music-making thing. We traded myspaces, and I’m listening to Greg’s as I type. (pause) … (another pause) …               I say!

It’s rather good. Lo-fi country swagger over a rambling, almost shambolic linear structure of starts, stops, and dissonant sparks. Wow. Lots of crazy stuff going on here. It’s almost an Akron/Family take on free jazz. A Kingsbury Manx with 10 ideas per track instead of two. Dark horses and flying fish. Stutters and stops. I truly like this.

I don’t download tracks off myspace, because it asks you to log in and I am too old and crotchety for that. But please click on the links to his site and listen for yourself. The group is called Soon Clyde.

Yikes! Check out the bits starting at 4:10 of the song “Sun Damage.” That sounds like weirdness I would try to pull off, were I that clever. Cheers Greg, and cheers Mary, and good luck with those hedges. If you get an extra 100K in the marketing budget, call me.