Colour Revolt, Anathallo and Brand New at the Kool Haus; Thursday May 17, 2007

Colour Revolt, Anathallo and Brand New at the Kool Haus; Thursday May 17, 2007. 6.5/10

On February 6, 2003 I saw what I believed for the longest time to be the best concert of my life and that was Brand New, Raising the Fawn opened. I have seen Brand New three times since that show and I think that I was too in love with the release of Deja Entendu to realize the quality of the show. Brand New’s release of Deja Entendu in 2003 is a brilliantly crafted album that has the elements of a cheap pop punk album filled with energetic power chords and hooks but unlike usual ‘punk’ artists Deja Entendu has incredibly clever lyrics. I wish I could say the same for the new album released in late 2006 called The Devil and God Are Raging Inside of Me. The first opener was Colour Revolt a band that were evidently influenced by a mixture of classic and modern rock groups. They had a fantastic sound live which was both polished and professional, which most openers tend to lack. The music played had guitar riffs that paralleled many classic rock bands but the vocals occasionally featured loud screams that fragmented the band’s ties to classic rock. Musically their sound was similar to Ambulance Ltd., a fantastic European group. Anathallo was an unexpected experimental group that is both large in numbers and featured a diverse selection of instruments. They coupled tracks together creating longer songs which failed to capture the audience. Their unique sound was complemented by their instrumentation--brass section, key boards, xylophones and tambourines were a couple of the more unusual instruments. Their songs were based on stories that had little relevance to anything at all and I think that is what makes them so interesting. Weaker lyrically they enhanced their sound by crazy instruments and tended to tell the story through music than lyrically. I really like this whole idea of lyric-less music, it’s big, super groups such as Explosions in the Sky and Broken Social Scene do it up. Anathallo was creative and I really liked that, they reminded me of the Most Serene Republic, with their use of brass instruments and Stuart Murdoch vocal sound (Belle and Sebastian). Definitely a sound unexpected at a Brand New show--more of an Arts and Craft sound.Brand New always put on a good show, both musically and through energy. Their set list was poorly organized (or maybe over-organized?) by the first half of the set being older material and the second half solely based on tracks off of their new album. The only show I have seen do this was Metric in support of their sophomore album. It was definitely a false façade believing that the majority of the show would be derived from Deja Entendu, their best selling album to date. They opened with “I Believe You But My Tommy Gun Don’t”, very predictable, they’ve done it before. Most of their tracks live sound angrier and louder, particularly by the speed in which they play them in. This song in particular is always played much faster than the recorded version. Jesse Lacey has taken to screaming a lot more as well in his live show, which is good on occasion but loses the emphasis after a couple of songs. Of Deja they played “I Believe You But My Tommy Gun Don’t”, “The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows”, “Play Crack the Sky”, “Sic Transit Gloria”, “Jaws Swimming Theme” and “Me Vs. Maradona Vs. Elvis”. I would have liked to hear “Tautou” live again, but I doubt that will happen. The only track off of Your Favourite Weapon played was “The Shower Scene” a complete letdown because he teased the audience at the end of the set introducing the last ‘real’ song played as “Seventy Times Seven” but really it was a track off the new album, complete tease. The last song played wasn’t really that, it was a conglomeration of musicians, probably like fifteen on the stage at once from all the bands playing as loud as they possibly could for the rest of the show. This was a full out jam for the band, they were having fun but the audience was left there. An awkward ending to the show and most of the audience expected more--they didn’t get it. I think Brand New have an incredible sound live, points for that. However the show was dull and boring I found for the most part. The division between material isn’t always a great choice to make because it often loses the attention of the audience. Also more material off of Your Favourite Weapon should have been played.

Download: “Seventy Times Seven”, “Soco Amaretto Lime”, “The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows” and “Tautou”

May 18, 2007