Friday, November 19, 2010

The LC's Guide to Friday Night

Local scenesters face a tough choice tonight, as there are two Pitchfork-approved bands playing simultaneously: Wolf Parade at the Granada and Shearwater at the Jackpot.

How does one decide?

The most obvious way would be to look at the Pitchfork rankings of the bands' most recent albums. Wolf Parade's Expo 86 gets a respectacle but not spectacular 7.5 ("more dependable than revelatory"). Shearwater's The Golden Archipilago gets a slightly higher 7.9 ("the record is introduced by a field recording of what sounds like an island choir."). We give Shearwater the hipster edge here because their work is more pretentious.

But there are other factors to take into account as well. The opening act for Wolf Parade is called Ogre, You Asshole, and they are from Japan, which is kind of hip. But then again Shearwater's opener is the dependable Damien Jurado, whose new album also gets a 7.9 from Pitchfork ("meditations on 1950s girl-group balladry, thorny Neil Young-esque guitar rock, and cavernous chamber-pop.").

Then you must factor in that the Jackpot is infinitely hipper than the Granada, as well as a few bucks cheaper.

So where will the boys spend their Friday evening?

Richard: "I'll be at the Replay to see the Danish metal band with the unpronounceable name."

Chip: "I'll be at the Jazzhaus for Yucca Roots, mon!"

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

the hippest show in town could also be at the Pizza Power house featuring Umberto and CVLTS and homemade pizza!

New hipster beers said...

I never read the LC with PBR in hand. Will hipsters ever change? Personally, I've become a big fan of Olympia for my canoe-loving beer. It makes no bones about its quality: "It's the water!"

What about Utica Club? It claims to be upscale, but it's just a classic Am pilsner.

fucking close to water said...

Thanks for the tip, Anonymous. That show was so hip it escaped our attention altogether, though we've endorsed CVLTS before.

And hipsters don't canoe! But we'd be personally be in favor of expanding hipster beer selections to include something more palatable.