In the second fishbowl of the week, this one an expanded version at the PacMed friday BBQ the Clumsy Lovers played an hour set on the south lawn. They were very good, very talented, very entertaining. I’m not sure how I’d classify them, but they’re bluegrassy-rock complete with a banjo and mandiolin player and a volin/fiddle player. I guess it would probably be better to call them bluegrass influenced rock or something to that effect. They were very good and I’ve already marked my calendar with the next time they’ll be in town. I can’t decide, I think they’d be more of a live band than album, but I’ll have to listen to a bit of their album(s) before I look in to buying.

Yet another fishbowl. She, Lizz Wright was very talented and her music is pretty good. She wasn’t that great in a fishbowl setting, a little boring, though she was sick with a cold so I’ll cut her a bit of slack. I would imagine she’d be much better in a full concert setting. One of the guitarist she had with her, the lead, was really good playing acoustic. I didn’t catch his name when she said it. I probably won’t buy her album as I already have a couple to fill that genre’s itch. I would listen to it if I owned it.

Two bands in one day, drastically different groups at that. Modest Mouse came to Seattle’s Paramount theater last night for a show. The band was really good, very entertaining, played a lot of their big songs as well as deeper cuts.

The sound was pretty bad, muddy, bassy, I could barely hear the vocals most of the time and couldn’t understand a word they said in between. The sound system was a bit underpowered, at least in the midrange, there was ass loads of bass to make matters worse. I was decently pleased with the overall volume as I didn’t go deaf or anything, but the mix/system could of been much better.

As for the show there was about 5 million 15 year olds that were more interested in moshing up front than seeing the show. Ignoring that it was a really good show. It’s a sort home coming for the band from Issaqua (sp not even close(tm).) They brought what was apparently, again i couldn’t understand what they said, their friends and family up on stage for their closing number before coming back for a 3 song encore. It was well worth the modestly priced ticket.

In what was the best musical fishbowl yet Nickel Creek stoppped by yesterday for a lunch time event. They were, as I would of expected, execlent. Very entertaining muscially as well as banter. They played several songs off of their soon to be released “Why Should the Fire Die?”
I nabbed a pre-release copy and have since given it a listen or two and recomend it. If you’re already a Nickel Creek fan you’re sure to enjoy it, if not and you’re looking for something a little different, but not too out there it will probably fit the bill.