12.11.06

Awaiting an audience

I saw Asobi Seksu tonight at the Riottt (don't ask me about the spelling, I have no idea) fest. They were the one band on the bill that I was extremely excited to see. One drawback was that the venue was the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. It's a shitty place to see a show, really, but you take what you can get. Their set wasn't loud enough, the sound kept getting lost or just bouncing off the walls. They were victims of horrible acoustics. I got to talk to Yuki a bit afterwards and she said they didn't even get to soundcheck, which sucked. On the good side, they had a pretty sweet setlist, drawing mostly from Citrus, which is their newest album. They also did a kickass cover of Then He Kissed Me, which was kind of an unlikely, but cool choice of song. I asked her how they chose that song, and she said it was just a song she'd always loved as a kid. Fair enough.

Anyways, I realize there's still a month and a half left in this year, but I might as well say it now, Citrus is my favorite album of 2006. It's ridiculous how many times I've played it during the past six months and I still haven't tired of it. Do yourself a favor, go to their website and place your order. If you still need to be convinced, you can stream clips on their site, there are a few free mp3s you can download, and you can listen on their myspace page. Lastly, they were selling cd's of their 10/6 gig at the Echo (in LA, I believe) that has the aformentioned Crystals cover. Asobi Seksu are coming back to SF on 11/22, supporting Mates of State at the Great American Music Hall. See you there...

Listen:
Asobi Seksu > Then He Kissed Me

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bloody hell! How are they surviving? Have they BEEN home? They just keep touring and touring and touring. Well, lucky us!

Oh, I dislike Mates of State (GRATING boy/girl vocals), and I've no idea who the Appleseed Cast are, who Asobi are supporting on their next gig here. They are so alone out there, aren't they?

robot hero said...

yeah, mates of state are okay i guess. i'll stick around to check em out and have a few drinks. i wonder if appleseed cast is a reference to the anime called appleseed. i'm lovin that live album i picked up the other night. i think i'll bring my camera next week, hopefully get some pix. lotta venues in sf are pretty strict about cameras, tho.

Anonymous said...

I don't know why venues in SF are so strict about camera usage. Big venues grappled into submission by ticketmaster, yes, but indie venues? P'shaw! I don't know what I'd do without pretty pictures of all my favorite pretty musicians!

robot hero said...

The Great American is hit and miss, I *should* be able to get a camera in there. Places like Bimbo's, The Fillmore and The Warfield are pretty tough. It's sad because those are such great venues.

Loki said...

rich guitars and beguiling vocals... im sure im not the only one in love with the lead singer, haha

robot hero said...

jen, you were right about mates of state. i left about 4 or 5 songs into their set, i wasn't feelin it at all.