Upon first listen of the hip hop stylings of MC Chris while standing outside of Pomonas Glass House, my friend and I thought we were listening to a female MC. We werent too keen on her beats and rhymes either. Sounds more like MC Piss we heckled ed. note: MC Chris also plays the rapping giant spider MC Pee Pants on Aqua Teen Hunger Force for those that didn’t get my previous reference, I think this is a coincidental remark though].
I was confused for a moment when I entered the no frills venue and saw a pintsize white dude on stage flowing fast about jerkin his gherkin. His fashion sense seemed like more that of a screenwriter. (apparently his original career aspiration) But most of the 400 or so, hip looking, skinny jeaned kids inside seemed to know all of his eloquent lyrics, full of pop culture references to Star Wars, the Karate Kid and Transformers. As he puts it, MC Chris is definitely representing the geek. The crowd bobbed and waived their hands in the air to songs like White Kids Love Hip Hop andWeed is By My Side. Chris has some nifty little beats speckled with 8 bit video game sounds, sampled guitar riffs and bites of Weezer. MC Chris is proud of being a shrinky dink rapper and his clever comedy ended up winning me over. I cant help but think that hed be pretty fun guy to hang out with.
Before [Pinbacks set, I enjoyed seeing Rob Crow and his tiny-tot son in the audience waiving their hands to MC Chris. The little cutie had those little kid/concert going/shooting range silencer kind of head phones so as not to hurt his baby ears.
I already liked Pinback, but seeing them play made me like them more so. Singer/ guitarist Rob Crow came off as friendly, telling the audience little stories from touring and mentions of self consciousness that musicians talented as these need not have.
They played a 20 song set, including 11 of the 12 songs from Autumn of the Seraphs. Pinback has their own creative sound with Singer/bass players Zach Smiths comforting vocal harmonies and Robs melodic guitar riffs. Somehow though, songs like Subbing for Eden or Good to See You make me think Elliot Smiths stuff may have sounded a bit like this if hed been happier. Zachs solid bass lines are refreshing in the fact that he plays more chords than single notes in his hooks. It was good fun to watch and see all the players in the band switch instruments at some point or another. (Talent!)
For a bit of a treat they played an unreleased song entitled Kylie named after Kylie Minogue according to Rob. My only complaint for the night was that when they played From Nothing to Nowhere it was a sped-up version. Being that I cant listen to their CD in my car without playing that song at least twice, I wish it had been more prolonged, at normal speed. I hope to see these guys headlining a much deserved, bigger venue in the near future.
