19 November 2007

This one's for you, Kevin Drew.


Don't sleep on this warped-minded songwriter. Kevin Drew's album is definitely an underdog of this year, and I'll admit, I did a little dozing myself. Maybe it's because I knew that it would pretty much be Broken Social Scene without the...dare I say?..."pizazz."

Not to say Spirit If... isn't full of said pizazz, but it's moreso intimate, which is allright with me.

I actually have fond memories of Kevin Drew. The last time I saw BSS was October 2006, but it was October 2005 that somewhat placed itself in the "Life-Altering Moment" category. I was in Chicago with one of my best friends and I was kinda upset with her over something that isn't even important anymore, and we were headed to Metro to see them play later that night. So in short, it was already a weird feeling of that night.

Feist opens for 'em, and she killed it. Then they come out, do their little instrumental ditty, then pause, and alluvasudden, Drew does the beginning riff of "KC Accidental," and I accidentally lose my fucking cool because that song is so ridiculous to me. Anyway, so the show's going well, then they come out for an encore for an "indie rock dance party." I loved the sound of that because I love dancing. So they go into "Hotel," and needless to say, I got my groove on (mind you, I was dead smack in the middle, in the front row). They end the song, and Drew goes, "OK OK OK, before we go into the next song, I want to point someone out in the audience." Then he looked me square in the eyes and said, "You! Raise your hand!" And I raised it, and he said, "You win the dance contest. I wish I had something to give you, but I don't."

"Gimme your lovin'!" I yelp.

"What's that?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Gimme your sweet lovin'!"

"OK," he said. And then he jumped off the stage, came over and gave me this big, bear hug. Then he jumped back onstage and said, "Thank you for dancing like an audience member should dance."

And then I forgot about everything that made me pissed at my dear friend; forgot about how I shouldn't have been in Chicago to begin with because I had two essays due that following Monday in school; and pretty much forgot about all stresses. I don't know, I guess I felt that way because Broken Social Scene are full of hard-working sombitches, and they know they aren't the most popular band because of the things they say and how "Fuck You" their mentality is, yet they get off of simple pleasures like seeing an audience member dance to their songs. Some deep shit there (though is it still considered "deep" if the author said it's deep? Yes.).

The Broken Social Scene phenomenon is beyond amazing to me. I've said before that it was as if there were a bunch of brilliant kids growing up in Canada, hanging out all the time, and they all realize they had a lot in common and decided to start a mega group that would later break off into several just-as talented groups and solo artists.

In short, Kevin Drew's new album is just as solid as a BSS album. Is that even a shocker?

Kevin Drew - Aging Faces / Losing Places

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