Some of you may remember Jens Lekman from my top ten albums of the 2007, or because Matt at Debriefing the Boys was at his concert last week. He's a Swedish indie pop star, sort of a ganglier, more nordic version of Morrissey or the Magnetic Fields, but with more samples of horns and strings. He's definitely work checking out if he comes to your neck of the woods, and tickets were reasonably priced and not through Ticketmaster.
The opening band, the Honeydrips, started with a tall, high man bringing out an Apple computer and setting it on a barstool on the stage. He then took a $3000 fender out of its holster onstage and put it on. He readied his hands at the frets, then reached over and clicked on his computer, starting some fun guitar-based dance music a la Joy Division. He closed his eyes and sang to the background music, his right hand resting above the body of the guitar, his left hand occasionally changing the fret, with no correlation with the song. He would contort his face when it got to a guitar solo, but otherwise he would just stand there, eyes closed, and sing these hilarious send-ups of sad songs.
At first I hated it, but then it started growing on me. He changed guitars after a few songs, muttering into the mic that it was getting out of tune. The songs had a few seconds of silence inbetween the preprogrammed beats, and if the audience didn't clap long enough, he would say something like "I thought you guys would like that song better" while filling time. After three songs, I realized just how funny the whole thing was. It was like an early Steve Martin stand-up, self-referential and ironic and parodying the conventions of the genre and such.
Afterward, while talking to an ugly homo trying to pick me up at the merch table in the lobby, I found out that they couldn't afford to bring the entire band over from Sweeden, and it was easier to remove the vocals from their last cd than both the vocals and lead guitar. Tragic. But still fun.
A fashion Note: There were a ridiculous amount of cute people wearing flannel at the concert, both onstage and off. I can understand Jens and the band wearing flannel; after all, they come from the far up north reaches of the EU. But I didn't realize that trendy homos and their tragically hip female friends were also partaking in occasional bouts of plaid. I'm kind of tempted to pick up a shirt or two myself.
Although I did a flikr search for some examples of cute guys in flannel, and came up with disappointing results. I did stumble upon this guy, but I think he's from an Abercrombie ad, so I don't know if he counts.
MP3s of Jens Lekman songs that will stay up until I get annoyed that I'm running out of bandwidth, mostly from his latest album, Night Falls over Kortedala
A Postcard to Nina
Maple Leaves
The Opposite of Hallelujah
I'm Leaving You Because I Don't Love You
Sipping on the Sweet Nectar
