October 7, 2005 | Posted by mark at 3:08 PM

One Armed Transmission

BirdmonsterBirdmonster - Resurrection Song.

There's usually a good reason when a band gets tapped to be an opening act. Sometimes they're old friends with the band, sometimes they're local heroes, and sometimes they're just plain good. That's the case here with Birdmonster, who had the good fortune of opening up for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and The National in San Francisco this week. When everyone has to watch your band before they can watch THE buzz band of the moment, chances are things are going well.

So here we have Birdmonster -- a four-piece from San Francisco, has been making a name for themselves for a few years now. Reviews of their shows have been solid, and their EP is good too. You might remember them from when Said the Gramophone wrote them up back in June. They always beat me to the punch on these things. But that's cool. Either way, this band is definitely worth checking out. You can tell right away that this band used to be instrumental. They have the interlacing guitar lines and hammering drums down to a science. This isn't to say the vocals are an afterthought -- far from it. I think more bands could benefit from nailing down the instrumentals before the yelping starts.

Anyway, just listen for yourself. If you like what you hear, you can pick up their ep from iTunes or CD Babay.


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In other news, I worked the Merch table for The National at the Troudadour last night, and will be again tonight. If you're coming through, feel free to pop in and say hi. I should have pictures and stuff up tomorrow. The last night was excellent, and both the National and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah put in great shows. This really is an amazing tour, and I'm glad I could make it. The National are so good it's ridiculous, and super nice guys to boot.

Comments

is it true that The National are now opening the shows for CYHSY? that's kinda sad.

Posted by: pinder at October 7, 2005 4:15 PM

Well, here in Los Angeles, a second show was added. So the first night, the National headline, and then tonight CYHSY headlines. The rest of the tour the National has been the headliner. It's all good.

Posted by: robot mark at October 7, 2005 4:36 PM

does the bass guitar on this birdmonster remind anyone of still life?

Posted by: bobby latrone at October 7, 2005 4:58 PM

I really enjoy yhis music. It reminds me of modest mouse. The singer sounds like Isaac Brock a little.


-ELI

Posted by: Eli Kaufman at October 11, 2005 11:45 PM

there were only two shows on the tour that cyhsy headlined. the second LA show and the vancouver show. as far as i know. apparently the bands decided to do it that way as obviously cyhsy is capable of headlining at this point....it is not sad, just practical.

Posted by: paul at October 12, 2005 4:27 AM
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