I know BVaz scoffs whenever I say this, but I think Sunset Rubdown’s last album, Random Spirit Lover is better than Wolf Parade’s latest, At Mount Zoomer. Wolf Parade rocks it out more, and Sunset Rubdown certainly is way more out there, but they are also more diverse and more furious than anything I have heard Wolf Parade do. Don’t get me wrong, they are both in the upper crust, but I think Sunset Rubdown’s latest is simply a little better. As for the live show, I was blown away by Wolf Parade in July. They played the Palladium, it was a Friday, there was a huge crowd, and everyone was way into the show. The Sunset Rubdown show was on a Monday, the crowd was tiny and very weird (more on that in a minute), and there was just a strange vibe going on between the band and the crowd, so it is difficult to compare the two live shows. I will say that when SR played some of their more awesome songs, they were absolutely top notch…it’s a little difficult to gague some of their slower stuff when idiots were yelling at them during their songs. In the end, I really enjoyed the show, but at one point I leaned over to Jill and said, “These guys are never coming back to Dallas.” Find all our show photos here and the full review, tourdates, MP3s are after the jump.

First up, Hospitalships:

The night started off weird with Hospitalships because there were these two guys in particular who seemed to be the biggest megaultrasuperfans of Hospitalships that ever existed. It turns out that they were simply freaks, and were that nutty all the time. They were yelling love messages at the band, banging on their monitors (out of beat), dancing (out of beat), and clapping (way out of beat). Hospitalships seemed amused by them because out of the 50 people in the crowd at that time, they were the only two into it with any enthusiasm. Hospitalships was pretty good, they were a chill band with a nice easy groove. After awhile Hospitalships left the stage and on came Sunset Rubdown:

After their opening track which I didn’t recognize, they broke it down with an extremely great The Taming of the Hands That Came Back to Life. After they completed that song, the spaz kids struck again when one of them was clapping like a madman to some kind of “beat” that existed only in his head when Spencer was dead strumming his guitar. Spencer was staring at him, confused, then approached the mic and said, “It’s cool, it’s cool. Just do it in beat.” That has to be one of the funniest things I have ever seen a band say to an audience member.

Anyways, Spencer warned us at the onset of the show that he wasn’t sure how familiar we were with their back catalog, but tonight would be all about the new stuff as they are prepping for a new album and are tuning up the songs on the road before they hit the studio. Of the Random Spirit Lover songs I recognized, they played The Mending of the Gown, Up On Your Leopard, Upon the End of Your Feral Days, an awesome Winged/Wicked Things and (I think) Stallion.

Living up to his promise, Sunset Rubdown did play a lot of new stuff, and Spencer himself picked up the guitar for much of it, as pictured above. I really enjoyed the new songs; they seem to have an even better mix of the out there weirdness of Sunset Rubdown, but maybe reigns it in a little in favor of a more traditional song layout. Either way, all the songs they played were extremely solid, and I am now extremely excited for the new record.

The weirdness of the crowd only increased as the set wore on, presumably because the band kept addressing the random requests/insults/compliments/comments yelled at them in the breaks. The worst was the girl, who kept borderline insulting the people who yelled at the band. Anyways, the bizarre interaction between the band and crowd aside, the show was really good and the songs were all solid. I definitely largely enjoyed the new stuff, and I am pretty psyched for the new album. If you can, check them out; I realize these are just a few random tune up shows (Wolf Parade just finished their tour), and I’m actually shocked that they even came to Dallas, but I appreciate it! Shine on, Sunset Rubdown!

Sunset Rubdown – The Taming of the Hands that Came Back to Life – Random Spirit Lover
Sunset Rubdown – Winged/Wicked Things – Random Spirit Lover

Tourdates:

10-01 – Lawrence, KS – Jackpot
10-02 – Iowa City, IA – The Picador
10-03 – Madison, WI – The Annex
10-04 – Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle
10-13 – Toronto, ON – Lee’s Place
10-14 – Montreal, QC – La Tulipe