The Heat Can Melt Your Brain...

At Jenni's suggestion, we went to see local husband-and-wife rockers Viva Voce at Dante's this past Thursday. And to boot, it was a $5 "low dough show."

The first opener was the Caves, a band which seems to draw a lot of comparisons to early U2 and the Cure. Well, I love early U2 ("October," "Boy," and "War" being some of the best albums ever made), and I hate the Cure. I'm happy to say that this band embodied much more of the former than they did of the latter. Good poppy hooks, fantastic musicianship, and not a trace of whiny Robert Smith vocals!

The second band was The Village Green, a Kinks-inspired (hence the name) punk-pop outfit that didn't offend, but didn't exactly impress either.

Viva Voce, it must be said, blew us all away. Somewhat reminiscent of Quasi or Point Juncture, Kevin Robinson, playing drums, and his very lovely better half Anita Robinson, on guitar (and occasionally bass), rocked the place! They must have had a few pre-recorded tracks, as a two-piece like this simply could not flesh out a full-band sound otherwise (even Quasi employs extra musicians for live shows), but I didn't mind a bit. They were superb. They're heading out on tour with the Shins here in a bit, so y'all in other parts do check 'em out when they come to your town!