Dolly Varden and the Latebirds March 9 at Martyrs'

It's great to see Dolly Varden back with a new album after such a long time (five years). The Panic Bell is an excellent new record, with typically catchy songs, plus some sonic touches that make it sounds a little more eccentric and intriguing than previous Dolly Varden CDs. The new songs (and some old ones, of course) sounded strong in concert, especially when the band rocked more than usual.The opening act was the Latebirds, who are from Finland. I saw them last year at SXSW and enjoyed it; their mellow songs are a littl indistinct, but when they jam out a little bit more, it's quite good. They sound more America than Finnish.

See my photos of Dolly Varden and the Latebirds.

POSTED MARCH 11, 2007

Cold War Kids and Delta Spirit March 9 at Subterranean

One of the hot new bands from 2006 that I mostly missed out on was Cold War Kids. I heard the band's album a couple of times, thought it was pretty good, but never really studied what they were all about. They put on a pretty impressive, enegetic show in concert Friday night. And the opening band, Delta Spirit, was a great fit. Both band made use of extra percussion (one of the hip things to do these days, and a good trend, in my opinion), supplementing the standard drum kit with additional banging on hubcaps, kettle drums and such. It made the sets by both bands seem all the more urgent.

See my photos of Cold War Kids and Delta Spirit.