I know often people boast about being into a band from the beginning, but I can comfortably say that I was digging Rainer Maria at the end. And only at the end, really. The first time I saw them was in like February at Northsix, and I saw them 3 or 4 times since them at SXSW and elsewhere right around when the last album came out. It had some highlights, but it clearly wasn't their best. I think everyone knew it. The popular trend seems to be for the respectable emo bands to shy away from the label these days to sound more "indie", and in effect they remove what was so great. Refine their voice, tighten up the instruments, convince themselves they're more commercially viable. I like that the vocals for bands like this and The Promise Ring were almost painful to listen to. That's how they got their message across. And it's not something my dad might dig, but I think that's kind of the point anyway. In this case, taking away the counterpoint vocals from Kyle was what did them in. That was really what really made them stand out for me when I went back and listened to the older stuff. But the last few albums took this out of the equation, and the music was far less engaging for it.
I'll be at Bowery in a month for their farewell. I still like these guys.
Tickets go on sale Wednesday at noon.
Comments