By Tyler Fassnacht

After getting downtown a little later than I had hoped I only had around an hour before El Valiente kicked off the Just Sayin is All showcase at the Overture Center, which was the main attraction for me. The only other bands I really got a chance to see were part of the Amble Down showcase, but I can’t complain. The first band was the Cloud Hymn, who with guitar, piano and three voices, played your standard indie-folk, which was a very pleasant way to start off my evening. The band wasn’t super original, but they did their thing very well. The other band from Amble Down that I caught was Meridene. I was only able to stay for a couple songs, but these guys were upbeat and poppy, again very enjoyable from what I saw.

When El Valiente came on a little after 8:00, there were maybe thirty people in the Capitol Theater, so I felt a little bad for them, especially after hearing how good they were. It was the first time I had listened to El Valiente, but I assure you it won’t be the last. The band really exceeded my expectations, with one part math rock, one part post-rock, one experimental and the rest just melodic guitar playing. There were a couple times during their set when the songs would build up until the drummer would be standing up hitting all the cymbals as hard as he could. I’m sure the way they played to the almost empty theater was just as if they were playing to a full house and for that I got to give them some props.

The trend that El Valiente started would keep going on into the night, with Collections of Colonies of Bees. The six-member band often had three guitarists, bass, drums and laptop sampling. During their 45 minute set, the band played maybe four or five songs, but it didn’t visibly bother any of the audience, who kept their heads bobbing (what else could you do at a show like this?) while the band droned through their set and I use drone in a good way. COCOB created beautiful atmospheres with layers of guitar, mixed in with slight electronic noise, which mesmerized you until the climax finally would hit and you would realize they finished a song. This was the first band I saw who I had listened to prior, so my excitement of the night was finally running high.

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Next up on the showcase was Cougar, who again played instrumental music borrowing from math rock, post-rock and experimental music, but this time there was also some prog thrown into the mix. By the crowd size and the audience reaction, it was fairly obvious that for the majority of people there, Cougar was the headliner. The band also acted like they were the headliners, even doing an encore after their set. The band tore through their songs with precision and force when it was loud and tenderness when it was quiet, but by the end of the evening you could tell that Cougar had a formula that they rarely drifted from. However, luckily for everyone there, they found a formula that really kicked ass.

Around 11:30, when Cougar ended, someone came out to make an announcement about the actual headliner, Bradford Cox, a.k.a. Atlas Sound, who was supposed to start at 11. Atlas Sound was moved into the much smaller Overture Rotunda. It ended up being ok though. A lot of people at the Cougar show probably didn’t know who Atlas Sound was, or have any interest in seeing him, hell I doubt the other bands on the showcase knew who he was either. Atlas Sound was the odd one out on a showcase that included all, at least relatively, local bands, who played instrumental, complex music. I felt a little bad because during the other bands’ sets, they all thanked each other for playing, with no mention of Atlas Sound. But, as they say, the show must go on and Bradford came out and did his show in the much smaller, more intimate venue and I truly believe that was a really good choice. With Atlas Sound’s lush atmospheric sounds all made by solely Mr. Cox, it would have seemed too impersonal in the Capitol Theater, when the Rotunda was perfect. Bradford was able to see everyone and talk to everyone, something he did between every song and it really just felt like hanging out with a friend who happened to play really awesome music. Armed with an acoustic guitar, harmonica and tons of effects, samples and loops, he was able to make his songs fill up the entire room. He played exclusively songs from his new album, Logos (which he jokingly talked about how everyone had it, even though it hadn’t been released yet), except for Quarantine, a track from Let the Blind Lead… which a fan convinced him to play, apparently for the first time live. The songs were indeed different from the album, but not for worse. He gave each song a slightly more organic feel, which was perfectly all right. After around 45 minutes of playing (mixed with at least ten minutes of chatting, that included jokingly yelling at people for leaving early and referring to the opening at the top of the rotunda as God’s asshole), Bradford ended the night with a cover of an old blues song, and he tried to turn it into a sing a long even though nobody knew the song. Hilarity ensued and I am sure that everyone else left just as satisfied as me.