So I found out about Matthew and the Arrogant Sea because I was trying to find the worst, most annoying indie/emo bands in town for a blog about how much modern music sucks ass; I found their name on We Shot JR and thought, These guys have the most awful band name ever.  From the sound of the band name, they probably have beards and wear ironic tee shirts and sing terrible, whiny indie-rock.  Pictures of the band showed a bunch of dudes with, you guessed it, beards, ironic tee shirts, and trendy hair.  Bingo, thinks I.  This band is bound to suck bad.  So I went to their Myspace and listened to a track, and was shocked out of my socks. 

See, Matthew and the Arrogant Sea are good.  Really good.  I was so impressed that I hauled ass out to Denton last night to watch them open for the Paper Chase, and see if this band could deliver live as well as they could in recorded form.  And once again, MATAS (doesn’t even translate into a good acronym! wow does the band name suck!) blew me the fuck away.  Their set was as close to perfect as I’ve seen in recent memory.  Singer/songwriter Matthew Gray (at least there’s actually a Matthew in the damn band) is truly a formidable talent, crafting brilliantly ambient folk-rock with a serious ear for a good pop hook, and delivering it to us via powerhouse vocals.  Gray has stocked his band with some solid talent.  The two guitarists used lots of effects in their playing, which was really striking and original for a folksy act like this.  Honestly, the guitar work reminded me a bit of Course of Empire’s inimitable Mike Graff, which is a huge compliment coming from me.  These kids are really ambitious in their approach, and, for the most part, they deliver.  Like I said, I really, really like this band.  Seriously.  Go to their myspace (linked above) and have  a listen.

The opening act was Tre Orsi, and they mostly sucked, the exception to the suckage being their drummer.  I have an inkling that he has marching band training or something, because he was really inventive, switching between skittery rat-a-tat-tat rhythms and hard-hitting, thunderous bass/tom action, often in the same measure, all on a minimalist kit.  The guitarist was terrible – I’m better than him, lemme put it that way.  Perhaps he’s the songwriter.  The bassist held his instrument as though it was a piece of fine china; he almost seemed afraid of the thing, and although his playing was passable, he was too timid about the whole thing to make any sort of impact.  The bass is a rhythm instrument, kids; sometimes you have to treat it that way.  Great drummer; lackluster songwriting, meh everything.  Maybe they were having an off night or something.

Headlining was the Paper Chase.  I had gone to Paper Chase’s myspace before attending the show (gas ain’t cheap, gotta make sure the trip to Denton is worth it), and was intrigued by their keyboard action.  Paper Chase has been around since 1998, but the years didn’t show in their high-energy set.  They play an interesting mix of electro-prog and snotty pop-punk.  I love their two keyboardists, and their Energizer vocalist was really entertaining, even if his voice was kind of annoyingly Blink-182ish.  Their drummer was a punkish, wiry fortysomething dude whose small stature belied his ability to deliver a brutal assault on the skins.  The keys really made this band for me, though; the two keyboardists delivered progressive, atonal, often jarring melodies that added a new layer of interest to the otherwise straightforward punk-rock.  The audience loved Paper Chase – everyone rushed to the front for their set, and many fans knew every song by heart, singing along and headbanging and making me wonder why I’d never heard of these guys before.

I wasn’t able to stay for the very end of the show, but all in all, this was one of the best I’ve been to in ages.  Perhaps I should get out to Denton more often, because this show made me believe, man.  Maybe, as my professor Dan says, everything really doesn’t have to be death metal…

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You guys are way too sweet.

<3matas.