we’re from japan! — absolutely. my wife was blown away. she’s not one really for the post-rock stuff usually but she was floored. shifting dynamics, tension, expression without words . . . loud as hell thrashing. happy birthday to me.

and here’s a proven bit of advice for all the young bands out there — have a guy who looks like odin in your band. or at least treebeard.

t.g. cid — this band is doing some interesting things. to boil it down, you’re looking at influences like godspeed with the crushing crescendos and sampled bits of socially-conscious dialogue, the books’ use of sampling and dialogue, sigur ros (their set ended with a nicely-done guitar/bow passage), and even a little animal collective thrown in with the drummer screaming his head off unmic’d during the thickest part of their set. keep an eye out for this wichita-based band.

oh yeah — and unwed sailor. not so much. turns out they were on tour with appleseed cast, had the night off, and were looking around for a show. i wasn’t very happy to see they were bumped up to headliners, which meant we’re from japan had to cut their set short. what ensued was basically a bunch of flailing and spitting and hyperbole which is fine for punk but doesn’t really work for operatic post-rock.