Radiant Blue

It seems so long ago when Clap Your Hands Say Yeah stormed the indie world with their self-titled, self-released debut album. That was less than two years ago. Since then Brooklyn based band been on countless tours and self-released their sophomore album, Some Loud Thunder. In that time, I've been able to see them a total of four times, including the show at the Granada in Dallas on Friday night. It was great to see the band again and they were every bit as good as I remember them. They played about an hour long set mixing songs from each of the albums. I though the highlight of the set came towards the end when they threw down perhaps the best live version of In This Home On Ice. The band then gave the crowd two electrifying encores including the song I had been waiting for the entire night, The Skin of Yellow Country Teeth. The band has a few U.S. dates scheduled before going to Australia and then on to Europe.

If you aren't familiar with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, their sound is a modern version of early Talking Heads. I'm sure their probably tired of those comparisons, but I will say that there is nobody else around today whose music sounds like theirs. It's a quirky, electic mix of keyboards and guitars with some excellent base lines. The voice of singer Alec Ounsworth certainly adds a unique dimension to their music.

The opening act was Elvis Perkins in Dearland. I arrived at the Granada a little too late to catch the entire show, but most of what I heard was good. I recall seeing this band at this years SXSW and not being terribly impressed. I have not really determined what about the band's indie folk rock really distinguishes them. But I'd by lying if I said I cannot get their song All The Night Without Love out of my head.