Sing Me Spanish Techno

The New Pornographers, Destroyer and Immaculate Machine @ The Trocadero Philadelphia, PA 10/14/05
After sitting through lackluster opening sets by Immaculate Machine (featuring AC Newman's long-lost niece Kathryn Calder, who's also playing with the New Pornographers now; can you say nepotism anyone?) and Destroyer (which features Dan Bejar, who's also a New Pornographers member) at the Troc's convenient upstairs seating area, we ventured downstairs to get a good view as the almighty headliners played with Neko Case and Dan Bejar possibly for the last time ever due to Neko's also prominent and rising solo career and subsequent touring schedule. Compared with seeing them in Brooklyn this past June, this show was different because of Neko's unmistakable vocals and presence (though Kathryn did a great job filling in for her back in June) and because it was in a small club, not an outdoor venue (Prospect Park Bandshell). With that said, I will echo the sentiment of Sad Stars in saying that it was a nice way to relive memories of a wonderful first date. :-) They played an assortment of songs from their 3 albums (all excellent, including the recently-released Twin Cinema, which will easily make my Top 10 of the year; it may be their best album thus far) with the only crucial song missing being "Letter from an Occupant". I was also hoping to hear their version of Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" (I bet Neko could sing the shit out of that song), which they played here in New York the 2 nights before. Supposedly, the set here was longer, too, but regardless it was still a great show with the absolute highlight being the incredible Neko-sung "These are the Fables" (she transported me into a rapturous haze during the end of that song). Dan also came out and sang 3 of his songs included "Testament to Youth in Verse" and "Jackie Dressed in Cobras", another highlight from the awesome new album. Although Kathryn was onstage with them the entire night and singing backing vocals as well as playing keyboards, there's really no reason for her to be up there since Neko's touring with them now and since her voice is so overpowering, but I still found it weird that I could barely hear her vocals at all. I can only speculate as to what was up with that. Don't get me wrong, though. As I said before, she's a fine sub for Neko when she's not around and it's good to know that they'll continue to tour even if Neko's solo career prevents her from going out with them again.

PREVIOUSLY: Neko Case and Visqueen @ Bowery Ballroom on Valentine's Day

The photo above was taken by Daniel Harvey and can also be found here.