Kirstiecat | Blog

2/23/7
Beat Kitchen in Chicago

I wasn’t looking forward to seeing Atlanta Georgia’s four piece Snowden for a second time after seeing them once before at the Empty Bottle not too long ago opening for Forward Russia. Though their 2006 Jade Tree released album Anti-Anti has been a favorite of quite a few in the indie rock circle, I remembered being bored with their previous performance, feeling like their songs were generally uninspired. But, if one can liken a band to a light switch, last Friday at the Beat Kitchen there was definitely a talented electrician present in the house.

One reason for this change is the fact that this time their setlist was laden with the heavier rockers up front with the set ending in the swelling lullish songs off of the album instead of beginning with them. This gave them a chance not only to warm up fully and quickly in terms of their playing but to allow the audience to become a little more devoted to them, making the upfront songs more fully their anthems. The second reason is that the songs were much more bass and drum heavy than I remembered them at The Empty Bottle.

Something completely atypical about Snowden from other bands that should be mentioned is that the band’s live set is really fully realized due to the part of the bassist Corinne Lee who steals the show. Not only does she possess a captivating androgynous beauty and provide tight bass rifts and backup vocals but she dresses like she should be dating Emil Nikolaisen of Norway’s psych explosion Serena Maneesh. While watching her fill up the stage and the night itself, I couldn’t help thinking that unlike what one would expect, the lead singer of the band (Jordan Jeffares) did absolutely nothing for me. Instead, Corinne seems like the real lead and let’s hope she isn’t the creepy scientologist Jordan’s own personal myspace page suggests he is. What it really felt like to me is that the other band members were holding Corinne back and that she deserved better, mainly to be heading her own band. Let’s hope the future entails more for her than to be part of band, which frankly is neither deserving of her talent nor her disarming stage presence.

Listen to Snowden on myspace

View the complete photo set on flickr

Click more to see a setlist and remaining tour dates:

Feb 28 2007 8:00P
Neumo’s Seattle, Washington
Mar 1 2007 8:00P
Dante’s Portland, Oregon
Mar 2 2007 8:00P
The Independent (Noise Pop) – SOLD OUT San Francisco, California
Mar 3 2007 8:00P
The Echo Los Angeles, California
Mar 4 2007 7:30P
Chain Reaction (all ages ) Anaheim, California
Mar 5 2007 8:00P
The Casbah San Diego, California
Mar 6 2007 9:00P
Cinespace ** Los Angeles, California
Mar 6 2007 11:45P
Snowden late night DJ set @ Check Yo Ponytail Los Angeles, California
Mar 8 2007 8:00P
Urban Lounge Salt Lake City, Utah
Mar 9 2007 8:00P
Larimer Lounge Denver, Colorado
Mar 10 2007 8:00P
The Record Bar Kansas City, Missouri
Mar 11 2007 8:00P
Mooch and Burn ** Tulsa, Oklahoma
Mar 12 2007 8:00P
The Mink Houston, Texas
Mar 13 2007 8:00P
Deep Ellum Festival Dallas, Texas
Mar 14 2007 8:00P
SXSW Austin, Texas
Mar 30 2007 8:00P
Crossroads Film Festival ** Jackson, Mississippi
Apr 7 2007 3:00P
Rob’s House w/ The Selmanaires Atlanta, Georgia

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 28th, 2007 at 9:17 pm and is filed under music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.