I had read on one of the sites that The Places were supposed to play, but the name didn't appear on the O'Leaver's site. Guess that's because O'Leaver's didn't know they were playing, either. The Places is essentially singer-songwriter Amy Annelle, and for this evening, a guy in a long-sleeved Miller High Life dress shirt accompanying on guitar. (Looking through my online archives, turns out I wrote about The Places back in October 2001, which is further evidence of my growing senility. The story was a preview for a gig at The Junction with Dropless, The Storied Northwest, Fromanhole. I don't think I went that night). Standing back by the door I tried to catch as much of her set as I could and dug just about everything I heard, which was acoustic indie-folk and her cutting voice singing stories that I only caught in bits and pieces. I should have been playing closer attention. At one point, she added a tape recording of weird sounds to the accompaniment. Someone needs to bring her back again.

Kite Pilot was good, but seemed a little nervous. Turns out they haven't been able to practice much because they don't currently have a viable practice space. Maybe this works into their favor as there was a raw, loose quality to their set. New drummer Jeremy Stanosheck seems to be getting more and more into a groove. He has some big shoes to fill replacing Corey Broman -- one of the more minimalist-yet-muscular drummers on the scene. Especially considering that Broman plays on Kite Pilot's just-completed full-length. Stanosheck will do just fine, though I wish he'd hit those drums harder. I almost wish he'd take a "scream therapy" approach and lock himself in a room with his drum kit and try like hell to break the drumheads just to get over the hump. A few of the new Kite Pilot songs are damn intricate and complicated, with numerous time changes and shifts that threw the band a couple times. Stanosheck helped keep it all together admirably. The highlight was their last song, "Far From You, or Light from the Far Unknown," which also happens to be the last song on the new album. It showcases Erica Petersen's bouncing, funky bass and Austin Britton's trippy guitar (especially on the floating mid-song interlude). One more note about their set: Kite Pilot took an inevitable step by not playing the "hit" from their debut EP, "Tree Caught the Kite." Seems like they've moved on, sort of, even though a few people I spoke with afterward were disappointed that they didn't get to hear it. I was one of them.

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