The Giant Panther

I can't believe it's been a week since I last posted, I think I'm still hungover from last week's Midlake/Sound Team show. I took lots of great pics and filed away observations for an insightful post, but somehow haven't gotten around to it. Look for that soon, in the meantime, check out Bradley's Almanac for Midlake's amazing set, and Hello Gina had a good write-up on the show too.

On to Rogue Wave, one of my favorites, hailing out of California. Some might consider them a little too poppy to be widely accepted by the indie scene (after all, they did make an O.C. soundtrack) but not me. Their latest album Descended Like Vultures was probably my favorite of 2005 (yes, over Illinois), and probably most-played album front to back. Zach Rogue heads up the band, a working stiff that eventually left the corporate world to pursue music full time. His vocals at times pay tribute to Paul Simon or Elliott Smith: soft, but dynamic, double tracked for the most part similar to the Shins.

Rogue Wave is coming to the Middle East Downstairs with Jason Collett from Broken Social Scene on Sept 12. Why on a Tuesday night? Probably to make my Weds morning miserable, but what can you do.

There isn't a bad song on Descended Like Vultures, which makes it tough to highlight a few songs, of course I chose the slow ones as always. From the marching opener "Bird On A Wire", to the amazing "Are You On My Side", Zach Rogue covers a lot of ground. The album isn't without it's moments of unadulterated pop, most apparent on "10:1" and "Publish My Love", but pop's not always such a bad thing.

So long story short, buy Descended Like Vultures, then download their single "Eyes" from Itunes off the Just Friends Soundtrack, check them out on their Myspace page to stream more tunes, and head to the Middle East on 9/12. By the way, their 2004 debut Out Of The Shadow is no slouch either. Here's a few songs to get you going.