I forgot to tell you about this show I went to last week! Actually, I just wanted to prove that I have both good musical taste and a life, as opposed to what my previous posts may suggest.

I went to The Parish in downtown Austin with my friends and my sister last Tuesday, mostly just to see my new favorite singer/songwriter, Patrick Park, perform. I got Park's album as a perk from my job. Not knowing anything about him, I popped his latest album Loneliness Knows My Name into my CD player and fell in love. His songs are so beautifully written and produced - if you like slightly melancholy but pretty songs, you will love him.

In person, Park was taller and gangly-er than I had imagined, and his stage presence was one of slightly nervous shyness. That's all to his credit, though - his voice wasn't as polished as the tracks on his album, but it certainly added to the whole loner-with-a-poetic-muse vibe.

The Thrills headlined the show that evening, and while I was expecting them to be good in a disaffected lovely Irish way, I wasn't expecting them to rock my face off. They did. They have a sort of The Strokes-meet-The Beach Boys thing going on. While it's easy to pick out every last influence in their music, it all comes together to form this pop-y school boy rock that you can totally dance to, man.

The band is from Dublin, Ireland, and the lyrics to almost every song suggest teenage Irish boys with simple, endearing dreams of moving to California -- all sandy beaches, pretty girls, and setting suns. The single that's been playing on the radio here in Austin is One Horse Town: "All my friends say don't go settle down, hanging around in a one horse town". This was the song that took the audience from bopping their heads with the bass line to throwing their hands in the air and jamming out, baby. So cute. They even have a song called "Whatever happened to Corey Haim?" for all of us with Dream a Little Dream videos hiding in our VHS collections.

The only complaint I had was of their super-trendy attire. The whole "vintage rock t-shirt" thing has seriously worn out its welcome, and it's very hard for me to take anyone wearing a CBGB's shirt seriously anymore. You are not that cool, man. What are you, 18? I roll my eyes at your audacity. I find it hard to explain exactly why I find this annoying, but there's just something cooler-than-thou about people under 35 who cop to the punk generation thing. Just stop it. We all know the Ramones were the shit, and you don't have the inside track on that, okay?

Regardless, I love love love this band, even with their messy "the rock don't stop" haircuts and sunken, feed-me eyes. This is the kind of band that you need to see live to appreciate fully. If you live in Austin, The Thrills will be back during SXSW. If not, they're touring now, and they're not big enough yet to have abandoned small, intimate venues that always host the best shows.

If you do end up seeing them, take them each a nice NKOTB t-shirt. Now, there's a look I could get behind.

Lucy loves you |