Cold War Kids 6-9-2006 @ Drunken Unicorn

Well, it's been an eventful several days of music here in ATL. On Thursday night I had my mind blown by The Octopus Project. In fact, I liked them so much that I had a hard time getting into either dios (malos) or Starlight Mints, although both were enjoyable. This was a surprising development to say the least, as I knew very little about Octopus Project going in and had been dying to see Starlight Mints for 5+ years. Guess you never know, huh?

Now, while I'd been looking forward to that Thursday show for months, it had nowhere near the hype of the Tapes 'N Tapes, Figurines, and Cold War Kids show at Drunken Unicorn on Friday night. While most of the local buzz had been about "the Tapes 'N Tapes show" I was far more interested in seeing Cold War Kids. They're one of the few bands I've recently discovered via blogs that has remained in rotation here at C&T HQ (I guess my Audioscrobbler tally kinda reflects that, huh?). I didn't know much about Figurines going in other than they're Danish and came highly recommended by both Matt of KissAtlanta and Greg of Captain's Dead. However, based on those recs I expected good things. As it turned out, I got good things most of the evening. But some were better than others.

Today I'm sharing with C&T's readers my favorite set from Friday night. I have to say that Figurines take second place in that derby, with Tapes 'N Tapes a decided third. I have an urge here to write a diatribe on the effect of hype on expectations and when bands fail to meet them, but it's all been said before. I have to say that my feelings about the Tapes 'N Tapes show aren't much different than those expressed by Jonathan Perry of the Boston Globe. Regardless, I enjoyed The Loon and I'll look forward to their return. I realize that I may also not share the majority's viewpoint with regard to my take on the show.

As for that stellar Cold War Kids set... it's available here as mp3's or via dimeadozen.org as .flac files. One thing I should note is that the "Quiet, Please! intro" track below may or may not one day develop into a song in its own right. The band told me they've just tacked that section onto "Quiet, Please!" recently and its future is as yet undetermined. Hope you enjoy this set as much as I did!

Cold War Kids
June 9, 2006
Drunken Unicorn
Atlanta, GA

Taped and converted by Rich Vining

Taping: SP-CMC4's > batt box > Nomad Jukebox 3
Conversion: JB3 > Dell Inspiron 6000 > Cool Edit Pro 2.0 > CD WAV > mkwACT

01. Sermons vs. The Gospel (Demonstration)
02. We Used to Vacation
03. Hang Me Up to Dry
04. aud/tuning
05. Hair Down
06. Saint John
07. aud/banter
08. Robbers
09. Hospital Beds
10. Quiet, Please! intro >
11. Quiet, Please!
12. aud/banter
13. Rubidoux

Again, the lossless (.flac) version can be downloaded here. I'll try to get the other sets up sometime too.

Oh, and locals will be glad to know that Cold War Kids will be back in Atlanta on July 20. They'll be opening for SOUND Team at The EARL on that night. Sounds like a damn fine show.