Last night I went to go see some indie rock

Last night I ventured down to the Mercury Lounge. I ended up seeing two bands; The M's and Great Lake Swimmers.

The M's played a thoroughly enjoyable set. I'm not sure how great the songs are, but the performance was really good. It was as if they followed my rules for how to be instantly impressive: play at a nice loud volume without being overwhelming, have multiple vocalists and use them together and keep the songs moving at a good pace. This is retro-ish seeming indie rock, recalling Kinks, Beatles and whatever else obvious reference you would like. I'll be keeping an eye out to see when these guys play NYC again.

Great Lake Swimmers is really one guy from Toronto. At this show, he was augmented by a second guy on banjo/electric guitar. After the M's, this was a big change of pace. Slower songs, a really beautiful voice and arrangements reminiscent of Iron and Wine.

I missed headlining Jesse Sykes, because i was tired. Apologies to the Barsuk crew, although I should say that i have come around to quite liking her Oh, My Girl cd.