Siren Music Festival 2009: The Raveonettes; Grand Duchy; Frightened Rabbit

The Raveonettes; Grand Duchy; Frightened Rabbi (Siren Music Festival)
@ Coney Island
Brooklyn, NY - July 18, 2009

Another hot, crowded, noisy year at Siren but the sound was good and the bands better.

The Raveonettes never seem to play the same show twice, which works in their favor. But by continuing their "We're Dour Again" ways, they've lost that spark from Chain Gang of Love. No matter, it rocked.

Grand Duchy, Black Francis' collaboration with his wife Violet Clark, retains the hard rockin' thrust of Charlie's Pixies with the same flair for melody and sly swipes of pop. What is it about this man and his work that always connotates an image of bleakness yet always reliably brings about a good case of the jollies? Side note: the image of blue and white beach balls tossing about in front of four all-black dressed musicians made for a fascinating image.

Frightened Rabbit seem to get lobbed in with the long line of lush Scottish pop music but their consistently pounding energy makes them more in the vein of the better sides of U2. They had the crowd in the palm of their hand, proving that even the most stylist, indifferent hipster is a sucker for well-made pop music.