See & Do: Music: R.E.M., Modest Mouse, the National
June 21st, 2008 by Web Editor in Music
Three generations of underground crossover acts provide an astounding level of craftsmanship. Rootsy elder statesmen R.E.M. are supporting their best album in a dozen years, Accelerate, on Sat. JUNE 21. There’s a cloudy Northwestern pallor shading the shimmer and softening the edges of Modest Mouse’s jagged windy guitar and percolating rhythms. Isaac Brock’s spindly mumble-shout echoes the tension between dreamy drift and the hard edge of reality, reflected in Brock’s self-doubting lyrical circumspection. The National’s shadowy orchestral swoon is at its most modulated and balanced on last year’s The Boxer, a stylish cape around Matt Berninger’s smoky baritone. $35-$75. 6:30 p.m. Lakewood Amphitheatre. 404-443-5000. www.livenation.com.
(Photo by Charlie Brewer)
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