As I've said before, the interesting thing about having teenaged kids is having them introduce you to music. We went to see The Mountain Goats at Brooklyn Steel last night. The opener was Shana Cleveland.

Shana Cleveland plays acoustic guitar and sings, joined by a keyboardist. Her sound made me think of Syd Barrett's original Pink Floyd a little - haunting dreamscapes, off-kilter melodies. It was wonderful. Her guitar rang out loud and clear, with lovely fingerpicked patterns, and the keyboardist had really vintage 1960s sounds - mellotron, organ. Here is a recent video of the two of them. If you like old school psychedelia, you will dig it:

I was so wowed that I bought her CDs right afterward at the merch booth, but they are not as sharp as her live stuff - a little too much reverb and studio-ness.

The Mountain Goats are a band I had heard a number of songs by, some of which I liked, none of which I loved, but they are OK. They make me think a little of They Might Be Giants - quirky, hyper-literate nerdy alt - folk - rock with vocals that make me cringe at times. However - they are a different beast live. Onstage, they are a very tight 4-piece with really well-arranged tunes, much better singing, and a really winning stage presence. The sold-out crowd of 1800 knew every word, and the singer was HYSTERICAL, just an absolute master of stage banter. I was very pleasantly surprised and impressed.