CONCERT: The Submarines + The Morning Benders

The Submarines are wrapping up their tour with The Morning Benders and made a stop into Kilby Court last night. The Morning Benders, who apparently almost died en route from Denver, put on an energetic and danceable set. Unfortunately, I'm not familiar enough with their stuff to post a setlist - but that will soon be changing. They played a few brand new songs, which to my ear were the strongest of the set - so, exciting things on the horizon for these guys. Keep your ears to the ground.

John Dragonetti and Blake Hazard (AKA The Submarines) took the stage and I very quickly realized a few things. One, Dragonetti looks kind of like Christian Bale, and I bet he'd have a better batman voice. Two, if music doesn't pan out for these two, Blake could easily make a living as a princess at Disneyland. She's that adorable. Three, their drummer was fantastic, both for his percussion-prowess and his incredible hair. And four, they put on one awesome show. Here's the setlist:

Submarine Symphonika / 1940 / Modern Inventions / Swimming Pool / Thorny Thicket / Vote / Peace & Hate / Brighter Discontent / Brightest Hour / Wake Up Song / You, Me and the Bourgoisie / Xavia

Encore: Darkest Things

And here's some songs.

The Submarines - Waiting for a War (Morning Benders cover)
free tour single


The Morning Benders - 1940 (Submarines cover)
free tour single


And pictures.
First, The Morning Benders:

and The Submarines:

PLAYLIST: Happy Lover's Day

Oh the love song. A good one can reduce you to tears; a bad one can too, but only because you've lost all hope in humanity's emotional response. Unfortunately, there seems to be no end to the bad ones in the world today, so I offer this little helping of some that I think are pretty good. Enjoy. UPDATE: So apparently Blogger deemed this post unsuitable and removed it. I took down the mp3's, but if you still want a .zip of the playlist just shoot us an email at whaleinacubicle@gmail.com.

mp3: The Bird and the Bee - My Love
from the album Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future (iTunes)
These two do indie-pop love songs right, and I think they know it. For further examples, see last year's Valentine's EP, One Too Many Hearts.

mp3: Josh Ritter - Kathleen
from the album Hello Starling (iTunes)
Josh has mastered the love song in my opinion, and he's got more than a few great ones. This is from his 2003 album, Hello Starling, and you should love it - if not only for its opening line, "All the other girls here are stars, you are the northern lights!" Favorite.

mp3: Leona Naess - On My Mind
from the album Thirteens (iTunes)
This one's been stuck in my head for a couple of months now, and I think it's one of the cutest little love songs I've ever heard. Yep, I said that.

mp3: Landon Pigg - Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop
from the Coffee Shop EP (iTunes)
A little cornball, for sure. But the melody is pretty, and I really like the dream-like production.

mp3: M. Ward - Never Had Nobody Like You
from the album Hold Time (listen to it at NPR)
I'm a sucker for M. Ward's dusty ballads, and it seems like his song-writing might be getting a little less cryptic since pairing with the She (of She & Him), and possibly even a little more... romantic? You be the judge, but I think this is a pretty good casual-love-song, if that's such a thing. It's off his newest album, Hold Time (out in March).

mp3: Joshua James - You're the Cocaine
(iTunes)
I fear this might become a lost gem due to its exclusion from last years re-release of The Sun is Always Brighter - it's a tender ode to his wife that makes me a little teary-eyed just about every time I hear it. While the lyrics are pretty sweet, I think it's his delivery that really gets me.

mp3: The Submarines - Swimming Pool
from the album Honeysuckle Weeks (iTunes)
Ok, I just love this song. And the fact that these two are married and singing it together? I mean, c'mon. That's pretty adorable.

mp3: Mason Jennings - In Your City
from the album In The Ever (iTunes)
I love this little vignette, and the old-timey piano is the perfect backdrop. While it's not your typical love song, it's one of the most romantic songs I can think of.

ARTIST: We wake up, we choose love, we choose light

I heard about The Submarines a year or so ago when some very good friends saw them open for Josh Ritter in LA. They said that they were awesome. I had a few songs, and yes, they were awesome. But I never really got too head over heels for them and I'm not sure why.

Well I might just be trying to fill that boy/girl duo void for another two weeks 'til Mates of State's album comes out, or maybe I'm just a real sucker for this kind of indie-pop, but I've finally fallen for the Submarines (AKA John Dragonetti and Blake Hazard) - and I've fallen hard.

The LA couple has a new album coming out this Tuesday (May 13th) called Honeysuckle Weeks, and let me tell you again - it is awesome (I also just checked and it's already available on iTunes). This will mark their first album to be completely written and recorded together - their debut album was actually written separately while the two were broken up and then recorded after they got back together. Lucky for us they're still together and going strong - because these are awesome songs. Or did I mention that already?

The Submarines - You, Me and the Bourgeoisie

from the album Honeysuckle Weeks (Amazon/iTunes)

The Submarines - Submarine Symphonika

from the album Honeysuckle Weeks (Amazon/iTunes)

NOTES:

Also coming out this Tuesday is Death Cab's new album. Woohoo.

The Little Ones will be playing tonight at Kilby Court in Salt Lake with Ra Ra Riot. If you can, don't miss it.