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In this week’s paper, Hannah Levin lays down some serious praise to Wolf Parade, placing the band’s 2005 release, Apologies to the Queen Mary, in the esteemed company of Neutral Milk Hotel’s 1998 opus, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, exclaiming that Wolf Parade’s work is likely as close as we’ll ever get to hearing something as compelling as Jeff Mangum’s opus again. Comparisons to that album are nothing new for Wolf Parade, of course, but that doesn’t mean that the band’s totally on board with them — in fact, in many ways, guitarist and co-vocalist Dan Boecker told Levin that he kind of hates that that Neutral Milk Hotel record.
“I loved that album when it came out,” he recalls while speaking via cell phone in a strip-mall parking lot in Newport, Kentucky.
“It inspired a lot of bands in great ways and ushered in this whole
indie-rock era, but in retrospect it also had a real negative influence.
It [led to] a lot of things I just can’t stand about indie rock, like
unnecessary ‘wacky’ instruments. Like French horns, for no reason. They
did it well, but generally, French horns for no reason is a bad idea.” Continue reading…
No matter, the Aeroplane-aping Apologies isn’t what Wolf Parade’s currently promoting on the tour that takes the band to the Granada Theater tonight. Rather, it’s supporting its new album Expo 86, its most straightforward album to date. Perhaps it’s a response to all the Neutral Milk Hotel comparisons? Maybe. Although we’re certain the band will still play a few of its great Apologies tracks tonight, like the phenomenal, above-posted “I’ll Believe In Anything.”
You can find out for yourself — for free, no less — thanks to the fine folks at the Granada Theater, who’ve passed along two pairs of tickets for us to hand out to tonight’s show. Find out how to win one of the pairs after the jump.
Want one of the pairs? Just be among the first two people to email me, starting right now, with the words “Wolves on Parade” in the subject line, and you’re in. Good luck!
Update: Contest is over. Congrats to our winners!
