Saw Magnolia Electric Company at Schubas yesterday. Again made the mistake of hoping to hear two songs, especially two songs off of an older album that wasn't even under the same name (Songs:Ohia they used to be called). But I saw a tracklist from a Magnolia show earlier this year where both "Farewell Transmission" and "Riding With the Ghost" were played, so I had hope, even though I knew they'd be playing mostly stuff from the new album. Anyhoo, I got one of the two, so I'll have to hope "Farewell Transmission" will get it's time on stage at the Pitchfork festival this summer (if thousands of indie kids don't riot and tear down the Pulaski Park fieldhouse for not being able to get in due to the killer lineup and small park). Overall though, they sounded extremely good. Jason Molina did not look how I'd expected him to look, even though I'd seen pictures. He was about 5'2", 5'3" MAX. Small man. But he does have quite the voice on him.

Listening to Magnolia Electric Co. now (the 2003 Songs:Ohia album that they eventually changed the name of the band to for whatever reason), the new album isn't as good, though it's not bad. If you like blues-y folk rock though, Magnolia Electric Co. (again, the album) is a must-have. Or just download "Farewell Transmission," it's an unbelievable song.

I should also mention the opening band The Coke Dares, which was just made up of members of Magnolia. They were the funniest thing I'd seen in awhile, all of their songs were between 11 seconds and 1.5 minutes long, just raw rock that didn't make any sense with ridiculous titles, and the hilarious singer said "Thank You" after every "song" before anyone had even clapped. They were fabulous.