I'm not familiar with The Paper Chase, but rather than be completely ignorant as to John Congleton's output prior to seeing The Nighty Nite on tour with This Will Destroy You, I decided to check out a few songs. Violins, standup bass, keys, all banged upon as if they were drum kits as the frontman guitarist belts out his wavering vocal style that sounds like a combination of Tim Kasher of Cursive and The Dismemberment Plan's Travis Morrison? I wonder why John even bothered changing the band name.
Compared to what I saw live and what I've recently listened to, The Nighty Nite isn't unlike The Paper Chase... at all. Maybe there's some subtleties I'm missing out on. Whichever, obviously not being a TPC fan before, I wasn't there to see The Nighty Nite, but they caught my attention anyway. Seeing as how I would be a huge fan of anyone who makes the conscious effort to not sound like Tim Kasher I was ignoring the This Will Destroy You opening band. Ordering a drink and pulling my eyes away from the cute bartender who was being chatted up by two middle aged businessmen (at a TWDY show?) I started to watch the drummer who was standing up as he played. Looked like he had 2 snares and 2 floor toms from my perspective, but I was also hearing a kick drum. There was no way this could be happening. As I moved forward to see if he was merely using one of his floor toms to make the kick sound I realized he was in fact standing while using a kick. By now, I was too close not to be sucked in by this cacophonous indie noise rock.
I once used the analogy of picking up every kitchen appliance and slamming it on a concrete floor to describe a metalcore band. The Nighty Night gives Duck Duck Goose a worthy adversary when it comes to creating destructive noise, yet they're doing it with a strings section. Combine that with most of the band dressed like they had just started Rumspringa and a drummer whose right arm tattoos seem to be inspired by mid-90's nu-metal (or traditional Hawaiian tattoos, I wasn't close enough to tell) and it was quite an interesting sight. I believe the This Will Destroy You tour only has a couple of days left so you probably missed them this go around, but if you were already a fan of the pAper chAse or like your indie rock noisy and pretentious (you're already listening to underground indie rock so just embrace the pretentiousness of it all) then check out the Nighty Nite when they roll through. I guess their EP is coming out soon, too. Look into it.
www.thenightynite.com/
www.facebook.com/pages/The-nighty-nite/132763646739426
www.graveface.com/graveface-catalog.html
Essential Song:
The Nighty Nite 'Dimes in their Dimples' by Graveface Records
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