"You wanna climb up the stairs, I wanna push you back down. But I let you inside, so you can push me around." ~the antlers

I'm seeing The Antlers in concert on Friday, and I'm really excited. I've seen them before (in two very different venues) and they always put on a great show. I saw them at the High Violet Annex last year (a very tiny space about the size of my apartment, able to hold no more than 100 people, that The National used to celebrate their album release), which was amazing. I also saw them open for The National at Radio City Music Hall. This Friday's concert will be at Bowery Ballroom, and I'm sure it will be a fabulous concert.

The Antlers' album Hospice is one of my absolute favorite albums. It's beautifully devastating and brilliant. It can usually make me cry (in fact, choose just one random song from the album and that song will likely bring me to tears if I'm in the right mood). It's a concept album, which is rare these days, and it's even more rare to find a concept album done well. It's certainly done well here. It's difficult to listen to straight through because of what it's about. It hurts. It's even difficult to read all the lyrics straight through. I mean, it's called Hospice, so it's not like the depressing nature of it is surprising. I love it, though. It's cathartic. The music is absolutely gorgeous. And I love the progression.

It would be nearly impossible for The Antlers' next album to live up to Hospice in my mind. Indeed, in my mind Burst Apart doesn't quite cut it compared to Hospice. But it's probably an unfair comparison to make. Burst Apart is less gut-wrenching, but it's still depressing; just look at the song titles (they include "Putting the Dog to Sleep," "Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out," and "I Don't Want Love"). The tone is different, though; it's less emotionally raw. The band seems to focus even more on the orchestrations, and there are some beautiful melodies here. I'm sure my opinions will continue to evolve upon further listening.

Be ready for goodies from Friday's concert.

Contest: A prize goes to anyone who can name another band that uses the word "femur" in two different songs. I'm guessing The Antlers are alone in that distinction.

I should write a review of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark 2.0, but I'm not really in the mood. For now I'll say that it's better than the original production, but it's still not any good. A few guitar riffs from The Edge and Jenn Damiano's voice are still the best things about it (Jenn Damiano's role, Mary Jane, is slightly expanded, but not enough). We had seats in the front row of the flying circle, which is the absolute perfect spot from which to see the show, and the finale is pretty impressive (the last time I saw the show, they couldn't do the finale flying sequence, which at that time was the act 1 finale).