#19 on the 2010 Musical Bacon Calendar

Big Echo by The Morning Benders

Watch the video above before reading further.

Now then. In love with The Morning Benders now? Admit it: you loved that song. I know I did when I first saw this video nearly a year ago. I remember the two week wait between the release of this video and the release of Big Echo, the band’s second album, being excruciatingly long. But then the album came out, and I fell in love all over again.

When I consequently saw them play at the Crocodile in April — a show I wrote about for Click & Dagger and was then picked up for the KEXP blog — they played only songs from the new album. This made for an great show-going experience for me, not being familiar with their previous album and only wanting to hear Big Echo songs. And what a show it was:

Christopher Chu, the bands’ principle songwriter, singer, and lead guitarist, does not give the initial impression of a commander.The band’s outward appearance leads you to believe they’re a bunch of geeky misfits who found each other at a Mathletes competition. Their set started out so quietly, half the audience thought the band was still tuning their instruments one full minute into the first song. But the tempo and volume picked up, reaching a climax where the band (both guitarists, the bass guitarist, and both drummers — yes, two) were animatedly slamming and strumming on their instruments, drawing the audience out of their conversations to stare at the spectacle on stage. Once you’re sucked in, you realize the appearance is intentionally misleading. They know how to rock, and they can prove it.

The album is well worth picking up, which is why it broke into the top 20 of this year’s Musical Bacon Calendar. Do yourself a favor and grab a copy.

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20. Here’s To Taking It Easy by Phosphorescent
21. This is Happening by LCD Soundsystem
22. The Mistress by Yellow Ostrich
23. Halcyon Digest by Deerhunter
24. Been Listening by Johnny Flynn
25. The Wild Hunt by The Tallest Man on Earth
26. Lisbon by The Walkmen
27. Scratch My Back by Peter Gabriel
28. All Day by Girl Talk
29. A Storm – A Tree – My Mother’s Head by Bobby Bare Jr.
30. 03 to TEN by Knathan Ryan
31. In This Light On This Evening by Editors