I only post about upcoming shows when I’m really excited about them. And I haven’t been this excited about a show in a long time. For the last year, I’ve listened to The Most Serene Republic’s Phages EP more than any other album. I’ve been anticipating their second full-length Population so strongly that I thought I might have doomed myself to disappointment. On the contrary, it’s been one of those rare and beautiful instances where I’m absolutely enraptured by an album from first listen. While Phages is short and dense, Population allows for some breathing room with slow building songs and a couple of jazzy moments. It’s still an album that demands your undivided attention, but if you’re a fan of sweeping, driving, complex pop music (or any other Arts & Crafts band) I guarantee you it will be time well spent. The album drops on October 3rd.

The Most Serene Republic - Present of Future End.mp3

I’ve seen them only once, which was at the Arts & Crafts showcase during CMJ 2005. It was simply awesome. They have one of the most insane drummers you’ve ever seen and the talent of the rest of band does not lag far behind. But while you might revel at their musicianship for a song or two, you’ll quickly come to hear them as a cohesive group, not a bunch of hot-shot prog-heads. Most of their songs are in crazy meter, but flow so smoothly that you barely notice the changes.

Here’s a live performance of my favorite song from Phages, the title track:

Anyway, they are playing three New York area shows and I’ll have to miss two of them, but there is no place in the world I’d rather be on September 21st than Union Hall. My friends at Neon Lights are presenting the bill and I hope to be recording the show. From their press release:

NEON LIGHTS PRESENTS announces our return to Union Hall, following a victorious two night stand in July (Ola Podrida, De Novo Dahl). In an effort to top ourselves, we’ve brought in a secret Canadian weapon, THE MOST SERENE REPUBLIC. The Ontario seven-piece were the first group signed to the Broken Social Scene’s Arts and Crafts label that weren’t a direct off-shoot of BSS themselves. The lovely expansive pop sound of their upcoming sophomore release, Population, will place the band on the level of their celebrated countrymen like Stars or Metric. Joining MSR will be hotly tipped Brooklyn newcomers, HIGH PLACES and SHE KEEPS BEES. The sweet melodies and alien instrumentation of HIGH PLACES have earned the duo Pitchfork love letters and an opening spot on the Blow’s upcoming Northeast tour. The spooked songwriting and soulful voice of SHE KEEPS BEES’ Jessica Larrabee have garned favorable comparisons to Fiona Apple or the early work of Chan Marshall. Between sets, music will be lovingly selected by our fellow blogging /concert promoting guest DJ’s, Justin and Nghia from CRACKER’S UNITED/ FRICTION and Chris from THE BATTERING ROOM/ KNOCKOUT.

I can’t make their Mercury show because I’m helping to produce Beirut on the 20th at Brooklyn Masonic Temple in Fort Greene. We scouted the venue today and I have to tell you, it’s going to be an amazing show. One of the greatest things about this season of the Wordless Music Series is that WNYC has signed on to record and broadcast all of the shows. This means their extremely knowledgeable engineer and all of his expensive microphones will be there. I can’t wait to hear Zach playing his trumpet through a ribbon mic that’s three times his age. Honestly, in that hall with those mics, Beruit will sound better than ever. And if you can get over your fear of the G train, the venue is not very hard to get to and very unique with superb acoustics. Or come to Manhattan on the 24th, both shows will be great. [details at Wordless Music Series]

I can’t make the Maxwell’s show on the 22nd because I need to be at Battering Room’s Knockout: Round 6. Some good friends of mine are playing… Details on that are forthcoming.