I’ve noticed a common party line repeated time and again by Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner in interviews, an assertion of a laissez-faire ethos that permeates the band and informs much of what they do. Of course, it just so happens that “what they do” is create effortlessly anthemic (but somehow) blissfully wigged out 21st century prog-pop, so if a cavalier attitude is what it takes to get such results, then by all means….who am I to criticize how they got there?

But such sloppy smiles and drunken revelry would only prove to be their downfall in the live setting, right? I mean, I had in fact witnessed it firsthand at their first Bowery show a few years ago, a less than stellar affair by a band still struggling to find their voice without stepping on one another’s toes. Back then, they were tentative, drunk, and derailed.

Now - with last night’s show at Terminal 5 being the new benchmark - they just might be one of the best live bands out there. The difference between “then” and “now” is staggering, and no matter what I say or how I can explain these changes I just don’t think I can do them justice. It’s like that episode of Two and a Half Men when the ugly girl from high school comes back to Malibu and is suddenly smoking hot, prompting Charlie and Alan to compete for her affections. It’s like in Head of the Class when Dennis Blunden returns from summer vacation in a fat suit, only to triumphantly rip it off before class to reveal his newly svelte figure. It’s like trying to compare a band that has left your head spinning and your brain unable to make analogies to a series of hackneyed television sitcoms? That’s more like it I suppose.

So let me instead just say that the 2008 version of Wolf Parade is a MACHINE. Like, literally. The absolute precision and laserbeam focus applied to the material from both 2005’s Apologies to the Queen Mary and this year’s outstanding At Mount Zoomer is startling in its efficiency and intensity (and I don’t think I’d ever describe this band as “efficient”). They are now a cohesive unit, creating an enormous and impenetrable wall of sound that churns and overtakes you with a forcefulness that you just can’t help but raise your fist and yelp along, “Noooobody knows you and nobody gives a damn!”

The material from At Mount Zoomer particularly captivated, accomplishing what every important album worth its salt should: to transform itself into something even bigger and more awe-inpsring live. And from the Allman Brothers-inspired dueling guitars in “California Dreamer” and the creepily evocative gravity lent to “An Animal In Your Care” to the all-out explosiveness of “Kissing The Beehive”, this was clearly and emphatically accomplished. Slackers my ass, these guys secretly practice in a subterranean Montreal bunker for months on end….though of course, they’d want you to think they’re laying about watching episodes of Two and a Half Men and Head of the Class instead.

Listen:
“Call It A Ritual”
“Language City”

See Wolf Parade Live:
01 Aug – New York, NY @ Terminal 5
02 Aug - Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
03 Aug - Montreal, QC @ Metropolis
09 Aug - Toronto, ON @ Koolhaus

*Above slideshow created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Visit Wolf Parade on Myspace.