I hate female singing . well, mostly. Don’t get me wrong; I love Stevie Nicks and Deborah Harry, but other than that very select few, the XX chromosome-toting vocalists just don’t do it for me.
While I don’t think that men are intrinsically better at singing than women, I do believe that a male’s voice fits better within the confines of a rock band. That was of course until a few years ago when my friend Matt gave me a copy of Rilo Kiley’s Execution of All Things. Since the moment that I heard the opening lines from “The Good That Won’t Come Out” I have been hooked on singer Jenny Lewis’ indie-pop quartet.
Since that record I have seen them come a long way. In 2005 they made multi-platinum recording artists Coldplay look like mere amateurs while opening for them in Charlotte on their U.S. tour. Songs from their third album More Adventurous have been constantly pimped on VH1, and in 2006 Lewis release a solo album with the Watson Twins that would make Loretta Lynn proud.
That’s why I found it more than disconcerting when I picked up Rilo Kiley’s new disc Under the Blacklight and heard what I found to be some of the worst lyrical compositions of the year – some of this stuff was worse than rap.
That’s why it was with hesitancy that I traveled to the Orange Peel in Asheville, N.C., where Rilo Kiley was performing in front of a sold-out crowd in support of said album.
As the band opened with “It’s A Hit” from 2004’s More Adventurous, I was if only for a moment reminded of how very perfect Rilo Kiley was – until it was immediately followed with “Close Call,” one of the stinkers from Under the Blacklight.
This was the beginning of a trend throughout the rest of the night as they followed up earlier tunes like “Portions for Foxes” and “Paint’s Peeling” with newer less-tuneful songs like “Dreamworld” and the vomit-inducing “Moneymaker.” Again, don’t get me wrong; while these songs are somewhat ghastly, they were performed well with Lewis’s exquisitely pure voice mixing well with Blake Sennett’s melodic guitar and even I, one of the staunchest of anti-Under the Blacklight pundits, found myself singing along to these wretchedly catchy tunes.
Even if you are like me and can’t stand Under the Blacklight for the most part, I recommend taking in a Rilo Kiley concert for their performances of older, better songs . and, well, Lewis isn’t too hard on the eyes either.

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