XX Merge Night 2 at Cat's Cradle: The Broken West and Richard Buckner

Here we are again. Night two of XX Merge didn't go quite as late as night one, but there was still a hell of a lot of music.

First up on night two was Los Angeles band The Broken West. The quintet played a high energy, nine-song set comprised of songs from their two Merge releases I Can't Go On, I'll Go On and Now or Heaven as well as one choice cover from an absent Merge band. They played a great version of Teenage Fanclub's "It's All in My Mind" from the group's lone Merge release (so far) Man-Made.

Before playing their final song, frontman Ross Flournoy said some nice words about Merge. He said that having a band in Los Angeles, it becomes ingrained in you that all music business people are douchebags, but all that changed when they signed to Merge Records. The band then closed with the song "Brass Ring." Check out the set list below and drop us a comment if you can fill in the holes.

The Broken West set list:
So It Goes
Auctioneer
On the Bubble
Perfect Games
?
?
It's All in My Mind (Teenage Fanclub cover)
Down in the Valley
Brass Ring

Next up was a solo set by Richard Buckner. He came on stage without a greeting and didn't say a word to the crowd. He played an interesting set, though, including the songs "Before," "Town" and "Believer." There was some extensive looping and numerous points during the set involving an e-bow that I could've done without, but what can you do? At the end of his set he got up and started to walk away before stopping and waving bye to the crowd. While personality may not be his strong-suit, his albums are worth checking out.

Check out photos of The Broken West and Richard Buckner below. Our next post about night two will be up shortly.

[all photos by Kevin Norris]

The Broken West




Richard Buckner