Like lots of Seattlites of a certain vintage, I worship The Pixies. No, not little faeries who live in curled up flower petals (nothing against you, Faeries!), but rather the Boston band known for loud and soft sounds, boy and girl vocals, fast and slow guitar riffs. The Pixies rolled through Seattle Thursday and Friday, playing 2 sold out shows at The Paramount Theatre. Like Devo just a few days before, Pixies are touring playing 1 of their albums in full, start to back. Devo played Are We Not Men, We Are Devo (complete with breakaway jumpsuits), and Pixies played Doolittle.

Here’s a couple of shots of Pixies at The Paramount:

And Devo at The Moore:

As I was listening to Pixies play their mighty anthem “Monkey’s Gone To Heaven,” I was thinking that for all their angsty, edgy squirts of guitar, for all their cryptic lyrics, for all their tension (and pretention!), they really are a lot like Devo: Highly conceptual, challenging, not appreciated in their own era (not enough anyway) and most importantly… important!

Sorry to all American Idol winners and runner ups, to all Ladies, Princesses, Girls, and Dutchesses and to all teenage trios of Disney do-gooders, I miss important music. Not all the time. Not every time, but once in a while, isn’t nice to be challenged? To put on a record or see a show and go, “What were THEY thinking?” That happened with the first Devo disc and the first Pixies disc.

So is anyone making important music these days? …but of course. You are welcome to do your own math but here’s my equation:

Devo + Pixies = Arcade Fire

The first time I saw Arcade Fire at Neumo’s, they could hardly fit the whole band on stage, they rocked an accordion, they wore costumes including a motorcycle helmet, which was really more of a necessity for the guy wearing it because the drummer kept playing on his head. And they had something to say, or at least I *think* they did, which is exactly how I felt about Devo and Pixies.

So, what do you consider is important music that needs to be heard RIGHT NOW??

- Shawn