Seen Your Video: Nada Surf in Melkweg, Amsterdam

I caught Nada Surf awhile back when they had Delta Spirit open for them. Admittedly, I'm new to the Surf train; chalk my reticence up to an old friend who played their old song "Popular" non-fucking-stop.



Am I ever glad I gave them a new ear. The catchy combined backbeat of bassist Daniel Lorca and drummer Ira Elliot, coupled with the graceful lyrics of lead singer/guitarist Matthew Caws, Nada Surf is light years away from "Popular." Caws writes lyrics for the thoughtful punk and intelligent wallflower, and the songs are ones that you love getting stuck in your head. Their latest release, Lucky, is something pretty amazing, and includes three gems, "Whose Authority," "Weightless," and "Beautiful Beat," that I just cannot turn off.

Listen: Whose Authority_Nada Surf



Nada Surf are one of those bands you tend to forget about sometimes. They're not wicked flashy, or quirky, or known to fill the papers with their exploits. What they are though is indie music that is real, indie music you can believe in and so thus, indie music you find your way back to. And when you do, their records are kind of like a daisy coming up through broken concrete: simple beauty amidst rough and jagged hooks that hit you hard and amaze you at their resilience.

(See the rest of my photos from Nada Surf's 930 Club show here.)

I must be the only person who didn't know how good their live show was, as theirs was the one show out of the 987986786 we saw at SXSW 2008 that was impossible to get into. Matthew Caws is a great frontman, who pulls the crowd in effortlessly and has everyone dancing as one, figuratively...and literally. Check out the video below from Nada Surf's December 2005 show in Melkweg, Amsterdam.