McCarthy’s Media Menace presents: Best Coast… in Inglourious Black and White

They say some things are better left said unsaid.

Going along with that, some live footage is better left unheard.

Case in point, the latest in the Inglourious Black and White series: Best Coast‘s Jan. 21 performance at The Grog Shop in Cleveland. Further elaboration is futile. Mere seconds after the dreamy, surreal intro–in which the trio walked on to the stage for the first time to Santo & Johnny‘s instrumental classic “Sleepwalk”–you know two things. First, frontwoman Bethany Cosentino and Co. can definitely brush up on the transition from intro to setlist. Second, the sound is loud… REAL loud. And muddy, and indiscernible and so on. Obviously, the proximity of the camera to the stage is a big contributing factor to this. Couple that with the fact that Cosentino’s amp emitted an eternal, reverb-soaked crunch. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, to quote Seinfeld, a Cosentino favorite. Still, it made a halfway decent presentation of this show nearly impossible with the limited audio control of a small DVC camcorder.

So, why bother? Well, there are elements I wanted to highlight, such as the aforementioned intro and the more sparse, atmospheric portions of a few of the songs (“Each and Everyday,” “I Want To,” “When I’m With You”). But honestly, I just really wanted these videos. Bands and artists like Best Coast are the reason McCarthy’s Media Menace came to be.

As for the concert itself… To quote a YouTube user, it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t “mind-blowing.” Cosentino could be more connected to her audience, Bobb Bruno‘s guitar work should probably be more prominent and some background vocals would definitely go a long way. Best Coast is young band; it’s a learning experience. Something to keep in mind while the group continues to promote its debut album, Crazy For You.

Here are 18 of the 19 songs from this past Tuesday. The ninth song of the set, “Summer Mood,” was not uploaded due to poor framing. (I was taking pictures while trying to balance the camcorder during that time.)

It’s noisy. It’s painful. It’s Inglourious. Go forward at your own peril.

1. “Sleepwalk” intro / “This Is Real”