Concert Review: Starlight Mints and Evangelicals at the Record Bar
REVIEW BY IAN HRABE
While the Flaming Lips may have cornered the market on progressive Oklahoman music, on Thursday night, Norman, Oklahoma's Evangelicals and the Starlight Mints set out to prove that there is more going on in that pan-handled state to the south.
Ian Hrabe Evangelicals evangelize
I entered the Record Bar with a battle of the bands mindset, equally excited to see both bands, but more excited to see whose show it would be. Would the Starlight Mints hold their ground and prove that they can still earn top billing by busting out quirky indie-pop jams? Or would Evangelicals live up to the hype that was built around them last year and become the second-best band in Oklahoma?
Evangelicals ran away with it.
I was wary of the lights they'd set up in front of the stage, which looked to be the equivalent of holding a flashlight under your chin while telling a scary story -- fitting, I suppose, for their somewhat spooky style of indie rock -- and the smoke machine sputtering away, but when they launched into the monster jam "Midnight Vignette," from their latest record, The Evening Descends, any fears I had about this band being a flash in the pan were gone. 
Unlike a lot of bands who try to replicate the studio versions of their songs during their live shows (like the Starlight Mints), Evangelicals understand that it's often better to play things off the cuff. The songs were the same and recognizable, but the subdued sound of the recordings was gone and really, playing live is where Evangelicals hit their full potential.
The sound was beefed up, the guitars were crunchier, and it was, well, really fucking loud. Tunes that I payed little attention to while listening to their record, like "Bloodstream" and "Skeleton Man" were suddenly relevant. Maybe it was the addition of metal-esque guitar breakdowns where I hadn't remembered there being any on the album, but overall it's because they played like a real rock band without any expectations to live up to.
The Starlight Mints, on the other hand, were in a mood to play mostly songs off their upcoming album, Change Remains (out next Tuesday). This is to be expected, but given that the Starlight Mints have been in a steady decline since their first album and masterpiece, The Dream That Stuff Was Made Of, some older songs would have been nice, and you know it's bad when everyone in the audience starts yelling for older stuff five songs in.
Ian Hrabe The Starlight Mints
The only older tunes they played were tacked on at the end of the set: "Black Cat," "Irene," and "Rinky Dinky" from the pretty good sophomore LP Built on Squares and the song they will be remembered for, "Submarine #3," which they closed with (and sadly, this was the only time I felt any genuine excitement during the show). The vocals were often drowned out by the drums or the keyboards, and, though their sound blends digital with analog, they sounded outdated. The new songs simply lack the spark of The Dream That Stuff Was Made Of. I watched the audience dwindle to half of what it was at the beginning of their set; instead of integrating the old with the new and keeping the audience engaged, the Starlight Mints drove them away.
Evangelicals, by contrast, sounded vital and exciting. The Mints really should have been opening for them.
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