Phillyist Playlist: Paramore and Paper Route at the Factory

We have a confession. Let's just get it out there, because the truth will set us free, right. We're not 16-year-old angsty girls, and yet we still find Paramore (MySpace) inexplicably compelling and listenable. There, we said it. We feel much better now.

Honestly, it'd be pretty easy to write Paramore off as just another emo-punk outfit pandering to screaming teenagers going through pubescent angst—especially if you've happened to see one of the many pink-haired teenage girls tromping around with no less than a dozen "Paramore" and "Riot!" patches safety-pinned to her bookbag. But if that's your impression, you're stuck in 2007, when dynamic frontwoman Hayley Williams and company hit the mainstream bigtime with the Riot! (Amazon, iTunes) single "Misery Business." But it's 2009, and Paramore is a couple years older (although Williams still can't legally drink until December) and a couple years more road-tested. And the band's still-growing maturity—musically and personally—comes through on their new album, Brand New Eyes (Amazon, iTunes). On BNE, Paramore keeps their music hook-heavy while playing around with more daring song structures and arrangements than in the past. The result is a darker, bolder, and more compelling album than we'd expected after the catchy if uninspiring Riot!. The band still hasn't reached its full potential—but BNE shows that once they do, the naysayers will be few and far between.

While we can still nitpick with Paramore's albums, it's pretty much impossible to dispute the quality of their live performance. They're one of the most energetic acts we've seen in recent memory, so it's small wonder that their Saturday night show at the Electric Factory is sold out. But if you have the chance to score some tickets, definitely take it.

And if you're one of the lucky ones who already has, or manages to get, tickets to the show, we insist that you get there in time to catch the primary support: Paper Route (MySpace). Paper Route has become one of our favorite bands over the course of the past year or so, and especially since we saw them at Kung Fu Necktie a few months back. Paper Route's music is "big," taking fairly basic chord progressions and mounting layer upon layer of arrangement on top. Impressively, though, the heart of the songs never gets drowned out, and the layers of mostly electronic elements bolster—rather than distract from—the underlying music.

Between Paramore and Paper Route, we can't imagine that Saturday night is going to be anything less than a knockout show, so hopefully you'll be able to hunt down tickets. If you don't, though, try not to sweat it too much; we don't think either of these bands is disappearing from the map anytime soon.

Paramore, with Paper Route and The Swellers
Sat. 10/17/09
7:30 p.m., all ages
The Electric Factory, 421 N. 7th St.
Tickets: SOLD OUT (so see what you can find on craigslist)