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And it was worth it.

When I first heard Danielson, or the Danielson Family, I thought they were basically unlistenable. Which doesn’t mean I didn’t like them. I listen to (and love) a lot of unlistenable stuff. It just takes awhile for it to become listenable. An acquired taste. I knew if I spent the time on Danielson, I’d come to love it. I just never did take the time to let it grow on me.

Then one day I was browsing through the music section of a DVD store and came across a documentary called Danielson: A Family Movie (Or Make A Joyful Noise Here). It looked fascinating. I picked it up. The documentary explains a lot about Danielson, whose real name is Daniel Smith, his music, his background, his family, and how they all came to be in a band together.

They’re a religious family, very much so, and they approach music as a vehicle for God. But while their songs have positive and Christian messages in them, I don’t necessarily think you’d peg them as Christian music. I mean, this is what they sound like:

After watching the movie, the music made total sense to me. And now I love it. He’s so far out in left field, doing stuff no one’s doing. He doesn’t tour that often, especially with the family, since they’re all married with kids now. I found out a few days before the show they were playing and knew I’d have to skip all the other shows I wanted to see this weekend for it.

I figured it’d be a rare experience, one that doesn’t come along that often. A band like this is just so unique. They’re not trying to fit into any preconceived ideas or any particular scene or genre. They are trying to make music that uplifts people. Which is ironic, because it is, like I said, rather unlistenable. Mostly Daniel’s vocals, I think—very high-pitched.

Did I mention they dress in uniforms?

They just released a new sort of “best of” compilation, so they played songs spanning their career. Danielson introduced one song as a “party song.” They played a few numbers he called “clap-along” songs, first they’d show the audience what beat they wanted us to clap to. Once we were all clapping they’d start playing the song.

One song was a “snap-along” song. He started us out snapping too fast and had to get us restarted a couple times until he got the tempo right. One woman started cheering and he said, “This isn’t a party song. It’s a snap-along.” See here:

The music isn’t for everyone. But it’s been awhile since I’ve been to a show where everyone was enjoying themselves so thoroughly and I didn’t have drunk guys slobbering on me. One guy next to me brought a tamberine and danced all night.

One of those shows I feel lucky to have seen.

They ended with a sing-along:

Pics here.

More video clips here.

@ Troubadour, Hollywood, CA 11-15-08