I just had to post to tell you that I'm very pleased to see you new Pedro the Lion avatar. It's my favorite band of all-time.
Pedro the Lion is definately one my favorites as well. I've thankfully been able to see them (or at least David Bazan) a few times. I saw Pedro the Lion play in 1999 and also saw him play drums with Unwed Sailor. Last weekend, he played solo here in Birmingham. Eventhough it was just him, he was billed as "Paperback," so if you ever see that Paperback is playing near you, its him.
I saw 'em in NYC a few months ago (4 times total). He mentioned that he's played solo as "Paperback." I hope to be lucky enough to see that. He did play a bunch of old Pedro songs solo at this last show I went to and it was fantastic. I've read interviews with him and he just blows me away.
I never would've known he was playing as Paperback, but they were opening up for Starflyer 59. Speaking of which, if you don't know the music of SF59, you should check them out.
I know Starflyer 59 but I don't know them. I heard the "gold" album years ago and the sound definately interested me (they have a BIG sound) but I never slapped down the bucks for it. I feel like I wanna hear more before I spend the money I just haven't had the opportunity to hear any of their recent stuff.
If you have a hi-speed connection, their website (above) will let you listen to half the songs on their new album. Their sound has changed a ton since Gold. Pretty much every album they release sounds different. Early on, they were quite heavy with the "big" sound you describe. Now they're not nearly at "big" or "thick" sounding. They've lightened up quite a bit (in a good way...not that their old stuff was bad.) Anyway, hopefully you have hi-speed and can listen to the tracks. Actually, you can probably listen to them with the low-speed connection, it'll just take longer.