Sweden’s electro-pop act Little Dragon are on fire. It seems like the band’s third full length record, which spawned hits such as Ritual Union and Shuffle a Dream has finally given the band the acknowledgement that many feel they deserve. A sold out crowd at the Hoxton confirmed my sneaking suspicion that they were indeed a band on an exponential rise. It was a rainy Wednesday night and with the crowd ready to rock, the band hit the stage and delivered a 80 minute set of dance heavy tracks that drew from all albums.
Little Dragon’s driving force is Yukimi Nagano, a women who exudes confidence and demands attention on stage. Moving fluently between singing, banging on electric drums/cowbells/objects and doing odd robotic dances, Yukimi was quite a sight on stage and her soulful voice added that extra punch to the tracks. It was a good thing that her presence on stage is so magnetic as the other members of the bands were pretty content in just letting the music do the talking. The sold out Gossip Girl meets Vice Magazine crowd (thanks Melody) was seemingly having a good time, dancing to the music when not traversing between their standing area and the bar. I can’t recall the last time I’ve seen so much movement by random people during a set. As Paul suggested, it seemed like a lot of people were at the show just to be seen or say that they were there, which I guess fits well given the Hoxton’s location to the notoriously scene Thompson Hotel.
The songs of Little Dragon seem to blend into a uniform sound at time but the band’s show was energetic and enjoyable enough to provide a nice boost to the crowd, a nice touch on a rainy Wednesday night.
Toronto – Wild Flag are, as the name suggests, pretty wild. The band is all about creating an atmosphere of rock and roll abandon. Case in point: when I saw the band at SXSW (in a parking lot across from a Whole Foods), Carrie Brownstein not only kicked her guitar cord loose, but also later slipped and fell while rocking out midsong. And then got up and continued her scissor kicks throughout the set. That’s dedication. That same energy (and of course, the kicks) was on display during the band’s set at Lee’s Palace.
Musically, Wild Flag are a well oiled machine who have perfected the art of jamming – they know how to let the music stretch out and expand but in a way that never felt overbearing or noodly. It was the perfect blend of melody, punk fury and psychedelic passages. Brownstein and fellow singer/guitarist Mary Timony had plenty of opportunity to show off some guitar heroics while Janet Weiss and Rebecca Cole held things down on the drums and keyboards respectively. Weiss and Cole also offered up lots of great backing vocals that at times almost had a bit of a ’60s girl group vibe.
The great thing about watching Wild Flag live is that even though they’ve all individually been at this for awhile, collectively, they still look like they’re pretty stoked to be playing together. Basically, they’re having fun and so was the packed crowd. This sense of fun extended into the encore, where they came out to play a couple of covers, starting with The Misfits’ “She” and then flowing right into The Rolling Stones’ “Beast Of Burden.” Some unexpected choices, but also totally satisfying, as was the entire show.
Washington DC – I have nothing but positive things to say about Tune Yards’ show on October 8, 2011 at the Black Cat.
Her asymmetrical mullet: awesome.
Her back-up saxophonists: stars.
Her face paint: great.
Her banter: hilarious.
Her songs: phenomenal.
The show started with Pat Jordache, a nice band, but not a show-stopper. Honestly, the most intriguing part of their act was the drummer’s apparel: a wife beater and a pair of uber short boxer shorts. Whatever does it for you, Dude. Don’t get dressed for us. (The other memorable part of their act was the fact they actually had two guys sitting across from each other playing one huge set of drums. My friends and I agreed they’ve all been friends forever and, even though they don’t actually need two drummers, they couldn’t bear to send one packing. The only other viable idea we could come up with was that boxer-boy suffers from narcolepsy – hence the sleepwear apparel – so they need a constant backup in case he suffers from an unexpected nap in the midst of a show.)
Anyway. Tune Yards had actually sold out both her shows at the Black Cat (shout out to female rockers!) so my friends and I had only managed to get tickets to the early show. Doors were at 6 and Tune Yards came on at 7:30. She proved super friendly from the get-go, thanking us all for coming out and asking us what we were going to do for the rest of our nights after the show ended at 9:00. Someone yelled out: “have your babies!!” to which she replied “Nope, nope, that’s not gonna happen. Appreciate the offer, though” without missing a beat.
She then launched into an hour of straight tunes. She was super impressive, juggling the electronic/technical aspect (looping all her sounds and playbacks herself), emitting noises I didn’t know humans could make, and playing drum and banjo effortlessly. Her back-up crew (a guitarist and two saxophonists) was awesome, making the songs better than they are recorded due to their improvisations and obvious delight to be playing with The Woman Herself (I also highly enjoyed one of the saxophonist’s enthusiastic pot-banging at times – who says pots are only useful in the kitchen?) The band played my two favorites, Gangsta and Bizness, and ended
with a song I’d never heard before but instantly loved: My Country. Check them out if you don’t know them (and even if you do – it’s worth a re-listen).
Basically, nothing but big love to Tune Yards. And a plea to come back sooner rather than later.
My review on Wednesday night’s Ladytron‘s concert will be done using quotes from some of their most popular songs.
They only want you when you’re seventeen / When you’re twenty-one / You’re no fun
The last time I saw Ladytron, they were playing at the Opera House and it was not the greatest show. Helen Marnie and Mira Aroyo looked uncomfortable at front of the stage, barely moved and most of the Ladytron set was performed note for note..which is great, but lacked the spontaneity that makes a lot of live shows memorable. This time around, the two ladies looked a lot more comfortable at the front of the stage, dancing a bit (you know you have minimalism down when the crowd gasps if you lift your arm a little) and generally seemed to be having a good time in front of stage. The relaxed nature of the two definitely permeated into the crowd which provided for a more energetic show as people were free to just dance instead of staring at the band and wondering why they don’t do anything. Goes to prove you can have more fun with age.
Liquid crystals on his watch catch rays of morning peeking through.
Thumbs up to Ladytron for bringing their lights. The band’s music (dark beats, robotic voices, a certain coolness) tends to sway more into “dramatic electronic music” territory than “party anthem” territory and bringing your own lasers certainly help accentuate the songs. I’ve always imagined Ladytron to be a really dark night club with some black light and crazy goth chicks with leather apparel kind of bands and the lasers, smoke and epileptic inducing strobe lights for the show certainly helped set that vibe.
Use your evil, when you want
Despite the fact that this Ladytron show was booked to promote the most recent album Gravity The Seducer, it was the older tracks that had the crowd ate up. Runaway, Seventeen and the set ending Destroy Everything You Touch were the highlights you expected them to be. I forgot how much I love the song Destroy Everything You Touch until I heard it again live and realized I knew all the lyrics to the song. The songs from the new album, which seem to signify a slight change in the groups sound, came off quite nicely live, especially the tracks White Elephant, Ambulances and White Gold. I did miss the “muuuuuuuaaaaaaahhhhh muuuuuuaaaaaaahhhhh” backing vocals on the latter track though. That track has a wicked bass line.
All in all an enjoyable Ladytron show. I didn’t have the sound problems that Tom had at the show, so the sound did not bother me, aside from Mira’s microphone being too low. However, most of her songs weren’t played anyway, so it didn’t really matter. Ladytron’s an act to check out, their music is consistently good and their sound is completely unique.
Opening up for the group and playing a significantly shorter set than I expected was Brooklyn’s VHS or Beta. The disco funk group played a deep bass heavy half hour set that had me and the rest of the crowd moving. The group’s new album Diamond and Death is quite good and I’m hoping they return to play a proper tour. Craig Pfunder made the mistake of asking the crowd if they want to hear new or old material. Has any crowd ever asked for new material? I think not. Either way, the group’s sound has not changed much in the ten years or so they’ve been in existent so I guess you can’t really complain. Check them out if you have time. I kinda want them to play my house party.
