no, I’m not saying that I listen to these bands and I’m all hip now, but rather, you should listen to them too, because they’re really neat :]
and if you listen to them already, well, props to ya.
Here are the bands that are highlighted in my mind after the Pygmalion concert festival (at Canopy Club) in no particular order.
1. Japandroids
A guitar and drum band; completely rock and performance crazy. I really didn’t know you could do so much with just a guitar and drums, but that’s all they need to make a night worth remembering. They share vocals, and as far as I’m concerned, they lack no energy. They’ve got this garage band feel with raw drums and bass-y, grungy guitar and vocals. Oh, and there’s quite a bit of hard singing too (if you just take a look at their concert photos, most photos of them are their jaws in a screaming position). Brilliant, and great performance!!!
2. Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band
Just brilliant, this might as well been the most favorite of the sounds I heard on Wednesday night. Comprised of a drummer (in fact, about 3 drummers, I’ll explain in a second), two keyboardists (one, who was also a guitarist), and 3 guitarists… In total… 6 people. Something like that. The drummer, is the adopted brother of the lead singer/guitarist, who is the husband to one of the keyboardist(/drum/percussion). In any case, they had something like the strokes, and modest mouse with these guitars, but something just very unique to their band. They deal in some crazy time signatures, which lends to some crazy, perfect beat transitions. I had the opportunity to say hi to the lead singer when I bought their album, and Luke and I agree that their performance was probably one of the best shows we’ve seen in a long time (well, it was also the first show in a long time too xD)
3. Headlights
We had a lot of fun with this band. They’re a little rock-poppy again, and more on the catchy side of the spectrum. Toward the end of their performance they let a bunch of people dance on the stage with them, which was pretty cool, being able to see them perform next to me, and contribute to their energy. They were having fun, and we were too. Good stuff! Plus they passed around tambourines (which I didn’t get to play) but they won me over instantly in the coolness department.
(That’s us on their website on the stage!)
4. Y.A.C.H.T. or now known just as YACHT
Where to start with this band? Dare I even call it a band? Or a belief system? They’re just so strange, and yet so brilliant. I didn’t realize it until later but I had heard about these guys before the performance in a Cool Hunter video when it was just the one guy starting, but now it is a two person band (now with his wife), which makes for 2 times the weirdness, 2 times the awesomeness. They don’t actually touch music instruments on stage (besides their vocal chordons), and instead, the wild concoctions of electronic beats as well as video performance is created before, so they can focus on being fucking crazy and dance to their hearts content on stage. (something like this) On their website, they describe themselves as everything from:
“YACHT is about group consciousness. YACHT is about the individual man or woman. If you believe these assertions to be contradictory, consider the Triangle: it is both a collection of points and a shape.”
to
“There is a difference between Free as in “Free Lunch” and Free as in “Liberated.” YACHT believes that music and the Internet will become both, in time.” (stolen from their website)
But be sure to note, that YACHT is not a cult ;D
Yes, that’s their band name. Something between fucking crazy and absolutely crazy, the band offers for some awesome electronic headbanging. I don’t know what made it so memorable: the giant circle one of the band members (there’s two) made us run in around the concert hall; the fact that he kept screaming “I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH” and “SWEAT POWER”; or the fact that they dance like effing crazy to this (truly) galactical electronic beat. They also had the word PORNO with different colored lights in the back, which had programmed light sequences that went along with their songs. Don’t believe me? No problem, just look at one of their videos on their myspace.
I would just listen to these guys for their orchestral quality and great sound. Nothing says “I learned music theory in college” quite like these guys. They had TWO fucking cellos (though, I think it was just for that day). Other than that, they had 3 violinists, and a percussionist. You could be singing all these songs on a fucking boat, pirating away, pillaging and what nonsense. They have such a creative use of instruments together and makes for great fun. It’s obvious that they love to make music, as much as they love to listen to it: the lead singer, and one of his cello-ists were dancing for the next few bands in the crowd, with this incredible dance which looked something like them casting a line and having seisures with their feet. Well, they sure loosened the crowd up for the next couple of bands and by the end of the first concert we were all dancing and having fun. Great energy, great music.
8. Phantogram
Two words: FUCKING AWESOME. Girl on keyboards and tech, guy on guitar and tech. They pulled out these electronic beats like no tomorrow, fresh and danceable (perhaps it had more to do with my mood at the time, but still…). Not only were they great and people were reacting well, but Zach May and the celloists were sure as hell being a riot. They’re a little like portishead, except more fucking badass, and you just cant get enough of that kick beat and the female singers voice, which very… Susanna and the Magical Orchestra meets electronica (just listen to her take on “Love will tear us apart” it’s really heartbreaking) except BAD ASS. I wish I had gotten some of their merch, but I think I was broke :\
In any case, these guys sure know their technical shit.
9. Autolux
Not completely my thing, but probably for those who like the harder side of old Smashing Pumpkins, these guys are for you. Pretty intense performance, but I think I still had the most fun when they popped an occasional smile and confirmed that they were having fun rocking out. Just my two cents. Good music, slightly darkish rock with soft singing.
That’s it for now. I’m sure there are a couple more that I’ve missed but I’ve missed a lot of their names.
go check them out :]
japandroids is performing in chicago on october 10th