of Montreal devotees know that their shows are happenings in the truest sense, and the current show came at the audience hard with a teasing set that largely explored the band’s last three albums and visions of masculinity in 2017. Frontman/guru Kevin Barnes dazzled the crowd with a cross dressing series of tasteful ensembles while the stripped down band jammed out in cartoon good old boy get-ups and androgynous dancers acted out various passion plays, all of them living and breathing screens for the immersive projections that covered the wall behind the stage.

Finishing with a potent medley of “classic” of Montreal material including “Labrynthian Pomp,” “Id Engager” and “The Party’s Crashing Us,” Barnes and co. elevated the crowd to a dancing frenzy that was only topped by an insane “Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse” that closed the show with a mighty climax, an overwhelming orgy of tripped out projected images, heroic crowd surfing avatars, and that crowd deliriously dancing and singing “come on chemicals!” in a joyful frenzy. This, the non denominational pagan ritual of expression and freedom that is of Montreal in live performance, was what we needed (now more than usual), and of Montreal gave it all to us.

Check out some photos and video from the show below.

Christina Scheider’s Jepeto Solutions

Of Montreal

Written by Cliff Parks

Photos by Brendan O’Connor

Video by Cliff Parks

The post of Montreal at Asbury Hall (4/26/17) first appeared on buffaBLOG.

Hailing from Hamilton, ON., the Arkells started the show with “Cynical Bastards” from their latest album, High Noon, setting the tone for the concert. They did not disappoint with a variety of hits from their current album and past albums Michigan Left and Jackson Square.

It seems Buffalo has fallen in love with these Canadian boys, but the feelings are mutual. Lead singer Max Kerman says they wanted to return to Buffalo before the year was over with mentions of returning to Canalside in 2016. Kerman gets sentimental talking to the crowd about Buffalo, the Town Ballroom and the people involved behind the scenes at the famous spot.

“Music brought us together and it’s been love ever since,” he says.

It doesn’t matter which side of the border you’re from, Town Ballroom is one of the best venues to catch a concert. It is small and intimate and you really feel like you are at a private show with the band. Even with a packed house it is still more intimate than many other venues.

Many of the Arkells songs are about love, friendship and growing up. Their songs are catchy and easy to sing-along (which the band encourages) and dance to (also encouraged). The lyrics are reminiscent of my youth and simpler times with friends before “real life” happened. They sing about a shitty apartment in Hamilton, making out with old friends, and sleeping in a twin bed.

The Arkells at Town Ballroom was one of the best Arkells concerts I have been to. Even their cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Darkeness on the Edge of Town” was unbelievable. Anthony Carone is a beast on the keyboard with crazy energetic solos. Each time I see them they get better and better. With their lyrics providing me a sense of nostalgia it is only fitting to dance around with my wooly socks and Birkenstocks with the rest of the crowd at the sold out show.

Kerman says they will be back in the studio in 2016 and as a fan I cannot wait to see what they do next.

Photos by Mike Sansano
Review by Annie Pasquariello

The post The Arkells @ Town Ballroom (12/11/15) first appeared on buffaBLOG.

Sonically, the entire band sounded spot on and almost identical to their studio recordings (with a healthy dose of live nuance). It’s safe to say that in the short five years of this band existing, they’ve toured enough and written enough material to have perfected their deliverance.

Their stage presence reminds me a whole lot of Real Estate, but slightly more adventurous. If you’ve seen Real Estate live, you know that they pretty much stick to playing the songs as is and, for the most part, interaction with the crowd is succinct. Not to say that there is anything wrong with this method, or that it is boring — I think for the type of music these two bands play it seems appropriate and allows the crowd to fully swim in the mesmerizing tones of surf-esque rock.

The band played for roughly 45 minutes, spanning a fair range of their new and old material. Notable moments were “Miranda,” where Pitts kindly asked for strobe lights and fog to accompany the song, “Take It Easy,” when Pitts decided to venture out into the crowd sans guitar and “Swim,” because that song is always really damn fun to hear. Despite most of the crowd seemingly not knowing who the heck the Surfer Blood was, they were well received overall.

It might’ve been because in between each and every song (and yes, I really mean every song), Pitts made sure to thank the crowd and thank Nate Ruess and his team for treating them so nicely. With the outpouring of gratitude they were exuding it was almost impossible to not respond with the same sort of gratitude. And, by all means, they deserve it.

Photo by Don Nieman (Buffalo News). Click here for full gallery on Buffalo.com

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I wasn’t sure what to expect from opening artist Gallant; I hadn’t sampled his music before the show, but was confident that an opening slot on a Sufjan Stevens’ tour was already a testament to his ability. I wasn’t wrong—the young R&B singer (23) had an incredible falsetto and exuded a great deal of confidence as he strutted across the stage, microphone in hand. Gallant started with a stripped-down soulful rendition of Foo Fighters’ “Learn to Fly,” and continued to serve up radiant R&B gems, song after song. I found myself thinking “He can’t possibly sing any higher than that,” and was consistently proven wrong right up until the end of the set. His ability was obvious, but to precede a set from Sufjan Stevens—especially a performance as emotionally ravaging as Carrie & Lowell—with R&B-tinged pop music seemed strangely out of place. Maybe Sufjan’s strategy was to raise spirits as high as possible before crushing us all with tragedy, loss, and despair. Who knows?

Before jumping right into Carrie & Lowell, Stevens sat stoically behind a piano and delivered the ebbing chords of “Redford (For Yia-Yia & Pappou)” to the nearly sold out Mainstage Theatre. The swirling vocal harmonies of the lyric-less number filled the room beautifully and dutifully introduced the chilling tone of C&L. “Death With Dignity” followed a seamless (and applauseless) transition, Stevens standing center-stage to sing the opening track. A number of large candle-shaped LCD screens served as the stage’s backdrop, playing old home videos of Stevens and family throughout the song. The juxtaposition really highlighted the personal nature of the album and did well to bring an unbridled emotion to the forefront of every song.

Stevens and company then completely immersed themselves in the rest of the album (in its entirety), ironically giving each song a living, breathing pulse. The transformative nature of the studio takes to the live performances was nothing short of breathtaking; I was really blown away by how such delicate songs could be made so incredibly powerful onstage. “Fourth of July” was particularly well-done; the ambient piano sounds were accompanied by a brooding, full-band crawl that added to the song’s haunting atmosphere considerably. The extended ending swelled with rising instrumentation as Sufjan and his crew repeated the album’s most iconic lyrical motif in stunning harmony—“We’re all gonna die.” No exaggeration—“Fourth of July” was the most beautiful song I’d ever heard performed in a live setting.

After performing most of Carrie & Lowell, Sufjan ran through a couple songs from 2010’s The Age of Adz, including an intense 10-12 minute instrumental interlude after “I Want to Be Well.” Eventually the intensity waned, but not before tip-toeing the fine line between prowess and self-indulgence. The display was undoubtedly impressive, but in my opinion, mostly unnecessary. Sufjan Stevens then brought the feels back one last time for the final track of C&L, “Blue Bucket of Gold,” again filling the theater with swirling layers of ambient piano tones and chilling harmonies.

Encoring with some crowd-pleasing older material including “John Wayne Gacy Jr,” “Casmir Pulaski Day,” and an excellent rendition of “Chicago,” which fell somewhere between The Avalanche’s acoustic and adult contemporary versions, Sufjan thanked the crowd for being a part of his grieving process. “Performing these songs, it’s full immersion into my misery—and then I offer that to you; it’s a beautiful thing. Thank you.” And the man was right; there was something very special about his performance that night, not just for himself, or me, but for everyone in attendance. To bring that misery to song and perform it for the masses is commendable to say the very least, and his performance on Friday will go down markedly as one of (if not the) best of the year.

Setlist

“Redford (For Yia-Yia & Pappou)”
“Death With Dignity”
“Should Have Known Better”
“Drawn to the Blood”
“Eugene”
“John My Beloved”
“The Only Thing”
“Fourth of July”
“No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross”
“Carrie & Lowell”
“All of Me Wants All of You”
“The Owl and the Tanager”
“Vesuvius”
“I Want to Be Well”
“Blue Bucket of Gold”

Encore

“Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois”
“For the Widows in Paradise, For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti”
“John Wayne Gacy, Jr.”
“Casmir Pulaski Day”
“Chicago (Acoustic Version)”

The post Sufjan Stevens at UB’s Center for the Arts (10/30/15) first appeared on buffaBLOG.

Explorer Tapes got everything going right with a gorgeous and aching set of Brian Wilson meets Lindsey Buckingham influenced 80’s yacht rock. The duo of Max Townsley and Drew Erickson, also from Denton, impressed the seated Tralf audience with plaintive and sweetly expressive harmonies, Buckinghamesque guitars and dreamy sythns, making the place feel like a nightclub on a cruise ship, which was perfectly simpatico with the headliner who’d composed some/most of his current album hanging out with his brother on a cruise ship. When they returned later in the show as part of Neon Indian’s touring band, the crowd was all for it.

Back from his first national tour, Lesionread (aka Sean Lewis) wrapped up 2015 with a terrific set, moving up the bill and winning over yet more fans with his “in your face” electronic art spectacle. It was genuinely entertaining watching him face a largely unfamiliar, skeptical crowd totally unsure on what was going on: should they dance, let alone dance with the person in the dragon costume and allow Lesionread’s red suited minions to hug them? More and more of the crowd surrendered to the beats and freewheeling experience, and by the end of the set pretty much the entire floor area was getting down. The tactile, frequently mesmerizing, and hilarious set ended on a beautifully affirming note when the non stop bonkers video projections ended with a card saying “Lesionread Art All Day RIP 2012-2015” and somebody yelled “DON’T DIE!” at Sean. Well said, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.

After some tasty 80’s dance instrumentals, the fellows from Explorer Tapes reemerged with Alan Palomo, drummer Jason Faries and his brother on bass, a neon “Night School” sign was fired up, and Neon Indian launched into the chilled out funk of “Dear Skorpio Magazine,” the reggae flavored lead single “Annie,” and a transcendent “The Glitzy Hive.” Palomo’s new fondness for sing along choruses on the just released VEGA INTL. Night School had the crowd singing, and the albums abundance of electro-funk got dance party began in earnest.

The funk continued with Psychic Chasms’ “Terminally Chill,” one of the few non VEGA INTL. jams of the night, before launching into the fuzzed out and skeezy “Street Level” and “61 Cygni Ave.” “C’est La Vie (Say The Casualties)” was a full on Prince rave up that got the crowd crazy before getting cooled off by the super chilled out classic “Mind Drips,” while the retro-futuristic “Slumlord” and “Slumlord’s Re-Release” were straight up epics, movie soundtracks without a movie. “Baby’s Eyes” one of the few ballads on VEGA, gave Palomo a chance to show off some a falsetto dinged only slightly by illness before a rousing “Deadbeat Summer” closed out the main set with a lusty sing-along.

After a pleasantly brief break, the band came back (as promised) for a potently exuberant “Polish Girl,” unfortunately the only song off Neon Indian’s 2011 Era Extrana (I was kind of hoping to hear “Hex Girlfriend” too), which sent the crowd into a certified frenzy before “News From The Sun” ended the night with it’s warm and sumptuous homage to mid 80’s Prince. It’s strutting funk, sweet soul claps, and gospel tinged choruses tied the whole beautiful night together and lifted the audience up before the house lights came up and the real world beckoned.

Even without the thoroughly psychedelic laser light show that I was really looking forward to, scotched by technical difficulties, Neon Indian delivered next level fun, emptying the table seating areas and filling the dance floor with transported, sweating bodies. Having promised to be back in town sooner than five years from now, if Neon Indian wants to come back next year while still touring behind the exceptional VEGA INTL. Night School and play the Town Ballroom (so we can get the full laser light show), that would be a can’t miss experience, and I’ll be there in a heartbeat to get in on all the joy, and funk. Bet on it.

The post Neon Indian at the Tralf (10/23/15) first appeared on buffaBLOG.

Last night’s Rochester show at Water Street stuck out to me among all of my past TFB show escapades. With a set list that included eight songs from their newest release, Back On Top, three songs from the Rose EP, five songs from Talon of the Hawk and four songs from their 2011 self titled release, they managed to play all of the anthemic crowd pleasers while representing a huge portion of their discography. I wish they would’ve played Rhode Island, but I saw them play it the night prior in Toronto so I can’t complain.

The crowd erupted into one huge dance pit a mere 30 seconds into “Au Revoir,” their opening tune, and I don’t think I saw it stop for the entirety of the show. From atop the balcony, the crowd looked like a swarm of Tree Swallows migrating from side to side, back and forth. And through it all, frontman Brian Sella remained charismatic as ever and the rest of the band, humble and lively.

From the time I saw them play in Ithaca last year until now, I’ve noticed a distinct difference in their live sound. They’ve wandered a little outside the norm on this new album and it has translated extremely well in a live setting. Mat’s drumming sounds more robust, Ciaran’s guitar parts are more adventurous, Tom’s backing vocals are sharper than they’ve ever been and the overall sound is one that is self-assured. Maybe it was their recent partnership with Fueled By Ramen or the upgrade from a van to a full sized tour bus that brought about this newfound confidence. Nonetheless, it’s been pretty insane to watch the maturation of this band for the past 8 or so years and see how well liked they’ve become among such an incredibly diverse demographic.

As sort of a surprise cameo, the dudes from emo math band, Tiny Moving Parts, rushed the stage to shotgun beers (side note: these guys waited in a really long line with the rest of us plebeians to get into the show, very honorable thing to do. Good on you, Tiny Moving Parts), and rapper GDP who has a guest appearance on the track “Historic Cemetery” came out to recite his melancholy end verse.

It was pretty clear that everyone was just there to rock out and have a memorable night and maybe disguise their poignant feelings about life in sweat and hearing loss. Also a very honorable thing to do, in my opinion. I even saw one of the poker-faced security guards mouthing the words to “Skeleton” under his breath while vigilantly seeking out oncoming crowd surfers. Not every band, especially one named after a part of the female anatomy, has that sort of effect on people. Keep the party going, boys.

The post The Front Bottoms at Water Street Music Hall (10/22/15) first appeared on buffaBLOG.

Opening act Astronauts, etc. established an incredibly chilled out vibe with an intensely smooth and soulful light disco rock built on a tight yet laid back rhythm section, dreamy keyboards and the seemingly effortless falsetto of lead vocalist and member of Toro Y Moi’s touring band,  Anthony Ferraro. The vibe was straight up late 70’s and it was strong, moving the growing crowd with sharp grooves and mesmerizing them with melodic and trippy synths that lazily wrapped around the aforementioned shimmering vocals that were consistently beautiful and transporting throughout the terrific 40 minute set.

Before too long, the smoke machines started up and joined with the intense humidity to lay down a righteous atmosphere for Toro Y Moi to make his first local appearance, rocking “Half Dome”  and “Buffalo” off their current release What For.  People there for chillwave classics had to wait out a few corporate rock few jams representative of Chaz’s new sound, an exploration of the sounds of a genre previously disregarded by the intelligentsia for it’s capitalist origins and connotations. In the hands of a seemingly tireless indie rock stalwart however with a penchant for stoned out genre bending, it was not unsatisfying.

Still, we had to get some Causers Of This, and Chaz gave us something with a lush and heavily chilled “Tamalak” before unloading some sensual grooves with Anything In Return’s “Grown Up Calls” and 2013 7″ single “Campo.” The corporate rock returned when Chaz strapped on his guitar for  “The Flight” and “Lilly” off of What For?,  ear tingling confections of yearning vocals and fuzzed out guitars. “Rose Quartz” was one of the night’s true highlights, with Chaz going all Bernie Worrell on the keyboards to get truly, deeply trippy in a way not too dissimilar to the heady sonics of Flaming Lips musical mastermind Steven Drozd.

The trippiness continued with the trip-hop infused, subterranean beats of “So Many Details,” “High Living,” and “Cola,” ideal music for sweating, fervent head bobbing and breaking it down. What For’s “Ratcliff” and “Run Baby Run” kept things low key with swirling 70’s keyboards, gentle acoustic guitars, and especially airy Chaz Bundick vocals before “What You Want” kicked off with the sounds of race cars and a hard charging groove that set up the big time funk featuring an infectious “Say That” and super fonky “New Beat” before “Empty Nesters” closed out the main set with a bittersweet yet joyfully rousing finale.

There was no way that was it, and after a brief interlude Chaz and the band returned to dazzle the exhausted and sweaty crowd with a pretty and satisfyingly spot on cover of Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s “Multi-Love.” Chaz handled Ruban Nielson’s falsetto while laying down ear candy synth lines to go with the band’s sweet dance breaks that reduced the crowd to a heaving mass moving to the MJ quality beats. “Yeah Right” let us down gently with chiming guitars, sweet harmonies, and intensely soothing rhythms before the lights came up and the show was over.

It’s a testament to the quality of the show that Chaz could get away with only one song off his breakthrough album and not catch any guff from the audience, some of whom had no doubt waited five years to see him in Buffalo. There weren’t any hard feelings as evident by the exuberant response of the appreciative and pleasingly diverse crowd that was down for the show from from the get-go when Toro Y Moi came onstage to Massive Attack. It was abundantly clear, however, that at this point in his career, Chaz Bundick is, in addition to being an important voice for Millennial anxieties, becoming a genre unto himself, worth checking out with each iteration. Hopefully he’ll be back in Buffalo in due time with what he’s up to next.

Photo by Brendan O’Connor

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I really wanted to like of Montreal’s opener, especially because I usually dig their openers (Janelle Monae, Dream Tiger, Kishi Bashi), but Surface to Air Missive failed to excite When they veered into early R.E.M. territory, things looked up, but their predilection for 60’s jam band guitar noodling and staring earnestly at each other while they played became turnoffs. Their vocalist/rhythm guitar player did sing his heart out, putting the hammer down mightily on his throat muscles to hit some impressive falsetto notes, and I had to appreciate the effort, because a hernia operation is definitely in the guy’s future.

After a brief interlude and an invocation from master of ceremonies (and of Montreal’s resident visual artist) David Barnes, guru/shaman/brother of David/mastermind Kevin Barnes appeared, strapped on his guitar, and of Montreal unleashed  their show upon the sparse crowd with joyful abandon, ripping into the dark funk of “Bassem Sabry.” Projections covered almost the entire front wall of the church: the band, the speakers, the quaint screen behind the drummer… everything was a screen to contain some form of visual wildness that didn’t let up until the very end.

There were lights and images flashing across entire fields of vision. There were dancers that alternated between androgyny and hyper sexual caricature, riling up the crowd with their ever changing antics and holding up and or becoming screens themselves for projections, including a cameo by the Grand Idiot himself Donald Trump (looking especially baboonish) that amused the audience tremendously. And of course there was a point to all of it whether we absorbed it or not, creating a sense of data overload to go along with the always pleasing of Montreal sensory overload their beautiful fans live for.

Classics like “Suffer For Fashion” and “Requiem For O.M.M.2”  kicked off the many dance party moments of the night, but I really enjoyed how Kevin Barnes utilized his newer songs off Lousy With Sylvianbriar and Aureate Gloom (“Empryean Abattoir,” “Like Ashoka’s Inferno Of Memory”) to push the show into darker, more apocalyptic tones. Even the vintage stuff during the middle third of the main set like “Beware Our Nubile Miscreants” added to the mounting psychic tension that built until it found exquisite, ecstatic release during Skeletal Lamping’s wickedly sexy “For Our Elegant Caste” and the big finale of “The Party’s Crashing Us,” “Gronlandic Edit.” and “A Sentence Of Sorts In Kongsvinger.” This was the curated communal freakout that makes of Montreal shows so truly special.

Some audience members were overcome by the psychic and emotional fallout. Some laughed like kids on Christmas morning. Pretty much everybody danced  with utter abandon. The encore only contributed to the primal chaos, with a super freaky “Bunny Ain’t No Kind Of Rider” that managed to take the sensory overload to yet another level, a reckless disco funk workout to “Id Enlarger,” and a darkly sensuous “She’s A Rejector” that reduced of Montreal’s beautiful tribe to a sweating, writhing mass of humanity before it was all over.

Even as the house lights came up, the crowd didn’t make for the exits: many just basked in the warm afterglow, some understandably chanted “ten more songs!” in vain, while some just sought to put themselves back together before re-entering the real world beyond the sanctuary of Babeville. Many also thronged the merch table to work on their of Montreal CD and vinyl collections, snag a tasteful poster, and peruse the lovely selection of twisted ceramic art of David Barnes (I snagged an excellent live double album that fueled the writing of this review).

Ah, the annual of Montreal shared experience freakout was everything: a riot of sound and vision and liberated humanity that pushes all in attendance over the brink and back again. Babeville was the almost perfect venue (I’m still iffy on the dubious acoustics in Asbury Hall) for the of Montreal bacchanal experienced Monday night, and I sincerely hope it returns again next year, in spite of the fairly paltry yet thoroughly exhilarated crowd (Monday night must be TV night for the over 30 set).

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That being said, if there’s one thing that both festivals have proven, it’s that as bad as weather gets, it’s nothing that a few beers and some good bands can’t solve. Opening the proceedings were the rising hometown heroes of Made Violent. After continuing to grow over the past year, the band even caught the attention of UK indie rocks Wolf Alice, who asked the trio to open their UK tour. It’s hard not to be excited everytime the band play town, as each performance feels like it’s right on the precipice of the band’s big break. Their UK style ladrock sound completely won over the now drenched crowd which was much needed at this point to pick the mood up.

Next was 90s Canadian alt-rockers, Our Lady Peace. I can’t pretend to be too excited about this act as it’s decidedly not my taste but OLP did put an admirable amount of effort into winning over the crowd and sounded like a tight well-oiled machine. Plus, growing up in Buffalo, it’s hard not to know all the words to mega hits like “Superman’s Dead.” So kudos to them for making the show fun.

At this point I would’ve loved to stay and catch all of Coheed and Cambria, but the elements were slowly making it unbearable, so me and my friend decided to refill our drinks and get momentary cover. Luckily we did return in time to hear classics like “A Favor House Atlantic” and epics built for mega rock fest like “Welcome Home.” The band absolutely blistered through the end of its set to a massive ovation from the crowd.

The easy highlight of the night was Modest Mouse, who probably should have been the headliner judging by the massive crowd assembled. Issac Brock as always greeted the crowd with his weird observations and sarcastic one-liners making him hard not to love. The band tore through hit after hit from “Float On” to “Dashboard” and sounded terrific. That being said, if there was one disappointment, it’d be MM’s complete disregard for older tunes. While I realize the band adjusts set lists for festivals, it was hard to find a single song on the setlist that wasn’t written after 2004. However, the band is always reliable whatever it may performing, and the soaked crowd completely ate it up.

While I’d love to have coverage of the actual headliner, Rise Against, here, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit the elements finally won out. As temps dipped into the 40s and the rain continue pummeling us, my friend and me decided to trek back to the car. While it may not have happened at the world’s largest music festival, Buffalo’s own “Year of Mud” proved to be another amazing event in it’s own right, leaving behind a night full of spilled beer, soaked Chucks, and a ton of great memories

Photo by Shayna Kiblin

The post EdgeFest 2015 at the Outer Harbor (9/12/15) first appeared on buffaBLOG.

Pressed up against the stage barrier in the midst of wait time, the security guard in front of me smiled to the few of us up front and said, “This is one of the brightest shows I’ve ever seen, that’s why I’m sittin’ down on the ground when they start.”

He definitely wasn’t wrong. About one minute into their introductory display, the elaborate lighting rig sitting on stage was set ablaze in the most effulgent display of white light — I’m almost positive you could see individual pores on people’s faces.

Most people know Ratatat as the instrumental band that penned the atmospheric groove-driven track, “Loud Pipes”, though the band has a catalog that runs five full length albums deep. Fuzzy synths, salient guitar riffs and hooky melodic loops have become the crux of their sound and they’ve been careful to not stray too far from it.

In the same way that the dream-pop duo Beach House gets accused of staying within the confines of a particular sonic rubric, Ratatat’s music has often been pegged as being formulaic, repetitive, recycling the same slick branding that launched them into popularity in 2004. But, also in the same fashion as a band like Beach House, I get the overwhelming impression that Ratatat isn’t trying to cater to those who want to hear a major makeover with each album. It’s this faux-simple style that people have come to identify them with and be mesmerized by and they’re sticking to it because it really, really works. I say “faux-simple” because underneath the charismatic exterior is an intricately layered, tightly-wound foundation.

The hour-and-some-change long set included cult favorites like “Seventeen Years”, “Wildcat” and “Grapejuice City”, but tunes off their newest release, Magnifique, were interspersed as well. Each tune was extremely accessible and showcased the two multi-instrumentalists’ knack for synchronicity and handling their gear.

To refute the aforementioned point that Ratatat is a group that sticks to the same old formula all the time, they are far more progressive in other ways, as evidenced by what I witnessed last night. It would be a misdeed for me to only focus on the band’s sound because the visuals are just as much a part of the band as Mast and Stroud are. Between the multi-colored light show and the sprawling lasers were artful projections onto three separate screens. Striking holographic images and video reels of everything from four-armed babies to three-dimensional birds grooming their down feathers were perfectly synced with each song transition.

There was a certain symmetrical beauty about the whole thing that mirrored the well-balanced nature of their songs (Mast and Stroud even bear a strong physical resemblance to one another despite not being related). If anything, this progressiveness in their live show proves that the pair are more than just artists in a musical sense. It proves that they are masters of bringing the audiovisual juxtaposition to life for both loyal fans and newcomers, like myself, and that Ratatat as a whole transcends any sort of recycled formula.

Photos by Shauna Presto

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