Like a trip; like a storm; like the 4th of July.
Thursday night at The Buskirk-Chumley Theater was as explosive, unpredictable, and colorful as a fireworks show.
I headed over around 8 p.m to check out Au, Experimental Dental School, and Deerhoof. I'd only listened to Deerhoof before, so I was unsure of what to expect from the other bands. However, they both ended up working really well as openers because of their similarity in sound to Deerhoof.
Au started off the night and at first my feelings towards them were ambivalent. Their set began with just one guy on vocals and piano, but it sounded more like a monk chanting in a temple. This went on for a quite a while and then tambourines could be heard form the back of the theater. A guy then proceeded to walk down the aisle, tambourine in hand and hopped up onto the seat of his drum-set.
Even with the addition of the 2nd guy the band started out really slow. I wondered when the chanting was going to end, but then they started to pick up pace with the second song. Their stage presence was similar to the experimental noise band the Fuck Buttons in that they seemed exceptionally in tune to each other.
Their set ended with an excellent drum solo. Apparently the drummer was so pumped full of adrenaline afterward that he rolled off the stage, taking the guy who was playing piano with him.
Experimental Dental School played next. They were a lot more straightforward than Au despite the heavy saturation of distortion. They consisted of a chick on drums and a guy on electric guitar.
I was pretty excited about the drummer; it's not too often you see a girl the drums. They two took turns singing, but I enjoyed the female vocals more. The way she sang gave the music an eerie feeling that I love.
Although their music wasn't something I'd normally listen to, I really liked their stage presence. They were enthusiastic and insisted on giving the crowd as many high-fives as possible.
Last was the idiosyncratically erratic and zany band, Deerhoof. Lead singer, Satomi Matsuzaki's made the show. She was the tiniest woman I've ever seen in my life and probably one of the cutest. This was in part due to her dance moves. During the song, "Gore in the Rut", she made bunny ears with her hands. It was adorable, as was her kicking around of her legs. Her childish, sickly-sweet vocals were perfectly juxtaposed with the volatile guitar riffs and drums played by the rest of the band.
Deerhoof never seemed to stop moving and smiling, which is what I expected from a band who is so vivacious on album. The show was good but by the end I was so exhausted I just wanted to go home and flop in my bed. And that's exactly what I did.
Looking forward to election night with Ted Leo and the Pharmacists +Titus Andronicus!
Cheers,
Katie
P.S: Photos up shortly!
