On Saturday I saw Kishi Bashi open for Deerhoof and Of Montreal at the Showbox by the Market. Honestly it was one of the best shows I’ve been to in a long time, mostly because each band carried themselves with full confidence and commanded the stage and the audience. Kishi Bashi was one of the most pleasant surprises in an opening act I’ve seen in a long time. I knew Deerhoof would be an energetic rumpus of thrash-like math rock and of Montreal would be a genre storm of psychedelic weirdness. I had no idea what to expect with Kishi Bashi but the talent he showed was jaw dropping and moving.
Kishi Bashi came out on stage suited up with a cute little bow tie and a styled hairdo. He carried a violin with coolness, holding it alongside his authentic smile. He started pulling the chords like any normal violinist but that was the shortest he remained any kind of normal. He clicked a pedal and looped the viola. He started plucking on the strings annunciating individual notes, looping them in the process. Every few measures he would add a sound, creating layers. All of a sudden he was holding a mic and was beat boxing. The noise he created escalated louder and louder turning himself into an individual orchestra. Watching him create such beautiful noise was beyond impressive. By the end of the first song every one in the audience had looks of shock and surprise. What was that we just witnessed?
In what could be a limited concept of a man with a violin, Kishi Bahsi really goes leagues ahead. Not all of his songs are orchestrated works; many of his songs are built through his dynamic vocals and his outstanding range from high to low within notes. On “Bright Whites” he shows a pop song simpleness, something similar to Simon & Garfunkel. He sings, “You and me at the edge of the world/with a pretty little smile for me to see” to the kind of tune that sticks in your head. He introduced “I Am The Antichrist To You” as a love song, smirking slightly clearly noting the irony. The song is atmospheric and lovely, like a faint memory of regret.
Kishi Bashi is actually his stage name but his real name is K Ishibashi. He may presently live in Florida but he was born in Seattle and he seemed rather thrilled to be here. The background visual on stage looked like a person walking across the mess of construction on the Alaskan Way Viaduct. On nights like this he was actually pulling double duty because he is a touring member in Of Montreal. He doesn’t show any sign of fatigue, only gratitude. He smiles and interacts with the crowd showing a true genuinely. He is on the verge of releasing his first LP called 151a. It should be available on April 10th. Kishi Bashi is someone who carried a good attitude and unbelievable talent. I certainly felt like I was seeing something special in this individual.
Former Selves is a man, a self described myth and an iconic-Twitter related Batman expert. On top of his great personality makes fuzzy bedroom pop music. It’s sometimes cheesy, sometimes funky, and sometimes silly, but there continues to be some lingering genius. He’s an Olympian soul who is stuck in Lynnwood. Yes, the Ducktails and Atlas Sound inspiration is obvious but Selves continues to break personal ground with Northwestern stylized melodies.
Clearly his music is amateur but pointing that out misses the point of the bedroom pop. Selves has a quirky sound found in a restless soul. He has a familiar weirdness about him; a daring imagination that exists like a child inside of our past. Former Selves has tapped into something and it sure is fun to hear what he’s found.
“Running For The Bus” is what happens when you smoke weed during a meant-to-be-productive afternoon. “Coffee With Gaddafi” has all the material to be a hit- with its polarizing harmonica and demoralizing message, we’re on a catchy high-rise drinking mochas with one of the world’s most recently deceased evil dudes.
His new album can be found at www.formerselves.org and can be downloaded for free. In the meantime check out his music video for “Dust In The Cartridge”
Terry Malts is a three-piece punk rock band from San Francisco. When they first debuted there was a mysteriousness about who they were. They were known for showing up to a gig, getting rowdy, amazing the crowd and disappearing. They avoided interviews or providing any known information. It turned out Terry Malts is kind of a side project/spin off of another San Fran band, the popular Magic Bullets. The mysteriousness was a ploy to distance Terry Malts from Magic Bullets. The story is that the members of Magic Bullets traded instruments, morphed their sound, and created Terry Malts.
Their music is really fun. Its a dirty garage pop punk sound, full of noisy guitars, catchy riffs, tangible vocals, and “eiy eiy eiy eiy eiy” sing alongs. They’ve released the spunky ‘I’m Neurotic’ single and the recent ‘Something About You’ EP on San Fran’s Slumberland Records. I personally recommend the song ‘No sir, I’m Not a Christian’ off of the latter release. Terry Malts is a band to check out if you’re looking for a revival of dirty Power-Pop and a fan of loud/fast/fun concerts.
Here some pics by Adam Forslund:
The guys from Real Estate might be some of the chillest people in Indie-rock. They make sunny day relaxed pop punk, ideal for a lazy morning or a slow afternoon. As a five piece their music is simple but not minimalistic; their songs sound like they were written on a bright summer day inside of a beach house full of pot smoke. I personally enjoy these kinds of songs in the fall, when the grey winter is approaching but the sun still sparkles through the changing colors on the trees. It is the warm reminder in cold weather that the sun is going to come back.
On stage their music is almost like a lullaby as it relaxes you to the core. They play their songs with energy and enthusiasm but they’re not songs that are going to make you jump around, they are songs that are going to make you feel good with a certain pleasantness. Their front man Matthew Mondanile, who also releases chill-wave music under Ducktails, looks like a the nerd of Indie-rock. They shoot the shit on stage, bantering with the audience and striking me as guys who would love to kick it with their fans. They’re not pretentious or whiney- just laid back cool guys whose music will make you feel happy.
Their single “Its Real” is their most upbeat song and contains an incredible catchy chorus. Here’s some pics by Adam Forslund:
The opening band was Big Troubles. I saw them about a month ago also at The Crocodile but opening for The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. They’re very similar to Pains in the sense that they’re trying to be the new past. Their guitarist slides his instrument as if he is emulating Johnny Marr of The Smiths. Their vocals are the sappy whiney sound that exploded in the early 2000s that bands like Pains are still holding onto but the singers in Big Troubles lack the confidence or power to make their sappiness worthwhile.
Their newest album is called “Romantic Comedy” which seems completely fitting. While they played I noticed all of the girls occupying The Crocodile. They smiled and danced, completely infatuated with Big Trouble’s tunes. I stood trying to hide the look of boredom on my face. Its kind of like a romantic comedy; girls swoon while guys tolerate.
EMA commanded the stage. She stood with her bleached blonde hair and tight leggings as the dream punk rock girl, the girl who could kick your ass but you still want to take home to mom and dad. EMA and her band made dreamy experimental noise pop. Pretty much they got loud and quiet, turning distortion on and off, jumping around through spaztastic lighting, making surprisingly shocking music.
EMA stands for Erika M. Anderson but this is more than a solo project. The rest of the band puts as much on stage as she does. Her violinist used incredible looping effects and would put it on its side and play the violin like a guitar. At points I was sure the drummer was going to break her cymbal she was hitting it so hard.
But EMA is Erika Anderson. She was sexual, repeating in a melodic hum “I wish that every time he touched me it left a mark”. She was goofy with stage banter, asking for sexy and weird lights. She put it all on the stage, making her music represent her insides, with blasts of energy and noise mixed with entrancing melodies and hymns. Her music is a stimulation, the quiet jealous internal desire.
Wild Beasts are like Muse but on depressives. Hailing from Kendal England they use heavy guitars, moody electronics, and falsetto vocals to make rock music. They’re touring off their 2011 release Smother which has a much more minimalistic sound than some of their other records. Smother is a quiet album built around electronic ambience and the transmuted guitar echo. This explains their stage presence at The Neptune. They never really let loose with their songs. Instead of expanding a song or pushing it to a climax they crafted it, molding their songs to specific tones and feelings.
This was still a rock show, even if the band wasn’t trying to rock out. What is the opposite of moshing? The answer is Swaying. Guys sway-dance with girls. You can sway by yourself. You can sway in a large crowd of people. You want to move, you feel something, you can sense the music, it’s eating you slowly, but there is not burst, there is no command to dance, there is just the feeling. Wild Beasts had this down last night. They used the symmetry of their instruments to create an awe effect. They weren’t looking to build up into a grand explosion; they were showing us the inside of the heavy nothing.
I personally would have liked to have seen their songs reach a new plateau. It seemed like whenever they were close to a climax the song would end. I was never caught off guard or brought to a new level. It might be because the material on Smother is better on the album.