It's been a slow summer, music-wise, and even if it hadn't, I've been far too busy work-wise to have gone out to many shows, anyway. Thank goodness for Bumbershoot and Hopscotch for a good shot in the arm of live music when i needed it the most. In any event, all that's changing as we approach Rocktober and work is becoming somewhat more manageable. Case in point: last night, we went to a show at The Earl for the first time, by my recollection, since last July 5 for Streets of Laredo and The Hunts.
Atlanta's young electro-pop band Dot.s opened. "Electro-pop" is pretty much what I call any music that isn't guitar-led and can't otherwise be called EDM or ambient, but in their case, it really fits.
It was my first time seeing/hearing them, and although I had absolutely no idea what to expect, I really liked what I saw and heard. They have a great sound and were able to carry their instrumental numbers every bit as well as their songs. In fact, several of their driving energetic instrumentals were the highlights of their set, and as can be heard on their few Bandcamp songs, their songs often take unexpected turns and changes, and what starts out as somewhat pleasant if forgettable pop soon shifts and morphs into the joyful and fun sounds of their live set.
That great sound of theirs was greatly enhanced by the presence of a trumpeter/percussionist, who kept the music driving forward with either of his instruments.
One word of friendly advice to Dot.s: you'd really be better served putting attractive singer/keyboarding Bonnie Hardie out near the front of the stage where she can be seen, instead of hiding her at the back of the band like you did last night. Just sayin'.
Next up was Brooklyn-by-way-of-Halifax's TEEN, led by Kristina "Teeny" Lieberson, former keyboardist for Here We Go Magic, and backed by her sisters and a friend.
By my count, last night was my third time seeing TEEN, and counting her performances with Here We Go Magic, about my sixth time seeing Teeny Lieberson perform. In her stage banter during last night's show, Teeny said this was the best Atlanta audience yet, by far, for any band she's played here with, and returning the somewhat back-handed compliment, I'll say this was the best Teeny Lieberson performance I've seen, with TEEN or any other band. Put more positively, TEEN just keep getting better and better.
They have a slightly different sound as debuted on their latest album, The Way and Color. As described in an interesting essay on Stereogum:
TEEN, the sister-driven Brooklyn combo that two years ago specialized in rumbling fuzzed-out psychedelia, has taken a page from that other sister band and openly embraced their breathy ’90s idols on the new The Way And Color. The resulting psych-R&B of songs like Not For Long is fascinating and inventive, in part because it forces TEEN’s fuzz-crunch and head-trip elements to fight for space with the airy soulful bounce. The Way And Color is in line with the flavor of the moment, but it has its own flavor too.
Everything I said about dot.s unpredictable song structures and buildups to driving and joyous climaxes applies to TEEN's Not For Long, too.
The new songs sounded great, the sound mix was spot-on perfect, and Teeny played and sang with a confidence only hinted at during past performances here. Teeny handles the lead vocals, but everyone in the band provides backup, even the drummer. If they were the headliners last night and there were no other bands on afterwards, I still would have left been more than satisfied.
But wait, there's more! The headliners last night were Montreal's Islands, ably led by charismatic frontman Nick Thornburn.
Islands play somewhat anthemic indie rock, and a bunch of bros in the audience couldn't get enough of it, or get close enough to the stage. A small group of young men kept trying to push their way through the audience to get up front by the stage in order to attempt to fist-bump Thornburn, pass him a beer, or just wave their hands at him. It was annoying, to say the least, and another "fucking hillibillies" outburst would not have seemed out of line, although Thornburn is far too easy-going and tolerant for that, and eventually a bouncer had to wade into the audience and physically remove the rowdiest of the bros. Such is the downside of playing much-beloved, anthemic indie rock.
The band performed several new songs, including the standout Pumpkin.
The song Hallways from the album A Sleep and A Forgetting is probably one of Islands' best-known songs (they saved it for the encore) and was featured in a commercial for Dell and a Microsoft tablet. Although it's jaunty piano sound isn't really representative of most of their music, the video would make a good Halloween post.
And finally, there's this:
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