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Thursday I went to two different shows: first, an in-store appearance by Kinski at Easy Street Records; and then Freezepop, with Dandi Wind, headlining the monthly "Club Pop!" dance night at Chop Suey.
It's been over a year since I last saw Kinski, and I've been really looking forward to seeing them again. They were at Easy Street to promote the release this past Tuesday of their latest album, Down Below It's Chaos, and they played six songs from it. A couple of the songs featured vocals, a rare element in Kinski's work so far; however, they were all but inaudible, and it was hard to tell how much that was intentional and how much it was due to the store's sound system, or me being too close to the stage. Certainly the instruments were all quite loud, though still distinguishable and not just sheer noise. For this set, they had clear breaks between each song, unlike past shows in which they would break into freeform noise-making for a bit. All of the new songs sounded good and I'm looking forward to getting to know them better. I'm also looking forward to the official CD release party next month on the 27th at The Crocodile Cafe.
"Club Pop!" is a monthly event at Chop Suey for the 18+ crowd that features dance music by regular DJs Colby B and Paco, as well as a couple live bands. Chop Suey was packed for this event - so much that shortly into Freezepop's set, both police and firefighters were checking out the scene, and apparently after that people who stepped outside the club were no longer allowed back in. That was too bad for the people who'd stepped out, but frankly made the rest of the show more enjoyable for me, not having the constant stream of people shoving past in both directions.
This month's event had DJ Glitterpants as a special guest, but as all the DJs worked from the soundbooth, I had no way of telling which DJ was spinning at any particular time. The music was generally good and they played some interesting remixes of both current and old hits, but a few times I was jarred by songs that had obviously been sped up a lot to match the beat.
Dandi Wind are an electronic duo on synthesizers and vocals. Their style was classic post-punk/new wave, with the vocalist tending to shout her lines as much as sing them. Although I do enjoy that style, I didn't find their set engaging, not hearing much to distinguish the songs from each other. However, they brought a smile to my face with their set closer, a cover of Men Without Hats' "Safety Dance".
Freezepop are the synth-pop trio of Liz Enthusiasm (vocals), The Other Sean T. Drinkwater (synths, vocoder and vocals) and the Duke of Pannekoeken (programming (the famous QY70 sequencer), vocoder and vocals). The Duke unfortunately could not be present, and Alex Chen of Sean's other band Lifestyle filled in for him. They played a varied set of old and new songs, ranging from "Science Genius Girl" off their earliest EP and "Plastic Stars" from their first album, to "Brain Power" and "Pop Music Is Not A Crime" from their upcoming third album Future Future Future Perfect. The set felt a little short to me, but then as I recall last time they were here they started earlier and got to play a very long show. In any case, considering they came out from Boston and thus were onstage at the equivalent of 3 AM, they had plenty of energy and love for the audience and it was a good set. After the show, Liz said that they'll be doing a tour once the new album comes out in September, so hopefully they'll be back later this year.
Next month's showing a lot of promise, and I haven't even looked over the full calendar listings yet. Editors are playing at Chop Suey on the 18th. Imperial Teen are at the Crocodile Cafe on the 21st; I don't know them very well but I like what I've been hearing of their new album on KEXP and want to check them out live. They Might Be Giants are at The Moore Theatre on the 26th, and as I mentioned above, Kinski's CD release is at the Crocodile on the 27th. Usually it seems that when I list a bunch of possible shows, I end up not going to any of them, but this time I just might make it to all of these.
It's been over a year since I last saw Kinski, and I've been really looking forward to seeing them again. They were at Easy Street to promote the release this past Tuesday of their latest album, Down Below It's Chaos, and they played six songs from it. A couple of the songs featured vocals, a rare element in Kinski's work so far; however, they were all but inaudible, and it was hard to tell how much that was intentional and how much it was due to the store's sound system, or me being too close to the stage. Certainly the instruments were all quite loud, though still distinguishable and not just sheer noise. For this set, they had clear breaks between each song, unlike past shows in which they would break into freeform noise-making for a bit. All of the new songs sounded good and I'm looking forward to getting to know them better. I'm also looking forward to the official CD release party next month on the 27th at The Crocodile Cafe.
"Club Pop!" is a monthly event at Chop Suey for the 18+ crowd that features dance music by regular DJs Colby B and Paco, as well as a couple live bands. Chop Suey was packed for this event - so much that shortly into Freezepop's set, both police and firefighters were checking out the scene, and apparently after that people who stepped outside the club were no longer allowed back in. That was too bad for the people who'd stepped out, but frankly made the rest of the show more enjoyable for me, not having the constant stream of people shoving past in both directions.
This month's event had DJ Glitterpants as a special guest, but as all the DJs worked from the soundbooth, I had no way of telling which DJ was spinning at any particular time. The music was generally good and they played some interesting remixes of both current and old hits, but a few times I was jarred by songs that had obviously been sped up a lot to match the beat.
Dandi Wind are an electronic duo on synthesizers and vocals. Their style was classic post-punk/new wave, with the vocalist tending to shout her lines as much as sing them. Although I do enjoy that style, I didn't find their set engaging, not hearing much to distinguish the songs from each other. However, they brought a smile to my face with their set closer, a cover of Men Without Hats' "Safety Dance".
Freezepop are the synth-pop trio of Liz Enthusiasm (vocals), The Other Sean T. Drinkwater (synths, vocoder and vocals) and the Duke of Pannekoeken (programming (the famous QY70 sequencer), vocoder and vocals). The Duke unfortunately could not be present, and Alex Chen of Sean's other band Lifestyle filled in for him. They played a varied set of old and new songs, ranging from "Science Genius Girl" off their earliest EP and "Plastic Stars" from their first album, to "Brain Power" and "Pop Music Is Not A Crime" from their upcoming third album Future Future Future Perfect. The set felt a little short to me, but then as I recall last time they were here they started earlier and got to play a very long show. In any case, considering they came out from Boston and thus were onstage at the equivalent of 3 AM, they had plenty of energy and love for the audience and it was a good set. After the show, Liz said that they'll be doing a tour once the new album comes out in September, so hopefully they'll be back later this year.
Next month's showing a lot of promise, and I haven't even looked over the full calendar listings yet. Editors are playing at Chop Suey on the 18th. Imperial Teen are at the Crocodile Cafe on the 21st; I don't know them very well but I like what I've been hearing of their new album on KEXP and want to check them out live. They Might Be Giants are at The Moore Theatre on the 26th, and as I mentioned above, Kinski's CD release is at the Crocodile on the 27th. Usually it seems that when I list a bunch of possible shows, I end up not going to any of them, but this time I just might make it to all of these.
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