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Monday night I went to Chop Suey to see Beehive opening for Digitalism, with The Long Ranger in the middle. Beehive of course have been a favorite band of mine since I first saw them last year, while Digitalism have been getting KEXP airplay recently and I knew by name at least one song of theirs ("Digitalism in Cairo"). The Long Ranger, however, were completely unknown to me.
Beehive played a rocking set that included a cover of the Beatles' "Helter Skelter" as well as several songs from their new album Pretty Little Thieves and a couple from their first album Cycle A. They had some sound problems for the first couple songs, with some unintended feedback and excessive echo, the latter perhaps just a result of the sadly sparse audience - but more on that in a bit. However, the problems mostly cleared up for the rest of their set. One thing I enjoy about Beehive is their willingness to play around with the songs in concert and try different things, rather than attempt to recreate the recorded version every time. For example, in set closer "Better Than Lies", they cut the music back for the final chorus to just a simple beat, letting their vocal harmonies shine. With their fat beats and funky slide guitar, Beehive should be getting a lot of attention.
( a couple Beehive photos )
Which leads me into the audience problem. Granted that Beehive was the opening act on a Monday night, it's not surprising the audience was small at that point, but the people who had arrived were all sitting off the sides of the main floor rather than stepping forward to be closer to the band. Although this was disappointing, it didn't yet strike me as unusual for Seattle audience behavior. By the time The Long Ranger took the stage, a decent crowd had gathered - all at the bar or in the back seating areas, but notably not on the floor. Not until The Long Ranger's last song did some people start gathering on the floor, and it seemed they were split between a few people actually interested in the band and the rest who didn't want to stand with the now good-sized crowd on the sides and in back. Let's be clear here: the music of both bands was worth a good listen, and it was not a case of being seriously mismatched with the headlining band. Apparently, though, the crowd that arrived early was just too hip to be seen paying any attention to the opening acts, and the people that did eventually fill the floor for Digitalism's set were the dance crowd who don't come out before 10:30. I think it's a shame. Seattle has a lot of fine local musicians, of whom Beehive and The Long Ranger are just two examples, and they deserve visible support from the people who do go out to shows, not the cold aloofness of hipsters.
Besides, it makes me feel self-conscious to be the only one standing out on the floor.
The Long Ranger are an electro-pop trio, including a male lead singer (and programmer, according to their MySpace page), a female backup singer and synth player, and a guitarist. They played mid-to-up-tempo dance pop that seemed to mostly be romantic love songs. Most of the music (besides the guitar) was apparently pre-programmed on the laptop, as the synth player did not spend a lot of time tweaking her two machines, but this left both singers free to dance along as well. The lead singer even jumped down to the main floor for some breakdancing during one song - which seemed to elicit some more attention from the otherwise stand-offish audience. As I mentioned, by their last song some people had started gathering on the main floor and were even visibly grooving along with the music, but there was still plenty of room for all three band members to jump down and rock out on the floor. I enjoyed their performance, and although their music was light and fluffy in comparison to Beehive and Digitalism, I thought it made a nice counterpoint.
( and a couple Long Ranger photos )
Digitalism are the duo of Jens Moelle and Ismail Tufekci. They used two tables of synths and electronic gear, as well as a drum pad and cymbal set, to create one big electronic dance sound. All the love that was lacking for the first two bands was showered down upon Digitalism, as the packed floor pogoed and fist-pumped, and even the hipsters on the sides could be seen bobbing their heads. And to be fair, Digitalism delivered a nearly-continuous hour-long set of hot dance music, neatly divided into three parts by a couple very short breaks. The first part featured live vocals and live drums, while the second part used only sampled or pre-recorded vocals as both of them focused on playing the synths. The final part was a mix, starting with the crowd-rousing MC-style spoken vocals of "Homezone", and included current singles "Idealistic" and "Digitalism in Cairo" (with its nifty use of the chorus from The Cure's "Fire in Cairo"). Despite starting late and being awash in audience love, they did not come back for an encore, which was a bit disappointing. I would expect a bit more out of them next time - and I would expect them to play a bigger club, instead of being bumped from Neumos by a private function.
Still to come: New Young Pony Club at Nectar Lounge this Saturday, the 27th; Freezepop, also at Nectar, on Halloween; Battles return on November 3rd at Neumos; and Annuals will somehow crowd onstage at the Crocodile Cafe on November 10th. AND, I just found out today that Tara Jane ONeil is playing this Sunday, the 28th, at The Vera Project. My life has become full of music.
Beehive played a rocking set that included a cover of the Beatles' "Helter Skelter" as well as several songs from their new album Pretty Little Thieves and a couple from their first album Cycle A. They had some sound problems for the first couple songs, with some unintended feedback and excessive echo, the latter perhaps just a result of the sadly sparse audience - but more on that in a bit. However, the problems mostly cleared up for the rest of their set. One thing I enjoy about Beehive is their willingness to play around with the songs in concert and try different things, rather than attempt to recreate the recorded version every time. For example, in set closer "Better Than Lies", they cut the music back for the final chorus to just a simple beat, letting their vocal harmonies shine. With their fat beats and funky slide guitar, Beehive should be getting a lot of attention.
( a couple Beehive photos )
Which leads me into the audience problem. Granted that Beehive was the opening act on a Monday night, it's not surprising the audience was small at that point, but the people who had arrived were all sitting off the sides of the main floor rather than stepping forward to be closer to the band. Although this was disappointing, it didn't yet strike me as unusual for Seattle audience behavior. By the time The Long Ranger took the stage, a decent crowd had gathered - all at the bar or in the back seating areas, but notably not on the floor. Not until The Long Ranger's last song did some people start gathering on the floor, and it seemed they were split between a few people actually interested in the band and the rest who didn't want to stand with the now good-sized crowd on the sides and in back. Let's be clear here: the music of both bands was worth a good listen, and it was not a case of being seriously mismatched with the headlining band. Apparently, though, the crowd that arrived early was just too hip to be seen paying any attention to the opening acts, and the people that did eventually fill the floor for Digitalism's set were the dance crowd who don't come out before 10:30. I think it's a shame. Seattle has a lot of fine local musicians, of whom Beehive and The Long Ranger are just two examples, and they deserve visible support from the people who do go out to shows, not the cold aloofness of hipsters.
Besides, it makes me feel self-conscious to be the only one standing out on the floor.
The Long Ranger are an electro-pop trio, including a male lead singer (and programmer, according to their MySpace page), a female backup singer and synth player, and a guitarist. They played mid-to-up-tempo dance pop that seemed to mostly be romantic love songs. Most of the music (besides the guitar) was apparently pre-programmed on the laptop, as the synth player did not spend a lot of time tweaking her two machines, but this left both singers free to dance along as well. The lead singer even jumped down to the main floor for some breakdancing during one song - which seemed to elicit some more attention from the otherwise stand-offish audience. As I mentioned, by their last song some people had started gathering on the main floor and were even visibly grooving along with the music, but there was still plenty of room for all three band members to jump down and rock out on the floor. I enjoyed their performance, and although their music was light and fluffy in comparison to Beehive and Digitalism, I thought it made a nice counterpoint.
( and a couple Long Ranger photos )
Digitalism are the duo of Jens Moelle and Ismail Tufekci. They used two tables of synths and electronic gear, as well as a drum pad and cymbal set, to create one big electronic dance sound. All the love that was lacking for the first two bands was showered down upon Digitalism, as the packed floor pogoed and fist-pumped, and even the hipsters on the sides could be seen bobbing their heads. And to be fair, Digitalism delivered a nearly-continuous hour-long set of hot dance music, neatly divided into three parts by a couple very short breaks. The first part featured live vocals and live drums, while the second part used only sampled or pre-recorded vocals as both of them focused on playing the synths. The final part was a mix, starting with the crowd-rousing MC-style spoken vocals of "Homezone", and included current singles "Idealistic" and "Digitalism in Cairo" (with its nifty use of the chorus from The Cure's "Fire in Cairo"). Despite starting late and being awash in audience love, they did not come back for an encore, which was a bit disappointing. I would expect a bit more out of them next time - and I would expect them to play a bigger club, instead of being bumped from Neumos by a private function.
Still to come: New Young Pony Club at Nectar Lounge this Saturday, the 27th; Freezepop, also at Nectar, on Halloween; Battles return on November 3rd at Neumos; and Annuals will somehow crowd onstage at the Crocodile Cafe on November 10th. AND, I just found out today that Tara Jane ONeil is playing this Sunday, the 28th, at The Vera Project. My life has become full of music.
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