So I made a little expedition last night into the wilderness of Rochester to see Yacht and company. This trip stemmed out of when I was at the Bug Jar last time and I saw a little flier that said “Yacht” on it. Me, being the retainer of not completely useless but very minimally applicable musical knowledge, immediately said “Yacht! Oh man! He toured with LCD Soundsystem and made a sweet song that I put on my summer mix CD titled “Summer Song!” So I made plans to return the day of that show.
After a trip to the mall and taking a chance on Indian food that was actually really good, myself and my small entourage made our way the the hole in the wall bar that the bug jar is. The first band to play was Vampire Weekend. Vampire Weekend reminded me of a combo of the Police and early Talking Heads with their island-y rhythms and whimsical lyrics. They have that kind of lo-fi retro sound akin to the Walkmen or Cold War Kids but not as heavy and definitely more accessible. If Vampire Weekend could somehow transport you via their sound you would almost be on the beach but you would really end up at a colorful boat launch. One of the things that I noticed about their live performance was that it was really polished, even for a tiny place like Rochester. The sound levels were all at an acceptable level and there was a classy little reverb effect on the vocals. They alone were well worth the drive.
After a brief intermission Yacht took the stage manned only with his lap-top and his wild inclinations. For starting off with such a huge handicap of not having a band and singing along to tracks Yacht really kicked ass. I mean, his manic dancing alone was enough to keep the attention of the crowd, that guy does some intense cardio. The crowd ate it up too, even when he was answering questions everyone seemed really pleased, except for one fat drunk bitch who told him to “Play another fucking song already!” The rest of the crowd booed her, but Yacht even turned that around and said “There’s love in this room for you”. Although I wasn’t so sure. Yacht’s crowd interactions were really fun, except for when he would talk to this one guy way up front. Not for any other reason than this kid was tripping balls, I don’t know what was up with him but he was really fucked up. If it had been one standard deviation less messed up it would have been funny but it just wasn’t. Anyway, Yacht is an amazing producer and I would love to see him with a live band someday.
The Dirty Projectors came on shortly after that but their sound was so ridiculously loud that I peaced out after a few songs. I mean I’ve never been overwhelmed and sonically subdued by female vocal harmonies before. I liked their songs on their myspace but when they were making my ears bleed live I wasn’t so enamored. But all in all 2 out of 3 for $10 isn’t bad at all.
MP3 – The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance – Vampire Weekend
MP3 – Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa – Vampire Weekend
