Wow, Stereolab was tres awesome. The Crystal was much less packed than expected, which I guess isn't too surprising since it was a Wednesday night. Nonetheless, all of you who didn't make it to the show missed out.
Manitoba, a three-piece instrumental type creation, opened. They were led onto the stage by a person in a leopard suit, presumably helping them to see, as all three of them donned animal masks. They were good, at times great, and throughout their set they had these cute little animations happening in the background. Really low-budget stuff, like crayon drawings and stuffed animals where the camera was cropped so you couldn't see the hand moving them, but very cute. The one thing that threw me off about them was the fact that their music had vocals, but none of them sang. I have seen sampling, seen artists sing with recorded tracks, but I've never seen a live show with vocals and no band accompaniment (I don't know how to spell that word). Before their last song, they ripped off the masks dramatically, revealing three scruffy-looking dudes, possibly Canadian.
Oh yeah, and during their last song, a woman dressed in an animal print tank dress got up on the stage to dance. Fitting with the theme, she wore a horse's head. The effect was...well, it was interesting to see a horse writhe like that.
This was my first time seeing Stereolab, and I must admit I'm a total poser and didn't know that much about them until their latest album, and even now I'm still not that familiar with their earlier music. They played a fair amount off Margerine Eclipse, interspersed with old, at times very old songs, according to EnergyChannel and soul_survivor, the bona fide fans from back in the day. They sounded great, and I'm almost glad that I didn't have a lot of history with them, as it meant that I didn't notice the otherwise conspicuous missing backup vocals. RIP, Mary. Hopefully they will find someone to fill her shoes soon.
All in all, a good show. We ran into hippomonki and her friend afterwards, and hit Ringlers for some food before heading home and hitting the sack. Damn, it's not even Friday yet.
And I mentor tonight. Must...keep...energy....for....17 year old....
*yawn*
Manitoba, a three-piece instrumental type creation, opened. They were led onto the stage by a person in a leopard suit, presumably helping them to see, as all three of them donned animal masks. They were good, at times great, and throughout their set they had these cute little animations happening in the background. Really low-budget stuff, like crayon drawings and stuffed animals where the camera was cropped so you couldn't see the hand moving them, but very cute. The one thing that threw me off about them was the fact that their music had vocals, but none of them sang. I have seen sampling, seen artists sing with recorded tracks, but I've never seen a live show with vocals and no band accompaniment (I don't know how to spell that word). Before their last song, they ripped off the masks dramatically, revealing three scruffy-looking dudes, possibly Canadian.
Oh yeah, and during their last song, a woman dressed in an animal print tank dress got up on the stage to dance. Fitting with the theme, she wore a horse's head. The effect was...well, it was interesting to see a horse writhe like that.
This was my first time seeing Stereolab, and I must admit I'm a total poser and didn't know that much about them until their latest album, and even now I'm still not that familiar with their earlier music. They played a fair amount off Margerine Eclipse, interspersed with old, at times very old songs, according to EnergyChannel and soul_survivor, the bona fide fans from back in the day. They sounded great, and I'm almost glad that I didn't have a lot of history with them, as it meant that I didn't notice the otherwise conspicuous missing backup vocals. RIP, Mary. Hopefully they will find someone to fill her shoes soon.
All in all, a good show. We ran into hippomonki and her friend afterwards, and hit Ringlers for some food before heading home and hitting the sack. Damn, it's not even Friday yet.
And I mentor tonight. Must...keep...energy....for....17 year old....
*yawn*
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