A couple of weeks ago, I made it over to Architecture in Helsinki playing in Central Park, NYC. They were supporting Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!, but I was really just there to see them. Their label was kind enough to hook me up with an awesome backstage pass- and I got to watch them up close which is pretty amazing. The collaboration of instruments and players is alike to the Arcade Fire, but revolutionary like David Byrne and Talking Heads. Cameron Bird is a genius, and dances with the emotive sense of the rockers of the 60s. He plays every instrument it seems, and fans clearly never tire of watching him. The other band members, James Cecil, Gus Franklin, Jamie Mildren, Sam Perry, and Kellie Sutherland are also incredibly talented, and work in unison so productively that i cannot even imagine this band breaking up. Those aussies really know whats goin on.
Last week, I went to see Karl Blau, Calvin Johnson(from Beat_Happening and The Go Team), D+and Phil Elverum (Microphones.Mount Eerie) at Barnard College on the upper west side. All of these artists are on K Records, which was founded and is still owned by Calvin. All of the artists were impressive. Calvin Johson was perhaps amazing. He’s a guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, music producer, and DJ. He grew up in Olympia, Washington with Phil Elverum, but his music has a very different feel. I actually tended to like his solo stuff more than his work with Beat Happening, though both are incredibly well produced. The most talented of the group that night was surely Karl Blau, in my eyes. He’s a musician based in Anacortes, Washington. He performed live loops and samples on stage flawlessly, and I watched him, dumbfounded at his incredible production skills. His voice is deep and charming, and his guitar work humble but beautifully put together. Phil Elverum’s work to date had awed me, and I’ve devoted a lot of time in this blog, and in life (ha), discussing his genius lyrics and gorgeously crafted songs and melodies. I stuck with him when Pitchfork dissed him, calling the Mount Eerie album a complete disappointment. Songs like Wooly Mammoth’s Absence and Great Ghosts kept me going. But in this performance, Phil appeared somewhat arrogant, as he became frustrated with an unruly crowd member, and then played his music without the ‘feeling’ I had expected. His songs averaged about forty-five seconds, not that this should matter, but they failed to grab me in the way that I’m used to Microphones.Mount Eerie doing up until this point. Perhaps I am going to fall with pitchfork on this one, though I would be less harsh. After all, Elverum still has revolutionized sound and created an imaginary landscape for every listener of his many albums.
