 "Photo: Courtney Coloumbe")
On Monday, students returned to UNH from Spring break and attempted to get back to the daily swing of things. Fortunately, MUSO was able to help everyone readjust by presenting a night of indie-electro bands in the Strafford room of the Memorial Union Building.
The show, which was free to students, featured opening acts Eat Cloud and F**k Buttons, with headlining act Caribou (formerly Manitoba), who recently embarked on a North American tour in support of their latest album, Andorra. Before the show, audience members were able to view an exhibition of 3-D art, which of course involved awesome 3-D glasses (an added bonus to the night)!
In the midst of this, a boy in a purple shirt was setting up a small table, which held a miniature keyboard and a slew of other synth devices; this boy ended up being the first opening act, Eat Cloud. Simply introducing himself as Andy, he proceeded to show the crowd that his small table could turn out an unbelievable burst of sound. His sound had an almost electro-trance feel to it as they flawlessly transitioned into each other. Only stopping twice throughout the whole set, it's unknown if he only played two songs or if he had a twisted knack for blending songs together. Either way, his sound was practically made for dance as many members of the audience took to their preferred method of dancing, whether it be toe tapping, jumping around, or head thrashing (which the artist took to himself). His set only gave a taste of his talent, thus leaving a want for more.
Within fifteen minutes, the audience's attention was drawn to another table (this time larger and on stage), adorned with two small keyboards, a suitcase full of gear, a floor tom in front, and, most eye-catchingly, a Sing-Along™ cassette player/microphone. This was the equipment that the second opening act, F**k Buttons, used to make their primal dance sound. The British duo, whose new album has been getting a lot of buzz around the likes of Pitchforkmedia.com, had a sound similar to the former act, yet through repetition and erratic progression the sound gave off a more avant-garde impression. Wearing hooded sweatshirts and constantly giving each other piercing stares to stay on the mark, the duo seemed to take a few cues from Animal Collective.
Vocals were mostly incoherent shouts into the toy microphone, which added intensity to the synthesized beats in the background. At one moment one member took a microphone, jumped into the audience, began thrashing around and making animal noises while his band-mate began pounding on the floor tom. It appeared that the audience had a slightly harder time comprehending everything that was going on around them at these moments, but it was truly an amazing spectacle to see and hear.
Finally, after two acts of table-bound performances, actual drum sets (two to be precise) and guitars emerged on stage, and the Canadian one-man phenom Caribou (Dan Snaith) and touring members followed.
Typically, on recordings, especially 2007's Andorra, Caribou has a very 60s pop feel; it could even be classified as adorable, but in a live atmosphere, music that was once poppy and cute becomes a forum for intensity. Almost out of nowhere the music was transformed into a hard rock explosion. Songs such as "Melody Day" sounded as good as its recorded form, but it had become an intense animal (so to speak) that would lash out at times. "Melody" gave the audience something to get excited about, and it showed through an abundance of head-bobs.
This heavier version of Caribou was due entirely to the duel-drum-set format. As it turns out, Snaith is a very talented drummer, and seemed more than pleased to frequently join his touring drummer in what could most appropriately be called dueling drummers. Together the two would either pound out separate drum parts, which would engulf the entire song, or they would play the same part with extreme precision. While doing so, Snaith had an ominous look in his eyes; it was a stare that showed complete concentration, yet at the same time gave off the appearance that he was so wrapped up in drumming that he was in a trance of sorts. It's not often that bands are bold enough to put two drummers in the foreground of the entire band, but it added a new, harder depth to Caribou. The drums did not steal completely from some of the sweet innocence that some of Caribou's songs contain. "She's the One," for instance, stuck out as one of the mellower moments in the show. This song was also enhanced by pounding drums, but somehow the drums didn't distract from the song's original flowing quality; it was still very much the type of song that's easy to sway back and forth to in a relaxed state. Harder drum patterns mixed with the occasional relaxed moment brought Caribou from a world of electro pop to indie-rock, which made for a superb live performance.
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