Because The Brother Whys ended up cancelling its afternoon set, the first band I ventured out to see on Thursday was Sub Pop recording act Oxford Collapse. Performing with all the lights still on inside Krannert Art Museum, the group made an immediate connection with the crowd during the opening song when lead vocalist/guitarist Michael Pace played part of his solo amidst the people standing in front of the stage.
In addition to playing shoegaze-y songs infused with energy of DIY punk, the group was highly visually entertaining – with Pace breaking off a few karate kicks and bassist Adam Rizer (who eerily played most of the set with his eyes closed) stomping the ground and plucking his instrument like he was being controlled solely by the music surging through him. (Not to mention the fact that with his cutoff jean shorts, drummer Dan Fetherston slightly resembled David Cross in Arrested Development. Never-nude, anyone?)
Although equipment troubles ate up a fair amount of time, the malfunctioning bass amp did produce the rare opportunity to hear Pace (who admitted he had been waiting for a moment like this) serenade the crowd with a solo version of “The Boys Go Home.”
Not much has changed with regard to Oklahoma’s Evangelicals since they last passed through town during a co-headlining stint with Headlights. The fog machine I wrote about previously was still present (but used to a much lesser extent) and the group’s obsession with reverb was still in full effect – an aspect that lent a touch of unintentional humor to their between-song banter.
Granted, some songs (such as “Paperback Suicide”) succeeded in getting a small contingent to shuffle their feet – which is about the most movement any indie rock band can ask for, even one as theatrical as Evangelicals. It’s just that for the most part, the spooky harmonizing/keyboard sounds throughout “Bellawood” and the cackling (along with a brief use of strobe lighting) featured in “Skeleton Man” seemed better suited for a run-down building at Halloween than a sparse museum lobby with the lights (now) turned off.
Having missed seeing Murder By Death the past two times the group has appeared on campus, I was determined not to make the same mistake again. And it seems I was not the only one to place the Indiana-based alt-country/rock quartet at the top of their most anticipated list. Appropriately occupying the headlining slot, the band easily drew the venue’s largest and most enthusiastic crowd of the night.
Distinguished by vocalist Adam Turla’s bone-chillingly deep baritone and Sarah Balliet’s haunting cello accompaniments, the band delivered a solid set that featured songs spread evenly throughout its previous three albums: Who Will Survive and What Will Be Left of Them (“The Devil in Mexico,” “Until Morale Improves, The Beatings Will Continue,” “Masters in Reverse Psychology), In Bocca Al Lupo (“Brother,” “Dynamite Mine”) and Red of Tooth and Claw (“Ball & Chain,” “Fuego,” “‘52 Ford”).
Highlights of the performance included the lyrical and musical aggression of “Sometimes the Line Walks You” and the ominous mood cultivated in “Coming Home” – both of which transformed the museum lobby from the aforementioned haunted house into a Wild West saloon tinged with the faint musk of gunpowder and an aftertaste of whiskey.
Pausing to purchase a CD after Murder By Death’s set ended left me with precious little time to trek over to the Courtyard Café to watch student group Butterfly Assassins. Recently signed to upstart NY label Old Flame Records, the band has previously made waves on this campus (as well as at all the others its members attend) with unique songwriting that blends classical influences and gothic rock overtones.
Although I was too late to catch the entire concert, I arrived just in time to hear the stilted and pounding (both good qualities, in this case) “Hypocratocracy” and a slower new offering that featured the quintet’s (actually, a four-piece on this night due to the absence of cellist Kate Wakefield) signature crescendoing progression. The always entertaining Bryan Trahan (on lead vocals and keyboard) was true to form – writhing on the ground during the last strains of the closing song.
The crowd, however, was not ready for the show to end and demanded (and received) an encore in the form of “Prelude in D Minor” (not the one listed as such on their Myspace) – a track with a swirling piano build-up that gradually picks up support from other instruments and ultimately crashes into a genuine pop masterpiece.
For those expecting something close to a repeat of the 2007 Pitchfork performance that was shut down by a Chicago fire marshall, the biggest disappointment of the festival was Dan Deacon. Come to think of it, even if you weren’t anticipating a show that wild, you might have been let down. Perhaps Deacon, himself, said it best when, in the process of organizing a dance contest, he declared the event would draw a psychological line between those who were participating and ones who weren’t.
This analysis proved particularly apt, as those crowded around Deacon (who had set up shop at ground level and marked his position with a glowing neon skull) tried their best to turn the concert into an all-out dance party – with a large group even accepting his invitation to occupy the vacated stage area (until this idea was nixed and the house lights were turned back on about three songs in due to safety concerns).
For the rest of us, however, the performance was closer to trainwreck than insane spectacle. Despite the fact that Deacon berated the in-house sound engineer for more than ten minutes until the levels were finally to his satisfaction, the end result was nothing more than a muddle of vaguely electronic noise. In addition, what should have been one long, non-stop celebration was frequently interrupted by Deacon’s instructions to the crowd and the already alluded to dance competition.
Toward the end, the show finally started to become interesting, as Dark Meat (who played directly before Deacon) appeared on stage to provide additional musical support and crowd surfing ensued (led by Evangelicals’ singer Josh Jones). Unfortunately, just then the set came to an abrupt halt as the curtains flanking the stage began to buckle, the lights came on once again and people awkwardly stumbled away.
Chris Hassen: I goes to shows.
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Chris Hassen
I goes to shows.