Last week, Toro y Moi showed the Crocodile an excellent time with their Seattle tour stop in support of the fantastic new record Anything In Return. Accompanied by eclectic New York dance act Sinkane and rising Georgia shoegaze band Dog Bite, the show was an all-round excellent bill full of good vibes. The crowd was in love and danced throughout the entire show - there's a definite reason why it had been sold out for a handful of weeks now.
Dog Bite brings an interesting energy to their genre, as many Georgian bands tend to do. Their take on the new wave of shoegaze turns more in the direction of DIIV, heavier on the punk and grunge themes historically surrounding the genre originally. Between songs, there is a strong dichotomy between soothing melody and heavy cacophony, but somehow Dog Bite make it work. On stage, they are still gaining their chops, but give them a year or two and Dog Bite will gain turf all of their own, both on the record and off.
Dog Bite:
If you haven't dived into the diverse and completely addictive catalogue of Sinkane yet, now's your chance. The band mixes a wide array of danceable world music to create a style all unto themselves. Aspects of caribbean, afro-beat, funk, and New York indie all mesh together to make for a hell of an experience (its no surprise that we've seen a few DFA releases from them). Plus, live, Sinkane are one of the tightest bands you'll see on the rising scene. The crowd knew it, too! Energy climbed as it neared time for Toro y Moi to take the stage and Sinkane exited with a rapturous applause, knowing they did their hype job well.
Sinkane:
Toro y Moi's cool disposition on the record may fool you into thinking his live show is more of the same, but nothing could be further from the truth. The band entered and immediately launch into the Anything In Return instant classic "Rose Quartet". Live, Chaz Bundick's sultry electronic grooves transform the venue into a disco dance hall. He and the band are focused and spartan, but the crowd is losing their mind. The floor and the balcony of Crocodile are shaking. Chaz only lets up a couple times too. There weren't three slow numbers in the whole bunch.
For a relatively mellow band, Toro y Moi drip with vibrance live. The new songs sound excellent - the on-record reserve is let go to transform some of these songs into massive records. But as Bundick would probably prefer it, these dance floor anthems will be kept to himself and his fans who, all here on this special evening, get to hear these personal and deeply emotional dance tunes as they are meant to be played: at blistering volume with an eager crowd ready to dance the night away.
Toro y Moi:
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