review and photos by Carrie Rubens

It is a rare occasion that an opening band ever trumps the excitement for the headliner, but the situation came gravely close one Tuesday night at Neumo’s when Future of the Left played with …And You Will Know us by the Trail of Dead.

The evening kicked off with Seattle’s very own, Born Anchors. Gregory Scott’s guitar-playing has a quality similar to the post-hardcore stylings of fellow Seattle band, These Arms are Snakes. And given Jason Parker’s wailing/singing tones, their sound is even reminiscent of Queens of the Stone Age. Despite the thin crowd, they rocked it and seemed to put in their all. If nothing else, Justin Martinez, on drums, just kept smiling throughout the set.

The crowd quickly multiplied by the time Future of the Left took the stage. Some might remember Jack William Egglestone and Andrew Falkous from the mid-nineties Welsh group, Mclusky. After an unexplained breakup from the group, the two joined forces with bass player, Kelson Mathias of Jarcrew, and formed Future of the Left.

With Falkous’ Jello Biafra-esque vocals, and the bass-driven melody amidst a stage cluttered with instruments and equiment, Future of the Left is Cardiff showing Seattle how to rock. Songs like “Adeadbodyalwayssmellsgood” and “Arming Eritrea,” were so full of frenetic tension, paired with the band’s dry British humor, Egglestone, Mathias, and Falkous had he audience rolling with laughter and dripping with sweat. With a cheeky nod to English protocol, Falkous mentions that “it’s so nice to play in a proper fucking crowd… even if some of you are wearing hats indoors.”

Falkous and Mathias swap roles between vocals and keys often throughout the set, demonstrating their versatility and keeping the fans on their toes. During the final song, which they described as “prog rock with out the prog (basically a very long rock song),” Mathias jumps into the crowd with his bass while Falkous onstage, started playing his guitar with a drumstick - or rather, ramming it between the strings and sliding it around creating a screeching sound effect. The whole time Egglestone is rocking out on drums, and as Falkous described him, looking like an extra from 300.

There isn’t much time to recuperate after Future of the Left, and the adrenaline is still pumping when the lights go out, and Trail of Dead’s epically charged intro starts to play as the band files in and takes their place. All the doubts I had before melt away when the lights come back up, up and they drive into “Smile Again” — and I can’t wipe the smile off my face.

Conrad Keely plays so hard on “Smile Again,” he breaks a guitar string for the first time of the night. The audience was singing with the music, and Neumo’s became even more packed than before. Where Future had a handful of die hard fans and recent converts like myself, the collective energy of Trail of Dead fans was exhilarating.

Amidst the reverb and guttural chaos, it’s important to listen for Keely’s beautiful guitar riffs that are what tangles you in before being enveloped into the ride. “Bells of Creation” starts out harmless and slow, but it begins to feel like you’re on the verge of something, like reaching the top of a roller coaster.

At “Caterwaul,” Jason Reece joins in on vocals and leans into the crowd from the stage fans in the front row can practically sing into the mic with him, and at the same time get misted with sweat cast off from Keely’s headbaning. I really started to pity the fans toward the back of the room because there is no other way to see Trail of Dead play than front and center.

When they play “It was there (that I saw you)” it is most definitely the climax to the show and Reece and Aaron Ford are launched into full forced double-drumming, and are perfectly in-sync. And even when it seems like they go haywire, the drums are still together tightening up at the end with ease, thus proving the chaos was premeditated.

At the denouement of their performance they just keep playing without any breaks, and the transistions between songs is fluid and full of so many more layers of instrumentation, the sound is progressive but with an intensity and anger that makes it a far cry from psychedelic.

Trail of Dead isn’t as rambunctious as they used to be, when they used to take shots of whiskey and wreck the stage (and each other) using their instruments and whatever else they could get their hands on. Tonight Keely mentions they are on their 7th month of touring and it’s exhausting — but the professionals they are, they muscle through it. Among all the past experimentation and different sounds they’ve incorporated into their compositions, Trail of Dead have had some highs and lows. They played a show that was representative of their past successes, and certainly picked the best for this tour.

Several things happen during a Trail of Dead show: Keely and bassist Jay Phillips utilize the panel of guitars mounted on the back wall, swapping out for nearly every song, drumsticks, spit, and sweat go flying, and double drumming ensues. However what is most exciting about this band’s live show is that that the progression of showmanship remains, especially when you don’t think it could possibly get any better.

Born Anchors:

Future of the Left:

…And You Will Know us by the Trail of Dead:

photos and review by Brian Cullen

I had a pretty killer Friday, October 23, 2009. This is probably news to you but I am once again unemployed! As a result I spent the greater part of my morning drinking coffee, listening to music, trolling ebay (anyone willing to donate an LCD monitor in support of the arts? How about a Hasselblad? Pushing my luck?) and Craigslist (this one for JOBS), all the while completely forgetting to eat solid food. So by the time I met my ridiculously lovely date for a drink or two — well, I sort of went tits–up on the alcohol. So without further ado, I give you:

NEVER LET A LACK OF TALENT GET YOU DOWN: DEAD MAN’S BONES PLAYS THE TRIPLE DOOR!

Or

It’s the t-r-i-p-l-e DIZOOR, t-r-i-p-l-e DIZOOR, t-r-i-p-l-e DIZOOR…

So after the wine we made our way down the hill to Seattle’s famed The Triple Door for a show I’d been looking forward to for quite some time. I was a touch worried as I’d gotten a call the previous night notifying me of Ryan Gosling’s contraction of Swine Flu and subsequent cancellation of the band’s morning in-studio performance. Just kidding about Swine Flu (back off, TMZ) but he was supposedly feeling pretty sick which could in theory put a damper on the kind of spirited monster-rock extravaganza myself and the staff of Forever 21 were hoping for.

In case you missed my review last month — the Seattle show marked stop #8 of Zach Shields and Ryan Gosling’s “monster-ghost-love-story” for the masses in which each performance would feature a local talent show opener and band support from each city’s hometown children’s choir. By the time we’d found our seats (front row — thanks, Triple Door) I’d completely spaced the whole talent show thing and was in turn a bit surprised by the emergence of guitar-playing ghost MC — taking the stage to announce the evening’s participants. Now I’m not trying to sound like a jerk but the guy had a seriously thick, vaguely Latino ghost accent that made the mental notation of names somewhat challenging. The ghost was clearly talented — but not unlike the first few episodes of The Wire — I had no idea what the hell was being said until damn near close to the end the talent show. The pre-show entertainment was certainly terrifying — and not in the Halloweeny, spookadelic manner intended. There were only 3 acts (not 5-8 as advertised, but by the end I was okay with that); 2 of which had me flashing back to a traumatic outing with the parent’s to see Blue Man Group. What can I say, audience participation is not really my deal. Check that, not at all my deal. Neither is human-skat-jazz-poem-Tourettes-theatre. COME ON, SEATTLE, we could’ve done better than this. We produced Sir-Mix-a-Lot and Brandon Roy. Hell, we produced Kenny G and Doug Christie! As a side note: the first act, a young woman from the choir (ghost accent), sang, played piano — and was amazing. Stevie Wonder’s “Masquerade” never sounded so soulful. I was wishing for her return about 90 seconds into the second act. Shoulda batted cleanup, kid.

As Gosling and Shields made their way out onto the stage the sold out crowd let loose an odd mixture of screechy screamies and exuberant claps not heard since Blake Schwarzenbach’s heyday. One young lady even let Gosling know that she’d be drinking at Tavern Law after the show. He looked confused. To be expected, I suppose.

I have to admit I’ve sort of been wondering, since the release of their somewhat subdued studio album, how this would all pan out: for me the most stirring moments put forth thus far by Dead Man’s Bones have been in live moments (recounted via YouTube) of spontaneity — the vocal cracks, mistuned instruments, timing (unpredictably tentative and hyper) all mash together in a way that outshines an album of even the most hastily recorded/mixed songs.

Shields and Gosling clearly understand dynamic at play here. Accompanied by members of The Seattle Children’s Chorus the King County incarnation of Dead Man’s Bones at once harnessed the dark power of the unknown. As the band/kids choir (in costume w/ white-faced zombie make-up) made its way through their first several songs, it became clear to me that Shields and Gosling were subtlety shaking off complacency, switching instruments erratically, speaking to the crowd, directing the children, adjusting tempo, at times even surprising each other. Shields and Gosling rarely seemed to break eye-contact with one another. Clearly, these two were playing a sort of musical cat and mouse that kept the crowd and children guessing — this uneasiness fans the flames and makes inherently dramatic songs like “In the Room Where you Sleep” and “Lose Your Soul” thicker, richer and creepier live than they could ever hope to be on wax (no wax available BTW. WTF, Anti-?). Another high point was the hugely catchy synth-pop-stand-out of the album, “Pa-Pa-Power,” which saw singing, clapping and dancing in every corner of The Triple Door. “Dead Man’s Bones,” which honestly never grabbed me until now (theme songs always feel like filler), featured some of the most convincing crying I’ve ever heard — even Gosling was moved to compliment the kids mid-song. It’s amazing what a little impromptu theater can bring to a song.

I’ve got to be honest with you: this kind of thing — do-wop infused rock n roll theater — is not generally something I’d envision myself latching onto (I’ve been muttering the words “I’m not usually susceptible to shooby-do-wops” for weeks now), but by the time Dead Man’s Bones played their first encore song, “Name in Stone,” I was hypnotized by the perfect storm of organized chaos on the stage in front of me. The thing that really gets me about Dead Man’s Bones is the attitude. Never once did ANYONE on that stage stop smiling. It’s amazing to think about the potential brimming beneath the positive impact of each kid’s experience with Dead Man’s Bones. In their way, Gosling and Shields are doing for these children (12 local kids choirs) what was not done for them. They’re showing these kids what’s important: have fun first. Make music second. While the symbiotic nature of this relationship is clear, the band’s rejection of the mundane (see: playing the album on stage) and emphasis on the moment (random talent and structure) radiates above all else a sincere appreciation of those inexplicably pure feelings wrapped inside of music — the joyous discovery of something intensely beautiful, unique and fleeting.

I’m glad I got to be there.

check out more of Brian’s photos here.

photos and review by Benjamin Mobley

It was a dark, stormy Seattle night outside as eager concertgoers waited for Grizzly Bear, an all-male chamber-pop quartet, to take the stage of the Moore Theatre on Friday, October 16th, in support of their latest release, Veckatimest. For a lush and complex album mostly recorded in the intimacy of a Cape Cod cottage, the cuts from Veckatimest made a seemingly effortless transition to the live setting due largely to the varied musical talents of multi-instrumentalists Chris Taylor, Ed Droste, Dan Rossen, and Chris Bear.

“In the end, you’ll never find me now.”

The opening song, the jazz-tinged “Southern Point,” is a perfect example of Grizzly Bear at their finest — soaring multi-layered vocal lines laid over intricate guitar work that is ultimately nuanced by Chris Taylor’s magical textures and Chris Bear’s masterful percussion. The framework for the evening had been laid down in just a few minute’s time and, if the opening was to be any indication, the Brooklyn-based foursome were going to deliver a beautiful, haunting, raucous, and colorfully wild ride to the finish.

Sharing primary vocal duties throughout the performance, songwriters Droste and Rossen transported their attentive listeners to a universe comprised of aural meditations on loss, love, and regret. As the band moved deftly and swiftly from each song to the next, their combined talents became even more apparent — nowhere in sight were technicians to assist in alternate tunings or instrument swaps. Chris Taylor, the busiest bee of the lot, exhibited fluidity and prowess while manning the helm on bass guitar, clarinet, flute, bass clarinet, and electronics.

“dig his grave, darlin, with a silver spade”

The first and only real break in the show’s opening flow came mid-set during the haunting “Deep Blue Sea.” A traditional American folk song, the Rossen interpretation first appeared on the band’s Friend EP before more recently showing up as a Grizzly Bear contribution to the Dark Was the Night compilation.

On stage at the Moore, Rossen’s vocal delivery of the tune was clearer and even more pristine than either of the aforementioned recordings while tragically relaying the tale of a father, mother, and son who meet their watery demise. Rossen’s lead was beautifully supported by drummer Bear, who alternated to keyboard duties for the tune. Finishing touches for this unforgettable moment were added by Droste’s autoharp and Taylor’s bass clarinet work, the reedy timbre of which more closely resembled the bellow of a pipe organ. The effect was quite a fitting impression considering the Roman “high tau” cross supports from which light-filled mason jars dangled in the often colorful and blinding church of Grizzly.

“hope i’m ready, able to make my own”

Shifting back into their earlier mood, the band continued with the relentless “Ready, Able.” Taylor’s methodical and driving bass work stood in direct opposition to Droste’s feathery main vocal, accenting the tune with a sometimes-sweet, sometimes-not feel and contrasting the otherworldly flourishing sounds of unseen angelic harps. The gentlemen continued to expound on this equation, riffing effortlessly through “I Live With You,” “Foreground,” and “While We Wait for the Others.”

To conclude their performance, Grizzly Bear played “On a Neck, On a Spit,” a brilliant cut from their prior album, Yellow House. The track’s opening shanty-like lilt ultimately gave way as the song built and climaxed into a bar-room, brawl-like frenzy — a feeling imparted primarily by Bear’s exacting percussion work. It was at this point that I and the other Grizzly congregationalists in attendance gave way to dancing in our seats; drumming our knees and thighs until the song faded back into the same ether it had materialized from.

Offering only one encore, Grizzly Bear returned to the stage to perform a cover of The Crystals’ “He Hit Me (and It Felt Like a Kiss)” — an interesting closer, considering the song’s domestic violence subject matter. In a sense, Grizzly Bear’s interpretation of the song served as a reminder that we, the audience, had been walloped with a rare hour-and-a-half concert experience that, in the end, felt like all-too brief of a kiss.

With the final whispers of traceable audio rising into the Moore’s intricately beautiful dome, the spell-binding experience was over and the audience was returned to the dark night from which they had come.

The Morning Benders:

review by Carrie Rubens
photos by James Bailey

The Chop Suey Sunday night was filled with some amazing sounds and pleasant surprises beginning with Swedish singer/songwriter Anna Ternheim. Often playing with only with an acoustic guitar, Ternheim was backed up tonight by the band from Loney Dear to accompany her melodic folk music.

Co-headlining the show with Loney Dear was Brooklyn-based Asobi Seksu. Among a variety of twenty-somethings in the crowd, I spoke briefly to a guy sitting next to me who was visiting from San Francisco. He told me that upon hearing the word “shoegaze” to describe the band, he was sold on coming out tonight. As the band launched into their set, it was surprising how incredibly alive and rambunctious they sounded.

Their name comes from the Japanese term for casual sex, and Asobi Seksu has been sporting that moniker for three out of four album releases. Perhaps there’s just something a little more elegant about putting “Sportfuck” in another language. Asobi Seksu has often been compared with My Bloody Valentine, which in large part seems due to James Hanna’s guitar-playing, which toes the upper register sonically.

The petite Yuki Chikudate barely reaches bassist Glenn Walman’s shoulders in stature, as she bangs her head back and forth with the music against flashing strobe lights. At the helm of a synthesizer keyboard, she rocked out center stage to the landscape of heavy bass drumbeats and ambient pop melodies, switching often between Japanese and English lyrics. At one point, Chikudate mentioned that she was battling a cold, but it was hard to tell with her powerful soprano vocals over the pounding bass.

Amid their transitioning into each song with such ambition, “In the Sky” was a welcome change of pace with its slow start. But soon enough it too built into an exciting, accelerating tempo. Chikudate’s voice began to soar while the bass kept the band grounded — without it, it seemed like they would fly off like a thousand helium balloons strapped to a deckchair.

After watching most of the set, my friend from earlier recanted his statement about shoegaze because Asobi Seksu wasn’t so much gazing at their shoes but dancing with them. Their songs moved with, rather than against, the wall of sound.

For anyone who caught My Bloody Valentine’s 20-minute sonic assault at the close of their set last April, Asobi Seksu gave the audience their pint-sized version of that textural, noisy atmosphere to close out their final song, during which Chikudate pulled off her gold chain necklaces, which seemed to have gotten tangled in her hair amidst the headbanging and battled with them as the noise continued. Finally released from their web, she draped them on her microphone stand before taking Keith Hopkin’s spot behind the drum kit. As the lights went low, and she delivered a steady and powerful rocking beat. She killed it.

Co-headlining the show, Loney Dear, hails from the small city of Jonkoping, Sweden and has been creating the most beautiful compositions since 2005. Emil Svanangen the creative force in the group began by recording his songs on CD-Rs, until eventually getting picked up by Subpop Records. Having rarely toured in the United States prior to his most recent release, “Dear John,” Sunday’s Chop Suey show was Svanangen’s third visit to the states this year. Loney Dear has also brought back an original member on keys and tambourine that missed out on the last tour.

It’s all too easy to get wrapped up in the multiple layers of melodies that Svanangen has composed.They open up with “I was only going out,” which starts out quiet, drawing the audience in close, new details of music appear, and each element contributes to the texture and complication of the songs. Before you know it, you’re wrapped up in each beautiful composition and as it builds, and it’s carrying you away.

It can get so quiet that conversations in the back of the room are clearly heard. At “In with the Arms (I love you)” Svanangen, turning his microphone away, asks somebody to turn off a noisily blowing fan, and even the talkers in the back of the bar shut up to listen to him,

Svanangen is charming throughout the set with his unassuming, and modest stage presence. Announcing he has only two songs left to play, insists that everyone stick around for a while after the show for a drink - alcoholic or non - just to say hello. Then he asks the audience to sing along a simple melody that accompanies him as he leads into “Sinister in a State of Hope.” Closing the set with “Dear John,” the title track to his latest album, sounds appropriately like a lullaby when he shows off his impressive vocal range, and sings “sleep well, sleep well tonight.” Without playing an encore, Loney Dear left me wanting more, and I can’t wait to see them again the next time they come around.

Anna Ternheim:

Asobi Seksu:

Loney Dear:

photos by Dan Muller
review by RJ Cubarrubia

I’ll be honest: with all the talk of Anacortes’ The Lonely Forest, I felt like a complete dumbass for never having heard their music (it got really bad when I read in Sound that they were “Seattle’s next great band”). After having the pleasure of introducing them on our KEXP/Toyota Free Yr Radio stage, I was treated to some of the smartest and most melodic songwriting to grace my ears this year. Stupidly excited after their mini acoustic set, I caught their later set at the EMP/SFS Sky Church and quickly got my heart swooned and my ass rocked; the combination of the pretty lights, big sounds, and tons of screaming fans was almost overwhelming. The closing song, “We Sing In Time”, should be where every person unfamiliar with this band should start and as the entire crowd sang the chorus, I realized that this was it: this was the anthem of my weekend, my best reason for being here. Can’t really argue with that.

photos by Dan Muller
review by RJ Cubarrubia

Bumbershoot 2009 was a fairly wet and wild affair, but no band could’ve prepared for the weekend weather better than Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head. Sporting a nautical theme complete with a posse of inflatable dolphins, NPSH ripped through an hour-long dance party to an absurd army of kids shouting for dolphin friends of their own. The band hit all the crowd favorites, including a version of “Beard Lust” with keyboardist David Price stepping out from behind his synths to rap a murderous third verse. The set also included the new song “My Funk” and a cover that no one really recognized (me included, to be honest), but the real highlights came in the form of insane party props: an large inflatable turtle that became a crowd surfing vehicle and a champagne bottle filled with glitter. Once the fake sparkly bubbly was popped and the kids were riding the turtle in a sea of outstretched fans, there was no turning back. Besides, if you’re not ready to dance your ass off in a ridiculous manner, why are you at an NPSH show in the first place? Coming off their numerous shows and tours this year, keep your eyes on NPSH for the rest of this year and early next year. There might be a new stuff coming your way soon!

review by Travis Baer
photos by Kyle Johnson

This past Friday night The Paramount Theatre was converted from its usual majestic, golden state to a dusty southern bluegrass hall. The Avett Brothers, a folk-rock group from Concord, North Carolina, I feared would be at odds with the regal backdrop provided by the Paramount. Their sound has such a rustic quality to it that I had only ever imagined seeing them in a dirty bar or at some outdoor festival. But luckily this fear melted away the second they ripped into the opening song, “I Would Be Sad.” The crowd instantly recognized the track from Emotionalism and everyone began singing, dancing and jumping along with the show.

The set list was a mixed bag of b-sides, old songs, and cuts from their upcoming release I and Love and You. The brothers, Scott and Seth, were joined onstage by a cellist and upright bass player who helped fill out the sound as the band jumped from folk songs to bluegrass, to honky tonk, and everywhere in between. About midway through the two hour set Seth moved over to piano while Scott fingerpicked his way through “Laundry Room” from their upcoming September 29th release. The song starts out slowly with the brothers trading off vocals and slowly builds to a whipfast honky tonk breakdown which they milked for everything it was worth during the show, getting the already enthusiastic crowd back on their feet.

The set wound down to a close as the curtain they had been playing in front of rose to dipslay an enormous photo of the Brooklyn Bridge as they jumped into the title track of their new album, I and Love and You. The song’s slow organ and piano fit perfectly into the night and got the crowd geared up for the final encore which consisted of, “Head full of doubt, Road full of Promise” and “Pretty Girl From Matthews.”

The Heartless Bastards, a southern rock outfit from Cincinnati, started out the night. The frontwoman for the band, Erika Wennerstrom held her own in the large theater. Her vocals were mixed louder than any other part of the band, but she did not falter and kept the crowd warm for what was to come.

photos by Jim Bennett

Last Friday, while some of us were attending the last of the Concerts at the Murals, others were out at Marymoor Park in Redmond watching the ecstatic spectacle of The Flaming Lips, supported by fellow Oklahomans Stardeath and White Dwarfs. Part New Years, part Christmas, part Mardi Gras, and a whole lot of fun, the show featured fog machines, a human-sized hamster ball, dancing girls with furry masks, stuffed gorillas, bouncing balls, and tons and tons of confetti. KEXP photographer Jim Bennett was on hand to capture the visual celebration for you:

Stardeath and White Dwarf

The Flaming Lips

view the full set here

review and photos by Philip LaRose

Last Monday the 17th, I went to the Crocodile to see Emilíana Torrini. Back in the day I picked up her first (English) album Love in the Time of Science as an impromptu purchase, and I’ve been fond of her since and was curious to hear her live. Opening for Torrini was singer-songwriter Anya Marina.

Anya Marina opened the show with a solo semi-acoustic set: she played acoustic guitar and sang, backed by rhythm tracks playing off her iPod (which she introduced near the end of the set as her backing band, “Nano”). She had a very engaging manner, chatting with the audience a lot. For one song she wanted the audience to whistle along, but was having trouble whistling well enough to demonstrate the part, provoking some good-natured laughter; after saying “let’s just sing doo-doo-doo instead” and singing the part, she had a good chorus of whistlers in the audience. Later she asked, “Should we drink whiskey tonight? I’m having so much fun with you, I wanna take it to the next level.” Her humor and playfulness also showed in her lyrics. Musically, I thought the songs were mostly unremarkable but the rhythm tracks had a hip-hop feel that helped fill out her sound so she wasn’t just another girl-with-guitar.

Emilíana Torrini was backed by a four-piece band playing the usual assortment of guitars, bass, keyboards, and drums, but with some prominent parts for slide guitar and harmonium as well. Torrini’s fragile voice and initially shy manner belied her strong singing and confident stage presence. She gave funny little introductions for most of the songs, which she explained was because she wrote each song in a different key so the band had to retune each time. Early in the set, she focused on wistful folk-pop songs mostly from her 2005 release Fisherman’s Woman, prompting someone to call out, “Play some happy songs!” Torrini retorted, “Happy songs? No way! … Oh shit, I say no way and the next one [“Big Jumps”] is a happy song.” That said, “Nothing Brings Me Down” from that album had a tension to it that grew into rock with some urgency. Interspersed were a few similarly folksy songs from her most recent album, Me and Armini. She seemed surprised by the enthusiastic reaction when she introduced “To Be Free,” a song from Love in the Time of Science, but I noted that she’d cannily placed songs from that album in the later half of her set, including two in the encore, “Easy” and “Unemployed in Summertime.” Introducing the latter song, she remarked, “When you do something old, it’s a little embarrassing, like reading old diaries,” but there was no reason to be embarrassed about this fine pop tune. Balanced against these older songs was a run of songs from Me and Armini with a stronger rock edge than the earlier songs. I particularly liked the main set closer “Gun,” which had a really cool driving bass line accented by her percussive breaths and finger-snaps. I enjoyed her fine performance and look forward to hearing more from her.

photos and review by Chona Kasinger

Jona Bechtolt and Claire Evans, the dynamic duo that is YACHT, took center stage promptly at 9:30 to a feverishly excited all ages crowd at the Vera Project on Friday night.

Bechtolt and Evans frolic and caper the stage like the Y2K scare of 1999 all over again, all the while keeping in time with their absurdly catchy beats. With Bechtolt decked out in an all white suit and Evans in a simple black dress and high top converse, the two clearly appeared to complement each other. Their live show is a spectacle to behold and always leaves one remarkably impressed with the duos ability to maintain tenure under such physical exertion. Evans and Bechtolt have developed an undeniably close connection (or at least play it off as such incredibly well) with their audience — a staple of YACHT’s show usually involves the two hopping into the crowd and touching their fans.

Midway through YACHT’s set, Bechtolt paused to share a couple of slides with the audience, one of which included a mailing address for the band (at which prompted Bechtolt to urge fans to send in whatever fan mail they felt so inclined). Slideshows have been a center point of the band’s live show for a while now, and I always find them to be a rare and comical treat in the realm of live music.

Bechtolt and Evans ended the night on a high note, per usual, and it appeared to me that the crowd of people that had come out to dance had truly had their fill for the night. In the true nature of fan appreciation, I spotted the couple later selling merch outside the room. YACHT’s sheer and electric energy on stage translated into a kind and gracious demeanor off, and I can only imagine in a world of people too afraid to dance outside the comforts of their own bedrooms that this act will carry people a long way.