Ah, the joys of experimental rock.

The Dirty Projectors show at In The Venue last Friday, with opener Tune Yards, was most definitely filled with some strange sounds, but there was a very huge amount of talent shown on stage as well. As is the case with many groups of this kind, so long as you wait through occasionally weird/painful/confusing/batshit-crazy parts of songs, you can come across these very interesting displays of ability. It just might take a little while…

I…liked this show?

Tune Yards

You know that any group comprised of only two people (occasionally just one) who come on stage wearing face paint have something awesome in store.

And Tune Yards did not stray from this rule.

Merrill Garbus, the only one who consistently abides by the band’s moniker, had some pretty interesting multitasking going on throughout the show, acting as singer, percussionist, ukulele player, and loop pedal wizard all at once. Garbus had old friend Nate Brenner playing bass with her on most of her setlist, with the occasional inclusion of cowbell (whoop whoop!), and the two were able to pull of some amazing dynamics in their songs for there just being two of them.

After a few songs from Garbus, I noticed what sounded like some African influences in her vocals and, after some research, found this was for good reason; she had spent the past two years in the continent working on her music before coming to the states and touring the country with it.

All in all, I was really into Tune Yards’ performance. Garbus’s use of her loop pedal to make these really intricate beats, along with perfect, flowing vocal harmonies (with the exception of once, when she stopped and admitted “wow, that sounds freaking horrible” before starting a different song), and wonderfully timed contributions from Brenner on bass, all made for a really awesome set.

Definitely keep an eyes out for Tune Yards on the bill at some future concerts, they’re a truly great time.

Dirty Projectors

Wow.

You know, I’m still really unsure about how to start with these guys.

I can’t even really pinpoint genre for them other than “experimental.” Whatever it is they do though, it’s pretty cool stuff.

For those of you who aren’t too familiar with the group, Dirty Projectors are a six person band, split evenly along the gender line, from Brooklyn who have a very distinctive vocal sound to them. The three women in the group, Amber Coffman (vocals, guitar), Angel Deradoorian (vocals, keyboards, samples, guitar, bass), and Haley Dekle, all put together some amazing harmonies that just blow you away during their songs.

On that note, the group played a song towards the beginning of the show that had this mind bending dual-toned thing going on between Amber and Haley that was the coolest thing I’d ever seen/heard, but I have yet to figure out which song it is. I’ve gone through the group’s entire catalog and tried to match it up with anything that sounds remotely like it, but I guess for now it just doesn’t exist yet. (I snagged the setlist afterwards, which you can find down below, but the only thing they had at the beginning that might have been it was “SLC”. They don’t have anything with that title in their catalog…) Maybe this is all just motivation for you to check ‘em out next time they come by then ;)

One comment I really need to make though, is about frontman Dave Longstreth’s guitar playing. First off, I’d grabbed a spot at the very front of the crowd, so that might have contributed to how bloody loud his axe sounded, but as the show went by I found myself kind of dreading every time he’d push his volume pedal up.

The other part that I found just confusing was his style. The guy jumps around from doing these awesome, intricate chord progressions, to what sounds like random crap being sent through a washing machine, and then back to this really cool stuff again. I just wanted to grab him by the shoulders by the end of the show and just yell at him to make up his damn mind if he could actually play or not.

Really though, the group put on a pretty cool show. This was apparently their first show in over two years in Salt Lake City, and….well, as interesting as their show was this time around, I probably won’t see them again until another two years or so. I get the feeling that the group has some pretty interesting material up their respective sleeves, and for now, I’m thinking that I’ll want to see that first before seeing them again. No offense guys, just show me the money first and we’ll talk.

1. SLC
2. Two Doves
3. Remade Horizon
4. Ascending Melody
5. No Intention
6. Fucked For Life
7. Spray Paint (The Walls)
8. Rise Above
9. Cannibal Resource
10. Temecula Sunrise
11. Stillness is the Move
12. Useful Chamber
13. When the World Comes to An End

Encore:

1. Knotty Pine

Thanks for checking this one out too errbody!

It’s going to be a truly fun week, there’s a good heap of fun things on the horizon…
Keep checking back, I’ve got some goodies in store, I promise :)

Thanks again!

Y!L!N!