While Tycho's songs sounded faithful to the album versions to someone who has listened to Dive several times, there seems to be a touch of improvisation to the performance. Surely, Scott Hansen is meticulous in his approach, but the songs feel more organic than those of someone standing at a laptop, and live bass and drums take the show far beyond typical ambient music, especially with the bass turned up so high. Tycho creates a euphoric atmosphere using organic rhythms, warm tones from vintage synths and ethereal visuals.
In a live setting, Van Etten rocks louder than listening to her albums alone would imply, while still maintaining a strong sense of intimacy with the audience. Several of her songs are dramatic builds to powerful moments that are captured in the studio recordings, but appear much bigger and louder on stage.
It's the last weekend in June, the time of year when Phoenix dwellers rethink their reasons for living so close to the mouth of hell and are looking for the closest place to cool off or at least forget about how hot it is, and because it is Saturday, several dedicated music buffs or at least the die-hard young and hip of downtown Phoenix ventured out to the increasingly beloved Crescent Ballroom to drink, dance and sweat.
It was a calm yet warm Mother's Day crowd in Phoenix's Crescent Ballroom for Sunday's show, and for those who didn't forget completely, Portland Cello Project and Emily Wells double-headlined a unique and classy affair to take a venturesome mother. Someone in the audience snickers that there will be no mosh pit at this show, and although Crescent doesn't normally host shows that compel one to mosh, but they also don't normally set out candlelit tables on the ballroom floor either.
With a show and a new album that is melodic, delicate and slightly odd in places, the members of Chairlift are fantastic performers, especially for how long they've been in existence, and their music manages to be accessible and 80s vintage without being cheesy.
Cults, a New York-based noise pop act that are a combination of several vintage sounds intermingling, sold out their show at Phoenix's Rhythm Room: it was definitely golden age syndrome in action. The whole performance, which included Mrs. Magician and Spectrals as openers, was part surf-rock, part go-go, part doo-wop, part new wave, and altogether erratic. The vibe seemed to bounce from a Pulp Fiction-style chase scene to classic oldies’, serving only fitting that Dick Dale is slated to play the same stage soon.
Sporting large, circular glasses and a casual blue button-up shirt, Bundick looks more like an Apple employee instead of the prolific contributor to several musical projects. Recording under the name Toro Y Moi since he was a teenager, he's got an 80's pop voice that makes it look like he could be wearing a red leather jacket, tight jeans and a giant pair of high-tops. And although he has been grouped into the chillwave subgenre, which includes acts like Washed Out and Neon Indian, both of which he has remixed, the live show is more lively than a guy standing at a station of synths turning knobs.
As for Cursive, they are a distinct new incarnation of the band, one that is both more mature and progressively ardent. While I am Gemini may be an obtuse tale of split personality delusions, they still put on a show that's as comprehensible as it is blaring. Cursive's live show translates: “We're brilliant, we're sophisticated, we're surly and we still know how to rock.”
Michelle Blades first appeared in Phoenix seemingly out of dry air at an open mic and proceeded to blow everyone's minds by improvising a melodious song with simple strums on her uke. Since then, she has played at countless local venues, toured Europe and recorded three albums under the River Jones label. We all can consider ourselves lucky to witness the evolution of such an amazing musician into a tremendous performer, without losing a ounce of sincerity and modesty.
