It's A Show Review Spectacular!

I've seen 3 shows in the past week here in the city that reads, all of which have been pretty solid. Last Thursday I made my way down to the Gspot to catch a glimpse of homegrown Beach House before they tour nationally.

Opening act the Papercuts were a more than pleasant surprise, playing lots of new material that wasn't on their LP (but some can be found here). After a few minutes of figuring out how to turn their lighting on in the dark, Beach House poured out a beautiful hour long set. Full of pretty much everything you'd want to hear off the new album, they also dipped into a few old favorites including "Master of None" and "Apple Orchard". The sound quality was pretty awesome for a DIY artspace, as Alexandra Legrand's voice echoed off the concrete walls of the old textile mill with brilliant effect.

Man Man began their 3 month long world tour at the Ottobar Tuesday night, and all I can say is, you must go see this band. When they began setting up a massive xylophone and percussion instruments galore, I knew I was in for a treat. Man Man barreled through an hour and a half of stellar tunes that might be what Tom Waits would sound like after 7 vodka red bulls. The only words ever spoken to the crowd were "thank you" at the end of the encore. Lead singer, Honus Honus, probably made the wrong decision in life when choosing to play the keyboard, as he was all over the place throughout the entire show. In fact all members of the band played musical chairs with their instruments ranging from horns to cowbells, or whatever they could bang things on. It is unfathomable to think this band can keep this pace for 3 months around the world, but man did that look like fun.

I found myself back on N. Howard St. the following night to catch Born Ruffians and Cadence Weapon, both of which hail from Canada. There was a surprisingly low turnout for the show, as there was maybe a 1/4 of the amount of people there compared to the night before. Cadence Weapon still managed to give it his all, despite the lacking enthusiasm. I assumed more people in the area would have caught on to his glitchy beats and derisive flow. Born Ruffians have serious potential to make it big, and I'm pretty sure they're already well on their way. But seriously, dudes are young. The lead singer had the face of a 14 year old, but seemed confident and more than capable. The band appeared to be thoroughly enjoying themselves, and will hopefully wow a few people down at SXSW next week.