“Since gin to artifice bears the same relation as tears to mascara…” (Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany’s)
From my current reading. Wickedly funny, ten times more so than the cinematic version. And it would have to be, wouldn’t it? I mean, on a wickedness scale of 1 to 100, imagine where Audrey Hepburn would fall, as opposed to Mr. Capote. The movie will definitely bear some re-watching when I’m done with this, as I have a feeling the experience will be much different.
Unpredictability is the stock-in-trade of Brooklyn art-popsters The Fiery Furnaces. Four albums into their bewildering career (not including the singles collection EP), and they’ve already taken as many unexpected artistic left-turns as any of their famously fractured songs. Last night’s performance at Neumo’s was in perfect keeping with this restless and reckless tradition.
The brother/sister duo of Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger are on tour in support of their newest release, the challenging psychedelic travelogue album Bitter Tea, a companion to their previous, ill-received Rehearsing My Choir. The album is filled with backwards masked vocals, synths and tack pianos, and strange sonic flourishes of all sorts. So, in complete defiance of expectations, they went on the road with a four-piece lineup and played new songs and old in a deadpan punk style.
They were loud, raucous, fast, and completely lacking in the complex interplay of instruments that their records showcase, but something about the blistering sonic onslaught was exhilarating. I didn’t know what to expect going on, and this definitely wasn’t it. It was like the Stooges had taken Eleanor on tour with them. For most of the songs, the basic skeleton was kept in place, but all the parts had been rewritten in a heavier, riff-based style, keeping the lyrics and the rhythmic twists and turns as a framework.
All of their albums were represented in the set, starting with my personal favorite, “Chris Michaels” from Blueberry Boat, and winding through highlights from each record. For the most part, the songs were so radically altered that it was hard to tell what was what, until a recognizable lyric pushed through the noise. I’m still not sure if they were playing an extended version of “Tropical Iceland,” or if they just segued into it from another track I didn’t recognize.
It was a good set (and the encore, with a first ever live performance of “Bitter Tea,” at audience request, was a fun treat), but it was sort of bewildering and draining at the same time.
By contrast, opening band Man-Man instantly won over the crowd instantly, by demolishing stylistic boundaries and audience expectations. The 5-piece band played upwards of 20 instruments in all (let’s see…electric piano, synthesizer, xylophone, glockenspiel, electric guitar, bass, drums, pots and pans, 2 melodicas, 2 saxophones, trumpet and one other brass instrument I couldn’t identify, slide whistle, tambourine, gourd, spoons, kazoo-like noisemakers, and more) and cooked up a whirlwind of music that drew from the sounds of sea chanties, eastern European folk, circus music, afrobeat, Sousa marches, and other weird sources. It was energetic, fun music full of shouted gang vocals, animalistic growls and gibbering, and coordinated jumping. There was a little bit of Tom Wait’s, a little Muppet Show, a little Pirates of the Caribbean and Mr. Bungle…It was indescribable beyond that. Not the kind of music that I’d buy and listen to at home, but the kind of music that just HAS to be seen live.
I won’t say that Man-Man stole the show, but I will say this. I walked in not knowing to expect from either band, but after the show, it was clear that the Fiery Furnaces set was built on thwarting expectations and required some familiarity with their music. My enjoyment of their set was based on how different it was from their records, and how adventurous it was in light of that difference. In that sense, it was sort of an in-joke in a way…an in-joke that stands on it’s own well enough, but works better if you’re in on it. Man-Man however, works on a purely music-and-performance level, and made instant converts based solely on their high-spirited presence and polished, infectious music. There’s something that seems more universally appealing, but just as uncompromising, about that approach.
Is it totally tacky of me to beg for a Vox invite here? Well, I don’t care, because I really want one. If anyone happens by and can spare one, let me know. THIS DOMAIN NAME at GMAIL.COM. You know you want to.
Go Here. Where is “here,” you ask? Well, it’s a website, dipshit. OK, OK, come back. It’s a website of a guy named Matthew. More specifically it’s his website devoted to “Celebrity Pixies Tributes.” Even more specifically, these tributes consist of him covering Pixies songs in the style of other famous artists. If you ever wonder what the Beach Boys performing “Levitate Me” would sound like (answer: pretty fucking awesome), then this is the website for you.
Also great: A collection of Youtube links for videos shown on MTV’s late 90’s electronic music video showcase, AMP!
Thank you. Good night.