Highgate

Wednesday

Notes about the Show

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Thanks Avey, Kria and Greg!

  • I was psyched to see a full house, it's been so long since i've been to a show in Burlington that got the audience it deserves (while in the next room over "Yonder Granola turkey Mountain funk Express" is turning people away at the door.)
  • Two pints in 20 minutes for me is all i need.
  • Greg's set was huge, my favorite performance by him since an early Narthex performance. I was sitting on the floor w/ my back against the wall, vibration city. Everything in his set felt fluid and natural, nothing out stayed its welcome, yet everything seemed to moved like a glacier. Superpulse -> Drone violin; but the real clincher for me was around the time the vocals came in; usually Greg's voice and styling are of a serene nature, repetitious chanting. But this time there was some raspiness to his voice, even maybe some pain, i couldn't quite tell but it added a human quality that i made the set that much more sympathetic to me.
  • Turned out Greg has a sore throat and cold.
  • Avey and Kria were sitting on the floor next to me for greg's set; they were sitting side by side leaned up together, hold each other's hand. At one point i was spacing out and smiling and i opened my eyes and Avey's watching me and he smiles really big, i get embarrassed.
  • Kria is the definition of precious, i thought Angela and her would have to have some kind of epic (though twee) battle for precious queen status; a cupcake baking competition utilizing red pandas a sou chefs, using only rainbows and yarn as ingredients; something like that.
  • Avey was wearing a cosby sweater. and rocking it.
  • Did i mention the hipster quotient was the highest it's been in Burlington in years? I was sitting behind a dude that must have been that dude w/ the fro' from TV on the Radio.
  • Avey and Kria played for a LONG time, but it didn't feel like it. It felt like magic - like love i guess. They had a report w/ each other that seemed so natural, amourous even, and with the crowd they were relaxed and friendly. At one point they experienced some feed back, stopped the song, which had already been building for 6 minutes, and after apologizing and laughing it off, started right back into it. just like that.
  • Kria makes his sound w/ her voice like a bird. when i was sitting on the floor w/ Jenny i imagined Kria's voice to be coming from Moaning Murtle's hovering ghost. I was having fun w/ that image and wispered it to Jenny, she smiled but didn't know who i was talking about, i said you know, from Harry Potter - she laughed, and said "No, my mom would though." i forget i'm a dork sometimes.
  • What did they sound like? Well, i guess you could call it an inspirational and not altogether predictable amalgam of Mum and Animal Collective. Some real moments of beauty that more than once had me smiling dumbly.
  • Their sound reminded me of garlands, tinsel and ornaments, and a few strands of popcorn, wrapped around thin air; i often heard keys and guitar, two voices, and a whole host of various scrapes, and woops, hickups and chirps; There was a Kazoo; and i thought it could fall apart any second, but it never did, and was instead very beautiful and thought provoking.
  • There was a lyric at one point, near the end of their set, where Avey sings about
  • "sitting and eating w/ the people, and laughing at the steeple, because hell is my bad thoughts."
  • it reminded me of that old hand gesture / song they'd teach you in bible school, where you lace your fingers together and make a door and steeple out of your thumbs and index fingers respectivly, and sing something like "Here is the church and here is the steeple, open the door and see all the people!"
  • There was one song bout the two baking bread. and another song about having a lovely picnic on a summer's day, and then emptying out the picnic sac, and crawling in it for a snog, and then getting caught by a cop. There was also a song about a fetus, but i think that one was metaphorical. Actually, probably not.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

and the train-whistle singing! wasn't that just wonderful? It was good to see you there!

jay said...

What a fantastic show; you captured it well. It was definitely one of the most hypnotic and transcendent musical moments I've had in quite a while.

jds said...

sounds like butterflies

Flatlander said...

Nice review. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

I totally saw the TV on the Radio dude.

jay said...

I think I did too...I'm pretty sure I talked with him in line.

gd said...

yeah, lots of people came out of the woodwork that ive never seen before.

it really made me realize just how popular the animal collective are.

but the nice thing is that dave / avey is still the dave / avey that i met back in april 2003 when we played some crappy college festival together in virginia and no one cared or was listening.