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Bottom of the Hill October 19, 2002 Review by Jake Thomas It was packed for this show. I expected as much, with the entanglements both of these bands have with Godspeed You Black Emperor and all. When I got there Fly Pan Am had just started. I thought they were French, but it turns out they are French-Canadian, a group that usually end up being the butt of a lot of jokes. At least all the jokes I laugh at. I think I heard a couple of mp3s of these guys before, but since I can't remember them they must not have been very impressive. As for their live show, it was a lot of ups and downs. Most of the time, they were channeling some weird hybrid of funk that reminded one person I was talking to of Public Image Ltd, and me of a more bass heavy version of Kammerflimmer Kollektief. But then the all of that funky town business would erupt into this great noisy-post-punk sound ala Wire or Gang or Four, and it was amazing. It was almost as if the funky part was set up that way intentionally so that the rock part would sound that much better. Whether this was intentional or not I haven't a clue, but I enjoyed it all the same. If only there were more parts like this, and a little less funk. I've never heard much Do Make Say Think either, but what I have heard I've loved. They're one of those bands that's on my 'to get' list, but I somehow keep forgetting the getting part. My expectations of a good show were raised when I saw that they were setting up two drum kits. It doesn't mean it's going to be good, but certainly raises the chances, especially since they already had the fact that they were Canadian going against them. More affirmation came from the fact that the guy standing near me looked like jesus in a trench coat. That must mean this is god's music! There were six members total for these guys, with apparently the trumpet player missing because he couldn't get through customs. Except for the drummers, all of the other members took turns playing guitar, bass, keyboards, flute, and various horns of all shapes and sizes. And no matter what instrument they were playing everyone seemed highly skilled doing it, while the sound they produced reminded me of a unique blend of a less-jazzy version of Tortoise with the added 'slow/fast' song dynamics of Mogwai. It sounded great, even jesus seemed to think so. Sometimes instrumental bands can get a little boring after a while, but DMST kept things changed up enough tat it never got tired. But I did - by the time the encore rolled around, it was 1:30, and I rolled out of there. A good night of fun, Even if it was a bunch of Canadians. ©2002 playinginfog.com |