i went to see the notwist and styrofoam at the Black Cat on wednesday night. i was going to write a review yesterday, but i was waaay too hung over. ;-)
it was a fantastic show. probably the best i'll see all year in DC. at the outset though, i should say that i'm huge fans of both artists. "Neon Golden" was easily in my top 5 for 2002 and "...Murder" was definitely in my top 10 for 2001.
at any rate, styrofoam started off the evening around 10. immediately, i was just thrilled to hear his familiar textured drones REALLY FRICKIN LOUD. home stereo just never compares to a club sound (even if it's not flawless). there's just something about that volume and i don't get to hear idm at that level nearly enough. and with styrofoam, his kick drums have this reverberating hollowness to them that i hadn't really notice before -- it was great. it made you wish you were listening to him perform outside in some giant canyon. i think that he played all new stuff, and if his live performance is any indication, i can't wait to pick up the new releases on Morr. he just has an ability to lay his drones perfectly against fat glitchy hip-hop beats. he ended the evening with a remix of american analog set that was fantastic. "the river breaks" on the first morr comp was the first styrofoam track i ever heard and it's really probably still my favorite. while this AAS remix is not as ponderous as "river", it has much of the same majesty to it. i was blown away. anyone know what label that track was released on and if it was ever available on vinyl?
my only complaint about styrofoam was that he did not play for nearly long enough. he only played about 4 tracks. one other minor quibble: one thing i loved about "..murder" was how he treated his vocals. that treatment was lacking in his live performance, but his voice is pretty good, so it wasn't bad. and he would sample and loop some of his vocals and then subject them to some cool effects, so i was diggin that.
The Notwist took the stage shortly thereafter. I didn't know what to expect from these guys, but all i can really say is that onstage they looked like 4 lovable goofballs. there was zero pretentiousness coming from these guys. a bit of a change from your average idm performance (admittedly they are more rockers than idm-ers). styrofoam also offered laptop trickery support for their performance.
they just absolutely rocked, their sound was tight as hell and they rolled through just about every track from Neon Golden. however, they played significantly different and longer versions of each track, which is what you would hope for in a live setting. and the instrumental jams in the middle of the tracks were well done (not too phishy if you know what i mean). the singers voice wast pitch perfect -- he sounded exactly as he does on the album. that was a pleasent surprise.
they also seemed genuninely pleased by the enthusiastic response they were getting from the crowd. (imagine that! artist/audience interaction!).
it wasn't a flawless performance, but the few glitches they had are easily attributable to the fact that it was the first night of the tour. i'm sure they'll smooth it out as they roll on. also, i'm not at all a fan of punk, and there were some full on punk moments that i didn't totally dig. but i have to admit, that even in those moments, there sound was just so tight that it was still good.
you should go see this tour if it's stopping anywhere near you in the future.
dave
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