All photos by Rachel Eisley
Atlas Sound’s show backstage at the Black Cat felt like something out of a dream. The whole thing seemed hazy and surreal, and I wasn’t even under the influence of a controlled substance.
I got there too late to see the first opener, Valet, but when I walked in, I saw a pretty unusual sight, not only was there a mass of equipment set up on the floor in front of the stage, but 20-30 people were sitting cross-legged in a semi-circle around said equipment. When one-man act White Rainbow started his set, I wasn’t even aware, but as I glanced around the people in front of me, I found that there was indeed someone now sitting down manning the equipment on the floor. At first I wasn’t sure what to think but the music quickly sucked me in. It was an ambient mix of loops being created live by a bevy of synthesizers and pedals with guitar and vocals thrown in for good measure. My mind began to wander as the music put me in a bit of a trance-like state, and I could swear I smelled incense burning, though I never did find the source. The music ended almost as quickly as it started, about 25 minutes later, after only one long “song,” but it was quite fascinating and just the perfect length.
Atlas Sound took the stage, after a brief break and a few technical difficulties, and launched into “Bite Marks,” from their debut album Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel. The songs on the album are very much a wash of indeterminate sound with vocals layered on top, so it was difficult to imagine how these songs would be recreated live by a five-piece band. Not surprisingly, the songs took on a more “rock” sound, but at the same time maintained the dreamy feel that pervades Atlas Sound’s debut. In between songs frontman Bradford Cox, who seemed to be a bit flu-ish and commented on it several times, broke the audience’s awe with some stage banter that lightened the mood and let us know they were having a good time up on stage, despite the dark sound of the material. He called the most up-tempo song of the night his “Breeders-type song” and introduced one of the evening’s slower songs by saying, “This is a fun one. . . just kidding.” He even launched into the first verse of “Don’t Fear the Reaper” daring his band to follow along.
Despite only playing eight songs, most, if not all, from Let the Blind. . . the show was absolutely captivating. The seated audience members never rose from their feet, even after urging from the bands keyboardist, and Bradford ultimately gave in, telling them, “No it’s cool. . . it’s like church.” But sitting for this show perfectly suited the atmosphere as the gorgeous music washed over the captivated audience. By the time we finally got our bearings, the show was over and I was forced to walk out those doors into the cold which shocked me back into reality and ended my dream.
this was the best show so far in 08.
February 25, 2008 at 10:43 amwhatever mike f…go back to hitting your 3 footer…
February 25, 2008 at 10:58 amGetting bored over at LNS, Adam?
February 25, 2008 at 11:15 amThis is my “review” e-mail to Svetlana before I knew someone was reviewing this show:
“Did anyone review that show at the Cat last night?
The second act dude sat in the middle of the floor with a buch of equipment spread out. It sounded like something you’d find in the midst of the more boring tracks of Peter Gabriel’s “Last Temptation of Christ” soundtrack (good to fuck to though).
The tall dork’s music was ok (some of it), other of it wasn’t. And you couldn’t hear his voice at all. He needs to learn mic control.
The only good thing about the whole show were the t-shirts for sale that had a naked lady upside down. I forget which band they were for though because I didn’t buy one.
“
February 25, 2008 at 11:38 amgetting bored of all the shitty flash-in-the-pan bands this sight drools over…both these bands suck. sorry “ben”..
February 25, 2008 at 11:50 ami thought the show was pleasant. even tho it i was personally annoyed because it was hard to shoot due to the low light, i was pleasantly surprised by the music. i happened to be feeling tired because of a long day, otherwise i probably would have enjoyed it more, but i thought the dreaminess of the music was a nice change from the more energetic shows i usually check out at the cat. maybe these bands aren’t in my top 10 or whatever but they had a style of their own which worked well together as a show, and the contemplative ethereal feel of the concert left me feeling soothed somehow.
February 25, 2008 at 12:07 pmsaw them in williamsburg last night.
was blown away (and i have extremely high standards.)
see my photos @
http://www.hatnimlee.blogspot.com
I thought the show was o.k.. I was not taken away by the music, partly because the songs are too tamed for my taste (like deerhunter better), and partly because the sound quality was miserable. Bradford’s voice is way too fragile to be well captured by the bad sound system in the small room. I saw Deerhunter twice, one time at the hotel and then at the cat (again backstage). It was brilliant at the hotel. But the show at the cat suffered from exactly the same problem than the one last week – bad sound quality. I think that the backstage is really not a good place for bands that build their muisc on noise and voice effects. It’s sad, though, I really like the backstage otherwise.
February 25, 2008 at 1:08 pmi wanted to check this out because of deerhunter, but alas, i was ripping the boarder-cross course in wintergreen this weekend.
np – i think that the sound backstage can be good if the sound guy knows how to tweak the vox compared to this and that instrument. i agree with what michael had said some time ago about ‘louder is not always better’; it all depends on if the person on sound knows what they’re doing. if the sound was better at rnr then the sound guy at the cat definitely dropped the ball because the sound system at the rnr hotel blows.
ok, back to my three footer if i can remember where i put it….
Not to be bitchy, but Rachel, honey, if you are going to shoot a performer like Valet when she is producing soft, delicate music, can you turn off the digital “snap” on your camera? It was tough to enjoy the haunting music of the first half of her set when you were in the corner sounding like a fuggin’ ANTM photo shoot.
February 26, 2008 at 5:02 pmJohnny- the snap you heard is a shutter. Its part of the camera and necessary for the photographic process. Digital Cameras don’t work by magic, they’re just cameras, without film.
February 26, 2008 at 5:57 pmMy bad. I forgot Rule #3 of the comments section on this site.
“If you criticize anyone or anything related to BYT (constructively or otherwise), prepare to receive at least one snarky response within one hour.”
Good lookin’ Kingpin.
I suppose I just wanted Rachel to be a bit more aware of those around her as opposed to her assignment from this site. Takeaway – When the music is soft, take a break from snapping photos/annoying paying fans and have a coke. When the music is loud, shoot as many photos as possible.
February 27, 2008 at 7:37 amsince valet was using a slide projector for light instead of normal lights it was pretty difficult to get a sharp image. which is why i needed to shoot multiple photos. it would have been much more disruptive to use flash which i always try to avoid when shooting live music, even when the crowd is bigger/the music louder. and yes, the noise from my camera was the shutter which i obviously can’t turn off. it’s funny that someone complained about me, because i def only shot till i got what i needed because i was trying to be sensitive to the audience.
March 14, 2008 at 3:04 pm
what type of hippie nonsense is this?
February 25, 2008 at 10:37 am