words by Pat, photos by David Chen

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(Photos of The Show is the Rainbow taken from the band’s myspace page, due to photofail on Tuesday night, many apologies. -DF)

On Tuesday, while the rest of you were at Ladytron, I decided to take a chance on Velvet Lounge and I was handsomely rewarded with one of the most memorable performances of my life.

Auchtung Panda were cool from what I saw.  I really enjoyed “Robot Love”.  They did a nice cover of “Gouge Away” by The Pixies.  Their sound is sort of early 90s in a good way.

Then came Darren Keen’s one-man carnival The Show is the Rainbow, which cannot be seen or heard – it can only be experienced. I could describe it as an amalgamation of the frantic energy of Dan Deacon, the emotion of Daniel Johnston, the intensity of Scroobius Pip, the beats of Beck, and the animations of Devin Flynn (from Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Y’all So Stupid).  But borrowing from pop culture would be an injustice to the very personal meticulously-coordinated psychedelic mushroom tunnel adventure through Darren’s heart, soul, and mind.

When I heard this guy does “visuals” with his music, I was expecting the standard Windows Media screen saver meshed with old stock footage.  I was pleasantly surprised by an 80’s quest-style video game projected on the back wall for the opening track “Made of Cardboard.”  A knight in armor charges through a gauntlet of football players, frat guys holding red solo cups, and robot skeletons.  It was magical to say the least.

The first song was met with a few hand claps to which Darren replied, “You’re supposed to applaud.  That was a clear END to the song.”  He also reminded us frequently that it was our job to laugh after he made a “joke.”  These self deprecating statements were used to build a wall that Darren would then blast through with such ice-breakers as, “This next song is about when I was a fetus and my Mom fucked a lot of dudes so I kept getting hit in the head by penises.”

Of course, what visual could accompany the song “Mother and Son” but a cartoon fetus being born and then digested by a mouth on the outside of a pregnant stomach?  I know it sounds horrible, but in this context the only possible response is extreme laughter.  Not nervous laughter. More of a, “HOLY COW! That is the most outrageous thing I have ever seen!… Did you see that?!”

Standing still to bass slaps and electro beats is impossible for me.  So as I am laughing and nodding to the other 15 people there, I am also dancing.  Darren’s behavior became more manic-depressive as the show came to a close.  His sweaty shirtless dancing in front of the stage turned into a lying down burned-out confessional about traveling on the road and missing his new girlfriend.  But before I knew it he was bouncing and blasting his way out of the set.  And the rest of us were overcome with laughter and rhythm, which I’m sure is exactly what Darren had intended.

You should jump at any chance to go see this guy.  You will be pleasantly refreshed just to know that there is someone out there exploring the edges of sanity and self-expression for the rest of us.

Darren’s deconstruction of human life on Earth was followed by Beep Beep, for whom Darren also plays bass.  Their sound is much more mellow and friendly.  They were also not shy about the fact that they needed a place to sleep that night. I heard they got put up in an underground bakery operation on the north side of town – a strangely suitable ending to a strangely shirtless evening.

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(Here are some pics of Achtung Panda courtesy of David Chen, apparently there was some confusion about the order of bands… rookie mistake/it happens? I really don’t know what to tell you, apparently The Show is the Rainbow is one of the most amazing live shows to photograph, so if anyone has awesome pics of the performance, please send them our way, and we will happily post them. -DF)