Download “Colors”| It may have been the little-loved Tuesday, bastard child of the week, all yuckified with snow-turned-slush, and a flurry going on still, but Dark Dark Dark played to a Cake Shop basement that was as full as it was the night The Dodos played their secret show there. Most of those present were pirates and vagabonds and people of that nature who I imagine have infiltrated the city of New York for years, or perhaps they had only momentarily gotten off their travels for drinks and music. The band knew their names, and they knew the lyrics to all of the band’s songs. Some of them danced. They were all friends. It made me feel like I was crashing someone else’s party, but it was a good party. Move onward for video!
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Showcase after showcase, through the early afternoon and the late night, complete with after parties, Cake Shop was abuzz with CMJ activities last week. On his way to see Cotton Jones for the second time at Pianos, Kashish stopped by to catch several performances: City Center upstairs, Phosphorescent closing the Chouette showcase downstairs and drawing a solid turn-out (Cake Shop hit full capacity); preceded by Castanets, and followed by what Kashish described as “hilarious boy-band mockers” Picture Picture, who opened the New York Noise 5 Year Anniversary line-up—they were voted the worst act of Day 4 by Pop Tarts Suck Toasted: “Who ordered a two piece karaoke act to the Cake Shop? Seriously this band was amazing in how awful they could be! No backing band, just two dudes and a sampler playing corny disco riffs as the shouted over it. Stupid!” All pics by Kashish.
The only thing that sounds good at the Cake Shop is the drums, yet the place has a charm favorable to performances. The Dodos frontman Meric Long was merrier and more gutsy than usual–perhaps it was the presence of friends, or perhaps it was the modest stage with its glittering streams of red for a backdrop and yellow balls of light for a ceiling. The two bands that went before The Dodos played like restraint was blasphemy–one was ferocious with its setup of two drums and a howling singer fond of crashing into people and punching their can of beer flat, against the person’s belly nonetheless–which made the role of restraint in the music of The Dodos much more apparent. A little bit of reign can make a world of a difference.
The Dodos are playing The Siren Music Festival this Saturday, and last night’s performance at the Cake Shop was sort of a “secret show”. More videos later, and some pictures after the jump.
hooves on the turf is a mostly-music blog based out of brooklyn. i can be reached at hoovesontheturf [at] gmail [dot] com - please send me your lovely music as an attached mp3 or an mp3 link. if i like what you send, i'll be sure to ask for more.
Aqua: Love TEEN. Man they can sing. Cool. Different.
Suraj Joshee: Sarahana, Loved the video. You captured the simple raw essence of the music and band really really...
