Yeasayer Live at El Mocambo, Toronto

10Feb08

For this post I am going to go a different direction than usual by talking about an “indie” show I saw last night in Toronto. I put “indie” in scare quotes because Yeasayer really isn’t an indie band in the strictest sense of the word. Tokyo Police Club is indie; Arcade Fire is indie; MGMT is indie—Yeasayer sounds nothing like any of these bands. I heard of Yeasayer when I downloaded a Libble mixtape entitled “Bands To Libble In 2008”, which featured their first single “2080”. I didn’t expect much from the mix since it featured derivative, poppy indie bands such as Black Kids and Bombay Bicycle Club (who sound like they stole every bit of their style from Tokyo Police Club… even the name). And while those bands are fine for what they are, they really aren’t my style.

There is a reason I started listening to obscure electronic music and moved away from listening to indie, even though I live either in or near Toronto, one of the indie capitals of North America and home to Feist, Broken Social Scene and other such acts. Indie has grown tired in my opinion and devolved into a culture of fashionista hipsters and pretentious artsy morons (which I guess is somewhat true of electronic music as well, but at least there aren’t any of those people in Kingston). This is all to say that when I give “indie” bands a chance it usually means there is something special going on. But don’t take my word for it, go buy Yeasayer’s first album “All Hour Cymbals”, there is only a .0001% chance that you will be disappointed, but even then, I think that 2080 and Sunrise are worth 20 dollars on their own.

Yeasayer are atypical for today’s indie culture, clearly being inspired by Native American music and psychedelic spirituality. The tone of their music isn’t really at home in the El Mocambo (last night’s venue). The cavernous club used to be home to big name rock bands, but has since become a bastion for local high school bands and indie fluff. Last night really wasn’t a complete exception; the headliners were MGMT, who, while catchy, are simply regurgitating everything Bowie did in the 70s (they belong on the Libble mixtape). This isn’t to say that they aren’t good for what they do, but what they do has been done.

The El Mo, as locals call it, is grimy, which is to be expected given the crowds that pack in there. As Yeasayer took the stage at around 11 the place was about half full, 150 people I would say. By the end of their set I could barely fight threw the throngs of people to get to the washroom, the crowd having at least doubled. With so many people it would be hard to keep the place anything resembling clean, though the washroom could definitely use a once over, being covered floor to ceiling in urine, graffiti and band stickers, as if I am going to buy your fucking CD because your band’s name is on the urinal… come on.

Yeasayer took an exceptionally long time with their sound check, trying to get the vocals just right and clearly frustrating the sound people in the El Mo who probably haven’t had such a particular band in ages. It paid off though, as I will explain later. Yeasayer are quite a mixed bag, the bassist dressed in what looked like a 6XL t-shirt, and sporting long curly, blonde locks and a porn ‘stache—very Ron Jeremy-esque. The guitarist is clearly Native American, and wears long braids, while the lead singer looks as if he hasn’t showered or shaved in five days (and I would know, neither have I) and is in a ratty looking red and black, lumberjack-style plaid shirt. The drummer has a signature indie look, slick crew cut, thick-rimmed glasses, tight jeans and plaid shirt.

The instruments are just as varied, the bass having no frets and the drum kit featuring a cymbal that looks like it was just taken out of a kiln and hit with a mallet randomly for at least half an hour. The lead singer has a plethora of different electronic devices in front of him that I can’t see, and uses them to produce the organic sounding electronic sounds throughout the album, to synthesize his voice, and to play the tracks of recorded instruments that are too numerous for only four guys to handle live.

The stage really doesn’t seem like home for Yeasayer: red velor hangs haphazardly as the backdrop, while a large disco ball is overhead. Yeasayer would be much better suited to outside festival venues, during a full moon and in front of multitudes of pot smoking pseudo-hippies. The lighting effects are also exceptionally poor, but I think that all the elements combined make for a memorable atmosphere: an almost forgotten club with disregarded décor is almost always a good scene for an up and coming psychedelic rock band to play in (Dungen’s set at Lee’s Palace was similar).

Yeasayer open with “Many Waves”, a friendly, guitar-centered track, well suited to getting an otherwise unfamiliar crowd into the swing of things. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the rest of the setlist, being too enthralled with the experience to keep the songs in order. But that is the point of a show, right? To be so into it that you forget the insignificant details. Anyway, I do remember Yeasayer’s energy, which was, for lack of a better, more creative term, electric.

Every one of the members was more than comfortable with their instruments, making love to them more than playing them. Comfort always translates into a certain amount of intensity, and Yeasayer had more than enough of it. The lead singer’s vocals were raw and strained, perfect for the occasion, and were accompanied by the frenetic hand gestures only completely enthralled musicians can pull off without looking like fools (translate Thom Yorke’s head motions into hand motions and you get the idea). The back up vocals from every other member of the band was more than I could have expected, their time consuming sound check reaping all sorts of sonic rewards. Every harmony was spot on and could be distinguished despite the amazing amounts of noise these four guys created. It was amazing, actually, how clearly I could hear every instrument, all the elements fitting together jigsaw like and beautiful.

The lead guitarist pulled off some amazing solos, which, at least on the album, sound very much like Neil Young; listen to the end of “No Need To Worry” to know exactly what I mean. Though the guitar is a bit cleaner than Young’s, the same style is there: minimalist, glitchy playing and just fucking wailing on the right notes at exactly the right time. The drummer was also out of control, pumping out some seriously raucous percussion. Listening to the album you can’t tell how much the percussion is influenced by Native American sounds, which is not the case during the live set. I can’t exactly put my finger on what it is that makes me say that, and it isn’t that one of the band members happens to be Native American. I think it was the mix of spare cymbal use and catchy, dance driven riffs that didn’t require an incessant bass drum.

I really can’t say enough good things about Yeasayer’s set, even though it was only an hour long. Listening to the album, I wasn’t impressed with every song, but somehow in concert everything sounded better: the brilliant songs just shone, and the ones that I felt ambivalent towards were almost as good. Obviously, my favourite song they played was 2080; when the bridge comes in and everyone starts screaming “Yeah Yeah” it is enough to make anyone, regardless of how hardened, feel like something special is happening to them. Yeasayer is the best rock show I have seen in a long time. I don’t go to a lot of shows, but I did see Battles and Dungen, neither of them matching the musicianship and stage presence of these four guys from Brooklyn.

If you have a chance, check out Yeasayer on the remaining part of their North American tour as they head down the east coast, playing Montreal tonight, then Massachusetts on Tuesday and heading south from there. Yeasayer also has a good amount of European tour dates, heading to Germany, England, Holland, Norway, Sweden among others. Probably the best show to catch them at would be the ATP vs. Pitchfork festival in England, I wish I could be there. Fuck you Kingston. Fuck you.

Check out Yeasayer’s site here, listen to some of their tunes here, watch them live here and here (not the El Mo show), check out their record label We Are Free and purchase All Hour Cymbals here.

North America Tour Dates:

02.10.08 – Sun – Montreal, QC @ La Salla Rossa
02.12.08 – Tue – Allston, MA @ Great Scott
02.14.08 – Thu – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
02.15.08 – Fri – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s

European Tour Dates:

19.02.08 – Tue – Nijmegen, Holland @ Doornroosie
20.02.08 – Wed – Brussels, Belgium @ AB
21.02.08 – Thu – Paris, France @ Nouveau Casino
22.02.08 – Fri – St. Malo/Route Du Rock, France @ Omnibus
23.02.08 – Sat – Barceona, Spain @ Razzmatazz
25.02.08 – Mon – Cologne, Germany @ Gebaude 9
26.02.08 – Tue – Berlin, Germany @ Lido
27.02.08 – Wed – Gothenburg, Sweden @ Pusterviksbaren
28.02.08 – Thu – Olso, Norway @ John Dee
29.02.08 – Fri – Stockholm, Sweden @ Klubb Spark at Debaser Medis
01.03.08 – Sat – Malmo, Sweden @ Debaser
05.03.08 – Wed – Birmingham, UK @ Bar Academy
06.03.08 – Thu – London, UK @ ICA
08.03.08 – Sat – Glasgow, Scotland @ King Tuts
09.03.08 – Sun – Manchester, UK @ Night & Day
10.03.08 – Mon – London, UK

*None of the pics in this post are from the El Mo show, since I didn’t have a camera. Once I find some I will switch them up.

Filed under: Live Music, Shows, Yeasayer   |  2 Comments