Caribou’s album from last year, Andorra, was a wonderfully trippy set of psychedelic songs. I love the layers of weird stuff going on in the background (or sometimes, foreground) of just about every track. I saw them live for the first time last night (April 11) at the Empty Bottle, and it was quite a show. The most notable thing was the drums. They were noticeable even before Caribou started playing, when the group set up its equipment in an unusual arrangement with two drum kits at the front of the stage. On one side, Caribou frontman Dan Snaith sang, played keyboards and guitar and periodically sat down at the drums for some incredibly driving double-drumming rave-ups. All the while, a projector was shining patterns on a sheet hanging behind the band, as well as the band itself. The combination of charged rhythms with psychedelic sounds was terrific (although the mix might have sounded better if I hadn’t been standing so close to the drums).
The opening act, Fuck Buttons, played lively electronic music with a few real drum solos thrown on top. The music was decent enough to get you dancing, though it got to be monotonous after a while.
This was my first day shooting pictures with a new camera. See my photos of Caribou.