My Little Brother Just Discovered Rock ‘N’ Roll
March 22nd, 2006 . by JorgeLast Tuesday (March 14th) I caught the Animal Collective show at the Epicentre in San Diego. I’d never been to this venue before and even though I knew it was an all age gig I didn’t expect it to be run by the local school’s Theatre Arts Club. I guess the high school across the street should have tipped me off.
It’s not like I was standing in a schools multi-purpose room it just felt like I was. To start with there was an Angela Chase look-a-like at the door. On one side of the door was a rail which she was sitting on and on the opposite side was a table where she had her feet mounted – her legs blocking the entry. With clipboard in hand she made sure no one got in without a ticket – she was the cutest mix of a false sense of hip and snot. I wanted to just reach over and shove her face in the mud. I kept my cool though, even as she checked me for lighters and cigarettes.
Once inside I scanned the place for a bar again forgetting that I was standing in the middle of a high school cafeteria. I tell you I usually have to work at being that annoyed.
Yeah yeah I know I was acting like old balls – realizing it I relaxed and started to surrender to the rock ‘n’ roll sweet valley high I was confined to. That is until I realized Barr was the opening act – my blood boiled – if only I’d had piano wire. Still I stuck it out and am happy I did, Animal Collective delivers one hell of a show.
The first description that came to mind was that of a timid Mars Volta doing a ripe Spaceman 3 (not an insult just a point of reference). The band was so wound and jittery I could almost swear it was nerves and not all the running around making them drenched in sweat. They’re spastic sound and behavior is both contagious and hypnotic. With the exception of one awkward keyboard player who wore a flashlight on his forehead the entire night – kind of like a coal miner – it took way too many Red Bulls to wash the taste of raver out of my mouth – they were on mark.
From the start their skewed pop filled the venue like gas and before I knew it I was standing in a cave of sound. The entire show collapsed in and out of a melodic buzz that seemed to originate in my ear and go on forever. Their entire set unraveled into continuos crashes and contradictions of gorgeous noise. Not a bad thing but it did make it difficult for the audience to give their props because whenever someone did clap or holler it felt like an interruption.
By the end of the show I was as exhausted, as sweaty and as satisfied as the band appeared to be. Now that’s the stuff of happy marriages. If I smoked I would have lit one.
teheheheheeee…you should have. (about the mudd..no i didn’t mean that)