Caribou and Fuck Buttons Were In Brooklyn Last Night
It was late and our ears had just been annihilated by Fuck Buttons, when Dan Snaith and his band Caribou took the stage at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. Within seconds, the drummer set off into a frenzy, making it quite obvious that it was going to be worth the lack of sleep wed be getting.
With swirling rainbows of colors projected over them, Caribou took the audience on a trip to the 60s. Apparently, the bands name came to Snaith while on an LSD trip in Canada, and the tight mix of psychedelic pop with krautrock played by Caribou certainly fit with the color projections to make for a trippy experience. Every time the overuse of pre-recorded music started to be a let down, the band took things to a higher level to totally redeem themselves. Snaith, who plays everything on record, switched back and forth between guitar, keyboards and drums flawlessly, even occasionally playing the recorder.
Recent Pitchfork darlings Fuck Buttons opened. With a name like Fuck Buttons, its pretty obvious what the band is gonna sound likehipsters making experimental electronic noise. With all of the hype to live up to, the British duo cranked up their electronics as loud as they could go. Everything sounds better, or at least more powerful when its really loud, and this certainly was the case for Fuck Buttons. Songs that made for a pretty solid but unspectacular debut record hit the crowd with an undeniable force. Like many electronic groups, they werent overly exciting to watch, but this is certainly a band that need to be heard live to really be appreciated.
Last night, both bands proved that music is still meant to be heard live, and while records are great, they can lose some of the magic.
Photos by [Jonny-Leather]