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These past few months have been a great time to be a part of the Buffalo music scene, and catching a hot up and coming act like Twin Shadow at an intimate venue like Mohawk Place was the cherry on top. Sporting one of 2010’s best reviewed albums, the band rolled into town to a packed crowd and high expectations. Lucky for the weather depressed and hockey mournful crowd, they did not disappoint.
Opening up the show was Buffalo native Catamaran, who filled the room with a pleasing mix of thick downtempo beats and lush synths. I always appreciate an electronic act that does a little more to turn their show into a performance, so I was pleased to see Catamaran busting out some tasteful guitar accompaniment and vocals to compliment his sound. Juggling all that with layers of sequencers and synths is no easy feat. I was so impressed I almost forgot how upset I was that PBR’s were now three dollars instead of two.
Following Catamaran was Fredonia based three piece Chromakid. As much as I enjoyed Catamaran’s beats, you just can’t substitute live drums onstage. Chromakid’s all female lineup treated the crowd to some terrific drum work from Kat Casale and dueling keyboardists Suzanne Bonifacio and Tara Rook traded vocal duties with ease. This was my first time hearing their music and I was impressed with how accomplished their live sound was. I had totally forgotten about the PBR thing by this point.
After a short break Twin Shadow took the stage and launched right into “Shooting Holes at the Moon”. With it’s energetic four on the floor beat and a so-funky-even-David-Byrne would-say-daaaaaaamn bassline the show was off to a great start. They followed with album opener “Tyrant Destroyed” and the music snob in me was starting to get perturbed that they were mimicking the same setlist they played in Cleveland back in January. Suddenly a tall slender Eskimo jacket wearing girl squirmed in front of me and started bouncing around like a drunken hobo. I’m the first person to complain about stiff hipsters being too cool to dance at shows, but after this display I was beginning to appreciate them. After elbowing my way in front of this monstrosity I was able to partake in my own awkward white boy wiggling to “When We’re Dancing”, my favorite track off of “Forget”.
As the show progressed, I noticed a large number of concertgoers suddenly glued to their iPhones. Between songs a girl by the soundboard yelled out “Osama Bin Laden is DEAD!” The stunned crowd stood in shock for a moment, until my friend Brien broke the silence with “America! FUCK YEA!” Most of the concertgoers seemed either confused or offended by this. Apparently Osama took irony with him.
Without batting an eye, Twin Shadow lyricist George Lewis Jr. professed “we don’t mix politics with music” which got an enthusiastic cheer from the crowd and the band dropped right back into their setlist (you know, the one they played in Cleveland). One bright spot was an unexpected cover of a Michael Bolton song that I didn’t recognize. No one else seemed to either, much to the delight of Lewis. I’m sure there are scores of hipsters at home right now googling Michael Bolton’s catalog.
Ending the show was the title track from their debut album “Forget” and after some convincing, the band encored with “Tether Beat”. Altogether it was a very solid show with some great local acts that I will be paying more attention to. The best part, however, was being in a room full of people who were told Osama Bin Laden had been killed and collectively replied, “Please leave us alone when we’re dancing."
~bg
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