British label Moshi Moshi has accumulated an impressive catalog in the ten years since it was founded boasting releases by Bloc Party and Hot Chip amongst others. Last night the River to River Festival threw a defacto anniversary party for Moshi Moshi at the South Street Seaport featuring performances by label mates Casiokids, The Wave Pictures, and Slow Club.
British invaders Slow Club offered the evening's first taste of Moshi Moshi’s extensive roster with a set of alternative folk pop. The band consists of Charles Watson on guitar and Rebecca Taylor on drums and occasionally guitar. Taylor was dressed in a white t-shirt and cutoff jean shorts and looked more like a fan who had wandered onto the stage than a rock star. My first impression was that she played drums like a misplaced fan too, as she exuberantly pounded on a kit that lacked cymbals. Taylor’s simple drum patterns actually proved to be an effective complement to Watson’s folksy finger picked guitar playing as the band jammed. Slow Club’s greatest strength is their artfully written lyrics on songs like “Because we’re dead” with the pair sharing vocal duties throughout.
Next up were fellow Brits The Wave Pictures, a three piece . Their first song was terrible- just horribly written. “Statues are just statues, and marmalade is just marmalade but a statue of marmalade is a statue, but it's not marmalade…”guitarist/ front man David Tattersall obnoxiously chimed on the chorus. After that introduction, I was prepared for the worst, but the band gradually righted themselves and even their humor improved as the set went on. “We’re from Wymeswold it’s kind of like the New York of England in many ways,” joked David Tattersall. The band kept the humorous vibe going on songs like “Now You are Pregnant,” but sometimes their incessant banter between songs felt forced.
The dancey Norwegian Electro pop band Casiokids turned up the heat with a set powered by infectious cowbells and singer Ketil Kinden Endresen’s haunting falsetto that got the crowd gyrating or at the very least swaying. In addition to the cowbells, the band's instruments include cassette-recorder, cello, melodica, guitar, congas and of course, Casio keyboards. The Casiokids got their start as college students playing shows for kindergarteners in their native Bergen, Norway, and although the band has come a long way, they still play for children (as well as adults), and they still retain elements of theatricality gleaned from the experience. Theatricality is an element that is often missing from electronic music shows with synth and guitar players gazing at their FX pedals, and DJs immobiley stationed behind turntables and laptops. Last night Casiokids had theatricality in spades: the band bounced around the stage at 100mph and took turns beating on the red, boa covered, vertical stand of cowbells and cymbals. Drummer Fredrik Vogsborg wore a precarious monkey mask, and ebullient keyboardist Matias Monsen danced like an air traffic controller directing planes with invisible flags. The funky fuzz of songs like “Fot I House”- the first song sung in Norwegian to become a hit in the UK-- had much of the crowd dancing, a difficult feat in an outdoor venue filled with cool kids. Casiokids' finale featured a man dressed in full body monkey suit with Slow Club’s Rebecca Taylor joining the band to add extra percussion as the band danced on stage and clanged on cowbells. Def one of the best sets of my summer.
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I’ve really only been a fan of the record label Moshi Moshi for the past few years. Their most popular successes are bands that are somewhat inescapable in certain circles, Lykke Li, Bloc Party, Hot Chip, and the like. Good music, but beyond Lykke Li, not really my thing.
My introduction to them was when I was trying to hunt down releases from Best Fwends, a two member spastic electronic pop band out of Texas. Moshi Moshi released their EPs and the compilation/album Alphabetically Arranged and their online store through Greedbag was the only way to get this music, rather frustrating considering they are an American band but thankfully it was easily downloaded.
This order got me placed on their mailing list, which introduced me to a whole host of new bands that I now enjoy. So the opportunity to see the 10th anniversary tour at The South Street Seaport as part of the 2009 River to River fest for free was very exciting.
The South Street Seaport stage is a great place to see shows. Tucked away between a mall which would rather you remember it as a fish market and a tall ship, the small area for music manages to fill the entire area with rich full sound. It’s a lot of fun and pretty singular in a city filled singular places to see music.
On the bill were Slow Club, a folk / pop band I have fell immediately in love with since I took a chance on their first single “Because We’re Dead” on a whim, The Wave Pictures, a band with which I was only nominally familiar, and Casiokids, a newer band who I had heard but never seen but had heard good things about live.
I got there fairly early and secured a good space and waited. Eventually, I was joined by Eatsdirt and then began the inevitable slog through time.
Slow Club is made up of Charles Watson and Rebecca Taylor. Charles plays guitar on most of the tracks and Rebecca is percussion and sometimes accompanying guitar. Their songs are your standard folk songs about love and loss and such but there is a pleasant uniqueness in their tone and a degree of playfulness and wit which seems to be missing from most dreary acoustic duos of this nature. Seeing them live was wonderful, they had good banter between each other and the audience and were very pleased to be there, happy with the turn out, the venue and quite pleased when people in the audience knew who they were.
Their album was just released and they played through a number of songs from it and the songs benefited from the pared down experience of a guy with a guitar and a girl with a drum set played live and loud. The live version of “Because We’re Dead” was compacted in some sections and expanded in others and it was truly a treat to hear live.
Wave Pictures is a three piece out of Whymeswold in the UK with the standard three piece configuration of Guitarist / Singer, Bassist and Drummer performing songs which have a kind of longing which seems to be rooted at the heart of a lot of music that comes from small towns. David Tattersall’s music draws from a number of various musical genres and traditions but in the music that was chosen last night there were quite a few which had guitar solos which went from a minimal melodic structure to a go for broke wall of jangly sound around which the bass walks and the drums roll.
As someone who was not really familiar with the music, they were very enjoyable. I think the stand out song that we heard from them was probably “Tiny Craters in the Sand” from their most recent album If You Leave It Alone which opens with “I cut my hair and you grew yours / there always has to be the same amount of hair in the world” and becomes a surreal love song which corrupts typical imagery in these types of songs. The title comes from growing old together to the point where you lose your marbles and as they roll to the sea, they leave perfect tiny craters in the sand.
All of their music was filled with this kind of marvelous metaphor including a holiday trip form hell whose name I didn’t catch.
The final act was the one I knew the least about, Casiokids an electronic funk outfit from Norway. The drummer came out wearing an enormous monkey head and then things got strange. Every other European band I’ve seen this year has looked miserable in the surprisingly mild summer here. Casiokids came out with members wearing a crushed velvet suit, a yellow sweatshirt and long sleeve shirts. Looking online their country’s average high is 69 degrees Fahrenheit in August. Add that to the high energy show, it’s really kind of impressive.
The music the band played was long drawn out funk stompers that had the whole pier dancing. A few members of the band shared the singing duties, but all of their voices were so fragile and crystalline when laid over the driving grooves underneath.
Around the midway point, Rebecca from Slow Club came out and added percussive duties and reenergized everyone in the crowd and in the band. Charles donned the full monkey suit and danced around with a tambourine to everyone’s enjoyment.
Casiokids were a lot of fun and I hope they tour more often so everyone who missed out can get a chance to see them.
And then Eatsdirt and I had gyro over rice and it was delicious.
It seems to be a trend this summer that when there are at least three bands on the roster for the night, I'll inevitably like the first opener the best. That was the case again last night at South Street Seaport, arguably my favourite venue of the summer, when Slow Club, the Wave Pictures, and Casiokids took the stage.
Slow Club was up first around 6:30PM. I'd had some of their music on my iPod for a very long time -- a year, at least -- and I'd never given it much of a listen. Once or twice through, sure, but when I get in a phase of wanting to listen to one band, it's kind of hard to shake me. On the way to the venue, I listened to the few songs I had and started to get really stoked; it was fun folk-pop, a little bit of what some have described as rockabilly, and the lyrics and melodies were clever and tight. I'm so glad that I got to see them live, because now I know that they're a band that I definitely want to continue listening to. Slow Club walked out on stage and I was immediately charmed. Charles Watson and Rebecca Taylor make of the sweet duo from Sheffield, England, and their low-key demeanor on stage coupled with the fact that they obviously love what they do endeared them to me instantly. Rebecca had a lot of fun talking to the crowd, and was genuinely surprised when people had heard of them. "Usually it's just my mum out there screaming, wooo!" she told us when we all raised our hands to indicate that we knew who they were. And Slow Club deserves any recognition that they might get, as long as it's good -- their jaunty, exuberant music can put a smile on anyone's face. For their last number, the duo stripped down the music and unplugged the instruments, jumping into the crowd for a gorgeous acoustic finishing song with a lot of heart. The hopeful and honest lyrics of "Christmas TV" surrounded us, with the pair singing "it's okay of you to think of what might go wrong // but you can't blame me for secretly hoping that I'll prove you wrong." I loved the whole set and hope to see them again.
Up after them were fellow British imports The Wave Pictures. From the start, I was ambivalent about this band. The banter seemed forced, the lead singer managed to insult Americans, though he was trying to be funny, and the music itself wasn't my style at all. Though the indie rockers wrote good music, the lyrics definitely left something to be desired. Toward the end of the set they slowed it down and improved the sound and words, making for a stronger finish than start. My favourite part of this band was its drummer -- he either looked totally elated or totally baffled all the time, and he was fun to watch for that. What I did love about this band was their tendency for round-robin lyrics, layering every member over each other all singing different things, which led to an interesting dynamic to what would have otherwise been standard boring songs.
Casiokids were up last, and I really began to see, during their set, that this was a celebration of record label Moshi Moshi's 10th anniversary. It was a party on stage, definitely. Casiokids were a joy to see, because their energy was infectious -- often times in electronica or in dance music shows, there's a certain calm from the people on stage that doesn't encourage the people in the audience to let loose, but Casiokids definitely had that certain spunk that kept people moving. Maybe it was the sheer number of instruments on stage: congas, casio keyboards, drums, guitars, cowbells, and a pineapple shaker -- or maybe it was the fact that they themselves couldn't seem to sit still. The soaring vocals lifted spirits and made you want to move your feet, and the happy energy coming off the stage was evident. I was surprised to hear that the songs were in Norwegian, rather than translated to English, and was seriously happy about that fact too -- Casiokids have managed to garner international success without changing the music that they write, which shows just how catchy and accessible it is. For their last number, they upped the hilarity even more: Slow Club's Charles Watson came out in a full body monkey suit and Rebecca Taylor came out to add even more cowbell to the songs. Everyone danced and partied, including the audience, and left a memorable impression of the night. It was wonderful!
South Street Seaport took me by surprise. Expecting a far larger space, I almost started walking away from it when I first showed up, thinking I'd come to the wrong place. But when things finally got going, I was blown away by the sound quality too. Pier 17 had the best sound I've experienced at an small outdoor stage, hands down. Casiokids were truly grand! They had such a clean fun sound, which was a welcome change for me. I was only able to hear a few songs before having to run, but what I heard was really great. I walked back to the train smiling dreamily.
It was going to be tough to beat top Prince and Purple Rain on Thursday night. Watching Prince dance, screech, shred and gyrate on stage reminded me of what a performance could be. I went to the Seaport with low expectations.
I didn't know much about the Casiokids coming into this show, other than that they were from Norway and on Moshi Moshi. They made me smile and groove throughout the set with danceable beats and a great stage presence. Monkey costumes on stage never get old! They have the potential to become and remain big. You'll walk away from their show wanting to see them again.
