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November 02, 2007
Caribou - Live @ Larimer Lounge, Denver 10.23.07
Any talk of Caribou's live show without addressing the most immediately striking features of the stage are rubbish. If I were to not bring it up I'd be committing a terrible disservice to you, Internet word consumer. Of course I'm talking about the inverted placement of instruments on the stage. Things arranged quite literally backwards from the formulaic rock and roll layout. You see, Caribou has two drum sets. They rest facing each other at the front edge of the stage closest to the audience. Separated only by a stub section of two by four acting as buffer from each other, protecting from collision as much as keeping the bass drums in place. If a device existed that was able to harness the absorbed energy from the wood I imagine the entire electrical grid covering Larimer Lounge through to the other end of Five Points could be energized.
Caribou got the night started with a terrifically sharp, violent blast. Piercing the mid-volume chatter of Larimer's patrons like a bomb exploding the peacefulness from a still and silent evening. Electing a different style from the standard attention scratching mumble of "We're a band, thanks for coming out", Caribou instead opted for solicitation via the subtle shotgun to the face approach. Ka-BOOM! Unlike the <7 second fade from Andorra's version of "Sandy", this wake-the-fuck-up message could not be ignored. For the remainder of the night the drums made sure of this as they consistently upped energy levels from the stage to aggressive, just barely hanging on to the edge levels. All making for a seemingly mess of unscripted noise. Though I'm fairly certain the blatant looseness of the band was due more to effective rehearsals rather than live improvisational exercises.
I should admit I was not at all prepared for the dynamic range of bombast coming from live Caribou. I fully expected an evening of dreamy electro tinged rock with flourishes of updated 60s gauze. Instead we got the pounding rhythm battery one might expect from a slimmed down marching band. A marching band stripped of everything but percussion while bathing in a psychedelic blanket of trippy lights and sounds.
It wasn't all full frontal assault however. None more notable than the absolutely gorgeous Andorra cut "She's the One". Live the vocals sounded more flimsy and feminine than the record version. They bounced off the vocal chords with a whimpering authenticity of the protagonist's determination as he's running out of air for the constant delusionary excuses. Stretching this specific imagery further, visualize someone running in a panic. Lungs starved of oxygen from the frantic pace before all of sudden coming to an abrupt stop. Clearly eager to say something, but too excited for measured speech he ends up spouting too much too fast before successfully managing a quick string of words in exhalation. That exact moment is where it sounds like the song is being sung from. Outed in the most completely absolute (and infinitely sad) terms is the pensive chorus of "She's the One."
Overall the show was a winner. Though the insane dually dialed-in drum sessions border jump into self-indulgence land, its hard to be too critical when witnessing such fantastically high levels of precision. By suspending disbelief you could easily convince yourself the two humans laboring against the skins shared a common all controlling brain having a piss with the two available pairs of appendages to work with. In other words, showing off. But upon return to reality one realizes it is in fact two people playing a game of Siamese drums. Yikes.
//Caribou - Andorra - buy
//Caribou - site
//Caribou - Myspace
Caribou season: open through Dec 15
*Chicagoans - Get a double dose of math rock on November 8th when Battles joins Caribou at Metro.
11.2: The Starlite Room, Edmonton, AB, Canada*
11.3: The Warehouse, Calgary, AB, Canada*
11.4: Amigos, Saskatoon, SK, Canada*
11.5: Royal Albert Arms, Winnipeg, MB, USA*
11.6: The Aquarium, Fargo, ND, USA*
11.7: Triple Rock Club, Minneapolis, MN, USA*
11.8: Metro, Chicago, IL, USA*^
11.9: Grog Shop, Cleveland, OH, USA*
11.10: Opera House, Toronto, Canada
* w/Born Ruffians
^ w/Battles
11.15: Audio, Brighton, United Kingdom
11.16: Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff, United Kingdom
11.17: South Street, Reading, United Kingdom
11.18: Glee Club, Birmingham, United Kingdom
11.19: Crane Lane Theatre, Cork, Ireland
11.20: Whelans, Dublin, Ireland
11.21: Limelight, Belfast, United Kingdom
11.22: Independent, Sunderland, United Kingdom
11.23: Roadhouse, Manchester, United Kingdom
11.24: Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, United Kingdom**
11.25: The Social, Nottingham, United Kingdom
11.26: Thekla, Bristol, United Kingdom
11.27: Dingwalls, London, United Kingdom+
11.28: La Fleche d'Or, Paris, France
11.29: Palace, Brussels, Belgium
12.01: Tivoli Oude Gracht, Utrecht, Netherlands
12.02: Manufaktur, Schorndorf, Germany
12.04: Palace, St. Gallen, Switzerland
12.05: MUZ Club, Nurnberg, Germany
12.06 : B72, Wien, Austria
12.07: Lido, Berlin, Germany
12.08: Ubel and Gefahrlich, Hamburg, Germany
12.09: Loppen, Copenhagen, Denmark
12.10: Debaser Malmo, Malmo, Sweden
12.11: Pusterviksbaren, Goteborg, Sweden
12.12: Ladmark, Bergen, Norway
12.13: Garage, Oslo, Norway
12.14: Debaser Slussen, Stockholm, Sweden
12.15: Pop Bar, Razz Club, Barcelona, Spain
** w/ Efterklang
+ w/ Dirty Projectors
Posted by Merry Swankster at November 2, 2007 05:20 PM
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