Islands, Das Racist
Bell House, 8.19.09
When you see a lot of concerts, you can expect the occasional disappointment. Just as bands have nights when it all seems to click, they also can have terrible off nights. There are bands that will shock you with a great performance, and there are bands who are so hit and miss, you almost expect to catch an off night (I’m looking at you Fiery Furnaces). On Monday night, I caught Ambulance at Union Hall and couldn’t help but be disappointed as their new songs just did not measure up to the few excellent songs they played from their debut, which I believe to be one of the music highlights of the last decade. Maybe the songs just need time to grow, and the band is still working out the kinks live, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the next record actually ends up being really good.
After that disappointment, knowing that I would be seeing Islands on Wednesday has me excited. All three times that I had seen them in the past, the concerts were unique and memorable. Islands debut is one of the most fun records of recent years, and although “Arm’s Way” was a darker vision, it held up really well when played live. Wednesday’s show at Bell House was their debut as a more electronic-based quartet, and nearly the entire set was made up of new songs from their upcoming record. Aside from the lack of string section, there was something else missing. The songs weren’t bad at all, but it feels that Islands have stripped away the energy and fun that made “Return to the Sea” a great album. The strings were the dynamic element that often carried “Arm’s Way” and without them, those songs felt flat live. The highlights of the set came with “Where There’s a Will, There’s a Whalebone” and “Swans,” which mostly acted as references to how good a song Nick Thorburn can write.
Opening was the much talked about hip hop act Das Racist. If you’ve ever heard good hip hop, then avoid this shit like the plague. I think it’s supposed to be funny, like that SNL shit that Andy Sandberg does, but I felt like the joke was on me for wasting my time watching three fools dance around the stage looking at their cell phones and spilling beers and never spitting out an interesting rhyme. The ipod-programmed backing tracks were totally uninteresting, and the whole performance felt like a big long extended hipster youtube video.
I don’t like to hate on bands publicly, because they’re often just poor musicians having fun, and I’d hate to ruin that fun, but last night Das Racist joined the ranks of Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt and Dark Meat as musical acts that need to do us all a favor and never step onto another stage in their life. Have fun at your loft parties, but for the love of god, please don’t step onto another stage in my presence ever again.
Photo: Islands at Continental Army Plaza, Brooklyn, CMJ 2007. © Jonny Leather