Phantogram – Casa Del Popolo – Saturday, July 10th, 2010
Naturally people have very different expectations of what they wish to experience or receive from a live musical event. One of the biggest gulfs amidst these expectations is that while some might expect an artist’s songs to be reconfigured and retooled, others might hope that artist’s characteristic sounds simply be rehashed. The concert-stage is rightfully ground for experimentation. However in tinkering away, bands run the risk of alienating listeners who expect (and have paid for) familiarity. Traversing this delicate line is a task all bands must do. For me, this past Saturday‘s Phantogram show at Casa Del Popolo was an example of the mismatch that can occur between expectations and outcomes.
Casa Del Popolo’s sideroom was only half-full when Grimes, aka Claire Boucher, hopped onstage. As the following 20 mins would reveal, her appearance weirdly mirrored the tone of her performance. Dressed in a long plaid robe, with bleached bangs jutting out from a dark helmet of hair, and dripping in rosaries, Boucher looked like a Blade Runner cyborg transplanted into a medieval monastery. Visually and acoustically, Boucher’s set was just as primeval as it was psychedelic and futuristic. Playing a series of songs that melded into one giant set, Grimes’ could be described as The Knife meets Animal Collective, but even more conceptual. Boucher’s other-worldly choral numbers were rather hypnotic, with singular undulating melodies layered with pulsating bass lines and ghostly vocals. While the transcendental quality of Boucher’s arrangements is to be appreciated, I kept waiting for the waves of synth to give way to something a little more listenable.
After a short break, Phantogram set-up shop. Composed of Sarah Barthel and Joshua Carter, Phantogram have had quite a ride since the release of their 2010 LP Eyelid Records (Barsuk Records), including a buzzworthy SXSW, selling out NY’s Bowery Ballroom and even showing up in a New York Lotto commercial. Success seems to not have gotten to their heads since the last time MYATS interviewed the duo. They remain as likeable and enthusiastic as ever. Starting off their short 45 minute set with the frenetic ‘As Far As I Can See’, Phantogram just oozes with a sultry and edgy cosmopolitanism. With her jet black angular bob, mesh and leather leggings, and dominatrix heels Barthel perfectly embodied Phantogram’s self-described ‘street beat’ feel. The duo bounced about in front of a projected backdrop of nighttime cityscapes. Pulsating numbers like ‘Mouthful of Diamonds’, neatly accented with screeching sirens, were effortlessly delivered, as Barthel banged away at a monster of a keyboard and Carter juggling guitar and pedal board duties. What bothered me most about the set was how Barthel’s wispy voice was overly distorted and muffled by the crackling electro beats. When Carter chimed in on vocals for songs like ‘You Are The Ocean and I’m Good at Drowning,’ I couldn’t help wishing he would concentrate on the lovely and serene guitar lines of the song and leave the vocals to the talented Barthel.
With their heavy use of sampled beats and drum loops Phantogram have often been associated with trip-hop. However unlike the outdated connotations of the genre, the hard-edge and industrial feel of ‘Running from the Cops’ showed that Phantogram offer a modernized and more sultry twist on trip-hop, less gangster and more dreamy. As the emotional closing number ‘When I’m Small’ exploded from a hushed intro, that problem of mismatched expectations and outcomes I hinted at before dawned on me. As much as Phantogram successfully delivered the intricacies of their multi-layered numbers, how much of what I was hearing was live, and how much was delivered (and prerecorded) from the simple push of one button? I went into the show expecting to hear the songs off Eyelid Movies I’ve enjoyed over the last few months, but when I heard them almost perfectly replicated, beat for beat, I oddly felt let down. While I very much enjoyed and danced all the way through those 45 minutes, I left the show with an unresolved conundrum. Isn’t it enough to enjoy a show for its entertainment value? Or am I supposed to be challenged and pushed as a listener? Still unresolved on this one, give me some time. - Kelly Oksenberg
GRIMES
PHANTOGRAM
Photography by Amelia Robitaille
