Ah, opening acts. The most important, yet often overlooked part of
any show. You need an opening act to get the crowd going, to get them into the
jam before the show even starts. That way a band can kick off their set with
one of their hits and the crowd instantly goes nuts. The crowd has settled into
their appropriate locations, the excitable people have already pushed their way
to the front and the more laid-back head bobbers have settled to the back and
sides. The inner physicist cannot help but appreciate the natural excitement gradient
that the opening act creates. But opening acts aren't just important to the
main act, they are important to the whole music industry.
Opening acts are like feeder teams in sports. If a band does well
on their own level, be it local bar, small venue, battle of the bands, and so
on, then they get brought up temporarily to the big leagues to show their
stuff. Win over the crowd, win over fans, and increase chances that they will
headline a show. Fail to do so and they fall back to their level of relative
obscurity. Not every, but many acts started off opening for someone else. My
mom claims she saw Bruce Springsteen opening at a bat in Jersey when she was my
age. The Beatles used to play in between jazz group sets at the Cavern Club. In
short, opening acts are one of the most enjoyable and effective ways to
discover new music.
With this in mind, I pay close attention to the opening acts at every show I go to. And just like a JV player getting a few seconds of fame in the varsity football game, sometimes I am blown away and other times I am quite the opposite. I have been to a lot of shows and seen a lot of openers and truthfully I don’t remember most of them. Some I remember because I hated them so much, *cough* Serengeti *cough* (Serengeti has a very love-hate relationship on the blog, several members like him and I hate him enough to neutralize the total sentiment).
Yet some of my favorite recent discoveries were opening acts at shows I went to, The Marshmallow Ghosts, Buffalo Stance, Birds of Maya, and Friends just to name a few. One act, Born Gold, really made an impression on me when they opened for Grimes three weeks ago so I bought their album, Bodysongs, on the spot. Welcome to the big leagues kids, you are being officially being judged by the same (completely unknown/amateur) critique who has previously wrote on The Dirty Projectors, Swan Lake, and the act you opened for, Grimes.
What caught my eye when I saw Born Gold play live was what usually catches my eye, shiny flashing lights. One of their members had dressed up in a suit covered in LEDs that flashed as he danced to the music. I was impressed because as I said in my post on Visions, the Church was boiling that night. As cool as it was, it just didn’t feel like enough. They lights were a bit sparse and repetitive. Just before I lost interest they did some other things that brought me right back. They walked around on stilts in the audience holding what looked like a snow shovel filled with electronic equipment that lit up and I think distorted the music. They dressed in robes and held hand fans that lit up. Both were cool but were, like the suit, missing something. I felt as though they had all these awesome ideas but just didn’t carry it to their full potential, like a paper that gets a B+ because it came just shy of being excellent. Pay attention to that analogy because it is going to extend throughout this review.
The music at the concert was the same. It was so dark (so the suit would be visible) that it was impossible to tell if they were creating the music or just dancing to a recording. The music was enjoyable but I seriously thought that their music was completely instrumental. When I got home and listened to Bodysongs, I was surprised to hear very clear singing; I couldn’t believe they were the same band. I know that this is First Unitarian Church (not exactly known for its lighting or sound quality), but it still shouldn’t have been that bad. Another aspect of the show was just slightly off.
Okay, now for the actual album. Bodysongs is like a five year old who ate a whole bag of sugar. The word hyperactive doesn’t even begin to describe it. And like said kid, its energy is very short lived; the album clocks in at 30 minutes exactly. Yet the length perfectly fits the style of music, I don’t think I could handle another 10 minutes. The songs have very upbeat tempos, bubbly synth sounds, and erratic noises. The vocals are slightly-electronically altered, adding to the hyperactivity. Everything happens very fast and builds into an electro-pop version of a wall of sound.
The drums are a fairly simple drum machine (note that I am talking about the sound not the beat). While this might come off as lazy songwriting, but it enables Born Gold to create some really interesting beats and effects. You see, all of the chaos I mentioned earlier is mixed so that the melodies, drums, noises, and vocals suddenly cut in and out, skip, or repeat. It is like a scratched CD on steroids. This is by far my favorite part of their sound; it is where they truly shine and get really creative. (The music video below is a good example of how awesome it can be). If Born Gold has used anything besides simple synthetic drums, I am fairly certain my head would have exploded. The simple drums compliment the intricate and high paced chaos of everything else. The resulting sound is ungodly catchy.
With this in mind, I pay close attention to the opening acts at every show I go to. And just like a JV player getting a few seconds of fame in the varsity football game, sometimes I am blown away and other times I am quite the opposite. I have been to a lot of shows and seen a lot of openers and truthfully I don’t remember most of them. Some I remember because I hated them so much, *cough* Serengeti *cough* (Serengeti has a very love-hate relationship on the blog, several members like him and I hate him enough to neutralize the total sentiment).
Yet some of my favorite recent discoveries were opening acts at shows I went to, The Marshmallow Ghosts, Buffalo Stance, Birds of Maya, and Friends just to name a few. One act, Born Gold, really made an impression on me when they opened for Grimes three weeks ago so I bought their album, Bodysongs, on the spot. Welcome to the big leagues kids, you are being officially being judged by the same (completely unknown/amateur) critique who has previously wrote on The Dirty Projectors, Swan Lake, and the act you opened for, Grimes.
What caught my eye when I saw Born Gold play live was what usually catches my eye, shiny flashing lights. One of their members had dressed up in a suit covered in LEDs that flashed as he danced to the music. I was impressed because as I said in my post on Visions, the Church was boiling that night. As cool as it was, it just didn’t feel like enough. They lights were a bit sparse and repetitive. Just before I lost interest they did some other things that brought me right back. They walked around on stilts in the audience holding what looked like a snow shovel filled with electronic equipment that lit up and I think distorted the music. They dressed in robes and held hand fans that lit up. Both were cool but were, like the suit, missing something. I felt as though they had all these awesome ideas but just didn’t carry it to their full potential, like a paper that gets a B+ because it came just shy of being excellent. Pay attention to that analogy because it is going to extend throughout this review.
The music at the concert was the same. It was so dark (so the suit would be visible) that it was impossible to tell if they were creating the music or just dancing to a recording. The music was enjoyable but I seriously thought that their music was completely instrumental. When I got home and listened to Bodysongs, I was surprised to hear very clear singing; I couldn’t believe they were the same band. I know that this is First Unitarian Church (not exactly known for its lighting or sound quality), but it still shouldn’t have been that bad. Another aspect of the show was just slightly off.
Okay, now for the actual album. Bodysongs is like a five year old who ate a whole bag of sugar. The word hyperactive doesn’t even begin to describe it. And like said kid, its energy is very short lived; the album clocks in at 30 minutes exactly. Yet the length perfectly fits the style of music, I don’t think I could handle another 10 minutes. The songs have very upbeat tempos, bubbly synth sounds, and erratic noises. The vocals are slightly-electronically altered, adding to the hyperactivity. Everything happens very fast and builds into an electro-pop version of a wall of sound.
The drums are a fairly simple drum machine (note that I am talking about the sound not the beat). While this might come off as lazy songwriting, but it enables Born Gold to create some really interesting beats and effects. You see, all of the chaos I mentioned earlier is mixed so that the melodies, drums, noises, and vocals suddenly cut in and out, skip, or repeat. It is like a scratched CD on steroids. This is by far my favorite part of their sound; it is where they truly shine and get really creative. (The music video below is a good example of how awesome it can be). If Born Gold has used anything besides simple synthetic drums, I am fairly certain my head would have exploded. The simple drums compliment the intricate and high paced chaos of everything else. The resulting sound is ungodly catchy.
Yet despite Bodysong’s successes it comes up short; it comes just shy of what I would call a good album. What is lacking is hard to put my finger on. It might be shortness of the album. It might be that all of the songs feel way too similar. Every time that I listen to the album I think that the first two tracks, Lawn Knives and End of Days are the same song. Later in the album I find myself questioning if I had just heard the song, every single time I listen to the album. Born Gold certainly stands out from other bands, but they don’t stand out from themselves.
Despite my hesitancy to call Bodysongs a good album, it shows serious potential. It reminds me a lot of Man Man’s debut album The Man in the Blue Turban with a Face (also known as the debut album of my favorite band ever). I love that album, but it definitely inferior to their later work. It was a sign of what was to come, what they could be once they worked out the kinks. Bodysongs to me is one step shy of being something spectacular and I believe that Born Gold will be able to nail it next time. I will be looking out for this band in the future and I think you should too.
I don't think anyone actually like Sergengeti, unless they do so ironically
ReplyDeleteI am 90% sure that Steve actually does...
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