Riley: So, Tilly & the Wall. Hecka rad hippiester™ ensemble best known for their tap-danced percussion. I’ve gotta say, what most impressed me was their ability to inspire such sheer joy (and even dancing!) among Seattle’s traditionally aloof indie crowd. I haven’t seen that sort of energy since Animal Collective got a hundred-plus kids to pogo for an hour straight. Maybe all-ages shows aren’t necessarily the tween-infested nightmares I’ve come to expect?
Kelly: So true! A great thing about all-ages shows is that the kids are always in the mood to dance! Well, either that or start an ill-advised circle pit (which Tilly’s singer/recorder player/crowd pumper Kianna laughingly admitted was the group’s first). As for hippiesters (I respect your trademark, but don’t know the shortcut key for the TM symbol off hand), I felt there was more of an indie-raver thing going on than a Banhart or Arkron/Family thing, but whatev. The band’s crazy bright colors, their use of predominant lead synths with augmented electronic beats in new songs like “Beat Control,” and shouts of “Everybody dance! Come on!” were totally different than the “God, put down your gun, can’t you see we’re dead? / God, put down your hand, we’re not listening” of 2004 (which they did play by request as a thunderous, sing-a-long finale, but I’ll get to that later). I thought the band would mostly focus on newer material, but I was really pleasantly surprised that they choose a perfect mix of old and new songs in their set.
Riley: Point taken, though the day I equate tap dancing and recorder duets with the word “raver” is the day I renounce my membership in the Genre Nazis (you should see our uniforms) and start referring to anything with a drum machine as “techno.” Getting ever so slightly back to the matter at hand, I’m having difficulty believing that these guys came out of Omaha, which to my coast-centric mind conjures up corn-fed beef, a Counting Crows song, and… that’s about it. By the same token, however, I can see how the roots they share with Conor Oberst and the Faint might account, respectively, for Tilly & the Wall’s wide-eyed passion and glam sensibility, both of which they had in spades this night.
Kelly: While I sort of thought having a tap dancer do percussion was a one trick pony, I have to say, it’s a damn fine one! I couldn’t stop watching her fly through complicated patterns without missing a beat. That’s something that I gloss over when listening to the albums, but was impossible to ignore live. The band has been touring for around four years now and it totally shows. They have confidence and seem perfectly at home on stage. They came across not as the charmingly amateurish kids of Wild Like Children who were “just trying to get to the club and shake our asses,” but as more mature, full fledged musicians, dancing their hearts out and doing what they love. I guess all bands try to get to that place, but the hard part is keeping true to your original sound/ideas. Last Wednesday, Tilly and the Wall demonstrated that they’ve totally accomplished this. They’re a band worth seeing and they’re a band who’s getting better with every show.
Riley: Wow, way to ruin the “conversational” tone of this review, Kelly. In order to restore some semblance of casual banter, I’m forced to resort to tawdry gossip: namely, that I have a newfound crush on the aforementioned spiritual band-leader Kianna. Which is weird, because I don’t do celebrity crushes, even for “charmingly amateurish” one-trick ponies. Is that wrong? (Answer: not if your girlfriend admits to the same thing). Please tell me you were able to avoid this crippling bias, lest we risk destroying all pretense of objectivity.
Kelly: Good LORD Riley. How can you make fun of me for ruining the conversational tone and using stilted reviewer speak when you’re trying to turn this into a threesome? Yes, the whole band was really cute, and Kianna totally was crazy-gorgeous (then again, maybe it was the over-sized white “bikini girl” t-shirt that had me fooled). Speaking of nice-looking, I also thought Chop Suey was the perfect place to see this show. I haven’t been there in a while, but I totally dug the darkness, the LED light setup, the giant fake Chinese dragon (as opposed to the real dragons that other venues offer), and the close quarters that forced everyone right up to the stage. It fit the overall vibe perfectly! Speaking of vibe, the opening bands had some crazy vibes. Capgun Coup reminded me of my MP3 player on shuffle (complete with random pauses). A little Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, then some Beach Boys, maybe a little Pavement, then screaming their heads off! It was a schizophrenic performance, which, while I tried to get behind it, I just couldn’t.
Riley: Speaking of best-theoretical-cover-band-ever Capgun Coup, those fellas need to read up on Harold Bloom’s “anxiety of influence,” because their MySpace bio proves them to be hell of anxious about their supposed influences: “The members of Capgun Coup aren’t very good at listening to people compare their music to other bands.” In the spirit of snarkiness, then, let me add to your list some of the comparisons I overheard during their set: Jello Biafra, Pixies, Two Gallants, Swans, and Nirvana. It’s a damn shame when folks don’t want to pay their artistic debts. Maybe they can file for Ungrateful Musician Bankruptcy.
Kelly: Well, in all fairness, they do list “the velvet underground, beat happening, and joni mitchell” as their influences on MySpace. I might also suggest John Cage and, say, Bach, but that’s just getting bitchy. Regardless, as the ringing in my ears subsides and my fingers turn into tired sausages, it becomes even clearer that this show was a total blast! Lots of great moments to choose from, including dueling recorders, group harmonies, and even some kids in the front exclaiming to each other, “We’re smoking pot at a Tilly show!!!” and having the band respond, “We won’t tell anyone!” The show ended with an encore where the members returned, breathless and beaming, and played “Night of the Living Dead” by request. That was the point where the show reached yet another level of energy, with everyone singing along at the top of their lungs. The band ran back and forth, waved, thanked everyone, and left, leaving us with ringing heads, sore feet, and empty lungs.
Riley: Yeah, that was pretty great. [sighs]
Ugh. Paste’s profile of Free Energy made me kind of hate them. So does your review. It’s this unctuous defense of good-time rock-and-roll ("we’re just here to party, and we’re awesome!") that seems more self-serving than fun-loving.
by beth on Wed Mar 17, 2010 at 09.41 pm from the entry: Foreign Born + Free Energy - The Knitting Factory (Brooklyn, NY; Mar. 12, 2010)
that inescapable feeling you are referring to, is that like when you hear something and you could have sworn you heard it before because of the nostalgic catchy quality? or is is like when you’ve heard a band exactly like said band?
great post by the way!
by paul on Wed Mar 17, 2010 at 03.15 pm from the entry: The Novel Ideas - "The Sky Is A Field" - Borrow It
Whoa! I had no idea she was enegaged. You would never know with the way she behaves! Wow!
by art on Wed Mar 17, 2010 at 09.48 am from the entry: Nikki Darlin and John McCauley: 1+1=1
This comment stream is so meta. Great review Kelly.
by chris on Tue Mar 16, 2010 at 07.50 pm from the entry: Flying Lotus - "Cosmogramma" - Buy It
no prob. The whole album is excellent, combining some of the harder sonics of Los Angeles with the meat of his debut and obviously difficult to summarize in only 50 words… 
I’d say it’s on par with the debut, but better than Los Angeles.
by kelly on Tue Mar 16, 2010 at 06.23 pm from the entry: Flying Lotus - "Cosmogramma" - Buy It
By the way, I really liked the mp3 posted. Thanks.
by Joshua H on Tue Mar 16, 2010 at 06.17 pm from the entry: Flying Lotus - "Cosmogramma" - Buy It
WHO WROTE THIS...PUKE ! “WHO WROTE THIS...PUKE ! “Picture yourself coasting your bike past space funk palm trees, homeless harpists, vintage video arcades, electronic drum circles, and 60s psychedelic singers who’re waiting for the bus. Cosmogramma is kinda like that if someone suddenly tripped you just as you’re starting to enjoy the ride. But in a good way.””
by Joshua H on Tue Mar 16, 2010 at 06.17 pm from the entry: Flying Lotus - "Cosmogramma" - Buy It
