Last Night: Youth Lagoon, Young Magic, Peopleodian Dan's Silverleaf November 8th, 2011
Better than: watching a televised poker tournament and wondering why people watch poker on television.
The now-smoke free interior of Dan's Silverleaf hosted a fine collection of acts--one local, two national, to be exact--as the cold front finally came into North Texas. You could say the weather had a factor as to why the venue was packed, but on a Tuesday night? Well, lay the love on the bands, especially headliner Youth Lagoon.
Normally, at almost any venue in the world, there's always a loud bunch back at the bar talking over the band playing. This was not the case here. Some audience members whispered to each other, but that was it. From 9:45 p.m. on, all eyes were looking at the stage.
With Youth Lagoon, the stage was draped in red lights, creating a sort of late-night lounge vibe. Mastermind Trevor Powers played his full-88 keyboard along with a smaller keyboard and a sampler as his guitarist Logan hunched over an electric Fender guitar. Seven songs, including the blissful "Montana," were played in 30 minutes. A little short for a headlining set, but the show started a little later than normal--and Powers put on an impressive show anyway.
Young Magic is the kind of band you might hear more of in the immediate future. Not to heap the kind of praise that eventually results in a "meh" dismissal, but this New York-based trio had a captivating sound and look. Their foundation was laid out by tribal drums (live and programmed), samplers, a guitar, male and female vocals doused in reverb, and constant incense burning. Singing half in actual words and the other half in chants, things reached a point where it felt like Mojave 3 getting a unique remix treatment. Which was a good thing.
Denton-based Peopleodian had a sound that recalled--imagine this--early Stereolab, sans the Kraut/drone angle. Featuring female vocals that seemed to be influenced by the phrasing of Bjork, their 25 minutes on stage already had the large crowd firmly in place. Coupled with live drums, a watery-sounding guitar, and (yes another) sampler, this wasn't disjointed tootling. These songs felt complete and concise, even if the instrumentation didn't appear to be.
Critic's Notebook
Personal bias: I covered the Youth Brigade show last week and I saw a guy wearing a Youth of Today shirt at the Touché Amoré show Monday night. Maybe I'll cover a Musical Youth reunion show someday.
By the way: I've been to Dan's a number of times for the past six years, but this was the first one I'd been to where there were chairs and tables in front of the stage.
More photos after the jump!
