styrofoam @ cafe du nord, photos, review
Last night I saw Styrofoam at the Cafe du Nord. Broken Spindles opened.
One man named Joel was Broken Spindles. I arrived during the second half of his set. It was a mix between sparse solo guitar stuff and electro stuff. Perhaps I just wasn’t in the mood for it but it didn’t do it for me.
The last time I saw Styrofoam was almost 6 years ago. At that time he performed just with a laptop (and maybe a sequencer or a keyboard). When his band started making their way onto the stage, I had fears of of another disappointment. But then the laptop was brought up on stage and the band started and I no longer had such worries.
I’ve been fond of Styrofoam’s glitch pop for a while. Here the laptop provided the glitch and the band of guitars, keys, drums and miscellaneous (theremin, nintendo DS) brought to life his music in a way I hadn’t seen before. Both his new tunes and his old tunes had my head nodding.
His band is pretty tight, especially the drummer who kept time with the click and put down some intricate beats on the drums seemingly without effort.
I wanted to note that he performed and sang a version of “Couches in Alleys” which on the recording Ben Gibbard did on the recording. He sounded surprisingly Gibbard-like.
Overall a fun show.
A few more photos after the break or check out the online photo album.
