The Dodo's at Spiegeltent 9-29-08

Photo Courtesy EduardoO

There are still tickets available? I was watching the Speigeltent site for weeks hoping I'd catch when these were listed and I'm completely shocked there are still tickets the night of the show for this under 100 capacity venue.
It's really the best space, I know tickets are probably a lot but it weeds out the casual fans, and you have a better show. I don't know, I don't like paying that much generally...it's like madison sq garden or something, but really at the end of the day you have to pay for the people that didn't show up....or in this case they didn't promote this as much? Either way you can literally stand on this pier in the east river next to a huge yacht parked within earshot of the show. I would see anyone here.

The thing that struck me most hearing them performing was the difference from their show at Siren. This time it was just Meric and Logan side by side on the stage creating the tracks from Visiter. For some weird reason I really felt like it was a bit like seeing Doo Rag. It was the same set up. One guy with an acoustic guitar and a mic, or in this case two, and someone on non traditional percussion. The amount of sound created. The magic of a duo that has put in an amazing amount of time working with each other and know the intricacies of changing the chorus ever so slightly, extending parts. They had none of the repetition or burnout from coming up with this energy practically single handed every night. Granted this was the second performance on this tour but right now they are clearly still in love with their songs.

That's the amazing thing, the pathetically little they are working with in the end. Drums and acoustic guitar. As many times as I think that can't be done a new way, you're proved wrong. I was reading about Logan Kroeber studying african drumming and it shows on the full length and live. Recorded they are coming from all kinds of far away places, like they were individually mic-ed in all kinds of rooms. The kick drum is cavernous and there's all kinds of clicks and metallic hits on high hat stands, every part of the kit is used. I just like that mentality, the subtlety of coming up with these rhythms. The beats are so counter intuitive to pop and defy catchy it's all tom and bass, no crashes...to Meric's credit he's adding the perfect amount of restraint and melody to this dense percussion. There's no fighting for attention. The two mics I thought were just for some kind of stereo ended up being for the end of a verse he'd switch over the right mic and it had all the effects on it, repeating a line with all chorus for the yelp. There's clearly a blues background in Meric's playing, it goes from a bent plucking to all hand strumming...but at the same time I'm kind of questioning it, it's not obvious...the melody as soon as it appears turns frantic. Not to forget their second drummer, Joe Haener who was standing on a riser in the back with xylophone and an even more extensive kit, adding to the yelling choruses and hitting opposite Logan. It turns into that Animal Collective feel of bordering on almost too much, but you couldn't imagine a single thing missing.