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Posted in To Do | dance | music on October 28, 2008

the Tuesday & Wednesday night in Dance w/ Showtrotta

Fujiya & Miyagi @ @ Mercury Lounge, CMJ (more by Gabi Porter)
Fujiya and Miyagi

Last Wednesday (10/22) night I was initially drawn to the show happening at Mercury Lounge because of Fuijiya & Miyagi. The trio have never failed to flawlessly deliver their whisper-soft vocals, and laidback, funky instrumentals any of the previous times I've seen them. Wednesday's show was no exception. They played a pleasant mix of both old and new tracks (partial setlist below, the dashes are songs I couldn't identify, and I am pretty sure they played "Uh" but forget exactly when), some of which had a nice extra kick thanks to the addition of drummer Lee Adams, joining the performance a few tracks in.

Fujiya & Miyagi at Mercury Lounge - October 22, 2008 Partial Setlist

Sore Thumb
Ankle Injuries
Pterodactyls
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Collarbone
Goosebumps
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Knickerbocker
In One Ear & Out The Other
Electro Karaoke In the Negative Style
Prior to Fujiya & Miyagi I witnessed Tobacco which consisted of 2 people poring over a table of electronics on the left side of the stage while some truly wild retro video footage (that had been edited to sync up pretty well with the music) played against a screen set up on the right side. Overall it was an enjoyable experience, but I liked the visuals much more than I liked the music. While the sometimes trippy, electronic jams were very well suited to the far out visuals, I didn't really find anything about them too remarkable. The visuals captured my interest more from the get-go and nothing Tobacco were doing over on the left reeled me back in.

The most pleasant surprise of the line-up (and of my whole CMJ experience for that matter) was Whomadewho, who I have affectionately and with the utmost respect been referring to as "these crazy, weird, dudes from Denmark who rock". I knew I was in for something when, for starters they took the stage in those outfits, but also when guitarist/vocalist Jeppe Kjellberg announced "Yes, please come closer. We don't bite...even though we are VIKINGS!" after two girls scurried up to the front of the crowd at the end of their first song.

Whoemadewho played quite a number of songs from their self-titled debut album from '05 (which I can't wait to check out), which were funky, dancey, and rocking but not categorizable. Also be sure to look for their new album, The Plot on its way this coming February. While I really enjoyed their entire performance, as a huge fan of electronic/dance music, I could not help but freak out when they began playing a live version of Mr. Oizo's "Flat Beat". I was ready for Benny Benassi's "Satisfaction", but was totally unaware that they cover "Flat Beat" too. Unfortunately the maybe one quarter full Mercury Lounge was not the ideal setting to get down. Luckily I was able to catch them a couple of more times during CMJ, one of which was at Studio B Saturday night. Check out the video I took of them performing "Flat Beat" at Studio B:

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This Tuesday (10/28) you can start dancing the week away at Cielo to some of Gui Boratto's beautiful beats. You can learn more about how he creates them in this interview he did with Rhythmism. Event info below:

Gui

Advanced tickets available here.

This Wednesday (10/29), Crookers, a dj duo from a recent, outcropping of deejays and producers from Italy is at Le Poisson Rouge. While I'm curious to see them after missing what I've heard was a great show at Webster Hall in June, I must say my initial enthusiasm for their music has waned. While I was very excited for their new sound and absolutely love their take on the Chemical Brothers' "Salmon Dance", I wasn't too into a few monthly mixes they released, and their tracks gradually started sounding a bit too similar to me. I'm really hoping their deejay set this Wednesday brings me back.

lpr

Advanced tickets available here

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-Showtrotta.

Tags: CMJ, Crookers, Fujiya & Miyagi, Gui Boratto, Tobacco, Who Made Who
posted at 6:39 PM on October 28, 2008 in To Do | dance | music | Comments (10)

Comments (10)

Crookers will be going on 12.30am sharp on wed

Posted by Anonymous | October 28, 2008 7:38 PM

Were the visuals during the Tobacco set of Richard Simmons, vintage wrestling, mildly erotic aerobics, etc? If so, that stuff is all BETA CARNAGE. You should try to snag the two-hour plus video the dude made himself. Truly mindblowing.

Posted by JNH | October 28, 2008 9:32 PM

I thought Tobacco was kind of boring. WhoMadeWho was definitely a highlight of CMJ

Posted by Anonymous | October 28, 2008 10:27 PM

BV, i'm extremely disappointed and appalled at your lack of interest in tobacco. black moth super rainbow is one of the most innovative and important bands of this era and tobacco as a leading force has crafted one of 2008's flawless albums. fucked up friends, both the record and dvd which was played with his live performance, is a landmark in experimental music. it's completely alright if it's just not what you're into but please don't just disregard the fruits of his labor and insult his devoted fans that read your blog.

in response to the 'just hitting play' remark, there's nothing on those desks with a play button that functions in that way. the instrumentation is done live and it's fucking incredible that he can even achieve those sounds in the first place.

i've been reading this blog for years, i love it, i check it every day. i just found these tobacco posts to be distasteful, negative and ignorant.

Posted by noah klein | October 29, 2008 1:12 AM

1:12
this post was written by showtrotta. not bv.

Posted by Anonymous | October 29, 2008 1:34 AM

yeah.... and black moth super rainbow are boooooooring.

Posted by wembley | October 29, 2008 8:05 AM

ah, thanks 1:34, i didn't catch that.

Posted by noooah | October 29, 2008 9:48 AM

Hi Noah...

Firstly, thanks for not posting anonymously. With regards to your comments, BrooklynVegan (the blog) does not have a lack of interest in Tobacco - there have been posts featuring info on the band, as well as tour dates, video, and music. In addition a photographer covered their show during CMJ and I was there reviewing it.

My review of Tobacco's show did not "disregard the fruits of his labor and insult his devoted fans". I enjoyed the overall experience, and give anyone credit who is willing to get creative with music and put it out there, but at the end of the day I, personally, did not like Tobacco's music.

While my review expressed this, I do not think it disregarded what Tobacco has done - I simply described my experience at the show: I described Tobacco's set-up. I praised the visuals. I said how I thought the music was well-suited to the visuals. The only negative things I said...were that I did not find the music to be too remarkable and that it failed to capture my interest. I hardly think saying just those two negative things about a concert where I did not enjoy the music makes my post "distasteful, negative and ignorant".

Posted by showtrotta | October 29, 2008 3:24 PM

Special Disco Version @ Santo's tonight....

Posted by pritzer's_keep | October 29, 2008 5:28 PM

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