Dappled Cities @ Spaceland 10/16/07
Tuesday night I managed to find myself totally and awkwardly alone at the Dappled Cities show at Spaceland, the three friends I thought might've come along having all abandoned me due to stomach virus, novocaine residuals, and all-out absence via CMJ. But oh well, here's to getting drunk and having your camera battery die immediately while watching a really good show all by yourself.
The night officially kicked off when handsome, if painfully thin, Hrishikesh Hirway got up onstage almost unnoticed and quietly announced that he was The One AM Radio, and he was going to start now. So would we like to come out towards the stage a little? Hirway's songs are light and melancholy, and sometimes surprisingly short, consisting of pretty strumming on electric guitar over beats issuing from a laptop. He also played bells strapped to his ankle in a couple songs by tapping his foot; the music was just a little too sparse but it was still nicely lulling. Music you would curl up on the couch to.
After Hirway's set, Dappled Cities got started pretty quickly (after bassist Alex Moore ran up to Hirway and whooped like a crazed fan, which was funny), so the rest of the stragglers came out and filled up the floor. Hailing from Australia, Dappled Cities has two frontmen that are very fun to watch, with equally good but very different voices and looks. Tim Derricourt is a clean-cut kind of chap with the prettiest falsetto known to man and a nice range to boot (you can hear it in "Vision Bell" - the high and low voice in the verses is not the two of them alternating, it's just him). Dave Rennick rocks hipster jeans and crazy hair in a little rat tail (hopefully that's tongue-in-cheek in Australia too and not actually still a style), along with a straighter, deeper voice, a bit like Brian Canning's in Irving. ("Fire Fire Fire" really reminds me of Irving, especially the recorded version.)
The band rocked out with really good energy and a confident, funny stage presence - Derricourt announced cheerfully that he likes L.A. because we bob our heads here at shows, and Rennick threw his arms out and shamelessly waved for louder cheering after one song. Collectively, they have that this-is-what-we're-born-to-do stride, which is infectious; the songs were great so I snagged a copy of the new album Granddance afterwards. I haven't listened to the whole thing yet but I know I'm going to like it. Although someone should tell them there's an 'e' missing from 'breathe' in the last track on their myspace... Unless it's meant to be 'Try Not To Breath'. You never know! (It's not on the album.)
By the time headliners The Figurines came on, I was beat so I only stayed for a couple songs. The music was good but I couldn't get into singer's Christian Hjelm's vocals. He sounds kind of like Tim DeLaughter from The Polyphonic Spree, who has always irritated me, so I probably didn't give them a fair chance. The songs on their myspace sound pretty good, especially 'Hey Girl'. No pics because my camera was done after these two. Next time I promise to bring extra batteries... And a friend, dammit.