Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Handsome Furs w/ Suuns @ Casbah- 09.01.11



Early September brought a trio of acts to the Casbah for a show that picked up steam as the night went on. Portland (OR)- based Talkdemonic opened up with their special brand of instrumental electronica (I was outside during their set and unfortunately didn't make it inside in time to get any pix. They sounded great from the patio though). Suuns of Montreal, Quebec followed up with a straight-to-the-point set of drone-y art rock. Behind the icy stare of lead man Ben Shemie the four-piece ripped through a 45 minute set under the glare of bright red light. Having previously experienced them only via their debut LP Zeroes QC, their live show is a force to be reckoned with.

Suuns:












Headliner Handsome Furs brought the energy level up multiple notches as they took the stage and immediately jumped in to an outstanding set relying almost exclusively on their newest album Sound Kapital. Be it the apparent assistance of Bolivian marching powder or maybe just them feeding off the energy of the crowd, husband and wife duo Dan Boeckner (also of Wolf Parade) and Alexei Perry were in constant motion. Make no mistake- the music was exceptionally executed and kept the crowd moving, but the show was the whirling dervish on stage. Dan did his part to keep everything moving in linear fashion while Alexei provided the visual entertainment, alternately stalking, jumping and crawling all over the stage. It was clear that their tour-happy ways have allowed them to fine-tune both the musical performance and their stage presence as these elements combined to produce one of the better shows the Casbah has seen this year.

Handsome Furs:













For more pix from the evening click here and the rest of my concert photography click here.
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All images copyright © Nate Vandermeulen, All Rights Reserved.
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