Dodos at Bimbos, 11/7/08

I saw the Dodos the other night at Bimbos in North Beach. I hadn't realized until they came on stage that they are essentially a two piece, with a dude on drums (Logan Kroeber) and a dude on guitar and vocals (Meric Long). They supplement this with a guy who plays percussion on some songs, and the fancy looping stuff that a lot of acts do live.

I've decided that the best music these days is stuff that fucks with established genres just enough to be interesting, but not so much that it is unlistenable. The three minute pop song has been done to death, so you need to bring something a little different to the table (unless you are Nickleback, and they've made gajillions playing different versions of the same shitty song that sounds like half-assed Pearl Jam). A lot of the bands I'm excited about these days bring something a little unique and interesting to the genres they play: Fucked Up and their shoegazer take on hardcore, Panda Bear and his adaptation of electrionic musical ideas to Beach Boys melodies, even Vampire Weekend and their preppy interpolation of West African rhythms. You gotta bring something new to the table, and the Dodos do that. They take what could be overly dear indie pop, and add an unusual rhythmic element in the form of Kroeber's drumming. It was pretty great live, especially because they messed with their songs a little to make them sound fresh. For example, they drew out the intro to their hit "Fools" to the point where it just became a drum beat, before finally going into the song. The interplay between Kroeber's beats and Meric's singing and guitar playing was also cool, and sometimes it almost didn't synch, but still worked.

I do wonder how much further they can take their sound. I feel like they've pretty much nailed the whole "guitar and drums" thing, but then the White Stripes are still making ok music, so maybe the Dodos have a future.

It was one of the most obnoxiously talkative crowds I've seen in a while. I was in the back for a while, and people at the bar where carrying on like the band was just a jukebox. I went closer to the stage, and the people next to me were talking so loud that you could hear them over the band. When you are having to yell to be heard over the band you just paid twenty bucks to see, you are a fucking moron and need to shut up. The ultimate moment was during the encore, when the woman to my right had her back to the band, and was blathering on about her relationship issues. Why not just stay home?

This video isn't from the show I saw, but gives you a good idea what they are like live.