Caribou and Four Tet, @ BecksMusic Box, Perth (19/02/11)

Tue 22nd Feb, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Let’s channel the sensibilities of John Lennon’s moving political ballad:

Imagine all the people / living life in peace. Imagine a sell out performance without the Tetris greed. There are no space invaders with star tattooed forearms. Flailing about with drinks a-spilling and rage a-raging palms.

The real stars shine amidst the glimmer of our modest, beautiful city and the air is warm and balmy, a perfect Perth summer night. This is probably where all the indie kids, where all the music lovers go when they enter through the gates of indie / music loving heaven. A layer of happiness filters through the crowd as everyone is carefully woven into the complex outer realms of pop music.

Four or five songs into what is already becoming a mind defying live experience and mathematician, bandleader, songwriter and producer, Caribou aka Daniel Victor Snaith turns to his audience for the first time and proclaims with such sincerity “We feel blessed to be here, what a venue!” Which, in all breathtaking awe, The Becks Music Box is; a beacon for our summer nights in the heart of the city on the Esplanade. Filled with seating stands, strange and alluring lights, couches and a wide open air dance floor; this is a place of dreams that for several seasons now has been a gushing point of many a review.

The early 8pm start sees Caribou and band weave dynamic pop rhythms off the cusp of the pouring in crowd. Rhythm tends to be one of the key ingredients of the band live. With a compact set-up, central and squashed for the wide and generous stage, the band had a well conceived layout to their stage plot. With a dual drum kit array, band leader Snaith, between singing and playing keyboards, added percussive layers over the Caribou drummer’s pad triggers and drum kit in a diagonal face off layout. There were synths and samples in abundance for almost every member and whilst complicated, it had a mathematician’s precision, which just seemed to make sense, even when the music was in complete contrast, in all its whimsical wonderful complicated glory. The Caribou front man shared vocals with the touring bass player and on some songs took more of a backward step, which was a nice change in the vocal dynamics to keep things interesting. At the best of times the two singers would bounce off each other making for an exhilarating display. Whilst crowd interaction and engagement was a minimal affair, the stage set-up allowed the audience to be drawn in on the musicianship alone, which is what defines a band of this nature. Everything felt immensely focused and the musical precision was first and foremost.

Caribou’s breakthrough LP, experimental pop album Swim featured heavily, being the touring album, and why shouldn’t it, when tracks like Odessa and psychedelic freak-out ‘Sun’ sent shivers down your spine as a clear standout for the night? Caribou was simply unmissable!

Up next, Four Tet brought to the table a live display of dreamy electronica with danceable tribal rhythms. The London electronic producer Kieran Hebden aka Four Tet is quite an unassuming character on stage and for many it’s easy to skip past the intricacy of his work. Hebden wove through his albums tying everything together with a pulsating trance that sequenced songs coherently into a dance friendly field. In the open air, if you let go of your inhibitions and embraced the music, it was a very rewarding experience. For the many, including one punter who enjoyed a few minutes dancing on stage before security caught on, the vibe of the crowd suggested everything was indeed ecstatic. With subtle hints from said album including a few cheeky teases of tracks like A Joy, there was still a lot given to the older fans. One stand-out track from Everything Ecstatic that was sorely missed was Smile Around the Face, which was a moving moment at his previous Perth appearance at the debut Laneway Festival. Similarly to Caribou, Four Tet’s new album There Is Love In You is nothing short of stunning and being the touring album, was peppered generously throughout the set with ‘Sing’ and ‘Angel Echoes’ being stand-out tracks.

Leaving the venue as {move} sound system entertained the after party with a great collection of tunes, there seemed to be a general consensus that Four Tet should have played first as Caribou kicking off as people had literally arrived took everyone off guard and with the live instrumentation being an added visual over Four Tet, it certainly felt like the climax of the evening. It seems, being a double headliner tour, that the acts have been taking it in turns across different states with the who plays first card and for fans of both artists, it didn’t really matter as each had their own strengths and weaknesses. Probably the most disappointing thing about Four Tet’s set was the lack of his unique and famous chaos like tetris pad used to manipulate sounds the way Björk does with her reactable.

A note for any local aspiring experimental artists; the key to engagement, and something sadly missing from Four Tet’s set is some simple AV visuals with cameras or some way of demonstrating the intricacy of his work on the big screen. Aside from that, a fantastic night in a fantastic venue.