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Russian Futurists/Dreamboat @ Logan's Oct. 22/07
| Message Board > Show Reviews > Russian Futurists/Dreamboat @ Logan's Oct. 22/07 |
| devin User Info... | The Russian Futurists http://www.russianfuturists.com October 22nd, 2007 @ Logan's Toronto’s Matthew Hart was in town Monday night with his Russian Futurists, kicking off their cross-country tour with an evening at Logan’s Pub. Originally the work of Hart himself, the Futurists’ catalogue has been adapted for live shows with the addition of a guitar, keyboard, and electronic drumset. While the songs do come together well in the new format, some of the whimsical romanticism that established Hart’s fanbase is definitely lost in translation. Beginning with their self-described ‘Top 40 hit song’ Paul Simon, the Futurists played a decent but unremarkable set that illustrated clearly the difficulties they were experiencing with the change in medium. Foremost among these was the inability of the band to recreate certain beats and loops completely, giving them no choice but to play the original instrument tracks overtop of the live ones. It gave the show a contrived, campy feel, particularly when the recorded loops abruptly ended and the audience was made painfully of aware of the fact that the band had already stopped playing. Also disappointing was the setlist – there was precious little from their latest album, Our Thickness, which I hold to be his best. The selection seemed to downplay Hart’s predisposition to writing love songs, focusing instead on less developed tracks from his earlier albums (including Karkarodon Karkarius, a Jaws-inspired ode to shark attacks). The result was a show that fell short of the hype it generated – a letdown to fans, and an average Monday night for those in the audience unfamiliar with Hart’s better work in Still Life and Why You Gotta Do That Thang. Finally there was the matter of the band’s stage presence. Three hours after the doors opened at eight, Hart and company sauntered over to the stage and greeted a multitude of grumbling fans with “Sup, Victoria?” The performance that followed failed to justify the swagger in Hart’s step – whether it was the three-hour dinner they enjoyed as the house filled with paying guests or the small venue’s informal atmosphere that was to blame, they did not seem overly concerned with the impressions they were making. Fans who came to indulge themselves in Hart’s disarming humility were instead treated to a conceit unbecoming of an artist with so much room to grow. The rock star persona he adopted was off-putting to say the least, particularly in the midst of such a rough performance. In spite of the relatively minor demand placed upon them, the rhythm section repeatedly dropped the beat. The overdriven keyboard solos between songs were jarring; particularly in light of the amount the Futurists had already borrowed from Ben Folds. The band appeared to be reaching for credentials that do not belong to them, stylistically or technically. In spite of his best attempts to bring the music he created by himself into a live and public setting, Hart contradicts himself. The sincerity that drew many fans of his recorded works to Monday’s show in the first place was markedly absent throughout the entire performance. Dreamboat http://www.myspace.com/karaokemf Victoria synth-pop hero Dreamboat opened for the Russian Futurists on Monday night, nearly stealing the show with his eerily catchy minimalist vocals over equally sparse beats. Alone in front of a crowded dance floor with nothing but a microphone to hide behind, Dreamboat had the audience dancing remarkably quickly. His self-deprecating wit won the crowd over right away, and the audience was stunned from start to finish by the unabashed sincerity with which he performed. Singing simple, straightforward songs about love and loss, the one man show engaged in all kinds of exaggerated theatrics up to and including what appeared from the back of the house to be a brief roll on the floor in front of the stage during the refrain, “Thanks Japan, I loved you too / I crossed the ocean just to see you.” The audience was given the rare privilege of watching an artist whose sole motivation was to entertain, risking embarrassment and rejection for the pleasure of their company. The experience was refreshing – with a little luck Dreamboat will be back to share more of his experiments with us in the future. - Fri, 26 Oct 2007 4:09pm Edited: Fri, 26 Oct 2007 4:13pm | ||
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