It's unbelievable to me that until a month ago, I hadn't listened to any Dungen beyond "Satt Att Se" from their last album, 4. Sure, Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes had the album cover of Ta Det Lugnt up as his profile picture when he was still on Twitter. But, I guess I missed all his tweets about the awesomeness that is Dungen. Thankfully, through cosmic intervention, Dungen's 4 found its way into my possession, and I decided to grab tickets to their show at The Bell House.
Mind-numbing lineups like Fleet Foxes/Dungen or the one for the Kemado/Mexican Summer Festival (though I could do without metal band Saviours) were unfortunately not in the cards for NYC, but the Dungen show at The Bell House had a power combination of its own with Brooklyn favorites Woods and Ducktails. Set times were pushed back, most likely so that Animal Collective attendees could walk a few avenues over after the show and enjoy Dungen at a discounted ticket price. Props to those who did that. I think I'm getting too old to do double features like that anymore, especially with the summer heat.
By the time Dungen hit the stage, the venue seemed comfortably packed, at least from where I was standing. Dungen treated the audience to over an hour and a half of incredible music. Maybe it's because I can't understand their Swedish lyrics, but I found myself paying more attention to the musical components and how they fit together like a puzzle to create shape and texture. In fact, Dungen's music is like a perfect banh mi sandwich. Both are made of essential ingredients, ones that are pretty good on their own. Every element is crucial to the equation. Like there are no filler parts in a banh mi sandwich, every note of a Dungen song, regardless of instrument, is deliberate and necessary. I have yet to find a perfect banh mi sandwich, one with such a construction that allows for each bite to have the ultimate balance of all parts as pictured here (Banh mi eaters, you should know what I'm talking about). But, I'm convinced that Dungen would be the auditory equivalent. Even without a violinist, Dungen played "Satt Att Se" so beautifully that I could hardly believe that I was witnessing it. The way the vocals fit in with the instrumentals, veering from minor to major keys and back to minor, it almost seemed like a musical pun. And, nothing excites me more than brilliant song compositions.
Although the guitarist was near collapse, Dungen came out for an encore. The entire band was very gracious to their audience, and frontman Gustav gave an extended shoutout to the folks at Kemado Records, Dungen's U.S. label who also produces a beautiful vinyl press of 4. Unfortunately, they didn't have any of those at the merch table.
Dungen is currently on tour in North America. Click here for dates. Be sure to pick up the tour-only limited edition 12" of the 15-minute version of "Samtidigt."
Ducktails
Jeremy of Woods
Dungen
Det Tar Tid - Dungen
Satt Att Se - Dungen
August 17, 2009
Dungen - The Bell House 08.14.09
June 16, 2009
Northside Festival 2009 - Day 1
via Auditory Threshold
This past weekend, L Magazine cured NYC's SXSW envy with the first Northside Festival, a music and art-filled four days in North Brooklyn. Known for being musician and artist friendly, Williamsburg and Greenpoint were the obvious choice locales for a Brooklyn-based music festival. With a dense population of music stages and art galleries, North Brooklyn is dream come true for a music lover, and I thank L Magazine for taking full advantage of the local culture for the festival.
Northside Festival kicked off on Thursday with a short list of events. The first stop for me was Ducktails, a project of Matt Mondanile who also plays in the much-loved Real Estate. I only caught the end of his set which included "Beach Point Pleasant," a track off the recently released self-titled LP (Order here). Cameo Gallery, a fairly new art gallery/music venue located inside the Lovin' Cup Cafe, was a strangely appropriate venue for Ducktails. Darkly intimate with iridescent strips hanging from the ceiling, Cameo could be the best indoor space for an experimental one-man or one-woman show. That being said, I have to admit that seeing Ducktails live wasn't the most thrilling experience, which is what I expected going into the show. Because I have such little knowledge of what actually goes into creating his sound, it was hard for me to be engaged. 7 inches has some great insight into what he believes Matt is doing onstage, and I highly suggest that you go over there and read his write-up. If someone would like to walk me through some of the technicals, I would appreciate that, too. Ducktails has an awesome LP, and I recommend that you pick up a copy. I ordered directly from Not Not Fun Records and it came with some interesting packaging. Ducktails was also featured on the Free Music Archive recently.
Let's Rock the Beach (Live at WFMU) - Ducktails
After Ducktails, I stayed a little longer for Julianna Barwick. I don't know much about Julianna, so this may be a crude evaluation of her set. While I think some of her songs are very beautiful and soothing, it was uninteresting for me to watch someone use samples and only contribute live vocal loops. "You Catcher" has beautiful minimalist picked guitar lines and upper register piano chords, and I would have liked to have seen Barwick create the instrumental loops herself. In a way, Julianna Barwick's music reminds me of French films, the ones that have no real plot, pinnacle, or resolution. Some people are into that, but it's not my cup of tea.
You Catcher (Daytrotter Session) - Julianna Barwick
To close out the night, I headed to Studio B, which is once again in danger of losing its liquor license. Brightblack Morning Light sounded like a psychedelic funk band, backed by a couple brass instruments. I recognized the saxophonist from the Akron/Family show at Bowery Ballroom. As much as I liked Brightblack Morning Light's sound, their songs started to blur together after a short while. Calming music, but not the best band to see late at night when all you want to do is crawl into bed.
Oppressions Each - Brightblack Morning Light
Elsewhere at Northside Festival, correspondent Auditory Threshold attended a headlining performance by The Hold Steady and shot some great pictures. Head on over to Auditory Threshold to see and read the rest.
