Friday night was one of those times when living in a city the size of Chicago is too wonderful for its own good. Caribou and Fuck Buttons were playing one place while Autechre were set up at another, and Miskate and Someone Else were highlighting Meiotic’s monthly Jackson party.
But being forced to choose between rock and electronic sounds for the night seemed too tough, so I chose to check out Tapes N’ Tapes plus White Denim at Metro before heading to its downstairs cousin Smartbar for the tech beats of Gui Boratto.
Tapes N’ Tapes
A buzz-band from two years ago, Tapes N’ Tapes rolled into their first headlining gig at Metro fresh off the release of their sophomore album Walk it Off, and their bi-polar set gave some support to the disc’s tepid reviews.
The band started on the explosive side with the dynamic “Jackov’s Suite” from their debut The Loon, but the next few songs came from the new disc and it was apparent their more straightforward approach lacked the dynamic stops and starts of the first disc. It got a bit stiff and formal for a bit about mid set they turned it back on, hitting on more of The Loon’s highlights and finally finding the fire in new songs like “Hang Them All”.
Gui Boratto
If the Minnesota quartet is still finding its voice and presence in their second trip around, Brazilian techno star Gui Boratto seems firmly on course. After a solid minimal set from openers Daniel Mnookin and Brian Ffar, Boratto stepped to his impressive live rig and worked every noise and loop into place for an hour and a half set of new business and cuts from his debut Chromophobia.
Boratto seemed in control of every aspect of the sound. Using a midi controller and a Lemur touch screen to set off his sounds plus a monome to trigger his loops, he was constantly adjusting things to keep the dancefloor packed to his relentless cascading beats. New sounds were abundant, but he fit in the massive basslined “The Message” and closed things out with a live rendition of his darker original version of the massive “Beautiful Life”.
White Denim
Most certainly impossible to be forgotten on the night were White Denim who are on the road opening for TnT this go round. The Austin trio have been getting quite a reputation, and they lived up to every bit of it during their 35 minutes of sweaty rock n roll. They play that ramshackle kind that always seems on the verge of going right off the rails, and they play it quite well. Animated and yelping through their songs, this was the band bringing the most energy on this night. If you’re going to another show on the TnT tour, get there early to catch these guys.
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