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LIVE REVIEW SPECIAL
KINDERCORE EXPO 2000
August 9-12,2000
40WottOub
Wednesday. August 9
Kindercore Records' four-day "Expo 2000" festivities got off to a
pleasant, energetic start at the 40 Watt Club with I Am The World
Trade Center, the first of the supergroups consisting of Kindercore
execs Ryaa Lewis, Dan Geller and Amy Dykes, along with Sean Rawls
and Bren Meade of Masters of the Hemisphere. The band bopped
along in a sort cf lo-fi Saint Etienne or Looper style with Amy
singing and Dan playing keyboards and triggenng samples. It was a
familiar sound but still pretty fresh.
Playing second, and virtually owning the evening, was
Switzerland's Velma. Four smartly dressed, uptight-looking men took
their places amidst several small projection screens and stared for
ward in several minutes of Cage-like silence. The audience, some
what bemused and bewildered, began to warm as the rhythms
picked up in intensity and the speak-singer began dancing in
earnest, looking something like Robin Williams impersonating David
Byme. As the band's set drew to a close, he broke into what can
only be described as "monkey karate," hopping from side to side and
chopping the air all around him as the guitar squalled. The drummer
tegan screaming in confusion and terror as though he'd just come
out of the womb; the music skittered to a stop; the howling faded
away and they resumed standing at attention. After a long pause,
they relaxed and walked away. The audience was now screaming for
them, completely won ever.
Next up was Easy from New York. Easy has its funk and soul
down pat almost too welL The energized crowd was dancing from
the get go to the stylish grooves, but there was a bit too much
shtick in the presentation. The singer-bassist wasn't content to just
play well; he had to imitate Wilson Pickett's singing and chatter to
the audience Kke George Clinton. It came off as too much of a
forced copy than homage. Stilt one couldn't deny the power of the
music itself.
Sleeping Flies, a subset of the Electronic Watusi Boogaloo col
lective, were tight and livdy, hut their sound smacked of early-'90s
English shoegazer pop without adding much to i\ After over 40
minutes of fiddling with a prob
lematic sampler as they set up,
they didn't make the wait worth
it A little Spacemen 3, a little
Charlatans, with some appropri
ately psychedelic video imagery
as the singer did his best to
evoke Simon Le Bon in his
dancing and posing. They carried
on without much dynamics and
never got into high gear.
The perfect antidote was the
8-Track Gorilla. Alas, he was
also beset by some technical
problems, but a man in a
monkey suit miming a guitar and
singing over a tape isn't hin
dered too much by botches in
the sound. The Gorilla is
supremely unflappable and even
brought his own circus freak
backdrop which stayed in place
for over a day. His chanteuse
Annie joined him for a number
as he took the room down for a
minute and then closed with his
showstopping "How Do You Like
It (More More More)."
Unfortunately, Athens' Japancakes didn't prolong this spike in
energy. They're an interesting band with a soothing, meditative
country-Krautrock sound, but their spacy jams were a bit too long
and repetitive to get a rise at this late hour, ending after 2 a.m.,
and many in the crowd settled into the 40 Watt's couches as the
evening wound down.
Thursday August 10
The original K core band, Kincaid, opened the show with a
warm, casual set. The guys joked with each other and played old
favorites. The band's power pop was as catchy as ever, and it was
fun to watch friends having a good time together. It was a modest
decision to play the bottom of the bilL but they set the mood per
fectly for what would be a memorable night
Babalu, another permutation of the Swedish Watusi folks,
brought a new flavor to its sound as it gathered in a circle in chairs
and on the floor. The only problem was that the band was basically
a Comershop replica. Nothing bad, ratbei good in fact but nothing
new.
Things picked up again with a hyper set from Seattle's
Tullycraft Tullycraft ought to be annoying, with its uber-cuteness
and whiny vocals, singing about superheroes and eighth grade, but
it was nothing of the kind. The crowd cheered for all of their
favorites and their pop hurtled along with seemingly endless fueL
There was much screaming for an encore, but the band resisted and
reluctantly gave up the stage to keep the show moving along.
Slowing the pace down, Norway's Kings of Convenience
charmed the audience with their acoustic pop. It was a refreshing
change from the typical, unplugged folksinger style, and their har
monies were as sweet as their quite flavorful guitar playing. They
told funny, self-deprecating stories about how fate landed them at
Kindercore's doorstep, and tried a f ew times to quiet down the
noisy-as-usual bar patrons. They shrugged it off eventually and kept
playing, winning many new fans.
Athens' own Masters Of The Hemisphere came next. Kincaid
singer-guitarist Greg Harmelink joined on trumpet and they were
charming and catchy as usual and showed that they're still growing
and improving what is already a great act The only downside was
not getting to hear their wonderful cover of New Order's "Age of
Consent" again.
From Vermont (and New York) came The Essex Green, with a sort
of hippie-hick vibe. The singer looked like a long-lost relative of Jed
Clampett and the band's inventive ccuntry-rock—complete with
steel guitar—kept things moving nicety.
It was already past one when Of Montreal took the stage, and
the audience's rapture was electrifying as soon as the sound
exploded off the stage, as though a giant light had burst into the
dub. People were just losing it left and right, and the band's seem-
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