Ratatat/Despot/Ezra & The Harpoons @ Tufts

Despite the tiny, stage-less, Oxfam Cafe being packed to the brim and incredibly hot, people somehow kept flowing into the venue in order to see a free show by Ratatat. Ezra Furman & The Harpoons opened up the night with their Violent Femmes/Pixies-esque sound that didn't really fit in with the bill, but certainly left me impressed. The frontman had a very anxious sounding voice, which was sort of at odds with the music, but still worked.

Def Jux rapper Despot was up next and although his beats were pretty solid, it sounded like his delivery wasn't in time at all. He honestly reminded me of what Seth Green would look/sound like if he were a rapper. He didn't stay on for too long, but a couple people in the crowd seemed into him.

After setting up a projector and very bright flood lights, Ratatat started and played a seamless set of some new stuff from their album "Classics", as well as some old stuff. The band sounded pretty much exactly like they do on their album, which is a good and bad thing, but luckily the visual experience of the show made up for it. The projector displayed trippy visualizations while the flood lights would flash in sync with the music, creating some pretty epic looking effects. The main guitarist livened things up by constantly moving around the cramped space and doing things like bending over backwards while still playing and not missing a note. Pretty impressive. Although their songs really do have the same sort of synth/videogame sound to them, the visual aspects of the show certainly made up for whatever the music lacked (if you were lucky enough to be close to the band, that is).

More photos up at the flickr page

Ezra Furman & The Harpoons





Despot




Ratatat