5/18/08 - Anathallo/Dosh/Friendly Foes

photo by Ed Knight

Anathallo/Dosh/Friendly Foes
May 18th, 2008
The Pike Room
Pontiac, MI

This past Sunday night I found myself in a packed room at the Pike Room in Pontiac with some buds mentioned two posts down. In spite of the inconvenient location, I would not miss Anathallo in town on a night when I didn't have to work until 11:00 the next morning.


photo by Phil Southern

To be honest, I haven't been able to get entirely into Friendly Foes just yet. They're a fine rock 'n' roll band who wear their influences on their sleeves (Superchunk, Spoon, The Promise Ring maybe?), and I'm totally into that. I just don't know. Listening to their tunes on MySpace though, I totally dig, so maybe I just don't get into actual rock bands live? Whatever. I'll stop digging this hole to say that they opened the night with a fury, and it was probably the best set I've seen them play.


photo by Phil Southern

Dosh's set was SICK. A couple weeks before the show I had been made aware that he is Andrew Bird's drummer and that his organic meets electronic sound is totally sweet. Even though I couldn't see worth balls, it was cool to hear and imagine how one would flesh out such complex arrangements live. Throughout each song he would move betwixt instruments such as synths, electric piano, and of course, a drum kit, looping certain parts so he could move onto the next. Also, his tenor sax slingin' friend seemed to be an improv master.


photo by Ed Knight

I haven't been going to as many shows lately, including local ones, which I've been attending pretty much exclusively for the past year or so. I think it's because I don't get too excited about live music these days. However, without fail, every time I go to see Anathallo, the anticipation is high. And they never disappoint.

I'm glad they've taken to playing longer sets. A half hour Anathallo set is like listening to half of Pink Moon. Thankfully they've finally realized this.

So anways, yeah, the band was tight. Opening and closing with new jams from their upcoming record Canopy Glow ("Italo" and "Noni's Field" respectively), their set played out like your favorite rollercoaster ride. Mystery and intrigue at the beginning and end, and somewhere in the middle too, and familiarity everywhere else. That was a terrible analogy. I don't ride rollercoasters, so I don't really know how they go.

Of course, some of Floating World was performed, predictably the crowd favorites. Fortunately they never really get old, especially "Dokkoise House." Another new jam was played amidst all of this, "John J. Audubon," which features some beautiful, jazzy ivory tickling and some dynamic (and not to mention insane) drumming from my boy Jeremiah Johnson. He told me to check out YouTube videos (like this one) of this jazz drummer Bill Stewart, which make me just want to give up.

For the first time ever, the highlight of the set for me was "A Holiday at the Sea" from their old school EP of the same name. I like their old material for sure, though it is dated, but they are obviously getting better with time, and I've been anxious to see more of these new songs live. For a while now they've been supplementing the song with a semi-cover during the extended ending, and that's always my favorite part. This particular night, for some reason, it just hit me a little harder.

All in all Sunday was a great night with a diverse selection of music. That is my favorite style of concert.