Little Dragon at Fortune

Tuesday, January 11-

I quite like Fortune; in the murky parochial recesses of Chinatown, cluttered with it's strange little shops is this ultra modern exterior. It seems sterile and monolithic and completely out of place- it's pretty cool! Inside it's a sufficient spot, it's a bit too elongated and the stage is tad small, but it works. Things got off to a bit of a rocky start, beginning with the opener Billygoat. They were... something. I don't know what. Honestly, a few days later it's hard to recall any specifics. There were no vocals, it was very minimal. It seemed almost pretentiously subdued; I was half expecting someone to tell me I had to listen to the notes they weren't playing. I was much more compelled by the pretty cool visual aspect they had to accompany it. It wasn't terribly flashy or opulent, but visually striking; as in sparkling whales petrifying into mountains. That kind of stuff. Aside from that, I don't think I need to hear Billygoat again. If I did, I probably wouldn't know it. I was a little put off that after Billygoat it took over an hour and twenty minutes for set up. It was an excessively long time for something that isn't the Radiohead multicolour brain melting chandelier light show. But I digress... 

The stage afforded Little Dragon was really quite minimal, leading to a cramped and haphazard set up. I was surprised how much space was devoted to percussion, with what looked like two full drum sets and what little space was left devoted to Yukami dancing around with tambourines and cowbells. Comparatively there wasn't much space for the remaining key board and synthesizer- one that looked really quite old and worn out. The gentlemen working that was also on guitar, giving you an idea of how the group prioritizes things. I'm impressed they were able to churn out so much from the one synth. I wasn't right at the front, but I didn't see a mac book or any other kind of musical facsimile. I suppose I never appreciated how heavy Little Dragon's stylings relied on the snare and the kick. It's understandable though considering how striking the rest of their sound is. Much of their music is comprised of an oriental blend of computerized and organic sounds that honestly don't always go all that well together. They are too jarringly odd to fit harmoniously with other sounds; they only manage not to tear the songs apart because there is just so much of it that it's hard to isolate specific strands and sounds, so it is able to achieve just enough homogenization to become palatable. In addition there are definitely noticeable hints of german industrial techno. 

Things are held together by Yukami's elegant and transfixing voice. Because of that, the parts of songs where she is in the forefront are incredibly engaging and even mesmerizing, but the often extended mishmashed instrumental solos are a bit of a slog. Tracks like “Looking Glass” and “My Step” are a mixed bag because of this. Little Dragon just loves to draw out the beginnings and endings of their songs- I think I would have preferred more truncated versions that just focused on Yukami. She actually comes across sounding even better in a more organic environment as opposed to the glossy post production that was pretty heavily used in Machine Dreams. This is not to say she sounded rough or coarse, it was still pleasantly smooth; just a little more rounded and imprecise. The kid can move too. She was recklessly and aimlessly dancing all over the stage banging in to the drums in way that no doubt only made it look easy when in fact she proved to be a crucial back up on percussion. The problem is that watching Yukami perform in such a hyperbolic and vibrant manner is like having a sugar high- and then coming down from it. After additively energetic tracks, switching over to more sedate offerings like “Thunder Love” is a little difficult to stomach. I could feel the impatience festering inside of me. The more balanced tracks that occupied the middle of the spectrum, like “A New” and “Feather” were unsurprisingly the best of the night. Unexpectedly the group played a couple new tracks from their forthcoming third LP. I say unexpectedly because I really had no idea they had a new album coming out. Even the Straight said they were just “promoting their recent album, Machine Dreams”. They only played a couple tracks but I quite enjoyed them both. They seemed more focused and refined, with the group restraining themselves from the “throw everything including the kitchen sink in there” approach. They moved along a little quicker and seemed a little less disjointed, while still retaining the group's trade mark quirkiness. 

The show gets extra points for some really awesome lighting. A rainbow of alternating, stark, neon colours illuminated the group. It was almost like a multicoloured black light; and Yukami had florescent pink nail polish that burned up the darkness- awesome. Beyond that there was a pair of rotating lights each with half a dozen hyper focused coloured beams, and in the center was an even more intense pillar of a different colour. It was like the death star on crack, very cool. It seems that going to a Little Dragon show is appropriately analogous to the groups body of work; it had it's fair share of cumbersome annoyances, but it was more than worth putting up with them in return for the elements that were pretty spectacular. I would go again. Minus the Billygoat.