by kevin diamond
The ballroom was packed on Wednesday night with spectators, revelers, and girls who worked for AOL. Apparently French Kicks just recorded a few songs for them live, and, according to the girls, they sucked. But “Oh my god, the lead singer is so tall!” they screamed over their cosmos. Yikes.
SO FAR WE ARE BY FRENCH KICKS:
The French Kicks show did little to argue with the AOL girls. The first half of their set was stuffed with boring, sad, tiring new material that seemed to drag on forever. The band didn’t even seem to enjoy playing the songs, It wasn’t until about half way through their set that, launching into one of their early tacks like “The Trial of The Century,” that they seemed to open up a little. But it was too little to late, they’d squandered the energy that exciting opener Passion Pit had created for them. They were the John McCain to Passion Pit’s Sarah Palin.
Passion Pit only have 6 songs: That’s what’s on their new EP, Chunks of Change, and that’s what they played. The stage was swarmed with keyboards, synthesizers, samplers, computers and headphones. As the band climbed the stage and took their posts, there was apprehension in their stares. Lead singer Michael Angelakis commented “Thanks for the warm reception, New York. New York is scary!” Compared to Cambridge, MA, it is, I guess. But this is post-gulliani new york, fellas. You should have been here 20 years ago. (But you, like myself, were probably only about 5 years old)
The music starts. It’s an interesting recipe. Parts Dan Deacon, parts Hot Chip, with a Jeff Buckley yelp. It’s also obvious that Angelakis is a child of the 80s. Many of the melodies and synth parts reminded me of theme songs from 80s and 90s sitcoms. And not in a bad way, more like in a The Go! Team way. It ended up being an entirely endearing and soul-lifting performance. There were 5 guys on stage playing probably their biggest NYC gig to date, about to embark on a tour with Blog favorites Yelle, and just letting themselves have as much fun as possible. They were sloppy, sure, but they were convincing as well. I look forward to seeing more from these guys in the future.
Chunks of Change is available everywhere. I would recommend buying it. French Kicks just released some covers EP on iTunes. Check it out if you want, but i’m sure, like the first half of their show last night, it’s gonna be pretty boring.
