Thursday, May 19, 2011
Rock Review: Neon Indian, Oberhofer
Posted by Scott Shoger @scottshoger on Thu, May 19, 2011 at 1:54 PM
Radio Radio, May 17
3.5 stars (out of five)
Bands that grow out of bedroom recording projects often lack a certain something — call it teamwork, maybe, or that sense of creative energy arrived at when all members are, or think they are, contributing equally. Which isn't to say that Neon Indian and Oberhofer aren't way more engaging than they might be: Imagine, instead, Neon Indian's Alan Palomo surrounded by an arsenal of vintage electronics (or before a computer emulating some of those sounds), noodling away blissfully; or Oberhofer's titular head, the youthful, vibrant Brad Oberhofer, re-creating the conditions in which he composed his music in a thrilling stage show titled "At Home with My Folks Before Their House Burned Down: a Operetta in Thousands of Boring Acts." That would be kind of dull, unless you're into an aesthetic of dullness, in which case I've got some structuralist films for you that I can't quite slog my way through.
Nah, both bandleaders, who rolled into a fairly-packed Radio Radio Tuesday night, are aware of the needs of the live show. But Neon Indian's 50-minute set, over just when the dance floor reached critical mass, just lacked a certain something, an energy and engagement that might make the live experience a kind of equally relevant part of the band's output. To put it another way, you've likely already made your mind up about the records: Maybe you're a stickler for authenticity, and Palomo's take on the '80s — all 8-bit sound effects, Italo-disco arpeggios, baroque-esque New Wave synth lines, woozy and deadpan vocals — mines that era for your least favorite elements, all of those cheesy effects and techniques that died out during the '90s. Or Neon Indian could still be the sound of your endless summer, inspiring nostalgic for a time that never existed, designed for dancing on one's own.
But I'm not so sure that experience translates from headphones to the live setting, where Palomo doesn't have quite as much control over mixing and can't make an ostensibly cheesy video game effect sound perfectly blissed-out in the mix. All that being said, I can't fault a guy who can play a sort of power Theremin solo. And while Tuesday's show was heavy on tracks from Psychic Chasms, the band's 2009 break-through record and the only release on their merch table, Palomo noted during the show that they had finished tracking a new album a week ago, meaning that upcoming shows might be a little longer, giving spectators (and potential dancers) a little more time to get into the spirit.
While the 20-year-old Brad Oberhofer, who joked that he couldn't re-enter Radio Radio after his time on stage was up, may have written his bright, bedroom-pop tunes in the key of Surfer Blood while still a one-man show, he made good use of his buddies on guitar, bass, drums and, most tellingly, xylophone, which rounded the cutesy, rather saccharine nature of the proceedings.
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