By Andrew Hertzberg
It was about a year ago that I did my first show review for
this website. Afterwards, I spent the night solving the world’s issues until
4 a.m. with a friend, after a few rounds of course (see bio). A year on, I’m seeing the Drums
again, and those late night conversations still proceed. This time about the
current and future states of music (you know, because that’s something we can
predict). It led me to objectively look into what it is I like about the Drums.
On the surface they come off as another indie band. Bunch of white dudes from
Brooklyn make post-New Romantic songs in the vein of the Cure, the Smiths and
New Order. If imitation is the best form of flattery, the Drums are on the edge
of over-flattering. What your ear initially picks up is how the bouncy pop
songs are juxtaposed with gloomy lyrics. For instance, last year’s eponymous
debut LP begins with a major key and the line “you were my best friend but then
you died.” Quite a mood setter to begin an album (a format we seem to still
embrace) that sets the pace throughout.
This year’s Portamento
doesn’t veer too far off that road, but as I remember from their live show,
their singer is tops. It’s not even that he dances like no one’s watching, but
that he’ll jog in place in time with their songs, a "dance" move that I
associate with the '80s for some reason, the fastest cardiocore moves featured
on the full bass and empty pockets "Money." It would come off as anachronistic
if it weren’t so nostalgic. Not for the '80s in particular (even if that’s the
vibe that comes off aesthetically), but for youth in general, for the desire
for things to last forever, before the inevitable crush of the realization that
life is futile, that things change, that despite all the good in the world,
there is an equal amount of bad.
So for a band with generally glass-half-empty lyrics, the
upbeatness of the music got the checkered tiled floor of SubT shaking, the
crowd at the least affecting a quickened head-bob, some people full out hands
in the air and trying to keep up with frontman Jonathan Pierce, who is the
crossroads of Morrissey, Billy Idol and Julian Casablancas. The thing that impresses
me most about the Drums is how a lot of their songs follow the same pattern: conventionally
structured, a bass or keyboard line fighting as hard as it can for attention, a
distant looking Pierce and too-cool-for-Brooklyn austere of the guitarist Jacob
Graham. And yet, they all manage to be highly distinguishable from each other. The
stand out for the set (considering the lack of "Let’s Go Surfing") was from
their first album, the put your arm around your f, gf, or bff anthem of "Down
By the Water," Pierce escaping his monotone voice for the most emphatic and
passionate performance of the night. Considering the problems the Drums have
had in the past as a band (losing members, creative differences), they still
manage to look well put together live. However long the band lasts, they’re
definitely worth catching live, especially in the smaller venues, and Pierce
was absolutely grateful for the packed and devoted room.
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Check out more show reviews:
Atari Teenage Riot at Reggies
Jane's Addiction at Metro
Peter Hook & the Light at Metro
Swans at Bottom Lounge
Freelance Whales at Empty Bottle
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Show review: The Drums at Subterranean, 10/4
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Brilliant live band, like you said gloomy lyrics but they bring them to lift and are so energetic.
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