The first shall be last

Tonight I unearthed my scanner, its power cord, and a compatible USB cable (all of them in separate, still-un-unpacked boxes and bags), and I scanned my Final Fantasy embroidery at the highest resolution I could. I had begun cross-stitching these six sprites from the original Nintendo game shortly after I'd seen Final Fantasy open for an epic Arcade Fire show. Final Fantasy is Owen Pallett, whose music consists of "violin and looping pedal and thin, stupid vocals," according to his web site. He holds the title of World's Most Popular Gay Postmodern Harpsichord Nerd, according to the Times (henceforth, "WMPGPHN"). This evening, he headlined a show of his own, not especially far from the apartment I just moved into, and I had no excuse not to bring him my sampler, which had been folded up in a paper bag since I'd finished it some time ago.

When I walked into TT's at 9:30, Why Twist The Hair was playing keyboards and drums and singing in their best Thom Yorke falsetto to a crowd that mostly seemed to consist of their friends. They have a lot more friends than most opening bands do, and [REDACTED] [We had no idea "BU girls" was such a loaded term] The audience thinned out somewhat for Dylan In The Movies, who played well, in a polished late-90s modern rock way. For Alex Lukashevsky and his acoustic guitar, we formed a perfect half-circle. Under all his delicate songs, we could hear the muffled rumble of another show, from the Middle East, downstairs from us. He treated us to a spirited rendition of "La donna è mobile".

As the crowd increased in number, fervor, and indieness, Final Fantasy arranged his collection of pedals on the floor of the stage, took his violin from its case and his feet from their shoes, and approached the microphone. "One two, check check, trust trust, trust fund." And then, an unprecedented twenty minutes ahead of schedule: "Shall we begin?"

I've seen lone musicians with looping pedals open for Slint, Kayo Dot, the Dresden Dolls, the Magnetic Fields (in a modest student ballroom at Smith College, for eight dollars, with enough space on the floor for us to sit down and share a pint of ice cream from Bart's while we waited), and the aforementioned Arcade Fire, among other bands. (Final Fantasy's use of loops is different than the others': the WMPGPHN does not pile up a haphazard wall of sound, nor does he need an invisible drum machine. The loops are meticulously timed, layered precisely, and completely necessary. The process of constructing a song in this way seems precarious and easy to fuck up, which may be why it's so much fun to watch.) With the current tour, Final Fantasy defies the laws of physics by not being the opening act.

Owen Pallett is gangly and Canadian. Between fiddling and singing and plucking songs from Has A Good Home and his new album, He Poos Clouds, he told us a lot about his reading habits.

"I was reading Harper's on the way down." Somebody yelled "Fuck Walmart!" or something to that effect, in reference to the current issue. "It was like reading The Killing Fields on the way to Cambodia."

"I read a lot of Lovecraft on the last tour. Are there really backwards Puritan cults in rural Massachusetts?" I resisted the temptation to call out "Hampshire College!"

Scrambling onto the stage after the show, I presented the WMPGPHN with my Nintendo cross stitch, awkwardly. He responded by hugging me, so I think he liked it.

Comments

[Ezra]

Aw, if you want looping violins, I think you should give Andrew Bird another listen (I suspect he's who you saw open for the Magnetic Fields; I was absolutely blown away with his performance opening for them at some auditorium at Berklee a few years ago).

[sushiesque]

nah, the magnetic fields show was ages ago, pre-69 love songs. you can't see them for $8 anymore. :(

I'll check out andrew bird, anyway.

[Peter M Allen]

this is the drummer from why twist the hair. i enjoyed your review, but i'd like to amend a couple comments.

first, there were, in fact, no "BU girls" in the crowd for our set, that i know of; the flip-flop sporters arrived from Sephora, downtown, where my keyboardist nick does makeup for a living. these were not the only people in attendance--there were: parents, their parents, hipsters, townies, kids from new england conservatory, berklee, and the UMass philosophy/english departments alike. the only person from BU there, to my knowledge, was my girlfriend's roomate's boyfriend, a chemistry major from Nigeria.

--to tell the truth, i was a bit disheartened by your homogenizing this crowd, our friends indeed, under a label that generally conjures up beer-ponging beer-sluts. also, i disagree with people who use the term "BU girls" in reference to this seeming debauchery, as i so often hear it. not all female BU students regularly get ripped at the Kells/Wonderbar, have trust funds, or exhibit whatever behavior you seem to find socially inferior. but if those people, too, want to come to a why twist show, i say all the better. i like flip-flops. that avant-garde music can provoke cheers from such a multifarious crowd, i think, is a testament to non-elitist music appreciation as well as the merits of audience diversity.

second, the term "falsetto" as i know it--that is the technical, musical definition--in no place appeared in our set except for, maybe, during our satirical cover of Thom Yorke's "atoms for peace," a song we thought would also be humorous to play considering it's release date is sometime in july. i, personally, would not be so quick to identify our music under the label of mr. yorke's signature sound (although this is a good sound, and i like it). but this is your blog. so i'll try taking it as a compliment, though its use was clearly perjorative.

also, i was the one who yelled "boo wal-mart!" refering to the latest Harper's, although "fuck wal-mart" is probably what i intended to say. thanks for clearing that up.

i do appreciate your support of music in discussing this concert. and final fantasy was indeed a marvel. but i hope your future public publishings consider/hesitate before launching into an all-out assault, ad-hominem, on local musicians and their audiences. integrity in music journalism is important. treating the "other"--be it BU hootch or whatever--with respect regardless, is important. so let's try and keep the entertainment industry relatively free of stereotyping.

gratefully,
Peter

whytwistthehairmusic@hotmail.com
www.whytwistthehair.com

[sushiesque]

dude,

1. I never said "beer sluts"

2. I certainly never said "journalism"

3. I think I came in during the thom yorkeness, which is probably why I got the impression that I did

4. for the record, your set was fun, and your audience was probably the most good-natured I've seen at TT's, ever; a guy even *asked* if he was blocking my view

5. I appreciate the thoughtfulness of your response, especially considering I wasn't being terribly thoughtful myself

6. rock on

[Gwynne]

Wow, I see nothing resembling "an all-out assault, ad-hominem, on local musicians and their audiences" -- just an honest assessment from someone unfamiliar with the band. Chill out, WhytwisttheHair. All links are good links.

[sushiesque]

...and Ezra: when I woke up this morning I suddenly remembered that the band I saw at the Magnetic Fields show was Olive Grain, who were (are?) pretty cool.

[Peter M Allen]

yes, Gwynne, that part was admittedly hyperbolic, but merely represents my own, personal "honest assessment" of the above critical review. all links are certainly good links, but mine will inform others' when they link stereotypes to our spectacle, because we don't want that.

thanks, Christine, for your apology.

[unsinn]

Christine, I demand that all future music reviews on this site contain only the most vicious of sterotypes.

[gus]

dang, yo.

[sushiesque]

unsinn: will do. KITTEN-LOVING LIBRARIAN

[Otter]

Aw darn, I'm sorry this thread has died. I really wanted to see the post where the band boy explains why he has the right to get snitty with your completely inappropriate personal observations via his own completely appropriate personal observations. Can you please review them a second time if you ever get the chance?

[obo]

"Posted by: Peter M Allen | 26 June 2006 at 05:15 PM"

dude why you got to dis my birthday #25 like dat yo