This was the final Monday of Manimal’s 3-week December residency at the Echo.  I arrived part-way through Sister Crayon’s set and was pleased to be there—it was cold outside!  They sounded a bit like Portishead and they’re a fun band at which to look.  There was a big guy wandering around the crowd, frequently remarking that they made his nipples hard.

Voices Voices was confident-looking this time around, but maybe that’s because they were pissed off since their gear seemed to lack consistent functionality.  The appearances of anger and confidence are often interchangeable, so maybe they weren’t confident at all.  They had a big ol’ wall-of-sound in full effect, and I kept changing my mind about whether I preferred them in their guitar and drums configuration versus the sampler-based electronic approach.  Towards the end of the set, Jeanine started screaming into the microphone, but all that came out was a super-messed-up-noise sound. I liked it because, unlike most noisy bullshit, this fit well into the context of the song and was not noise for the sake of making me want to leave the room.  It made me question what in their set was “real” and what was a triggered sample, adding an appropriate bit of mystery and intrigue.

Corridor is a strong representative slice of Manimal music, meaning he is a good musician who plays confidently and whose concept is strong and well-refined.  Not one of the instruments he played during his set (guitar, cello, violin) was used for novelty or cool-factor—each was played well, each had a unique role, and the interchange was not distracting as when attempted by lesser performers.  This show was his first with a live drummer, Rodney Rodriguez (cool name points!), and his playing was solid and straightforward—they sounded like they had been playing together for a while.  The kick drum added some hearty low-end to the music (thanks sound guy and subwoofers), and I’m a sucker for a good thump in the chest.

Moonrats seemed drunk, and if it wasn’t for their drummer holding everything together the performance could have really suffered.  I liked their flannel and they had a tambourine that I wanted for my own, but I was left rather unaffected by their set.  A later listen to their recorded work showed me that they can be a decent band, but on this night they weren’t getting it done, so I went outside.

—Tyler Sabbag