Sinkane - I liked their set, but I wish they would have played another song to show their diversity... (although I know they had a short timeframe)

Fuck Buttons - If this type of music isn't your thing, well, then it isn't your thing. I loved it, though. Sometimes sinister, sometimes reminded me of Underworld, always interesting. I also liked that it was more than two dudes and two laptops.

Caribou - Ahmed from Sinkane just showed Columbus why he is one of the best drummers in town. Holy crap. He played like he had been playing that music for two years, but in reality it's been less than TWO WEEKS. It was hypnotic to watch him play. So so good.

(Sinkane non-Ahmed drummer is also pretty amazing too now that I think about it)

Because the drums play such an important role in Caribou, I was worried about the local guy who only had a week or so to practice, and early in the show, he did seem to struggle a bit in keeping time (probably just excitement, nerves), but when he was on, he absolutely blew the roof off the place. Awesome show. What a great band. They played all my favorites from Milk of Human Kindness, too.

Anyone think that some of the subtlety of Caribou's music was lost just because it was so freakin' loud? Or am I just too old?

Watching and listening to the dual-drumming of Dan Snaith and Ahmed was a real treat, and I'm also glad they played a lot from Milk..., as Andorra hasn't quite grabbed me yet.

As for Fuck Buttons, I wish they had played first for 20 minutes and Sinkane had had the 40 minute middle spot.

I'd agree on both points, Pat, but I'd also attribute Caribou's sound to what seemed to me a pretty minimal setup. I haven't seen him since the Manitoba-Caribou switchover, but I was expecting more gear or more in the synth/keys vein. A lot of the songs ended up sounding very similar and just kind of blurring together in my memory, but it is a pretty great blur.

I liked most of what Fuckbuttons did, but definitely prefer their extended epics more than the 'one-second-sample-looped-to-infinity' parts. They lost me when they passed up the perfect ending point at what ended up being about 3/4 of the way through. Gotta know when to leave them wanting more.

Ahmed killed it.

I'm feeling like a list.
- Ahmed is a wondrous musician and a great dude.
- I only caught Caribou.
- I personally didn't think Caribou was too loud at all.
- I really love the sound in that room.
- I was also expecting more synth, etc. On that note, my bud and I thought that the samples were kind of a cop out for a band like Caribou. That minimal set-up looked cool, but forgoing the samples for two more people on stage playing instruments could have made it monumental rather than simply fantastic.

im bummed i missed the show, i was stoked on the idea of seeing fuck buttons, but i guess i fucked that up... ahmed is the man...

Kim Rottmayer photos

http://flickr.com/photos/wexnercenter/s ... 545196203/

Wex posted an MP3 of the entire Sinkane set on their site.

http://wexarts.org/wexblog/?p=267