Hundred Waters @ The Luminary (7/15/2014)

Opener:

• I saw half of one song by Golden Curls, so I can't comment on them much.
• Mas Ysa was an interesting happening.  He's one of those button-pusher/knob-twister types, though he also sings.  When he first started out I was pretty sure I was going to hate him, but some of his stuff turned out to not be so bad.  The parts that sound like real music with a beat are sometimes interesting.  But, unfortunately, it comes across to me as music for people with ADD, or ADHD, or whatever they call it these days.

Stage:

• At first glance it didn't look like Hundred Waters' stage set-up offered much, as there were no crazy lights or anything - not that one would expect much at such a small venue.  But they made amazing use of a fog machine and (what looked like) two projectors that they set up on either side of the stage.  They basically created videos that projected as if they were an expensive light set-up, almost looking like lasers at times.  I tried to capture this in a couple of photos, but they didn't come out too well (blame my Nexus 4, which takes crappy low-light pics).

Observations:

• Basically, this was a band that I had only heard of 5 days ago (from Pitchfork's Best New Albums list).  Before even getting through my first listen of the album I knew that it would be one of my favorites of the year.  And then while buying tickets for Sharon Van Etten in October I happened to find out that they were in town in 4 days.  I debated whether to go to the show since I barely knew the band, but then decided to go only if tickets were still available at the door.  And I'm very glad that I went.  The music was pretty great and the projector light show was fantastic.  Their rating is probably a bit inflated for being such a pleasant surprise and exceeding my low-ish expectations, but their show was definitely a good time.

Rating: 4.5/5