LIVE SHOW REVIEWS
Beehive and The Long Ranger at Chop Suey. On a Monday.
Beehive photo from MySpace
German electronic duo Digitalism played at Chop Suey on Monday for a highly anticipated set... that I missed. Obligations at my day job (and more specifically an alarm clock that would begin beeping at 4:30 am whether I liked it or not) made me find my way toward my car after the both local, electronic bands finished their sets. Although I would have liked to have stayed for Digitalism and am confident I would have enjoyed their set, I don’t feel cheated or let down. In fact, based on the strength of the opening bands, I still left sated and happy.
On Lineout the question was raised (and answered with a negative) whether or not Beehive and the Long Ranger were the correct bands to open this show. I honestly don’t know – mostly because I didn’t stay for Digitalism, that question is not relevant to this review. Judged on their own, I rather enjoyed both Beehive and the Long Ranger, even if their sets and sounds were disparate.
The first band was Beehive, with the ridiculously unenviable opening timeslot of 9pm on a Monday night. At its most generous, the crowd was modest. I don’t think I counted more than six people on the main (dance) floor at one time during their set (and those six people may have all been their friends). Beehive is largely a classic rock band put through the filter of an electronic duo. Using mostly guitars (with lots of reverb), synths, laptops and a drum machine, David Miller and one-named band member Alethea (who also goes by the name “Butterfly Beats”) craft a sound that is not too dissimilar to fellow-travelers like LCD Soundsystem. At one point late in the set they even brought to mind a psychedelic jam band – with programming. The next song they rocked an unexpected cover of “Helter Skelter.”
Beehive appears to be an equal partnership. Both Alethea and Miller sing lead vocal parts. Sometimes they rotate between songs other times between verses. She has a more soulful, Billy Holliday meets Beth Ditto voice and his more monotone, yet their vocal parts were split roughly 50/50. He also provided the guitar and bass lines while she worked the programmed parts, sometimes manipulating two laptops at once. It was not a perfect set – sometimes Miller’s guitar solos bordered on masturbatory and the band seemed frustrated at the emptiness of the club in general and on the dance floor specifically. Overall, though, they were a very band that operates comfortably in the rock and electronic worlds.
The second band up was the Long Ranger, an electro pop trio. If Beehive recalls classic rock bands, the Long Ranger would not be out of place on Top 40 radio. (Even though much of what you hear on pop radio is bullshit, I mean this as a compliment.) They have an atmospheric style with beats made for dancing and very solid pop instincts. Fans of Prince, R. Kelly, and (especially) Justin Timberlake are likely to be equally charmed by the Long Ranger -- if they’d just get the chance to hear them.
The Long Ranger is made up of brother-sister, lead/backup singer, keyboardist/programmers Ted and Sylvia Chen and guitarist Seth Thomas. Unsurprisingly, more and more people started to trickle in to Chop Suey, yet strangely stayed away from the dance floor and congregated en masse in the bar. Yet, it worked to the band’s advantage, with Ted using the (wide) open dance floor to break dance through an extended bridge or two and toward the end of the set, and the whole band moved to the floor and played their final song amongst the slowly-growing crowd.
Digitalism was, of course, the attraction on this Monday night, yet both bands played well and delivered fun sets. I was thoroughly impressed -- even if most people in the club barely noticed.
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Michael said on October 24, 2007:
I was there that night, and there were quite a few people that hung out at the bar for the openers. There were at least 40 people there during Beehive and then halfway through Long Ranger people started to come in for Digitalism. Although the dancefloor seemed like a noman's land for both openers.
However in Seattle this is usually the case for most local shows I see. Seattle people don't like to dance unless there is a huge crowd that hides them from each other. Head bobbing is more of the norm and I saw alot of that. I am also guilty of it as well.
I would say I liked Beehive between the two openers. They were refreshingly different and soulful.I liked the guitar work too.
It's too bad you didn't stay for Digitalism. They were great although their set was too short. The dancefloor was packed too and it was nice to see Seattle people move.
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Chris said on October 24, 2007:
I liked the whole show, from open to close. Eclectic bills keep it interesting. On the whole, it was a good night for music.
The Stranger Line Out just gives a megaphone to aging hipsters anyway. I rarely pay attention to what they have to say.
Most of the writers, not all, but many, will say crap just because they can. They seem like nasty high schoolers who are mad at the world.
Three Imaginary Girls however! Gotta give props to those ladies. They have taste!
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elle said on October 25, 2007:
I keep hearing people gripe about Seattlites not dancing, such as commenter #2. But, why don't I ever see these people out dancing then? If you're not going to follow what you preach, then get off the soapbox.
Perhaps people weren't dancing at this show because...well, I'm just personally not impressed with Beehive, maybe I'm not alone? I think people only dance to what they like.
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Tim Hanken said on October 25, 2007:
I'm with Cosby on the long interludes between sets, especially Digitalism not hitting the stage until almost 11:30. It's Seattle on a Monday, not Ibiza or Berlin. Digitalism played every track off Idealism and I especially enjoyed "Magnets" and "Pogo" which I think were back to back, but I'm not 100% sure. I thought "Homezone" was a little flat, but it was hysterical to hear "We have the biggest party ever....Se-ATT-elle (how to you spell a thick German accent?) It's hard to pump up a room full of people at midnight Tuesday morning when a large majority of the crowd has to be up a few hours after "the biggest party ever".
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Dan said on October 25, 2007:
I have to say in defense of both openers that you don't see many women rockin electronics that often on stage, while singing beautifully I might add. Perhaps Bjork, Imogen Heap come to mind. But both Beehive and Long Ranger did that exceptionally.
The Long Ranger harmonies were tight and the lead singer was fun to watch. He danced for everybody.
I liked Beehive a lot. They were, dare I say, emotional electronica. I was impressed.
It was amazing for me to see how different forms of music could come out of similiar equipment. Both great and enjoyable. But yet the dancefloor was empty and everyone was at the bar for both bands.
Nobody danced for Beehive or The Long Ranger. Which was sad to see because they were both great bands.
However I am one of those people who are not really on a soapbox but will speak my mind. I have to say that as a life long resident of Seattle not many people dance here. I am sure this city is one of the hardest crowds to win over. People dance for bands when there are big crowds only. Nobody wants to dance for an opener because who wants to look "unhip here". Especially when the band is doing something different from the closer.
Plus I don't really like to dance. But I like music, and I like music best with a beer in hand while enjoying it with my lovely lady.
So I don't dance but I liked the bands. So call me what you will. I just call it as I see it.
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imaginary dana said on October 25, 2007:
Wow, this review has brought lots of great comments! Thanks for the input, all!
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Phil said on October 29, 2007:
Well, my full take on the evening can be found in my MySpace blog, but in short: I was one of at most three people actually standing out on the main floor for Beehive's set, and maybe ten people by the end of The Long Ranger's set - and it seemed as though that was due as much to space running out in the back and by the bar. I will admit to being one, like Dan says, who does not want to be the only person dancing. But I was the only one even out on the floor to listen! I think it's a shame that no one could be bothered to even come down front to listen, forget about dancing. That big empty space was very unfriendly for the bands; it seems as though all the hipsters were so busy being hip, they forgot that being unfriendly isn't cool. Maybe if both bands totally sucked, there'd be some justification, but (a) they didn't and (b) there's no sign anyone even paid enough attention to make that judgment.
I should disclose that although I only know Beehive from seeing a few of their shows, I think it'd be fair to count them as my friends. But I'm not arguing about whether more people should like Beehive, I'm arguing that more people should show enough respect to stand and listen to the bands.
Besides all that, all three bands did put on a good show. And people certainly lost their reserve when Digitalism finally came on.
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Reviews
cosby said on October 24, 2007:
i was not feeling the long ranger - sorry. as eric grandy pointed out, the sound was really lacking - i wasn't even sure the guitarist was doing anything for the first half of the show.
my BIGGEST gripe with the show is the long pause between sets (how long does a soundcheck take for a v-drum and an akai run through an ms-20 clone when it is already set up on stage?). playing bjork's 'vespertine' right before digitalism is like sipping sizzurp before a rollercoaster. 'vespertine' has its place (the section of my cd collection that barely gets touched), but before a high energy show? for thirty-ish minutes? really?
luckilly it didn't take away from the energy once the show started. massive.