Last evening I went to Southpaw, the indie venue-of-choice for those of us in Park Slope. The main attraction of the night was Edmonton-based electro-pop group Shout Out Out Out Out Out Out. Wait, no, only 4 "Outs." It turned out to be a longer night than I was bidding for: the event had three opening acts, each of which played for about an hour, and each of which took forever and a day to set up. The first two bands were obscure asian bands that just didn't do much for me. They each had a cool sound at some point, but nothing I would want to listen to on my own.
Then the 3rd opener came on: 120 Days out of Norway. The band is fronted by Ådne Meisfjord, and just sort of weirded me out. It's some of that fun avant-guarde stuff, but Meisfjord, (pictured at left), just had an odd vibe about him the whole night. He stared at the crowd, took off his shirt, crawled across stage, and kissed the cheek of one of his energetic front row fans among other things, along with just general peculiarity. All of their songs dragged on for far too long. The music wasn't terrible - there were some times that I found myself really enjoying it all - but it wasn't my cup of tea.
Then the real talent came out. Shout Out Out Out Out came on stage to an exhausted crowd (it was clear throughout the gap between 120 and Shout that everybody was ready to go home and crash, but we didn't want to miss these cats). The sextet did well to re-energize the crowd with their electronic dance music. Frontman Nik Kozub made it clear from the very beginning that any dancing would be much appreciated - even a heartfelt headbob would do. The band has a unique set up. They describe themself: "two drummers + four bass players + two samplers + five synthesizers + one vocoder. volatile dance music." They were a lot of fun up on stage - telling jokes, dancing and kicking above their heads, and just plain straight up jammin'. At one point they dedicated a song to people who are in debt for life, stating that once you're in debt to that point, you gotta just go out and drink and dance. Good call, fellas. Anyway, the band released their debut album, Not Saying/Just Saying, in Canada last year, which has been nominated for the Juno Prize for Best Alternative Album in 2007. I kind of love it - it's something a little different than I generally listen to, but it's fresh and new and definitely worth the listen. Check 'em out, and check out the video I took of one of the songs last night.
[mp3] 120 Days - "Get Away" (120 Days) | Insound
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