When I first heard of Dusted, it was introduced as a side project of Holy Fuck‘s Brian Borcherdt. I listened, expecting frantic beats and synths like his main project is known for. Instead, I was surprised with a totally downtempo, chill rock sound; no synths to be found anywhere. Just him on guitar and vocals, and drums courtesy of the other member of the duo, Leon Taheny.
First opener was the campily named Robertcop, a macbook and guitarist act that played chillwave beats for a cool thirty or so as a warmup. The following act, FAN-TAN, was a post-punk three piece of bass, guitar, and drums. They were loud and effective, but don’t really have much of their music conveniently available online. That’s a mistake in their marketing aims.
The diamond in the rough for tonight was Rarechild, up third. Two synth-bros and a drummer teamed up to deliver some funky electronics in the synthpop realm. Lead singer Mike Friedrich’s eccentric dance grooves when not mashing keys, made their set very entertaining. Pair his moves with actual drumbeats (a necessity for an electronic act to be taken seriously) and you have a compelling performance. Rarechild is in the process of recording a song per month this year with the intent of an LP in 2013.
Dusted was very impressive as a live act. For a band whose recordings are definitely lo-fidelity, their music translates very well to the stage. A crisp and clean sound, on top of an unexpectedly energetic performance left me totally engrossed. My favorite moment of the night was catching the drummer doing his thing while simultaneously playing a keyboard; that’s some talent. This tour is in support of their debut LP, Total Dust, which is very worth a listen. It’s lamentable that the relatively anonymous bill and ominous weather kept the attendance minimal; ya’ll missed out!
[…] wasn’t spellbinding, but the potential and talent is there for future work. Rarechild, whom I’ve profiled earlier this year, are wrapping up their project of one track a month for the year. They’ve […]