Last night my daughter and I went to see Mute Math and Eisley. It was a really good show, which is what I expected. Eisley played a 40-minute set, filled with mostly material from Combinations, their grand new one. They really shined in the tune "A Sight To Behold." It was certainly also a sound to behold, for they rocked with a solid beat that was super cohesive and massively heavy. I couldn't help but think of the power of tunes like "Kashmir."
Uh-oh. I can feel it coming. This "concert review" is going to be littered with Zeppelin references.
Mute Math came on and proceeded into "Collapse," but this version sounded different than the last time they played this same venue in the spring. This one seemed to rely more on louder voices, with the swirling "ah-ah's" reaching higher notes with more volume. Earlier performances had sounded like they were a jazz band getting the feel, starting slowly and building up. This one didn't sound "rushed," per se, but it was faster than before. Maybe they were eager to launch into "Typical" and get the show going. The stage setup was better. They had six large rectangle screens with lots of light, fuzz, and filmed imagery going. At one point in the show they used live footage of the performers. It was cropped and edited together really well. This helped in a sold-out and packed club with giant pillars and tall people blocking the view of the stage for many.
The played a new one, called "Clockwork" (possibly "Clockworks") that sounded really good. It started off with lots of guitar, having a slightly different feel than their last album's material, but still very much Mute Math.
Other highlights included guitarist Greg Hill hitting his guitar (it looked like a hollow body from way back in the back of the club) with a mallet. Bassist Roy Mitchell-Cardenas beat on a drum in more than one song (the all-out improvisational number known as "Break The Same"), alternating between that and the stand-up bass. The band even pulled a seldom-played old one (from the Reset EP) for one of their encores -- "Peculiar People," which vocalist Paul Meany coaxed many a helpful chorus of "ohh-whoa-whoa-whoa's" from the crowd. It felt quite good. The band, while somewhat beat up (drummer maniac Darren King apparently sprained an ankle at an instore performance earlier in the day), seemed relaxed and glad to be there. The 1,000 or so people in the club sure were.
Posted by Doug Van Pelt at November 9, 2007 09:44 AM