Concert Review: Choir of Young Believers, Via Tania, mi-gu, and Warpaint @ (le) Poisson Rouge

Concert Review: Choir of Young Believers, Via Tania, mi-gu, and Warpaint

Every fall, New York City is swept up in the madness that is the CMJ Music Marathon, involving nearly every venue in the city and offering citizens a dizzying number of shows. This year I finally had the chance go to a CMJ show at NYC’s (le) Poisson Rouge, and see what all the fuss was about. Four bands, a guest appearance by a Beatle offspring, and some dancing pandas later, I admit I was not disappointed.

The first band, Denmark’s Choir of Young Believers, launched right into their set without so much as an introduction. I was surprised to see there were only four people--two guitarists, a drummer, and a cellist--on stage, as they are known for having more than half a dozen performers on their roster. While their songs all started out sounding like generic, mournful rock ballads, Choir finished them out strong with ground-shaking, Led Zeppelin’s ‘Kashmir’-type orchestral jams. If my attention had wandered during the beginning of their songs, by the end Choir certainly had recaptured it, and possibly ruptured my ear drums as well. Which all good rock should do.

Choir was followed by Australian artist Via Tania, looked every inch the airy-fairy chanteuse that her music suggests -- she had decorated her hair and her instruments with gold leaves. Once again, I was surprised by the number of people on stage -- just her and her drummer. I was wondering how they were going to recreate the lush arrangements that give the music on Tania’s new album, Moon Sweet Moon, its trademark dreamy quality. While Tania multitasked - she played a ukulele and a guitar, and both she and her drummer had keyboards at their hands - her music did seem to lose some of its chilly, ethereal sound. The increased focus on the ukulele and the guitar, however, made it warmer and more folksy. And Tania’s voice never disappointed. Somewhere between Macy Gray’s and Björk’s, it was at once breathy and strong, and made her music truly unique.

After Tania finished, I noticed something odd: several full-grown men wandering around in full-on panda suits. Which set the tone for the next performer: experimental rock outfit mi-gu. Frontwoman Yuko Araki playing the hell out of her drums and, ever so often, spit spoken word verses while her lone bandmate rocked out the electric guitar, creating quite a cacophony. Halfway through the set, Yuko announced that she was going to bring out a special guest: Sean Lennon. He came on stage wearing a military jacket, toting an acid-green guitar, and joined in on the jam. While the members of mi-gu are clearly incredibly technically skilled, the lack of cohesion and oddball lyrics made their performance seem very performance art-y.

Last up was L.A. band Warpaint, whose music plays like a mix between Sonic Youth and Vivian Girls. The three female vocalists/guitarists’ great harmonizing and raucous indie rock sound got the crowd moving, and created more hearing loss for me. At the end of their show, they even invited the pandas up on stage to dance with them. But I never did figure out what their official purpose was - a night full of surprises.