Atmosphere
Emo’s, May 2 & 3Daedelus
Whisky Bar, May 3Two nights at Emo’s had Atmosphere fans seeing double after the Minneapolis duo played Saturday night as the spitting image of Friday’s bash. Fortunately for them, their fan base is a devoted and raucous one, down with whatever Slug and Ant bring to the stage. Backed by a keyboardist, singer, guitarist, and Ant’s turntable/Mac spread, the always charismatic Slug (“You guys’ll just let me act like any old idiot I wanna be”) thrilled two sold-out crowds with material from new release When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold as well as an ample dose of classics (“Guns and Cigarettes,” “Like Today,” “Nothing but Sunshine”). Only the technical difficulties Friday night – a power outage temporarily shutting down Ant’s rig led to Slug holding a Q&A session and ultimately killed the stage lights for the duration of the night – deciphered the two shows from each other, Slug equating the necessary house lights to a house party “back in the day in Minnesota.” Eerily dressed both nights in jeans, black T, and maroon hoodie, Slug opened “Bird Sings Why the Caged I Know” with instructions on how to do his new dance (a caw followed by a “Hallelujah,” all while flapping your arms) and tweaked “Like Today” to end, “And I’m out, destination Austin.” The faithful soaked it. Down the way Saturday night at the Whisky Bar, Daedelus brought a chaotic bender of sampled yelps, swirling vocal cues, and relentless bass bumps, phasing from cuts of Nirvana’s “Drain You” to Billie Holiday codas. Riding high on hopped-up bumpers, the Los Angeles-based spinner worked his set possessed, highlighted by his dancing around a coke-infused riff on Ice Cube’s “It Was a Good Day.” Must say the sentiment held true.
This article appears in May 9 • 2008.