REVIEW: Phantogram @ Kung Fu Necktie, 2/13

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REVIEW: Phantogram @ Kung Fu Necktie, 2/13

POSTED: Monday, February 15, 2010, 9:45 PM

Filed Under: Music Show

During a week when Philadelphia was covered in snow up to its waist, there was still good music to be found around the city. The only problem was getting there. A wrong turn led to an urban off-road excursion. This momentary delay kept me from the first few minutes of Phantogram's set at Kung Fu Necktie, but once inside I was fortunate enough to shimmy my way past a few already drunk twenty-somethings to get a spot right next to the stage.

The night began in the same way as their set a week earlier opening for Minus the Bear, but this was a much better atmosphere: The smell of my neighbor's armpit resting on my shoulder at the Croc Rock was replaced by the slightly less pungent odor of fresh air — well, fresh bar air. I looked around and saw thick rimmed glasses, cardigans, ironic t-shirts of kittens with eye patches and not so ironic fedoras.

Opener "As Far As I Can See" sounds like something straight out of the Underground Hip Hop Field Manual: a sample that's so obscure not even you know where you got it, and a beat that lays just right. Throw in some phased guitar and have a pretty woman sing overtop and you get a nice, neat pile of something different. I suppose this is what happens when two musicians are left in upstate New York with a pile of My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth and Madlib. In the end you get Phantogram. It should be expected.

"Let Me Go" uses a similar formula but executes it differently. The guitar and drums, along with a light horn sample, create a swirling loop that churns and sweeps you up underneath Sarah Barthel's spacious vocals.

Every once in a while, the band really let their roots shine through. The shoegazey chorus on "You are the Ocean" previewed the build-up that is "All Dried Up," their best of the night. Throughout the course of the song there isn't one snare hit, just a constant expanse of sound as Barthel's voice swells with the music. On the album, the song drags if you don't aren't already attached to it. But if you see it live, the Barthel's emotion, coupled with guitarist Josh Carter's intensity, the pulsating strobe lights and trippy images being projected behind the band — creates such an experience of awe that next time you see them in a club near you, you'll be inexplicably be singing along to a song you've only heard once before.

Setlist:
As Far As I Can See
Let Me Go
Mouthful of Diamonds
Running from the Cops
You Are the Ocean
All Dried Up
Make a Fist
Turn it Off
When I'm Small

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Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

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