CONCERT REVIEW ROUNDUP #1
Table of Contents
The Regrettes Live from The Neptune Theatre #
Review by Connor Grady #
I saw the Regrettes play in Seattle on August 18 2022. They are an indie/alt rock band and had two guitarists, a bassist, and a drummer playing live. Lydia and the whole band had a (frankly surprisingly great) stage presence and had the small venue rocking. She would pause to make sure the crowd was singing loud enough, and even polled the crowd for what last song she should play.
They have pop-like catchy melodies yet incredible rock instrumentals. During song breaks and outro’s they genuinely sounded like the strokes! I have their new album as on of the best alternative/indie/rock albums of this year. It’s incredible end-to-end and they played nearly all of it.
My only negative recommend is that the bass should have been more audible/discernible. More of a sound check/design concern, but at times the rocky walls of sound would drown out the cool baselines.
Check Out The Regrettes: #
Toro Y Moi at the Capital Hill Block Party #
Review by Javier Martinez #
After the chaos that was Danny Brown’s set eventually died down on day 2 of Seattle’s Capitol Hill Block Party festival, I was looking forward to a chiller, more vibey atmosphere. And luckily, next up was one of my favorite artists from this past year to deliver just that— Toro y Moi.
With the lights dimming to a faint blue, three light piano keys were struck, then followed by an increasingly distinct dance beat in the background. The crowd, already bouncing their heads up and down and swaying to the beat, cheered as singer Chaz Bundick (known as Chaz Bear, and professionally as Toro y Moi) entered, followed by his gentle voice that just puts you at ease, and made you feel like you were in good hands, as he began the concert with his 2013 hit Harm in Change.
Toro y Moi’s music often pulls from lots of influences; from house, techno, and hip hop (even being featured on Travis Scott’s Rodeo), to indie rock and psychedelic rock. They’re often known for leading the “chillwave” genre. I’d best describe the music as experimental, electronic, psychedelic, dreamy and overall just chill, often with instrumentals packed with lots of reverb and vintage synthesizers, coupled with mellow vocals. A lot of these instrumentals often, for me at least, bring about a lot of feelings of nostalgia, and paint grand landscapes of sound in my head.
Seeing Toro y Moi live in concert was only that much better though. Something about Chaz and company’s presence brought about a sense of ease, and eradicated stress. After the opening track, he played another hit, Ordinary Pleasure, and the crowd only became more captured and entranced by the groovy basslines. This was followed up by tracks from his last album, Mahal, which contained some of my favorite summertime soundtracks, with songs such as The Loop continuing the theme of entrancing basslines, followed by sweet-sounding electric guitar riffs, and Deja Vu bringing up a feeling of eternal summer, with nostalgia for road trips in a van down highway 1 that I’ve never actually been in. The pairing of music and lighting made me feel like I was viewing the world through a kaleidoscope; and there was Chaz, guiding me through it all with his gentle voice that managed to sound both mature and innocent in a way, as he danced and ran around the stage in a manner that seemed almost playful in his bear beanie.
It was all such a funny sight and yet so infectious and catchy and made for one of my unexpectedly favorite concerts I’ve ever been to. I’ll definitely be going to more Toro y Moi if I ever get a chance.
Check Out Toro Y Moi: #
- Deja Vu
- Ordinary Pleasure (A KSCU Staff Favorite)
- Mirage
Remi Wolf at The Warfield #
Review by Joseph Givens #
An icon. Remi Wolf is a 26 year old singer songwriter who early on decided that music was the career path for her. She originally wanted to be a songwriter only but after meeting and making one of her first songs “Guy” with producer Jared Soloman, she earned a spot as Still Woozy’s opener which later on led to collaborations with brands such as Apple and artists such as Dominic Fike. In October of 2021 Remi Wolf released her most recent album and the album that this specific tour was based on, Juno, which features some of the artist’s most popular titles such as Sexy Villain, Liquor Store, and my personal favorite, Street You Live On.
Now, shifting gears, I’d like to focus on the concert itself. We saw Remi live at her September 15th concert in San Francisco at the Warfield Theater. She opened with Quiet on Set, one of her more grunge type songs and a song that really got the attention of the entire audience. After that she played many of her popular songs from Juno as well as some of her most celebrated songs from her EP We love Dogs! Such as Photo ID and Disco Man. One thing that is amazing about Remi Wolf and what showed in her performance that day was her amazing ability to sing live just as well or even better than she sounds on her produced tracks. Her natural talent and stage presence shone throughout the entire concert as it became difficult to NOT get completely enveloped in the performance. The experience was so visceral that I ended up not taking a single video or photo of the concert simply because I didn’t want to miss one second of it with my eyes. She ended the concert with Disco Man while spraying the GA section with an insane amount of bubbles. It was an overall amazing experience and one that only cost $35 for GA tickets!