 "Photo: Gordon Huang")
Wednesday night at The Barn was, in a word, eclectic. Before the nice, close knit audience of students, fans and interesting characters who all seemed to know each other, We Are The World and Mutaytor redefined the word-really. You came away from the show and could only ask yourself, "What was that?"
The night started off with a set by We Are The World. Hailing from Echo Park, this band have categorized their sound as "tropical," but watching them is more like being hit by a tropical storm. From beginning to end, they were high energy and non-stop movement. The four members of the band first came out in long, white gowns and tall, white hats with veils over their faces. Their instruments were an electric drumset and some previously recorded synthesized music playing from the house sound system. When the music came on, the dancing began.
The two opening numbers seemed to be more of a ritual than anything else. The lead singer raised her arms to the ceiling and started an incomprehensible chant. One cloaked figure jumped onto the drums and started a heart-thumping beat; it literally reverberated in the audience's chests. The other two members, who could only be termed as "backup dancers," swayed and hopped to the beat, their movements taking on a ghostly look and feel. They looked like ethereal creatures moving their arms around in circles and created fluid, wavelike patterns with the white cloth that completely covered them from head to toe.
After these songs, it became clear that the band was all about the aesthetics of their performance when even the costume changes were choreographed. The next outfits were skin-tight, nude colored, full body jumpsuits under a pair of black slacks and suspenders. Their faces were also covered, leaving holes for their eyes and mouths, but the rest of their features obscured by a mask made of geometric shapes and sewed into the cloth of their suits. The costumes created a uniformed androgyny; one was hard-pressed to distinguish between man and woman.
It almost seemed like it was just one long song for the entirety of their set. The ending was like waking up from a trance.
After a much needed break and a chance to shake off whatever surreal experience that was, the headlining band, Mutaytor came on. The band originated in the Black Rock Desert at the Burning Man Arts Festival and has been treating audiences to a "spectacle of sound and vision" since 2004. The brass section throwing back show-goers to the Roaring Twenties during the times of prohibition and speakeasies.
However, there was also an edge brought to their music that separated it from your average "sit down and lounge with a dry martini in your hand" jazz. This was "get up out of your seat and jump around" jazz on speed. The guitar riffs were Guitar Hero worthy. The two (count 'em: two!) drummers played off of each other's beats in way that still seemed in unison. The bass solo in the second song was totally indescribable. The vocals were minimal, but who needs vocals with music this good?
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