The Dodos Cut Short at Bard

Thursday night marked my first ever trip to Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY for a show at their Smog venue. The only band I knew who was playing was The Dodos from San Francisco, but it turned out a couple others went on before them, making for a full, interesting, yet eventually disappointing night.

First off, the venue was ridiculous, literally a garage towards the end of a dirt road whose inside was covered in graffiti. The walls, the ceiling, the doors, the wall-sized garage doors, the bathroom... literally everything was covered in a layer of spray paint or sharpie marker.

The first band, presumably comprised of Bard students, was called The Amazements. They were a three-piece noise abomination performing almost entirely in the dark, cranking out blisteringly loud guitar tones after taunting the audience to come forward and get closer. The bassist chugged along with some heavy chords while the drummer slapped at his rickety set, breaking drumsticks and knocking cymbal stands over. The highlight was clearly when they decided to knock over all their drums in the middle of the set, the bassist stood up on the toppled bass drum, and proceeded to fall off backwards, knocking a light fixture off the wall.

The next band was the Tall Firs, another three-piece from NYC. I learned that their two guitarists attended Hampshire college, so that was a nice little conversation piece. They played a pleasant brand of quirky rock with much more structure than the all-over-the-place Amazements, seemingly due to much more experience. Their heavily bearded drummer was amazing, rolling out rhythms and providing all the low-end, for there was no bass.

Finally it was The Dodos turn, though once they actually started their set (after dealing with the technical issues of performing in such a remote venue such as microphones failing) it was nearly midnight. The extremely dusty garage was then full of beer-drinking, cigarette-smoking hipsters, and I was pressed inches from the stage. The band is composed of their seated singer/guitarist, using hollow-bodies and straight acoustics, an accompanying vibraphonist, and their bass-drum-less drummer.

They played their first song, "Jodi," positively wowing the crowd, and went into "Paint The Rust," my personal favorite, both from their new record "Visiter." Towards the end of the second song, a beefy security guard entered the garage. By this time it was only about 12:20AM, though the guard alerted the singer/guitarist that this was their last song. They proceeded to do a 15 minute number, looping various vocal effects, guitar phrases, drum beats, and even a bit of a trombone blow.

The intensity was kept up for their 35 or so minutes they played, though was cut short by the lame security guard. The band's last interaction with the audience was to plead for someone to give them a floor to sleep on, for they were apparently desperate. It's always special to see such an energetic band play such a small venue (for free), even if they only played not even half a set. All in all, it was worth the trip for the oddness of the venue and the three interesting bands even if it could have gone longer.

Ian Nelson, Collegian Staff