Buffalo Daughter
Doodling around on synthesizers and guitars with cool electronic-sounding loops is great and all, but Buffalo Daughter need to realize what the difference is between plateauing high and hitting the musical orgasm.
I love this band, and their set Saturday night on the White Stage was pleasing, but I left wanting a little more, like maybe a rendition of "Earth Punk Rockers," if they even play that song any more.
I also couldn't figure out why they frittered away the first 15 minutes on stage with bass-slapping rock funk. Where this band - i.e. suGar Yoshinaga and Yumiko Ohno - excells is at using keyboards and guitars to play better than increadible loops that could have been programmed but are all the more grooving for the real fingers on the keys and strings. And when they put vocal harmonies over the top, it's off the hook. But ever experimental cerebral types, they concepted their way through this set with only once ever giving the impression they had finished warming up. When they played the Red Marquee two years ago after the Chemical Brothers, it was non-stop live dance music. Tonight, the pauses were awkward. With all their talent and/or genius, I often wondered where they were going.
Notes:
1) The band is once again using its original drummer, Chika Ogawa.
2) DJ MoOog Yamamoto was with the band as usual.
