Seeing as we gave The Boggs new album Forts a write-up in our May issue, the Underwire was there to check out the Brooklyn-based group when they opened at the Fillmore. We were one of the few people who were there for the Boggs, though -- the main draw was the electro-disco beats of Hot Chip. In between the two acts, everyone sorta suffered through the art-house yowls of Planningtorock. Reflections on the show, Pulitzer-worthy photographs, and a message of hope about the intersection of Quiz Bowl and Hot Chip after the jump.
The Boggs, a rotating crew of musicians from Brooklyn fronted by Jason Friedman, opened up to a pretty sparse crowd, though there was a crew of younger kids who crowded up front and seemed to know every song from the month-old album Forts by heart. It was interesting to hear the album played live. I got the rough mix of *Forts *in late January, and really enjoyed it -- a fun and messy combo of post-punk and punk-folk that managed to be both lo-fi and intricate at the same time. But when the final mix came in a month or so later, the songs had begun to sag with the added instrumentation. Hearing the songs live and stripped down to essential parts reminded me of what I liked about them in the first place. Closing with "Little Windows," the Boggs provoked a small American Bandstand moment as kids began doing the twist 'till they turned the house down. __ __
If the Boggs took songs from their album that were occasionally lackluster and made them shine on stage, Planningtorock did the exact opposite. The one-woman project of Janine Rostron, Planningtorock's songs are intriguing arrangements of stuttering string and minimalist beats (you can listen to some samples at her web site), but her live show took the worst parts of performance art and experimental music and fused them together, creating something overly precious and profoundly annoying. Her vocals, which on the album work more as an additional instrument than the focal point of the songs, overpowered the music live, and the videos and costumes and affected stage mannerisms just came off as lame.
Headliner Hot Chip washed away any ill-feelings, though. Five lads from the UK (lads is what they call boys over there FYI), they use five keyboards, a few guitars, and some variations on four-on-the-floor beats to make a unique brand of music (they also remixed The Bogg's "Arm and Arm"). It's dance music that's a bit wistful, disco with hit of despair. As the crowd moved from bobbing heads into full-on dancing, I kept admiring how, well, homely these guys are and yet how self-possessed they were on stage. As they broke into, "The Boy from School," off their latest album The Warning, I realized these were essentially same kids that'd been in Quiz Bowl in high school, but now rocking a sold out crowd at the Fillmore.
Wired loves nothing more than geeks made good, and Hot Chip is a prime example. I offer the following visual aid:
The 2006 Davidson Univeristy Quiz Bowl team (go Wildcats!), who took 6th place in nationals:
... could, hypothetically, with the alchemy of a little time, a lot of keyboards, and adoring fans, become this: 
(image via MatteB83)
