The Ratatat Show I’m Not Sure Any Asian Women Saw

If only Madden Hastings had recognized the promise of drum and bass loops and the e-bow they might still be together. Instead, those pieces and much more have become Ratatat.

The show fit nicely into my continuing love affair with the non-lyrical. Their opening act, Panther, unfortunately came with lots of words, none of which were really very entertaining. I’ve got to start showing up much later for these shows.

I wasn’t sure how the electronic/rock thing would play live, but it was super solid, at times touching the energy levels of the Explosions In The Sky set at ACL (not quite but same zipcode). It seemed to induce some sort of spasm/seizure from the kid in front of me. This could just be his idea of dancing or it might be the music has some underlying power like that Pokemon episode that set off all those kids in Japan.

I’d say more about the music, but I was largely distracted by the plight of small Asian women at live shows. They seemed to be everywhere, staring into the backs of the people in front of them. On the upside, they seemed able to slide around within the crowd, but on the downside, the only place they can see from is either right at the stage or standing behind another small Asian woman. It seems like something should be done, like they should get their own little section, a sort of handicapped parking space, but for standing. I hope you’ll join me in writing your representative about it in the morning.