The Airborne Toxic Event had set up a real event at Amoeba to celebrate the release of their new album, as, one more time, there was a huge line of people outside the store. In this town, you can say you have made it if people camp hours before your Amoeba performance, and it was certainly the case for the local band. The title of their new album, ‘Dope Machines’ (released on Epic) alludes to this endless sea social media which distracts us and turns us into ‘dope’, but which at the same time ‘are sort of extensions of the things that make us humans’, and this took a full meaning watching all these people waiting on line and passing time on their iPhones… But it is already their fourth album, which was a fast process when you know that the band has released a debut album in 2008.
Despite their large following, I didn’t know much about The Airborne Toxic Event. They are in general ignored by the critics and the hipster music world, Pitchfork has really hated them since the beginning, but their fans adore them. ‘Would hugs be allowed at the signing table?’ asked a young girl to an Amoeba employee. They are a large band with Mikel Jollett on vocals and guitar, Steven Chen on guitar, Anna Bulbrook on violin and keyboard, Daren Taylor on drums and Adrian Rodríguez on bass, and their explosive style jumped at my face as soon as they started their set. Mixing violin, keyboard and a row of muscular guitars, this certainly was a band which wanted to make people sing along or clap their hands during a series of poppy choruses, and the audience was more than ready for this. I am not sure about their genre, the tunes were sung at the top of Mikel Jollett’s lungs, packed into a large blend of indie rock music, a zest of country-western culture (the violin) and a lot (really a lot) of enthusiasm and confidence… The songs were a bit diverse and the band has admitted to have chosen a new musical direction for the new album, going more electro-pop may be, as Jollett said in an interview that he decided about his new sonic change after listening to A Cappella version of Queen and David Bowie’s classic duet ;Under Pressure’. However, some older songs like ‘Changing’ from a previous album may have sounded like a muscular version of a Modest Mouse song… They did a mix of old and new numbers as it is always the case in these shows, but they played them with the same overflowing and joyful energy and over-the-top rocking bombast.
Behind the abundant clapping and crowd participation, the foot tapping and the strong confidence of the voices, there were always catchy pop structures engaging a singalong if not some dances in the rows. They did ‘Hell and Back’, a song written for the ‘Dallas Buyers Club’ soundtrack and a song about California, described by the band as written from the perspective of a true native, and Jollett introduced it by alluding to the SNL recurring sketch, the Californians: ‘I don’t know any surfers, that show is funny but we are complex and mostly,… Mexicans!’ Did he want to bring a bit of social consciousness? I am not sure they are this kind of band, their lyrics never seems to rise above some old clichés, but In any case this resonated very well among the LA crowd.
Then they played a song I recognized, probably because of some airplay on local radios, the very ascending ‘Something Around Midnight’ off their debut album, which sounds like one of these an old-school Arcade Fire bombasts, sung by Bruce Springsteen… That’s the deal with Airbone Toxic Event, their set at Amoeba had the appearance of a big arena-rock show with an encore including an acoustic song and a semi-cover, as I was hardly surprised when they mixed a few lines off Springsteen’s ‘I’m on Fire’ with their last song.
But this also may be the problem with them, as I was leaving and hearing their album streaming through the store audio, when the band were still signing, the songs had lost much of their punch and liveliness… So, if you want the swagger and the enthusiasm, go to see the Airbone Toxic Event live.
Setlist:
Changing
Gasoline
Hell and Back
California
Wrong
Sometime Around Midnight
All I Ever Wanted
The Fall of Rome
Missy / I’m On Fire
(Bruce Springsteen cover)
