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I caught Pairs’ first Auckland show on Saturday at the Lucha Lounge. Real cool little venue, think something akin to 696 or maybe Logo without the second floor but with a smaller stage, seriously, a very small stage which is quite cool as the bands tend to play from the floor which adds to the intimacy. Great sound too, no need to mic everything up in a place like this and the lighting deserves particular recognition. Actually the light would be more accurate – a solitary slightly wobbly, red glass lamp standing proudly beside the drum kit provided all the lighting and if that sounds a bit odd trust me it works – it feels like what I guess having a gig in your living room with your mates would be like.
As always Pairs played a great set with the usual jumping in to the crowd and peppering of wisdom from he behind the drums. The thing about watching Pairs is they always create an atmosphere of fun, I’m pretty sure most of the audience wouldn’t have heard them before (although they have had pretty good coverage in the local music press) and sure enough from the opening assault the crowd were hooked and I wasn’t the only person grinning like an idiot. It may be easy to lose sight of the fact that these guys are really very good at crafting songs and put a lot of thought not to mention effort in to their performances – they may seem a little chaotic which is part of the appeal but something that is obvious is how tight they are and how much F holds them together these days. They seem to know exactly what the other is doing or about to do and as F has grown in confidence their sound has become more mature and changed a lot since their first shows many moons ago. The dense and droney sound she manages to create is at times hypnotic and I think quite unique, a perfect counter to the frantic vocals and drumming.
Supporting Pairs were possibly (at least for this week anyway) my new favourite band – God Bows to Math. Their name gives you an idea of what they are like and is taken I believe from a Minuteman song which gives you an idea of where these guys are coming from. I was thinking son of Slint when they kicked off but only if that son was an aggressive loud bastard child with a love of noise rock. Hard to describe, they had me referencing all sorts of stuff from my past and I guess that’s what’s so cool about these guys – they don’t fall in to any particular genre or whatever and whilst there is a definite noise rock thing going on its very original and seriously fun and loud and, oh sod it, go listen to their stuff on bandcamp and make up your own mind. Or better still buy the album. Suffice to say I think one of the best things I have heard / seen in years and I am sure my neighbours are going to come to love them too when I get home.
http://godbowstomath.bandcamp.com/
我赶上了Pairs乐队在Lucha Lounge举行的奥克兰首演。非常酷的演出场地，类似696 和Logo，但没有二楼是一个小型舞台，确切来说，是一个非常小的舞台，演出时乐队成员常常会超出舞台区域但也因此平添了一份亲和力，所以效果相当不错。音响和灯光效果都非常棒，想来这样一个场地也不需要总是提高音量。事实上用灯来描述也许会更准确些——唯一一盏红色玻璃的舞台照明灯已然矗立于架子鼓旁，随音乐时不时微微旋转配合效果，虽然这么说听起来有点怪，但相信我，这种感觉就像是在自家客厅约上三五好友来看演出一样。
Pairs乐队擅长将表演融入观众，时而跳入人群时而开个玩笑却总能让观众从架子鼓背后感受他们的幽默与智慧。这种轻松愉悦的氛围也正是Pairs乐队演出一大看点，我敢肯定这边大多数观众之前并没有听过这支乐队（尽管他们在当地音乐出版社覆盖率已然相当不错）但同时我更肯定的是演出刚开始就已震惊四座而我也并不是唯一一个像白痴一样傻笑的人。当然， 这也会很容易让我们忽略事实上这群家伙其实在音乐创作上也是实力非凡，他们将很多想法注入音乐更不用说在表演上的造诣了——看似杂乱却联系紧密，也正是魅力所在，这其中F为乐队的付出着实可见一斑。他们的声音较之前相比已经改进了很多，越来越趋向成熟，默契十足，F对此也相当有信心。个人认为她的音色很有特点，时而可以催眠，用以抗衡疯狂的嗓音和爵士鼓极具杀伤力。
支持Pairs 乐队（至少这周）他们还是我的最爱，下一个就是——God Bows to Math。对于乐队而言，名字可以让大家知其喜好风格，而这支乐队的名字应该就是取自一首叫Minuteman的歌曲，成员来自哪个地方也就显而易见了。当演出开始时，脑海中想到是Slint的儿子，但我想就算真是那样也应该是个痴迷摇滚喜欢大吵大闹的淘气小子。很难用语言描述，纵然倾尽毕生所学也难以精确的形容这支乐队，我想这也正是这群家伙的厉害之处——他们没有特定的风格，但同时却有着很明显的摇滚元素出现在乐队原始音乐创作上，非常的好玩儿但也很吵，该死，多说无益还是亲自到 bandcamp听一下吧。或者最好能够买到专辑。我只能说 这是我近些年听过的看过的中最好的了， 相信回家后我的那些邻居们也会越来越喜欢他们的。
http://godbowstomath.bandcamp.com/
translation by Zoe.
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