The Dodos, Silje Nes and The Wild Moccasins @ The Mink/Backroom

The Mink/Backroom in Houston brought out a handful of true music fans for a late Easter Sunday performance by The Dodos, Silje Nes and The Wild Moccasins.

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The Dodos

Silje Nes

The Wild Moccasins

Due to prior engagements throughout the weekend I was not able to attend any of our recent Breakfast-Approved Shows so I made sure that my whole Sunday evening would be devoted to this one. I did not have to worry about working on Sunday, as it was my day off. My closest relatives are about a 20 hour drive away, so I didn't have any Easter plans. I live about 5 minutes from The Mink. All the cards were right for a great time. My excitement was well warranted as we received three remarkable sets of music by three incredibly different bands.

Sunday night belonged to The Dodos, but as a music fan I decided to head to The Mink early to check out budding local talent The Wild Moccasins, as well as Norwegian songstress Silje Nes who is lending support duties for The Dodos current tour. I am more than glad that I did.

The Wild Moccasins' youthful energy-filled set filled me with hope for the growing Houston music scene. At times they sounded like Arcade Fire, and other times more like The Beatles. This five-piece indie-pop group features Cody Swann as its definite frontman, offering vocal melodies over his rhythmic textures on his acoustic six-string. Zahira Gutierrez layered her soft wavering vocals over Swann's to add a whole new dimension to their sound. Gutierrez also took care of lead vocals for several songs while offering percussion on others. Nick Cody's bass laid a serious backbone for this very excitable band. At times he kept everybody together when it seemed as if they were going awry. Andrew Lee's lead guitar filled the tiny synapses of sound-space that were not being occupied by everything already being brought to the table. The most visually exciting part of The Wild Moccasins was by far drummer Andrew Ortiz. Between hanging on the support bars on the ceiling and nearly leaving his seat several times while drumming, Ortiz never seemed to miss a beat. He enjoyed every moment of the performance as much, or more than, anybody in the room that night. I am excited for this young band as I see them having a very bright future. I also hope to catch them at next month's Westheimer Block Party. Check out videos from their performance here and here.

I went into Silje Nes' set pretty much blind. I had only read an article and heard a mp3 of hers somewhere online. It was much different from the very fun, danceable Wild Moccasins set that we'd just witnessed. She started off by looping her electric guitar, then adding her lead guitar over the rhythm that she had already established. On top of this she layered her soft smooth vocal. She had support from who I believe to be her brother Matz (?) on both drums and bass adding even more rhythm to the layers Silje was producing. They played through many tracks off of her recent release Ames Room as well as some other older material. The short but sweet set left me standing in awe of their powerful sound. It won't be long before the world knows about Silje Nes. The only thing that put a damper on the quiet set was the cash register which at times was louder than everything else in the venue. Oh well, things could be worse! Check out Silje performing "Giant Disguise":

The Dodos recently put out one of my favorite albums of 2008 so far. Visiter is filled with several gems that I have been singing loudly for the past couple weeks. Recently established by Pitchfork Media as "Best New Music", The Dodos have been hard at work for several years now making a name for themselves throughout the U.S. and beyond. At this year's SXSW they showed many people what they can bring by performing several memorable shows. They also recently made numerous new fans by supporting the well established indie act Les Savy Fav for a string of dates late last year.

This two-man band consists of primary songwriter Meric Long on guitar and vocals and Logan Kroeber pounding away on the drums. They use this stripped-down format to create their own form of psychedelic folk rock. At times Long picks his guitar in a fashion that used to be only reserved for old-time bluegrassers, and other times he distorts the blues so much that you can barely force it to fit into said genre. Kroebler grinds away on his non-traditional drum kit consisting of three toms, a snare, two cymbals, and a tambourine duct taped to his left foot. Mixing Long's folk chops and Kroebler's metal/tribal drumming makes for a very interesting and unique combination. If The National and Animal Collective collaborated and were remixed by Four Tet, you would be somewhat close to what The Dodos sound like. Listen for yourself, check out "Fools" here:

Thanks to a technical difficulty with one of the amps, this song was performed acoustic. It provided the highlight of the night for me. The transition from the layered, looped trombone to the driving acoustic-guitar-and-drum jam supported by a very well-written vocal puts an even wider smile on my face the more I watch the video. I am glad that I had the chance to see this band before they start getting the major attention that they deserve. Next thing you know they will be on the cover of Blender like those Ivy-League blokes that we have been talking about for the past couple of months. I hope that they stick to their roots musically, and do not let their imminent rise in popularity change their sound. I also hope that they don't join the ever-long list of bands that make a name for themselves and then never return to Houston.

Eggs' Rating: 8.7/10 yolks. For getting to see such a talented group of musicians perform for a very small, very lucky group of music lovers!

We have plenty more pictures and video from the show!

Eat Your Damn Breakfast!

-Eggs!