[ATTENDED: November 4, 2019] Kishi Bashi
This is now the fourth time we’ve seen Kishi Bashi. The first time was magical–he was solo doing his amazing looping and violin playing. The second time he opened for Guster and even played with them, which was thrilling. The third time was at Union Transfer with a small band. The sound was bigger and really fun. And K crowd surfed.
This was the fourth time and his band was even bigger. He had stage decor (what looked like grass and a giant crane in the background). And his latest album is full of all kinds of instrumentation beyond the violin. K. played guitar and keys as well as violin.
It also happened to be K’s birthday! He had posted a few days earlier that it was his birthday at our show. I contemplated bringing him something, but that seemed silly.
The band came out on stage with frequent collaborator Mike Savino (known as Tall Tall Trees) on bass, Ryan Oslance on drums, Dave Kirslis from Cicada Rhythm on guitar and the most wonderfully dressed musician on flute. It took me a few songs before I learned that Pip the Pansy was the stunning flautist who kept her flute in a quiver on her back. She was so much fun to watch and made incredible music.
Then K. came out. K. always looks nice in a jacket with a bow tie.
He then proceeded to play “Marigolds” from the new album. I listened to the new album a lot and really like it. But somehow, I didn’t recognize this song until almost half way through it. I don’t know if its because the band made it sound so much bigger or that I was so overwhelmed by everything happening, but I actually thought it was a new song until the chorus came back around.
Then he switched to a guitar and played one of my favorite songs on the album (of many), “F. Delano.”
The new Kishi Bashi album is called Omoiyari [ a Japanese word. which “doesn’t necessarily translate as empathy, but it refers to the idea of creating compassion towards other people by thinking about them. I think the idea of omoiyari is the single biggest thing that can help us overcome aggression and conflict.”]
The album was announced with a film he was making about Japanese internment camps in America. On his bandcamp, he says,
“I was shocked when I saw white supremacy really starting to show its teeth again in America,“ Kishi Bashi says. “My parents are immigrants, they came to the United States from Japan post–World War II. As a minority I felt very insecure for the first time in my adult life in this country. I think that was the real trigger for this project.”
Kishi Bashi recognized parallels between the current U.S. administration’s constant talk of walls and bans, and the xenophobic anxieties that led to the forced internment of Japanese-Americans in the months following the attack on Pearl Harbor. So he immersed himself in that period, visiting former prison sites and listening to the stories of survivors, while developing musical concepts along the way. The unique creative process behind ‘Omoiyari’ has been documented in a film scheduled for release in early 2020.
In other words these songs, which are all so cheerful and happy–with such gorgeous melodies and choruses are born of much darker deeds. So the verse of F. Delano, with its cheerful na na na, na na na chorus, goes:
Named of the leader who favored a nation after his own
Into the desert he pushed all the Nips, he wasn’t alone.
Speech with a fury
Sentenced with no plan ahead of you
Without a heart
K. moved over to the keyboard for the majorly dancey and discoey “Hey Big Star“. It was just before this song that the girl in font of me gave K. a birthday present in a small box. It was a bow tie. We all sang Happy Birthday as he quickly tried to put it on. He failed at least twice and then said he’d pretend he had it on and had now taken it off. He was genuinely flattered at the gift.
The discoey “Big Star” was followed by the slower “Say Yeah” which also has a discoey chorus. It was on this song that Pip the Pansy blew my mind. She not only played all kinds of stuff on the laptop but she also played the flute one-handed while laptopping. I see that Pip the Pansy opened for Kishi Bashi on a few of his shows and I would have loved to have seen her as an opening act.
During this song, Oslance also was so much fun to watch as he used all manner of percussion–clanging bells and things on a rope. Throughout the he used padded mallets, brushes, drumsticks, bells, and who knows what else.
Although I really like the new songs, I love the older songs. So when he grabbed his violin and started “Carry On Phenomenon,” I think we all went crazy.
All night people were singing along. I’m mixed about this because I want to hear the musician not you in my ear. People need to understand personal space–be in the moment but don’t make me part of your moment. But in a big chorus, its fun when everybody sings, even the girl who got it wrong.
I really enjoyed that they played songs form all of his albums (there were so many songs!) The front of the show was very heavy on Sonderlust. “Honeybody” came next. I had no idea that the had created a remix contest for this song, but in the middle of the song, he said they were going to do the remix version as well. Honestly it just sounded like a more dancey version than the original, and that’s okay with me..
Before the show, S. and I had wondered what “Theme From Jerome” was all about. Well,K. told us that Jerome was an internment camp in Arkansas. The opening melody is based on a Japanese melody and the lyrics are about being forced to lose your culture. Woah.
Although the songs on the new album are pretty heavy, K. doesn’t want his shows to be downers. And there is a lot of fun to be sure. He even attempted again to tie the new bow tie and was successful this time!
The band left and K. did a few solo songs looping his violin. The first Kishi Bashi song I’d ever heard was “I Am the Antichrist to You.” So I was thrilled that he played this one, looping himself all the way.
Then he made a joke about the time in an artists’ life when he does a cover song that becomes more popular than any of his own songs. Strangely enough, I didn’t even know he made a recording of Talking Heads’ “This Must Be the Place” although I see that it has 21 million plays on Spotify, which is 6 million more than the next song!
Tall Tall Trees came back out after this song. For the first few songs, he played bass guitar. But for this part, he came out with his banjotron. This part of the show is a special jamming improv between the two of them. They play so perfectly off of each other. Its really fantastic. For this jam, K. started off with a “birthday melody” and they jammed from there.
Few songs are as fun to sing and clap along to as “Bright Whites.” Even if I have no idea what he is singing in the beginning, it is a great song to experience live.
It’s especially fun when before the song, the band brings out a birthday cake and party hats for the band.
And even more fun when after the song, K. does some beat boxing. When he was solo he used to beat box all the time, looping his voice and sounds to keep a beat up. For this song he decided to loop a happy birthday message to himself, which he then admitted was pretty narcissistic and t hat this whole birthday thing was going to his head.
The band came back and they played a beautiful “Q&A” and “Penny Rabbit and Summer Bear.” They followed it with another new song that I absolutely love, “Angeline.” This is another absolutely beautiful song that is far more sad than the joyous chorus might suggest. It also has some amazing flute in it and I was delighted to catchy a Pip the Pansy flute flourish as she returned the flute to her quiver.
After a stunning “Violin Tsunami,” a shrouded figure came out on the stage. I couldn’t imagine what she was doing there. Then the band started playing “Ode to My Next Life” and the shrouded figure sang the operatic opening vocal part. It was really quite stunning. Rumor has it that she is the merch salesperson. If so, I hope she has a side gig singing.
Up next was his (apparently) second most popular song on Spotify. “Philosophize in It! Chemicalize with It!” This song is justifiably popular as it is so much damn fun. Indeed, even K. thinks it’s fun because after getting us to clap along he threw confetti on us! Pip and Tall Tall Trees threw confetti too, I just happened to be in the right place for K’s.
Another one of my favorite early Kishi Bashi songs is “Atticus, in the Desert.” I feel like his concerts are just going to have to get longer and longer because he can’t leave anything out. This song is particularly fun because use get to see Tall Tall Trees play the banjotron. The banjo lights up and he hits the banjo head with a mallet as he plays along. The only bad thing about these pictures is you can’t see how beautiful the banjo is. This led to another rocking jam with the whole band joining in as K and Tall Tall Trees show how amazingly they play. Even Pip the Pansy joined in showing off her best Ian Anderson impression.
K. asked us if we were having a good time. He assured us that he was having a good time. In fact, he was having “The Time of My Life.” I honestly couldn’t believe he was playing this cover and he did it so well, I thought it was only for our show (because of his birthday). But soon enough the band joined in and a surprise guest vocal appearance from Mr. Steak! Who knew Mr. Steak could sing, too.
When I first heard “The Ballad of Mr. Steak,” I was taken aback by how dancey and goofy it was. And now it is an essential part of any Kishi Bashi show. I particularly enjoyed in this show when K. had to make sure Mr Steak had his guitar for the solo. Tall Tall Trees suggested that a man of his ages shouldn’t be diving to the ground like that.
Even though I love these songs, I’m terrible at remembering names. Although “It All Began With a Burst” does more or less open with that line. But before getting to the English line, there’s a Japanese line “kesa ka ni sasareta” (which we all sang along as best as we could) as well as a bit of beat boxing. This beatbox promised us some slap bass.
But before the was any slap bass, K. ran to the back of the set and brought out a cool crane puppet. He held it over Mike’s head as he started the slap bass and then he jumped right into the crowd . Right in front of us! So S. and I actually got to hold up Kishi Bashi as he flapped the crane in the audience. It was so much fun. I realized I’ve never fully supported someone who was crowd surfing before (I have added a hand a few times) and bodies are heavy. So that was amazing, I just wish I could also have seen him flapping the crane. But you can’t be in two places at once.
It was a sensational ending to the set. And was already one of the best, if not the best concert experience I’ve ever had.
But he wasn’t quite done yet. I am so glad that I didn’t spoil this show by looking at the set list earlier. Although I suspect that the girl who gave him the bow tow did. We were surprised to see her bolt away from the front of the stage once the song was over. Would she really not stay for the encore?
Well, she clearly knew what we didn’t. That K and the band would be doing the encore from the middle of the crowd. I’m not sure if she managed to get a great spot. We really didn’t. But K. stood on a box or a crate or something and we could see his head above the crowd as he played “Annie, Heart Thief of the Sea.” This is the last song on the album and I thought of it as a kind of throw away track. But hearing it live, in this quieter setting was really special and allowed me to appreciate the song more.
I assumed that that would be the end since it closes the album. But no. He had two more songs for us!
Up first was an amazing “Manchester.” A girl behind us sang along. She actually had a very pretty voice and she sang very well. Curmudgeonly me would normally be annoyed at hearing her instead of him, but he circumstances were so weird. He was unamplified and he rotated to make sure everyone could hear him. So sometimes he faced away and sometime he faced us and we could hear him so much better. Her voice was just part of the whole experience.
K.’s voice has also gotten really amazing. I’ve always thought his voice was good but I feel like he has really stepped it up as of late. His voice sounded string and powerful and he was hitting incredibly high note s with ease.
I really don’t know what my favorite song on the new album is. I really love “Song for You” and was only a teensy bit disappointed that he didn’t play it because he ended the show with an amazing version of “Summer of ’42,” a song that is absolutely beautiful.
I’m very curious what was going on in the middle of the audience there–did he shake hands on the way out? I’ll never know, and that’s okay. Because I had an absolutely phenomenal time. It was such a great show.
It was also fun that our friends Liz and Eleanor were there. They were up in the balcony and sent us a photo of K. while we were holding him up and one of him playing in the crowd. I liked seeing him from that different angle.
I really don’t know if any show can top this one.
Happy Birthday K.!
SETLIST
- Marigolds Ø
- F Delano Ø
- Hey Big Star §
- Say Yeah §
- Carry on Phenomenon £
- Honeybody § (including remix)
- Can’t Let Go, Juno §
- Theme From Jerome (Forgotten Words) Ø
- I Am the Antichrist to You ∇ (solo)
- This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) (Talking Heads cover) (solo)
- Bright Whites ∇
-
Q&A £
-
Penny Rabbit and Summer Bear Ø
-
Angeline Ø
-
Violin Tsunami Ø
-
Ode to My Next Life §
-
Philosophize in It! Chemicalize with It! £
-
Atticus, in the Desert ∇
-
(I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life (Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes cover)
-
The Ballad of Mr. Steak £
-
It All Began With a Burst ∇
-
Annie, Heart Thief of the Sea Ø (acoustic in crowd)
-
Manchester ∇ (acoustic in crowd)
-
Summer of ’42 Ø (acoustic in crowd)
Ø Omoiyari (2019)
§ Sonderlust (2016)
£ Lighght (2014)
∇ 151a (2012)
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