As Braids took their instruments, the stage was glowing with warm red lights, and so began an intimate transition to the night's performances. Raphaelle Standell-Preston's voice was beautiful. The keys moved like something from a Phillip Glass arpeggio or like the vintage warbling keys of Au Revoir Simone. The guitarists created syncopated delays with a heavy, but stylistically supple drumbeat. Braids' songs have a dreamy cinematic feel with slow escalations, like a mirage in the distance coming closer and closer. When their set concluded, the crowd seemed in awe. Fortunately, for those who missed their set, Braids will return to Portland on March 25th at the Doug Fir with Toro y Moi.
The subterranean flow of Braids transitioned into an upbeat fervor when Will Wiesenfeld, a/k/a Baths, took the stage. Baths rocks so hard (especially his song "Hall"). The L.A.-based DJ is 21, and he looks like Jack Osbourne, sideburns and all. The difference is that Baths is a talented, classically trained beat-smith and not a whiney celebrity. He released Cerulean through the influential Anticon records, the label that has produced a distinguishable style with groups like Why?, Clouddead, and Alias in their lineup. Wiesenfeld seemed surprised, overjoyed that people were so enthusiastically into his music. His beats are so accessible, bridging into the Los Angeles "beathead" scene, without being too far gone. His songs are crafted with complexity, but they are still pop songs. Baths, modest and cheerful, rocked the Holocene, popped all of the joints, loosened up the body and made my night. It felt so good to see a crowd of people jumping around.
