Rooftop Playlist

I have been following Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs (Orlando Higginbottom) since early last year. He does not have a lot of music readily available but I have listened to remixes that are on iTunes, Household Goods, Prehistory, and Prehistory II over and over again. Wednesday he was in Austin playing at The Mohawk.

Unfortunately because it was on a Wednesday, the show was held inside so T.E.E.D did not have his dancers on stage or his lighting setup. It did not leave anything to be desired, though, because T.E.E.D does what he does so well that after the first song, you do not miss the gimmicks. Still, I would be lying if I said some light tricks would not have been fun to dance with. Nonetheless, T.E.E.D went on stage with his signature feathered outfit.

His set was just under 90 minutes and there were minor pauses and a little stage banter. Each track faded into each other, creating a continuous flow of thrashing dance beats. T.E.E.D blends your conventional electronic synthesizer styles but pairs it up just enough with vocals, drum beats, and some stark bass. He is a magician behind 3 full tables of equipment. He has formula for making music people love, no gimmicks needed, just some tenacious beats. Try playing his music at home, or in the car, or even walking down the street. I guarantee everything else would just be background noise because his music invokes a powerful even sublime set of emotions.

No disrespect to The Mohawk because I absolutely love their venue but their indoor stage is not made to accompany tons of people who went there to dance. I would have liked to see T.E.E.D in an indoor venue like The Parish. (I saw Digitalism, another electric group there and it was a great dancing experience.) It would have also been nice to see T.E.E.D. on the outside stage of Mohawk where people can comfortably dance with the visual effects (some people were upset if you danced into them, can you believe that noise?) Granted, though pitch dark,  constant camera flashes did make for an interesting “dancing” atmosphere.

T.E.E.D has a heavy fan base in the UK, with his first album dropping early June.

Music Video of Tapes & Money with live footage:

Live Version of Closer/Space Ballad/Trouble in London:

I’ve recently been listening to Bloc Party which reminded me it has been awhile since we’ve heard anything by Bloc Party. Lead singer Kele Okereke put out a solo LP and EP since their last release in 2008 and I was not fond of his solo stuff. Overall neither got a lot if any accolades. I’m excited that they’ve announced their hiatus is over and they will be performing “comeback” shows.

I hope their 4th album is as good as their stuff. Below are some live videos from songs I like. It makes the anticipation of their 4th album and tour dates that much more exciting.