Monument Music and Arts Festival have got their shit together and will likely continue to bring high caliber shows to DC like the Small Black, Outputmessage and Cigarette show last Thursday at DC9. Each show presented by Monument honors a specific charity, and this time, Grassroots Reconciliation Group received a portion of proceeds from the show. From the looks of it, GRG and Monument probably made bank because the place was so packed I was sweating through my sweat and rubbing many body parts with many strangers.
Small Black are rather boisterous live, complete with booming 1980’s synths and Josh Kolenic’s baseball hat turned to the back. Forerunners of the chillwave movement, Kolenic and Ryan Heyner tour live with the addition of a full synth drum kit that fills out their sound. The show was anything but chill in three ways:
- Every Becky and Chad came out that evening to talk about their dinner at El Posto and scream gossip at the top of their banshee lungs during the entire set.
- Small Black’s performance evokes a massive wave of hands and arms from its crowd with evocative dance beats and pearly synthesizers.
- Due to a combination of the above, some Chad knocked over photographer Sarah Gormley, her camera malfunctioned, and we only have a few live photos of the night.
“Do you like them live? I don’t know yet, do you?” one Chad asks his blonde Becky. Why don’t you shut the fuck up and listen instead of looking at each other’s annoying faces and talking through the entire show. If you came to the show to socialize, stand in the back.
Three songs into the set, and I’m paying my bar tab, ready to leave because the side conversations will not desist. The show is crowded, which is exactly what you’d want for a benefit show, but I came to dance and everywhere I moved there was chatter and people I wanted to punch. Of course, Small Black engorged the room with upbeat, happy melodies that couldn’t help but break me out of my funk. For instance, “Camouflage,” “Photojournalist,” and “New Chain” were so amazing live, I almost jumped off the bar, swan-diving into a cluster of dicks who wouldn’t shut the fuck up, and I’m glad that I stayed.
I am ambivalent about Outputmessage’s live performance, but let me be clear that he is not lacking for talent. I had been having a crappy week and had an especially shitty day, so I was being extra critical of his performance. Bernard Farley strikes me as the kind of guy who always dances alone in a corner on the dance floor. He’s the guy that always has the moves and cool clothes but is also shy or awkward, and when you come up to talk to him, he’s polite but mumbles and quickly excuses himself to get a drink. When he gets on stage, he transforms, letting the beat and the pulse carry him away from himself into the alter ego that is Outputmessage.
I felt like I was standing in his bedroom watching him practice in front of his mirror. I think I’m so used to a full band, the fact that he was just a man and his laptop threw me. I want more from his act, for him to borrow Small Black’s drum kit or get his mom on stage to sing backing vocals. Farley has mastered massive dance beats though, the kind that Wolfgang Garter and LCD Soundsystem have managed to make money on. Everyone else was dancing and really into his set, so what is wrong with me? I kept wondering when Simon Cowell would step out to offer up some snarky crits, but maybe it’s me who will be Simon for this evening.
I was looking forward to seeing them, but I unfortunately missed Cigarette, who from the sound of their bandcamp, offer lush and blissed out indie, soft and comforting as a down blanket. Pardon me for being pissy about the night, but that crowd was whack; thanks to the Monument Festival for organizing a fabulous show with three amazing acts that made up for it.
Photo Credit: Sarah Gormley
