Go For The Opener: Icy Demons and Shapers before Atlas Sound
Shannon Benine
Icy Demons
Welcome to Go For the Opener, in which The A.V. Club pleads that if you’re getting ready to see a big concert, be sure to get there early and pay attention to the opening acts.
The big show: Atlas Sound, Lincoln Hall, Jan. 15, 10 p.m
The openers: Icy Demons and Shapers
Why you should listen: Bradford Cox's work with Deerhunter and Atlas Sound has made him a concrete master of bedroom pop and shoegaze, but two local bands equally excellent in experimentation open for Cox here.
Shapers includes members of May Or May Not and The Hood Internet. They're relatively new, so only three songs are available online (you can download all three tracks here)—just a hint of what's in store for the group's upcoming LP, Little, Big. The tracks are atmospheric, ambient, and, in the case of "Proboscidean," unafraid of shredding guitars. The band's soft, warm synthesizers and tribal percussion should be a good match for Atlas Sound's acoustic guitar loops.
The other opener, Icy Demons, hails from Chicago and Philadelphia. Like Atlas Sound, Icy Demons began as a minimal recording project: just Griffin "Blue Hawaii" Rodriguez and Christopher "Pow Pow" Powell. The band's sound has since been built from the Rodriguez's poppy vocals, the cello of Tomeka Reid, a tight rhythm section, and layers of noises and voices. The result is an exploration of many different genres and attitudes and a triumph of oddball musical experimentalism that's bound to translate into an unpredictable live show.
