The Electric Factory hosted another indie rock band Thursday to appeal to the “underground music” scene of Philadelphia.
This time they hosted the relatively well-known indie rock super group from Canada, Broken Social Scene. Do Make Say Think was the opening act.
After the hassle of waiting in line at the ticket booth with hundreds of kids who looked exactly like me, I arrived right in the middle of Do Make Say Think’s set. It was nothing short of mind blowing.
Hearing them briefly, I was mesmerized by their song structures and buildups without
having any pre-conceived knowledge about where each song would end up. Known for being mostly a post-rock instrumental
band, one would expect elements of epic crescendos and Explosions in the Sky-type compositions.
Do Make Say Think was different; during the second half of their set you could distinguish elements of jazz and shoegaze music with some violin thrown in.Jazz elements aside, Do Say Make Think’s percussion section was simply perfection.
With two drummers in the band, the collision of mathematical drumbeats made a great groundwork for the other instrumentalists to play on.
The band ended on a highly epic note with guitar pitches being raised higher and higher until ears drums were on the brink of popping. Then they exploded with a sea of sound. They thanked the crowd and casually walked off stage without the typical talk to the crowd banter.The next band up was Broken Social Scene, which is an indie/pop super-group from Canada comprised of many indie rock favorites such as Feist, Stars, Metric, The Dears and many other bands.
By the time the band walked on stage, the Electric Factory was filled to the brim with screaming fans. The band opened the set with “Jimmy and the Photocall,” an unusual song that set the right mood for the crowd to scream in excitement.
The set was highly different from Do Make Say Think, with Broken Social Scene coming out with a happier dance vibe.
Immediately after the first song the band broke into their fan favorite, “7/4 Shoreline.” A great song but the band stayed strictly in many aspects when it came to the structure, choosing to make the song sound like the CD rather than to switch it up and jam a little. During the entire set guitarist Andrew Whitemen (Apostle of Hustle) was in a full trip mode, waving his guitar around and making many hand gestures all while dancing
his tail off. He proved to be the most inspiring performer out of any one on the stage.
His passion and onstage antics held for a highlight song during the set: “Looks Just Like the Sun.”
A major highlight for most of the set was the ongoing sound manipulation that took place to serve as a smooth transition in between songs. It also displayed the potential the band has in the realm or sound manipulation and progression.
“Pacific Theme” was an odd song to choose because Broken Social Scene usually
doesn’t play it in a set, but it provided a nice smooth groove that calmed the crowed and allowed us all to stop sweating for a little while.
After all was calm, the pixie-like Lisa Lobsinger came out with violinist Julie Penner to sing the beautiful song, “Bandwitch,” which incorporated a slightly different and heavier ending. The band played “Major Label Debut,” “Lover’s Spit” and “Ibi Dreams of Pavement” with a jam at the end. I appreciated the band’s attempt to blend the end of Ibi into a jam. It showed that they are trying to reach for something more musically, but the jam extended for too long and was slightly mediocre.
After the jamming, “It’s Gonna Break” was a great moment in the set with incredible song play and every band member rocking out all at once. The song eventually ended climactically and blended right into “KC Accidental” and then a sound manipulation jam session with guitarists Andrew Whiteman and Charles Spearin. They continued to jam even while the rest of the band left the stage, eventually cutting off the session abruptly and walking off stage.
For a night at the Electric Factory, it wasn’t bad at all. Do Make Say Think put on an amazing show. Broken Social Scene put on a great high-energy show that could have been cut a little shorter, but was still a pleasure to listen to.
Solomon Sofolawe can be reached at tua32615@temple.edu.
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