LIVE IN TORONTO

GIRAFFES? GIRAFFES! released this album for free on their bandcamp page, something that as a fan of the band I surely appreciate.

Given the complexity of the music here, it is almost shocking to hear how well the band pulls it off. Other than a moment at the beginning of "When the Catholic Girls..." where the band was probably trying to "freak out" but ended up just sounding messy, they seem to be in complete control of these challenging instrumental tracks.

Of course the track names are as ridiculous as they have ever been for this band making it a challenge to speak about any particular track, but luckily for the most part on this live set each track is great. I am S/H(im)e[r].. has the great spoken word part too, which is nice.

These guy's music is angular, fast, tricky, and a little bit bizarre, but they manage to pull it off live, which is nice. It's amazing to remember that this is just a two piece band (guitars and drum) - they have a really big sound and I always feel there are at least 3-4 guys on stage. The sound quality is good enough that we can hear what the band is up to, but there is a certain amount of audience noise - including an audience member who is far too appreciative to finally see the band (yelling "F*** yeah" every chance he gets). This does drag down the quality of this set a bit which is unfortunate because what the band is doing is spot on pretty much all throughout.

For fans of the band, or those interested in math rock or just complex instrumental rock music, this is definitely a choice album and worth checking out.

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