Picking Up Crumbs: Mates of State At The Varsity

In another CakeIn15/Decider co-production, cas and Staciaann hit up the great Mates of State show at the Varsity last night. Read it on Decider here. Black Kids were a disappointment, maybe not to the vaguely race-baiting extreme that Pitchfork went to (really, guys?) and they can play their instruments proficiently, for what that’s worth, but that’s just damning with faint praise.

It wasn’t just their drilled performance but also, as noted in the Decider review, that final comment from Reggie Youngblood really did seem to hit home, “We’re going to be in the back, posing, looking cool.” When you write a song and title it “Look At Me (When I Rock Wichoo)“, utilizing a sliding compound to create a come-on line, a freaky statement like Sly and the Family Stone’s classic “Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf)” and then CLEARLY ARTICULATE the phrase “with you” on the record, you’re at a disconnect of intention. Maybe this is a nit-picking semantic thing from an overly sensitive wordsmith and actor, but get freaky if you want to and if you’re not actually that weird, that’s cool too. And lay off the fucking bunny ears. There was some girl wearing them at the Varsity and I should have told her that it wasn’t Halloween and she wasn’t at the Mansion. At the very least she should have been handing out eggs yesterday. Jeez.

All that said, Mates of State totally owned their set, and I felt bad for missing Judgement Day, the opening brothers who backed them on a mini-orchestra of instruments. Watching them go at it with such verve and passion made me really grateful for duos who have the courage to go out and make huge sounds, bands like Viva Voce, Birthday Suits and Matt & Kim. I would totally go see that line-up.

**********UPDATE
Mates of State linked back to Decider and said thanks for the review!