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Friday, July 24, 2009

Block Party Segal's (Potential) Block Party Highlight

Posted by Dave Segal on Fri, Jul 24, 2009 at 3:18 PM

Rooting for the underdog here, but I am placing my chips on Micachu and the Shapes to be my CHBP highlight. (Read Michaelangelo Matos' feature here.)

Here's what I said about the group in the Block Party pullout:

(Fri, 7 pm, Vera Stage) Micachu & the Shapes—led by 21-year-old Brit Mica Levi—will be the weirdest group you will (let's hope) witness at the Block Party. Blessed with anxiety-inducing energy, strangely tart melodies, oodles of homemade instruments and their attendant novel textures, and surprising song structures rooted in the Raincoats and Captain Beefheart's Magic Band, Micachu & the Shapes twist indie-rock orthodoxy so hard it becomes virtually unrecognizable—a development we wholeheartedly advocate. Fans of the Man Man school of demented circus punk could fall in love with Micachu's phenomenal Jewellery, but there's little of that outfit's preening wackiness here. Instead, it's a seemingly pure distillation of genuine eccentrics' creativity. (Björk is a fan, if that matters to you.) Doubters: Go to YouTube and view the 80 mad seconds of "Lips." Now try to contain your excitement.

UPDATE: I hate to say it, but I was on the fucking money with this prediction. Okay, I don't hate to say it. Hope you caught this phenomenal set. Review later today.