Listening to Little Dragon reminds me of looking into a kaleidoscope. Something about the texture of their sound feels both colorful and circular in the same way that watching new combinations click into place inside the popular children’s toy.
I’ve been excited about seeing Little Dragon live for over a month now. I’m very spoiled because I’ve been fortunate enough to get to help out for many amazing artists in Apogee’s Berkley Street Studio as part of KCRW’s Sessions there. Last night it was Little Dragon’s turn to grace the stage that has now hosted David Gray, Interpol, Manu Chao, Janelle Monae, k.d. lang and more (and that’s just for KCRW, not to mention the other amazing people that have come through to record in this state of the art studio full of top of the line equipment). With the renowned Bob Clearmountain at the mixing board, Little Dragon had all the ingredients for a truly incredible performance.
Inside baseball note: The band was so sweet all day. They arrived early and were all gracious and very sweet, calm, and giggly. They had the staff figuring out the espresso machines and sipped on almond milk lattes (yay for vegans) before hitting the stage for some jam time. Listening to their sound check in the afternoon made me so giddy - like it was a secret just how great they were going to be for the packed crowd that evening.
And boy what a crowd. Garth Trinidad stood up on stage and said out loud what we were all thinking: it was a sexy group of people last night. Good looking people packed in all the way to the back of the room with a few musicians and DJs studded in the crowd including Robin of Quadron, Diplo, and DJs Mathieu Schreyer, J-Logic, and Eric J. Lawrence. Another little inside baseball note: as the girl partly in charge of how much booze we had at the party, I can tell you that all of our beer was gone before the performance even started...that’s 30 minutes of drinking time and an amount of beer we thought was more than enough, gone. I say that only to get across that the crowd was nice and loose and ready for some LD action.
First of all Yukimi Nagano is totally transfixing to watch. She was reserved and sweet all afternoon and then she got up on stage and turned into this sexy in charge woman with something to say. It’s easy to see how much the music lives inside her - it totally affects her body and presence on stage and she expresses it in her hip swings, her far-off stares, her warrior stances, and her hands that drum out the beats instinctually.
And there’s no question, the band totally shines. I was talking to Eric J. Lawrence after the show and we both really enjoyed the different idea they have about making what sounds good in a song. They have their own ideas for sure, but they never miss a step with driving beats, unique sounds, and melodies that somehow work despite often sounding like they could be for a different song entirely. Slap some Yukimi Nagano vocals on top of the slamming music produced by her high school friends and band mates and the result is just magic.
Good times had by all. And as J-Logic tweeted after the show, Robin of Quadron was introduced to Yukimi last night. Maybe a collaboration for the future? One can hope!
Little Dragon 'Ritual Union' (Live on Fallon) from lentetijd on Vimeo.
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