Islands in the Stream

Sometimes with club security, it's feast or famine. Recently, Seattlest had been at an all-ages show at the Croc, where a bouncer went through everything in our bag, rummaging through pockets, opening our coin purse, and ultimately confiscating an empty plastic water bottle. On the other hand, Wednesday night at Neumo's, the guy at the door barely glanced at our ID and let us in without so much as a cursory examination of our purse. And here we had been worrying about trying to enter a venue with a full bottle of vitamin B6.

We were at Neumo's to see Islands, which consists of two erstwhile Unicorns (singer Nick Diamonds and drummer J'aime Tambeur) and a United Colors of Benetton multi-culti assemblage of musicians---there was the black guy on bass (natch), two Asian guys who played recorders, violins, and keyboards (natch, natch, and natch), a bearded white guitarist/vocalist, and a white guy who played a little bit of everything (guitar, bass clarinet, saxophone). The band was dressed in all white, except for the occasional patch of color, at the bottom of the shirt and on the sleeve.

But enough about appearances. What's more important is how a band performs, and Islands done good. Our companion for the evening, who had never heard the band before, was completely won over, saying that it was the best show she'd seen in a long time by a group she wasn't familiar with. We're sure the band's catchy, dance-happy tunes played a large part in that. They played most of the quirky pop songs off of their new album Return to the Sea, as well as a whole bunch of unreleased tracks that we can't wait to hear in recorded form. Openers Subtitle and Busdriver joined Islands to lay down their raps in "Where There's a Will, There's a Whalebone." We were also glad to hear the acoustic anti-osteoporosis anthem "Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby." Instrumental "Tsuziit" was better live than on the album, plus apparently it's about an orca. Huh.

At first for the encore, just the two Asian dudes returned to the stage, announcing that the rest of the band wouldn't be performing, so it'd just be "The Chinese Brothers." They played a little drums and guitar, before the rest of the band appeared, kicking the Chinese Brothers off their instruments, and launching into the smartly political "Rough Gem." For that song, Islands invited fans onto the stage, and that's when the show turned into a Nerd Dance Party, as geeks of all ages and stripes busted out their best moves.

Sadly, the onstage festivities had consequences, as some equipment got messed up, and Islands couldn't close their set with the epic "Swans." The band apologized profusely to the crowd and left the stage. Hope your little dance party was worth it, nerds.