SonicMonks

EKA (Estonian Academy of Arts) is a strange place for a concert - the first few hours I had this annoying feeling like I was in fifth grade again attending a school party and teachers were standing somewhere in the dark corner watching over us with their shiny eyes. But in those days there were only really crappy bands playing Nirvana covers for us, so Galaktlan Grupp, Luarvik Luarvik and Ratatat ruined this eerie flashback for me.

I'm not a big fan of Galaktlan Grupp, so I was kind of glad that they kept their set discreetly short. For me they are interesting for about 10 minutes and that's mostly because the band members look quaint and I can't stop looking at them. I think they make just the kind of music that needs time to grow on me.

As I was really impatient to see Ratatat, Luarvik Luarvik just made me annoyed. The beginning of their set to the climax, where they had one guy (some faculty member of Tartu University, if I got it right) really expressively (you should have seen his face, he looked like somekind of mad prophet predicting the apocalypse) reading something while they were playing, was great. But after that it got slow, boring and embarrasingly long. If the set would have been half an hour shorter, they actually would have left me curious and wanting more.

But all the waiting paid off when Ratatat came on stage. In live their sound is thicker and more agressive than I imagined. The videos played on the background complemented the music perfectly and the lighting with their lithe bodies made my day! You know, I just love these small intimate concerts where you can touch the guitarists hair while his playing on the edge of the stage and the band members give away free booze. Life sure is good!