Concert Review: Karl Blau, Lake, BBDDM at the Jackpot

REVIEW BY IAN HRABE

I turn around to find Karl Blau sitting at the bar folding oragami. He looks absolutely insane. His hair is teased up into some kind of mullet mohawk with two pigtails coming out of the back. He’s also extremely tall and wearing a Marty McFly vest, which makes the effect extra weird.

He also seems like the nicest guy ever, and though there was hardly anyone at the Jackpot, that didn’t stop him from putting on anything less than an excellent performance.

Baby Birds Don’t Drink Milk opened, and as their set tends to shapeshift from gig to gig, I was curious to see if they’d play up their pop elements (as the headliners are both bands are signed to the well-known indie-pop label K Records) or go in a completely different direction entirely. They chose the latter, and delivered 25 minutes of mostly ambient drone with a cover of Nirvana’s “Something in the Way” somewhere in the middle. They incorporated a keyboard in place of a second guitar and a synthesizer, and for the first time the Animal Collective influence that has always been present with this band had practically vanished.