Not a whole lot of folks at the Cryptacize show last Saturday, which is a too bad thing. Nashville could use more people enjoying a show like this one was. Cryptacize is one of the bands Chris Cohen is in now (he’s the guy who used to play 2nd guitar in Deerhoof). I’d never heard them before, so it was awesome to sort of accidentally see them and be so impressed. They play really interesting melodically-based songs with lots of space, both in composition and orchestration. Some of their stuff was reminiscent of the slower songs on Deerhoof’s Runners Four, but not in a derivative way at all. The band is a three-piece that sets up across the front of the stage: two guitars stage right and center with tiny one-speaker amps and a sparse drum set stage left including some hand-held woodblocks and shakers. The guitars were quiet but noisy, like you’d expect out of such little amps, and the drums played more of a percussion section role than a drum set role.
There was a lot more music happening on stage than at any show I’ve seen in forever. Most shows are so loud and beat-steady that any nuance the band might lend to the music gets lost in the barrage of sound coming out of the house speakers. Cryptacize, however, was quiet, textured, and dynamic both in tempo and volume. They communicated musically and visually with each other throughout each song, stretching beats here and there, and playing almost more like a chamber ensemble than a rock band. (Note: I don’t mean that as in “chamber pop” or whatever they’re calling bands like Heypenny these days. I mean it as in “like a string quartet.”)
Anyway, they were bad-ass, they rocked (even though my description maybe doesn’t make it sound like that), they played with the best volume I’ve ever heard, and Soundman Brad hated them. What else do you need to know?
