Anamanaguchi

One of the things that makes Anamanaguchi such an appealing band is that they are well suited for any scene. They’re just really fun. And who doesn’t...
Anamanaguchi : Live

Anamanaguchi : Live

Since their work with the Scott Pilgrim video game soundtrack (QRO review of film soundtrack), Anamanaguchi’s ‘hacked-Nintendo-punk-rock’ sounds have been lifting chiptune styles closer towards the mainstream radar.  Their latest album, Endless Fantasy, has been gaining a lot of attention not only for their innovative styles but also for their wildly successful Kickstarter campaign – this independent band was able to raise over five times their goal ($277,399, to be exact) through fans to support the tour for Endless Fantasy.

One of the things that makes Anamanaguchi such an appealing band is that they are well suited for any scene.  They’re just really fun.  And who doesn’t like fun?

So it wasn’t a surprise when the crowd at their New York show on Friday, August 16th, was weird blend of sleazy Webster Hall (QRO venue review) regulars with kids you’d expect to see at a Brooklyn DYI show.  Many Anamanaguchi fans who have missed the memo (and arrived at 10PM on the dot) were not happy to find out the band was coming on at 1:40 AM.

Anamanaguchi’s stage set-up was suitably flashy, to say the least.  The LED light tubes and projections of eight-bit kittens were just screaming neon colors.  To top it off large, light-up replicas of the cube on the cover of Endless Fantasy were placed on the ends of the stage.  Starting with cute bang of confetti cannons, the four-piece band burst into sound.  Without a doubt, these guys clearly know how to keep up with the fast-paced and colorful tones of their music.

But the crowd was where things went wrong.  There were a lot of unsuitably violent moshing bursting with every single track.  By the end of the second song (their popular single, “Meow”), a lot of fans gave up to the sides of the crowd to avoid the center, grumbling how “EDM kids don’t know how to mosh properly.”  Of course Anamanguchi’s music is happy – it was meant for an active show, but whatever ensued at the Webster Hall crowd felt like the polar opposite of what was coming from the stage.

After playing a shorter-than-expected set with songs mostly from their new album, Anamanaguchi gave humble words of thanks then quickly left the stage.

When the crowd chanted for an encore, the Webster Hall DJ answered by blasting a Knife Party song.

Anamanaguchi

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Concert Reviews
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