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Nick Meador
The night started with Michigan’s own Mason Proper, a five-piece that released their first official album in 2006. The band has a sort of personality disorder, sometimes favoring melodic, experimental pop, and sometimes showing their rougher rock side (more in line with fellow Michigander’s Thunderbirds Are Now!). Unfortunately, the roughest moments occurred during their last two songs, disturbing the mood that their earlier songs had created. Nevertheless, vocalist/guitarist Jonathan Visger is charismatic (despite his very Rivers Cuomo-like black-rimmed glasses) and shows promise as an able lead man. Matt Thomson sat sideways throughout the set, manning a keyboard and what appeared to be an older synthesizer with quarter-inch plugs scattered on a vertical board. Brian Konicek even played slide guitar on a few songs, appealing to the folk fan hidden inside all of us. Keep an eye on these guys. One glance at the Influences section on Tigercity’s MySpace page provides a pretty clear picture of what the band is about. The first three mentioned names are Prince, Talking Heads and Daft Punk, while other artists like Michael Jackson, David Bowie and Hall & Oates became more prominent once the set started. This foursome recently relocated from Massachusetts to Brooklyn, NY, presumably to take advantage of the hotbed of musical creativity currently occurring there. The group actually drove out from New York the day of the show, and asked if they sounded okay since they missed their sound check by three hours. The band was clearly aware of the small audience, which peaked at about 20–25 people, but they still played with gusto. Time between songs was peculiar, as the utter silence was disturbed only by the feedback coming from Andrew Brady’s yellow Fender Stratocaster guitar. Bill Gillam exhibits an incredible range on almost every song they play, from the low tones that evoke Bowie to high falsettos that are oh so Prince. Joel Ford contributed to the retro attributes by playing his bass guitar with a striking similarity to Sting (at least, while Sting was with the Police). Songs like “Other Girls” actually bring to mind the indie pop of Phoenix, who managed to hone in their soft rock-inspired sound on the extremely successful 2006 album It’s Never Been Like That. One small criticism is that drummer Aynsley Powell controls samples during each song. In other words, they play pre-recorded electronic elements instead of creating them live. It’s not exactly a felony, considering it allows the players to shine at their chosen task. Powell also mysteriously placed his cymbals a good 2–3 feet above his head – much higher than they are normally situated. So far, the band has only released a six song EP, but they clearly sold every attendee on their sugary sound, leaving most to look forward to a full-length album.
Sax, Ben Sterling and Noam Schatz all take on electronics duties on stage. For Sax and Sterling that involves using keyboards, synthesizers and samplers, while for Schatz that means having electronic drum pads assorted within his drum set. Additionally, Sterling plays a hollow-body Gibson guitar and Sax plays a Rickenbacker bass, and the two alternate singing in nearly equal amounts. Often Sterling would devote himself entirely to a small sampler box, even though he’s an enviable guitarist. The band definitely makes sacrifices by not having a fourth member, or at least an extra touring member. Then again, the fact that the band handles as much as they do on stage is a feat in itself. They use samples, but there’s never a track that plays through an entire song. They employ the samples more like notes on a guitar, which have to continually be triggered and interwoven. It takes skillful execution to keep all those sounds from cluttering a song. The band reportedly doctored their keyboards to create completely novel tones that are impossible to duplicate. Efforts like that emphasize the duality between catchy indie pop songs and experimental electro-rock leanings. A music snob might have cherished the low attendance, but it just made me sad. Anyway, I knew the band was off to the Empty Bottle in Chicago (where I first saw them a year ago in October 2006) the following evening. I was almost positive that they would be well received in that busy venue. All hope wasn’t lost at the Union Ballroom show though. The band remained in high spirits despite the limited amount of support that the small crowd could offer. The mood of the night was clenched when, at the end of the show, fans yelled out for one more song and the band obliged. That humility and appreciation can be the deciding factor for a band trying to make it in such an unpredictable music world. Even though Mobius Band rocked, I was still stuck with a “chicken or egg” question. What happened first? Did MSU students stop caring about live music from creative, talented bands? Did the RHA not promote the show well enough, or fail to reach fans who miss the posters on campus? Or did MSU fail to instill in all students a desire to actively pursue art and culture during their academic growth?
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Next came the stars of the show, who also moved from western MA to Brooklyn to pursue their music career. The three members of Mobius Band seemed less phased by the size of the crowd. At one point, vocalist/bassist Peter Sax said the band has played many great shows in Lansing before, but the Union Ballroom was so HUGE that it made the audience look really small. In response, a girl yelled out, “ We love you! We really do.” There was a dash of despair in her voice, and everyone in the audience understood how sorry the girl felt that more people hadn’t shown up. Luckily, Mobius Band came to rock no matter how many people came to watch and listen. 
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