Mary CarreonTycho
1-13-13
Outside of the Troubadour last night, everyone seemed particularly geeked up for Scott Hansen and his chilwave superstar crew Tycho. Inside, the lights went down, and Hansen greeted the crowd as he took stage right, behind his labyrinth of keyboards and synthesizers. Rory O'Connor sat behind his drum kit and Zac Brown strapped on his bass. The hypnotizing music started, and the crowd gave the trio a generous cheer.
“We're trying new things, so don't give us shit if we fuck up,” said Hansen, a tall, handsome San Franciscan, not long after the set started. Personally, we didn't hear any fuck-ups; their next track, the slow and dreamy “A Drift,” was quite compelling.
Tycho; Credit: Timothy Norris
They played for an hour and ten minutes, and each song oozed passion and energy. For a band that specializes in slow, dreamy, psychedelic-sounding electronic music, each track has power and vivacity. Even the Troubadour security guards were into them. Oh, and Rory O'Connor killed it on the drums, adroitly handling the varied tempos of the songs.
As the set neared its end, Tycho played their most popular song “A Walk.” Brown had the venue vibrating in all the right ways with his bass lines. The happy, psychedelic synth, the hard-hitting bass, and O'Connor's drums really tied the room together, as The Dude might say.
Tycho; Credit: Timothy Norris
The band exited a song later, and after a couple of minutes returned, Hansen with a beer in hand. He'd be playing a new song of his own, he informed the crowd.
As the ladies in the crowd drank him in, he stood behind his elaborate station of synthesizers and keys and got to work. It was pretty good; not quite as good as the stuff with his group, but not bad.
His bandmates returned after it was over, and played a couple more songs. A dude wutg white hair handed Hansen (what must have been) a demo of his work, and Hansen thanked him for it, if you can believe that.
Personal Bias: After seeing Tycho at FYF last September, I was sold, and suspected I would like this show even before it happened.
The Crowd: It was 44 degrees last night in Hollywood, and inside the venue tons of folks wore beanies, scarves and coats. We all squished, and it was toasty.
Random Notebook Dump: “Why is it so cold down here?” Hansen said at one point. “We were expecting it to be nice and warm, but I honestly think it's colder here than in San Francisco!”
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