Show Review: Future Islands

The Brewery, Raleigh
September 23, 2009

You need to be ready, or at least know what is coming, when you step on the floor in front of Future Islands. If you are caught off guard when it hits, it’s too late already, you'll be wrecked by a complete shit storm of electronic brown sound synth game. Tunneling from a dark sky like a scorned mother nature, a Future Islands set is a force of physics governed only by laws of chaos. You won't control it, you probably won't contain it. There is just not a microphone on this earth brave enough to stare into Sam Herring's face and ask him to "take it easy." Any which were easy he has already taken, melted down to their properties, and re-formed by sheer will into ice-hard beads of sweat to cool the red hot stage floor boards before they combust from the friction of his passion.

suspension of reality

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This brings us to last night, there were no survivors. With the heat of his wrinkled brow, Herring mind melded the audience radiating desire, despair, zeal, fear and any other emotion that rose to the surface of his face. Streaking through the audience like bolts of lightening trying to run from the frying pan and hide in the fire, it's pure energy one by one enraptured and killed a solemn indy emo crowd and replaced them with fucking dance maniacs. Future Islands begged for mercy like a suicide case standing on the rail screaming in a tongue that only a wave form modulator could understand. By the time they jumped every hot blooded freak in the audience had lost self awareness and followed them with haste into the abyss of swirling whirling electro indie new wave modulation. --Carrboro Ninja

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Felix The Drum Machine

Members of Lonnie Walker, Future Islands, and The Annuals brought together their high school band Felix The Drum Machine for a one-night-only performance and opened the show.

Future Islands bassist William Cashion dons his poncho along as Lonnie Walker's Brian Corum, Annuals' Zack Oden, and DJ Ock&Shaw Brian Shaw each re-create the costumed appearance of the final show they performed in high school eight years ago.

Lonnie Walker front man Brian Corum wearing blue face paint and standing next to a dude wrapped in tin foil...yes it was a party.