- There's really no better fit for a moody late October night than Matthew Dear. His dense, monochromatic blasts of bass and evil-smirked lyrical quips match perfectly with the lecherous costumes and general debauchery that comes so naturally with Halloween. Of course, this was Halloween at a fringe indie club, so that means I counted not one, not two, but three Hunter S. Thompson costumes. Who says creativity is dead?
Dear, for his part, took the stage as his usual dapper-as-hell self, except with a frilly twill draped around his shoulders, which made for a nice souvenir for whoever was able to catch it. The set itself moved like a locomotive, starting off slowly, with some of his more avant-pop work, before building into a monstrous, chugging engine of thick beats and bass. Dear commanded attention throughout, comfortable in his role as frontman at a traditionally rock-oriented venue. He had no problems grabbing the microphone and scooting away from his array of synthesizers, and made "You Put a Smell on Me" an undoubted highlight from the first repetition of that clip-clopping drum machine.
In accordance with the venue, this was not your usual seamless chunk of bangers capped by a shy "thank you." The set had starts, stops, applause breaks and a fair amount of "how are you all doing tonight?" banter. Dear has successfully transformed himself into a bandleader. What was most surprising, though, is that his popularity among indie crowds has grown to the level where he can play a venue like The Mohawk in Austin, Texas and fill it out. It was perplexing, but ultimately awesome to see a legion of kids shout the lyrics of "Little People (Black City)" back at the stage.
Probably the biggest moment of crossover craziness came in the encore. After a sample-based collage of synth loops, Dear invited his band back on stage and led them in a funky, body-rattling jam that didn't seem to be on any of his records. And then he started to sing; "You, used to have all the answers, and you, you still have them too!" Immediately the hipster-heavy crowd recognized the song as none other than The xx's "VCR"—and it ended up getting more applause than anything else through the night.