Friday evening at the Ogden Theater, the Copenhagen-based Danish producer and multi-instrumentalist Anders Trentemoller, along with a dynamic backing band, fleshed out an amazingly rock ’n’ roll set of electronic-based dance music.
Since hitting the scene in 2006, Trentemoller has continued to expand upon the digital realms in which he began. His cinematic recordings balance house, techno, IDM and other electronica with “real” instrumentation. In addition, his history of dizzying live shows – with his band – have garnered huge crowds and acclaim in Europe and the U.K. After slaying at Coachella this year, he finally some got some much-deserved buzz in the U.S. and is following up with this current tour.
Unfortunately, that buzz wasn’t enough to fill the Ogden Theatre on Friday, which was just over half full, perhaps due to the fact that his show was sandwiched between Amon Tobin on the Wednesday prior and Portishead next week – thus, eating into electronic music lovers’ concert budgets.
The show began with a slow build as screens raised and lowered to reveal the band – cooly detached, bathed in white backlighting and gobs of smoke. Anchored center stage by three keyboards, an array of digital effects and a lone crash cymbal, Trentemoller quickly acknowledged the crowd with a thumbs up.
Beginning with “The Mash and the Fury,” the group concentrated on tracks largely from his 2010 release, “Into The Great Wide Yonder.”
By the second song, “Shades of Marble,” the crowd was pulsing along to Trentemoller’s arpeggiating keyboard loops, hypnotic guitarist Lisbet Fritze’s Sonic-Youth-meets-Dick-Dale twang and the relentlessly tight percussion of drummer Henrik Vibskov.
The band’s energy was clearly contagious and their initial detachment thawed to reveal big smiles and frequent encouragement and interaction with the crowd – that, along with some killer beats, kept everyone moving and cheering loudly.
Further standouts included vocalist Marie Fisker on the David Lynch-ian “Even Though You’re With Another Girl” and “Sycamore Feeling,” and the oscillating synth grind of “Vamp” (from 2006’s “The Last Resort”), which was enhanced by video of 1950s pin-up queen Bettie Page shaking her stuff perfectly in time to bassist Mikael Simpson’s growling rhythm.
The band wrapped up the set with a minimal take on “Moan,” featuring Simpson on soulful harmonica and an extended version of the dance workout “Take Me Into Your Skin.”
They returned for an encore of the infectious surf techno of “Silver Surfer, Ghost Rider Go!!” leaving the dizzyingly happy half-full crowd with a buzz of their own.
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Michael Behrenhausen is a Denver-based writer, and regular Reverb contributor. The worst crime he ever did was play some rock ‘n’ roll.
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