Fistful of Fandango

September 2-6, 2008
Club 229

by Joanna Orland

Fistful of Fandango returned to Club 229 again this year for 5 nights of 30 bands. We managed to make it out to a couple of the nights and discovered a couple of bands that we are now citing amongst our favourites.

In particular Slagsmalsklubben, the Swedish special needs answer to Hot Chip. We only caught the last few songs, but omg they are amazing. Great analogue synthy Holy Fuck inspired tunes with the ironic geekiness of Hot Chip. Great energy and good fun all around! Definite highlight.

We also enjoyed Robots in Disguise, although Dee Plume is a very annoying person on stage, The Boy Least Likely To (thought I was OVER them, but I just wanted to rush the stage and pinch their cheeks… AW…), and Shout Out Louds who were pretty good, but I just couldn’t stop the thought that the lead singer was Jason Schwartzman channelling the voice of Robert Smith!

Anyway there were tons more bands on showcase at FoF and we missed them all. The smaller room was a better venue where the main room in 229 felt a bit like a school gym – during one of those awkward junior high dances where people were still afraid of the opposite sex. Well, some of us still are but that’s another article for another time.

K. I’m done now. Overall it was fun. Small room better than big room. Slagsmalsklubben rule but need a more pronounceable name.