Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players

Cafe Society
#1

Has anyone been to see these guys? I caught them last night. Wary at first, but they were very entertaining! The support guy was bloody awful - called Touch You or something - but the father Jason really knows how to put on a show, like a cross between David Cross and Woody Allen. Very… twee.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI9sHO0R5iY

Their daughter Rachel in the Conan clip must be about 13 now, and comes across a little Juno-ish.

You don’t know me from Adam, but I highly recommend an evening with the Trachtenburg family. :wink:

#2

I saw them as an opening act for They Might Be Giants, probably about six or seven years ago in Philadelphia. I thought they were about the coolest thing I’d ever seen. Obviously the daughter was quite a bit younger then, but I was amazed at how good this band was.

#3

Yeah … I’m gonna go with “I don’t get it”. Repetitive music, poorly played, that seems to be mocking perfectly innocent (and, presumably, originally private) family photographs.

It’s a novelty act, I guess. Is it supposed to be funny? I can’t imagine they expect us to appreciate the music for its own sake.

thwartme

#4

They’re one of those bands that you really need to see once and don’t need to see twice.

It’s been several years since I saw them perform; the father was kind of a jerk but the daughter was a surprisingly good drummer for her age.

#5

I didn’t like the Conan clip much at all for the way it comes off as mocking.

But then I did click on another clip, and liked it.

This one (made for Noggin, a kids network) is really sweet and the music isn’t annoying.

Then I looked at the daughter playing Pink Floyd’s “Bike” which is extremely cute.

Which one more closely describes their current act - sweet & cute or simple & hiply ironic?

#6

From the two choices, I’d plum for sweet and simple. I’m all for a little mocking, but they don’t over-do it. If anything, they mock themselves.

They explained during their act - and it is an act, not a concert - that people throw these collections away (clearing out dead relatives houses - personally I love old pics of my family and would never throw this stuff out) and they pick them up at thrift shops and car boot sales.

The songs are wistful, esoteric, slightly arcane, and if you like that kind of thing, Youtube don’t, can’t do them justice, swear.

“Look at me, at the Festival of Gas!”