The F Yeah Tour began as a music, comedy, and arts fest held in L.A. every summer, and this year it's going on tour, on a bus run by vegetable oil. Seven bands, mostly sharing a cut-and-paste DIY sensibility, played at the Black Cat last night: DCist fave Dan Deacon, Matt and Kim, The Death Set, Team Robespierre, Monotonix, Mannequin Men, and comedian Josh Fadem. The event also featured a table with voter registration, information about Burma, zines and graphic novels. Before it was over, the crowd was carrying drummers and drums, running around in circles, and moving through a snake made out of their outstretched arms.

With the main stage space about half full, the show seemed to draw a younger crowd with lots of Xs on hands. We spoke to Kim Schifino of Matt and Kim during a set break, and she said the artists had mostly worked with 22-year old tour organizer Sean Carlson before, and due to various factors, were late to a show the day before in Baltimore. Thankfully the Black Cat show went on with a hitch, with Schifino saying they found oil for the bus at a Chinese restaurant.

during Dan Deacon's set (Andrew Wiseman)

 

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When Team Robespierre opened for The Teenagers about a month ago they had the advantage of a later set time and therefore, a larger audience. This diminished size didn't seem to bother them too much. Like headliner Dan Deacon, they set up their equipment on the floor of the Black Cat, inviting the audience to move progressively closer, doing their best to turn the venue into a large, sweaty house party. They climbed on the drum kit and rolled on the floor, all the while playing a highly infectious set that sounded like early Les Savy Fav with keyboards. The audience didn't reach the fever pitch that came later, but Team Robespierre at least got some feet moving.

(We missed the first band, Chicago's Mannequin Men.)

The interlude between Team Robespierre and Monotonix was "comedian" Josh Fadem, who just might be the most irritating person alive. He started a seemingly interminable 20 minute set with what sounded like a five minute long fart noise, before launching into a shtick of misquoting classic blockbusters ("I hate these snakes, Chewie") and then asking the audience to boo him offstage. People hardly cared enough to do that.

Monotonix used the entirety of The Black Cat as their stage. The heavy metal riffs were impressive and the drumming furious, but both seemed merely there to soundtrack the antics. This aesthetic could be a disaster, but Monotonix pulled it off as they balanced barstools on their heads, danced on top of both upstairs bars, and got the audience to lift the drummer up on his bass drum a la Gogol Bordello. We heard tell that the last time these guys were in town, they set the floor of the Red & the Black on fire. No flames were thrown last night, but it's not hard to imagine these guys going that far.

The Death Set were next, and the Australians-via-Baltimore sounded like Girl Talk mixed with Stiff Little Fingers. With two drummers, a guitarist, and a singer, plus backing drum and sample tracks, the buzzed-about band set up on the floor and brought the crowd into a frenzy with what was basically two shows at once — they'd play a pre-sampled mash-up, then a live punk rock song, and repeat. Normally rambunctious, the crowd showed its age when the band mashed-up an INXS song to little reaction, but the rest of the set kept the folks pogoing as the band climbed the club's superstructure and crowd and band splashed beer and water.

After that was the smiliest band in indie rock, Matt and Kim. The duo play only keyboards and drums and do it happily, grinning as they rock out — they obviously love what they're doing. Despite only two instruments, the sound is big and catchy, with Matt doing all kinds of interesting things with his keys as Kim pounds the beat. The pair have a funny stage banter, with Matt exhorting the crowd and building up the show with sheer glee. "Yea Yeah" was a highlight, with the band just as smiley as in the video, but with less flying food.

Then Dan Deacon came on. The Baltimore kookster set his table of electronic doo-dads on the ground, as usual, and began his set. It was tough to see at first for those not right next to him, but the experimental kitchen sink electronic music got people jumping and dancing. Then the always-enthusiastic Deacon got the crowd to spread and form a human whirlpool, with people running around in a circle in the middle of the floor. After that, he got people to raise their arms and form a "beastly snake," while others ran through the snake and then raised their hands at the end to keep it going. It was all perfect for a video, which you can see below. And as always, the blinking green skull was on hand. Another job well done for Deacon, who always does an extra something fun to go with his eminently danceable sounds.

We hope the F Yeah Tour comes back again — but not too soon, as there are probably a lot of hung over people at work today.

Team Robespierre, Monotonix, and Josh Fadem reviews by Valerie Paschall