What is This, a Crossover Episode? Frankie Cosmos Meets Kero Kero Bonito Meets Tanukichan @ The Neptune Theater

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Author: Riley Urbano

Header Photo Credit: Angel Ceballos

Three great acts responsible for some of the best albums of 2018 are getting together for an absolutely all-star lineup of a night this weekend. Frankie Cosmos, back in town off the heels of their excellent album Vessel (released at the end of March), are a band that might not need much of an introduction to the Seattle crowd: I caught them at Neumos last April for a show that was pretty much packed. Led by the wildly prolific Greta Kline, the band is delightfully low-key, cultivating a reflective indie-pop vibe that lends their live shows a really easy-going and pleasant atmosphere.

Photo Credit: Tracey Ng

Kero Kero Bonito, on the other hand, is a band with a lot more energy than it sometimes even knows what to do with. Having released one of the defining pop albums of this decade with 2016’s Bonito Generation,KKB came back this year to totally switch up their style with an equally exciting album called Time ’n’ Place.Whereas their early sound was a whirlwind of cultural reference points ranging from video game music to hip hop to house music, all held together by an aggressively cheery J-Pop style performance from singer Sarah Bonito, their new sound takes a moodier turn without sacrificing any of the fun or insane creativity KKB can be counted on for. The (relatively) darker vibe is illustrated perfectly by the record’s lead single, “Only Acting: the synth pop vibes haven’t gone anywhere, but the band unexpectedly breaks into loud ‘90s style guitar pop territory (think Blue Album-era Weezer) in a natural and perfectly executed way. I’m not sure how KKB is gonna fold all the live instrumentation into their live setup, but I’m confident they’ll be a blast to experience in concert no matter what.

Photo Credit: Jacob Romero

The special guest of the night seems to be a bit of a newer face, but no less exciting than the rest: Tanukichan, real name Hannah van Loon, is a Oakland multi-instrumentalist that’s garnered a lot of buzz this year for an album she made in collaboration with Toro Y Moi mastermind Chaz Bear. The album, titled Sundays, attacks a lot of the same ‘90s reference points as Time ’n’ Place, but from a much more languid and easygoing angle: tracks like album opener “Lazy Love” and “Hunned Bandz” boast huge, shoegaze-y guitar treatments and chord progressions that sound plucked right out of the cheesiest of awesome ‘90s movies.

Frankie Cosmos, Kero Kero Bonito, and Tanukichan are coming to the Neptune Theater on Saturday, November 10th. The show is already SOLD OUT, but this one is probably worth trying to scalp some tickets for wherever you can find them: this seems to be only the second or third time KKB has even come to Seattle. You can find more information here.


RILEY URBANO | Cosmo Cosmo Bonito| KXSU Music Reporter

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