STRFKR & Das Kope at Music Farm (Photos + Recap)
Saturday night at the Music Farm was a great opportunity for neo-psychedelic fans to catch some otherworldly performances from STRFKR and their opener Das Kope. Touring brought the mind-bending bands to the east coast, and fortunately for us, to Charleston. Enjoy some photos from the show, courtesy of Joseph Nienstedt (ig: @joel8x).
Das Kope played a captivating set as he filled the concert hall with strange sounds and colors. Images of palm trees and giant waves set the backdrop for emotional flairs of trippy guitar and Das Kope’s processed vocals. His performance of “Fascination” was an act of group hypnotism, swinging his pendulum with each strum of his guitar. Over and over, the word “Fascination” rang out throughout the Music Farm in a dazzling swell of reverb.
“L.A.X.”‘s electric calls filled the air before giving a brief pause to spotlight the track’s powerful bassline. The song is layered with lyrics of longing for a place and a promise that one day, he’ll return. Das Kope is originally from Brazil, so a lot of his music is influenced by all of the places he’s traveled to. With his performance, Das Kope brought a little piece of the west coast over to the east coast.
Das Kope closed out his set with “Tiger”, a song that started with little rippled guitar strums before beefing up into a heavy psych-rock chorus. The stomping of a fuzz coated guitar simulated the sounds of the king of the jungle. As Das Kope flickered between chilled back verses and blown out choruses, the audience was set ablaze. Once he was all finished, he stepped backstage while the crowd stayed aflame. He later joined STRFKR for a few more songs.
“Dear Stranger” kicked off STRFKR’s set where they submerged the crowd in swirling synths. The crowd floated along to the currents of neo-psychedelic noise until they reached the cosmic time loop that is the halfway mark of “Dear Stranger”. The song descended into cascades of keys with bubbling filters that only increased with every repetition. The Music Farm became an echo chamber of watery synths and bubble effects until STRFKR cut the cord.
“Deep Dream” was a blissful ride through the aether. Spacey sounds lifted the audience off the ground in a feeling of anti-gravity. As STRFKR sent out waves of sugary sweet psychedelic pop, they enticed a few crowdsurfers to do their thing. Others stood in bewilderment, watching the laser lights shoot out from stage.
STRFKR played the hit, “Open Your Eyes”, and the room went under a trance.
The band slung spells of synthesized sounds and masked dancers boogied on stage, leading the crowd through the space jams.
As they neared the end of their set, they hit the crowd with their cover of Cydni Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”. The Music Farm erupted into dance and crowdsurfers soared overhead. The night ended on a joyous note, with a warm feeling of community. The show was an over the top exposé of psychedelia and love, what more could you ask for from the west coast?