Today is the first day in years I’ve listened to Black Dice. Their albums are a lot more fun than I remember.
It’s a shame that Black Dice always seemed to exist in the shadow of Animal Collective, a live group that were widely inconsistent and more or less collapsed completely under the weight of their post-2009 popularity. (The AC live shows I saw between 2007-2008 were a lot of fun — after that, always complete trash.) Black Dice, however, were always good. I’d love to see them again one day.
I saw Black Dice live twice in the late 00s / early 10s and loved them but never felt like their records lived up to the experience. Beaches & Canyons and Load Blown were often on heavy rotation at the time regardless.
All these years later, I’m not sure how to describe the experience of a Black Dice live show, but I think these photos from their set at All Tomorrow’s Parties speak volumes.
