The Massachusetts synth-pop outfit has taken its Manners pretty much everywhere this year — in the club, on a boat, etc. — but until last night a network television performance eluded them. Jimmy Fallon’s crew continues to pick up the slack left by Conan’s slightly (com)modified music guest booking policy by giving Passion Pit their big shot on TV. Just as well, they’re not quite ready for the Tonight Show lights, but they don’t exactly sound like a band that’s only been around for like a year and change, either. Also it’s rare to see Michael Angelakos do his helium vocals without a bevy of keyboards in front of him, so feel free to take the chance and rate his lead-man/stage-roaming presence if you want.
Manners is out via Frenchkiss.
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Anybody else think this guy looks like Booger from Revenge of the Nerds?
Well, now that you mention it…yes, he does look like Booger. And who is singing the “Oh no”s?
i just think that he looks unsure about himself.
Really? The first time he ever performs on TV? How strange…
It’s rather unsatisfying that he leaves out that first round of “oh no”s in every chorus; the gang-sung “oh no”s work so much better as an echo!. Other than that, solid performance.
i feel like he was figuring out for the first time how to stage roam while playing that song.
Hey stereogum… you have viewers outside of the us, and I think we’d appreciate it if you linked youtube as well, maybe you don’t know but hulu is us only.
hey treinspore,
yeah, we’re mindful of that and youtube is always preferable for us as well. but NBC content goes up on Hulu first, and often they zap youtube embeds as quickly as they pop. but whenever possible, youtube it is.
Does he always sound like a dying cat?
Confession: I don’t like them very much but clicked on this topic so I could laugh at the awkward head bopping from the stand-ins in the back. Did not disappoint. Hey, there was ONE lady dancing nicely to the song!
As for the front man, you can tell he’s not very comfortable. Hey you! You are fronting a synth pop band, just stand near the front and move to the rhythm… but he couldn’t do that.
No matter how much i enjoy Passion Pit and that performance, having The Roots come on directly after is like comparing a home video to a blockbuster.
I thought he was kind of awkward roaming the stage. Also I agree with the person above who commented on the lack of “oh no”s. Though they did seem nervous (granted, it was the TV debut)
I love Passion Pit, not sure i would want to see them live though, just not that kind of band. And yes he looked awkward with his scurry, squat, scurry, squat but i would give him a break there.
Yea, their studio stuff is great, and although this was better than I was expecting, it’s like a castrated version of Hot Chip
Totally looks like Booger. Good call. lol.
i’m convinced it was just a bad night. if anyone has any worries that these guys don’t kill live, check their npr concert podcast from a few months back.
Well this was a big pile of meh. At least the Vampire Weekend hype had good songs to back it up.
PS to the singer. Get some balls and sing everything well. Not just the chorus.
Looks like he doesn’t know what to do with himself.
Also, am I the only one who doesn’t get the buzz surrounding these guys? Seems like pretty standard stuff.
I bet they were nervous, it was their first-ever television appearance…
…But did anyone notice David Letterman going over their allotted time and being forced to cancel Elbow’s performance? First time I’ve seen that happen.
Same thing happened to Grizzly Bear earlier this summer on his show. Letterman’s kind of a deusche about that stuff.
He obviously looks very nervous as to be expected on your tv debut. I can appreciate the few changes they made to spice up this live version though, sounds good. I am kind of surprised they decided to play “The Reeling”, I figured they would play “Sleepyhead”. I wish they would have played “Little Secrets.”
I feel like Passion Pit would be a lot of fun to see in person, I feel like they would get the crowd really bumpin. Looking forward to seeing them at Lolla.
aside from the stand ins in the background and the unavoidable backing “oh no’s,” this was a solid performance. i’m haPpy
i dont buy the “debut television performance” excuse. these guys cant perform their material live. the EP and later LP are a product of one person in a recording studio, not of a group of musicians trying to make it by playing shows.
i saw them at glastonbury and it was extremely disappointing. they missed the beat 4-5 times, michael seemed terrified, one of the keyboards was set way too loud and overpowered the other instruments, and they had no stage presence.
angelakos needs to be more charismatic and have some confidence. the bandmembers need practice. they need a new sound guy. there is much work to be done…
This sounds a lot better than they did at Sasquatch — it finally prompted me to take a listen to their CD, which I now love, so I’m glad for this performance.
im looking forward to the dance party at lolla. manners is a solid debut LP. Its one of those albums where you can trick your friends who listen to just top 40 into liking.
BOOGER!
That Passion Pit performance was fucking annoying as hell. I had no idea they were such douchebags. Throwing away their mp3′s now.
“oh noooooooo….” pretty much how I feel after watching.
and +1 for booger comment
dude has lost weight since sasquatch
the sound isn’t too beefy in that performance.
They are such douchebags! You don’t even know the half of it! If you were from Boston and got a daily inside scoop like I had to, you’d understand this fame is not deserved. The singer is the only one who should really get any credit, the rest of them are just fill ins for his music. Plus, they’re all a bunch of egos trying to bang every chick in sight.
killer “inside scoop”, bro. you’re the next perez hilton…except more pointless.
‘Manners’ has grown on me but I really miss (and I can’t believe what I’m saying) the whiney voice he had on ‘Chunk of Change’. They don’t quite pull it off live but it’s really not as bad as I was expecting. Sorry chexmix but he made an EP, and needed a band to tour with. I wouldn’t have gone to watch him put on a show by himself. So ease off on the rest of the band. Would you call the Funk Brothers douchebags because they backed Smokey and Stevie? Didn’t think so.
No shit, the bassist totally abused his girlfriend.
Can’t speak about them personally, but they bring it live.
They are like a poor man’s Late of the Pier.