Seeing Brain Fruit throughout their development as a duo has been interesting. I learned a few weeks ago that it’s current configuration as a duo, used to be a trio. I’m unsure who the third member was or will be (I guess he’s coming back to Seattle or something) but duo that is Brain Fruit in this recording is John Carr (ex. Bow + Arrow) and Chris Davis (a really nice guy).

Their development: When I saw Brain Fruit for the first time- or second- it took place at Healthy Times Fun Club sometime in 2009/10. They’re an electronic band whose instruments were a mixer, a couple of synths, a drum machine, and a weird LED lamp, where each individual bulb was the end of a bendable arm that could resemble sea-creature tentacles. It’s a cool lamp. Since then, their setup has gotten more specific, cool sounding, and expensive looking. Like, they have an idea of what various components of their music are going to sound like and how they will interact with each other but they also know this because they’ve just spent quality friend time with each other and the devices they have slowly acquired over time.

John and I were talking about a particular synth he had- an expensive and hard to find Korg- that he had found on Craigslist sometime in 2010 for super-cheap. You kind of have to troll around that site to find catches like these and when John called the seller about it, he had to anxiously and strongly confirm with the seller that he would pick the synthesizer up at a definite time. Apparently, his phone had been off the hook getting calls from folks interested in the instrument.

This particular show that they played at Funny Button was in February of 2011, one of the first of many shows the be in that basement. I don’t remember why they decided to play the set configuration they did that night. Maybe they were trying to do something different. Chris Davis was on the electronic setup and John was playing a drum-kit in sync with the drum machine. What you can’t hear in this recording (maybe you can) is John shaking his head and sending out quiet chuckles underneath of the loud kit. At points he’s trying to keep up or just stay on beat to the programmed rhythm. Both Chris and John are grinning during different points of their set, maybe both wondering how silly things are.

Everyone was really into it and the general atmosphere in the space, like most events, were of an excited sentiment. Seeing the band and experiencing them is a good feeling because I feel like it is difficult to experience an electronic band that has the smooth and colorful textures that they carry. Also, that they very often play DIY spaces and that more often than not, coming across music like theirs is less frequent than a “rock band.”

The cops might have shown up outside but I don’t remember. The show went late and I may have just felt anxiety about that- retrospectively.