Music

[Life Is Beautiful 2014]

Life Is Beautiful: Little Dragon mesmerizes with its upbeat electro-pop (and a light show!)

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Little Dragon at Life Is Beautiful 2014
Spencer Burton
Little Dragon at Life Is Beautiful 2014

Little Dragon at Life Is Beautiful 2014

Looking back on my Life Is Beautiful experience, I spent most of my time staked out at the Ambassador Stage (when I wasn’t eating José Andrés’ solar-powered veggie tacos or Yusho’s delicious fried chicken bao, of course). I landed back at Ambassador on Sunday night for Swedish electro-pop group Little Dragon at 8:25 p.m., a refreshing twist given that EDM titan Skrillex would be spinning on the same stage in two hours.

And unlike Skrillz, Little Dragon performed as a full band, with a keyboardist, a drum-pad wizard and a drummer, each providing a piece to the group’s electronic puzzle. Singer Yukimi Nagano bounced with energy in a black-and-white-striped fur coat, lending soulful, ‘80s R&B vocals to each bassy track, which got progressively more house-focused as the set went on.

Opening with “Underbart” off 2014’s Nabuma Rubberband and following with “Shuffle A Dream” from 2011’s Ritual Reunion, the quirky twists and turns of Little Dragon’s music didn’t always match up with the smooth vocals, but the production as a whole—the pink and orange light show, the slinky, chopped up quips of the keyboards and the deep thumping of the kick drum—engrossed the crowd for an entire hour. “I know you want it, don’t you?” Nagano echoed during “Klapp Klapp,” the smoky, synth-driven single off Rubberband. But my favorite part? Hearing Machine Dreams cut “Blinking Pigs,” live. It made me remember why I got into Little Dragon in the first place.

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