| Angine de Poitrine at the 2026 KEXP BBQ (photos Mackenzie McAninch) |
Do a loony-goony dance
‘Cross the kitchen floor,
Put something silly in the world
That ain’t been there before
— Shel Silverstein
My partner Erika and I found dancing joy in a most unlikely place last Saturday: At the Seattle Center, on the concrete, under the hot sun, listening to Angine de Poitrine. Mike Ericco, in this article, hails the music of this Canadian duo from Quebec as “microtonal, Pythago-Cubistic noise rock”. In a review, AJ Dehany said: “Angine de Poitrine make weirdo microtonal math rock that is stupendously complex and also a massive vibe.” By contrast, when forced to sit through a video of one of the band’s 7-minute tracks, my Mom was so vividly repulsed we had to calm her with a second glass of wine.
The band was launched into the viral stratosphere in part by a video KEXP released of them last February, recorded in December, 2025, that now has over 18 million views. The event was the annual KEXP “BBQ” — the quotes indicating there was no BBQ to be had. Or anything else. It was the most over-sold, under-resourced event I’ve been to in memory. We guessed 5000 people, 4500 of which, at any given time, were standing in line. There were 1-hour waits for the few food booths and lone drinks vendor, and it took us 45 minutes just to get into the venue in a line that was, for some time, at a complete standstill. Moreover, this super-viral band was in a corner on a stage so low that they could not be seen — at all — by more than the hundred or so folks willing to shoehorn in at the very front, plus some dozens who’d had the forethought to stake out space on an overlook.
Nevertheless, we persisted! After braving a mere half-hour line for a banana popsicle to help stave off our ravenous hunger, we retired to a shady area to await the performance. Microtonal noise or not, we are in the camp for which the band has appeal, and they were laying down some furious rhythms. Erika, who’d had half a beer and so was lit, started moving with groovy undulations and, inspired as well, I attempted to copy her. Though people were head-bobbing, as far as I could see we were the only two actually dancing. And dancing we were. In spite of everything, we had an experience of how music and dance can transform even a full-on situational cluster. In the midst of all that chaos — not least of which was the band’s actual music — we found joyful connection. We left feeling, if not elated, at least uplifted and marveling at the limitless satisfaction to be found in moving to whatever sounds are at hand.
I hope you find somewhere to dance this week that’s weird and unlikely (if so, please do tell). Start your search with the many music and dance events you’ll find online at the Dance Calendar.
See you on the dance floor —Sean Donovan