Animal Collective in Istanbul!

Yeah, we're cool! (And we were the oldest people there, we believe!) Went to see Animal Collective last night, at Babylon in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul. There's a dolmuş (public minibus) that goes straight to Taksim Square from near our house, and then straight back afterwards (we caught it coming home at 1:30 a.m.), so although the hours are a bit late for us old people, at least it's easy.

The club is quite small, but is really nice. We've been in a few clubs in Istanbul now, where they take old buildings/warehouses and upgrade them, making 'em very cool & useable.

It was way too loud and we were sorry we'd forgotten to buy earplugs, but it was totally weird and wonderful. Sort of like if the Residents were indie pop?! Or funky, head-bopping avant-garde? Here's an article from the New Yorker about them.

After the show, as we walked back up to Taksim Square to get a dolmuş back home, we were a little surprised at how Istiglal Street was still quite full of pedestrians, and others enjoying a midnight snack or tea in many of the cafes that're still open at that hour. We didn't linger, however, and were glad when we got home and plopped ourselves into bed, about an hour later. Thank god it wasn't a school night!