Rockness Recommends
The 2007 PSFPS Fest !
December 11, 2007
It's a Brooklyn love fest at Mercury Lounge on Saturday, December 15th. Four bands from that beautiful borough will rock out just for you. Call it the first-ever Pysch-Synth-Fanciful-Punk-Surf Festival (or PSFPS). That's what we're calling it, anyway.
(UPDATED EDITOR'S NOTE: This show is actually called FRICTION. Apparently, there's no room for bad jokes in the music biz.)
Headlining is the bigger-by-the-day band, Yeasayer. This band creates completely melodic music meant for a different era. The Brooklyn quartet's songs sound like they could be the lost outtakes from Fleetwood Mac's Rumours album, or b-sides for Chicago's Live at Carnegie Hall album (way before Peter Cetera started singing all those radio love songs).
The band mixes elements of psych, pop and classic rock to create a novel sound that sounds distinctively, well, old. Like somewhere between the years 1971-1977. When Yeasayer really gets their groove going, they border on becoming a "jam band," but luckily they always pull back into the chorus before things get too instrumentally epic.
Yeasayer is certainly not the first contemporary group to tap into this golden age of musical pop history (their tour-mates Akron/Family, Cave Singers and Grizzly Bear also kind of do it, too), but so far they do it the "catchiest." And live, they rock out a little harder than on album.
Brooklyn's Team Robespierre rock the super fun synth-punk, with an emphasis on the punk. Their raw, electric sound reminds me of (broken-up) bands like Q and Not U, El Guapo, and Fugazi (if Fugazi had keyboard players, that is).
These five guys are the perfect band to ask to play when you want to turn your broken-down loft or vacant parking lot into an instant party space. Just have them plug in their guitar, bass and keys and watch them go for it. Fun noise will be made, with all members dishing out vocal jabs.
Team Robespierre utilizes a whole mess of both machine and man-made beats, and you can certainly dance to their thumps. Just don't confuse this with dance-punk. This is more like punk-dance. You will have a good time when you see these guys. We sure did when they played the Oh My Rockness CMJ show at Knitting Factory.
We just heard High Places. They're a female-fronted duo that creates laid-back surf-pop with a tripped-out vibe. Call it haunting Hawaiian? For fans of Beach House maybe? Well, in any case, we need to listen to these guys some more.
Brooklyn's Chairlift play easy-going synth pop with a retro folk-y feel. The trio is led by the pleasant pipes of singer Caroline Polacheck. Her breezy alto perfectly complements these good-natured keyboards and tenderly tapped beats (via drums and machine). If this makes Chairlift sound oh-so-twee, you'd be half right. But you can also throw in some of Joanna Newsom's fragile fairy-core, giving Chairlift's sound a tad more substance.
Chairlift should appeal to fans of Au Revoir Simone, perhaps CocoRosie, and that band that sang that "99 Luftballoons" song. Or maybe not.
Head out to PSFPS 2007! And you don't even need a stupid badge. (But, you may ask, if you don't have a badge, how will you know what to wear around your neck to symbolize that you're cool and that you are "industry?" How about trying a tie?)
BUY TICKETS TO THIS SHOW!
Yeasayer, Team Robespierre, High Places and Chairlift play The Mercury Lounge, on Saturday, December 15th
(UPDATED EDITOR'S NOTE: This show is actually called FRICTION. Apparently, there's no room for bad jokes in the music biz.)
Headlining is the bigger-by-the-day band, Yeasayer. This band creates completely melodic music meant for a different era. The Brooklyn quartet's songs sound like they could be the lost outtakes from Fleetwood Mac's Rumours album, or b-sides for Chicago's Live at Carnegie Hall album (way before Peter Cetera started singing all those radio love songs).
The band mixes elements of psych, pop and classic rock to create a novel sound that sounds distinctively, well, old. Like somewhere between the years 1971-1977. When Yeasayer really gets their groove going, they border on becoming a "jam band," but luckily they always pull back into the chorus before things get too instrumentally epic.
Yeasayer is certainly not the first contemporary group to tap into this golden age of musical pop history (their tour-mates Akron/Family, Cave Singers and Grizzly Bear also kind of do it, too), but so far they do it the "catchiest." And live, they rock out a little harder than on album.
Brooklyn's Team Robespierre rock the super fun synth-punk, with an emphasis on the punk. Their raw, electric sound reminds me of (broken-up) bands like Q and Not U, El Guapo, and Fugazi (if Fugazi had keyboard players, that is).
These five guys are the perfect band to ask to play when you want to turn your broken-down loft or vacant parking lot into an instant party space. Just have them plug in their guitar, bass and keys and watch them go for it. Fun noise will be made, with all members dishing out vocal jabs.
Team Robespierre utilizes a whole mess of both machine and man-made beats, and you can certainly dance to their thumps. Just don't confuse this with dance-punk. This is more like punk-dance. You will have a good time when you see these guys. We sure did when they played the Oh My Rockness CMJ show at Knitting Factory.
We just heard High Places. They're a female-fronted duo that creates laid-back surf-pop with a tripped-out vibe. Call it haunting Hawaiian? For fans of Beach House maybe? Well, in any case, we need to listen to these guys some more.
Brooklyn's Chairlift play easy-going synth pop with a retro folk-y feel. The trio is led by the pleasant pipes of singer Caroline Polacheck. Her breezy alto perfectly complements these good-natured keyboards and tenderly tapped beats (via drums and machine). If this makes Chairlift sound oh-so-twee, you'd be half right. But you can also throw in some of Joanna Newsom's fragile fairy-core, giving Chairlift's sound a tad more substance.
Chairlift should appeal to fans of Au Revoir Simone, perhaps CocoRosie, and that band that sang that "99 Luftballoons" song. Or maybe not.
Head out to PSFPS 2007! And you don't even need a stupid badge. (But, you may ask, if you don't have a badge, how will you know what to wear around your neck to symbolize that you're cool and that you are "industry?" How about trying a tie?)
Yeasayer, Team Robespierre, High Places and Chairlift play The Mercury Lounge, on Saturday, December 15th
