Photos by Ahmed Klink; Above: Crystal Stilts
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Jessica Suarez's coverage: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Au [Pianos; 10 p.m.]
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Au's latest LP, Verbs, is lush with instrumentation. Live, there's just main guy Luke Wyland, along with drummer Jonathan Sielaff. They started with a five-minute drum roll out, next to loud "oooooooohs"-- or maybe it was "aaaaauuuuu," and they were just introducing themselves.
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Like Experimental Dental School the night before, Au (also from Portland) seem too happy. First, they played barefoot. Second, Wyland and Sielaff engaged in more loving, affectionate eye contact than Mates of State. They brought out multicolored bells (I wish they had also brought out opener Bell), and used them to add softer tones to their songs. That, combined with the venue's incessant incense burning, made for a sleepy moment. But then Sielaff launched into an improvised drum jam, egged on by audience woops and Wyland's own, open-mouthed cries. Maybe this is why Au get so many Animal Collective comparisons-- not for their sound as for their similar love of doggy yelps and monosyllabic howls.
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caUSE co-MOTION! [Pianos; 11 p.m.]
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caUSE co-MOTION!'s jangle rock and sneering vocals are closer to the sound (and attitude) of late-1970s mod revival. Only their drummer really looks the part though-- he held his arms close to his sides, moving his hands straight up and down like an action figure. The bassist meanwhile thrashed and danced around so much he could probably use his own puppy playpen. They gave him his own corner by the amps instead. But the band also had the most audience members dancing along with them-- one guy in the front kept his hands straight in the air, as if he were being held up.
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Tracks like "Which Way Is Up?" sounded better here than on record, maybe because singer/guitarist Arno Kleni's sneer is less pronounced. Closing track "Take a Look" rang noisier and so when the guys unplugged their instruments to end the song, it rang in my head for a bit.
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Crystal Stilts [Pianos; 12 a.m.]
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Tonight's showcase was put together by Force Field PR, so the bands had little in common, except for caUSE co-MOTION! and Crystal Stilts. They both mine garage rock for sonic influences (caUSE co-MOTION! use its brattier elements, Crystal Stilts, its more dissonant, discordant ones). They've also shared rehearsal spaces and shows around Brooklyn, and they're on the same label. But Crystal Stilts are a totally different band, maybe even totally different creatures.
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They stand almost completely still for their shows (save for a new Vox organ player, who looks like he could be singer Brad Hargett's twin brother). They don't introduce songs or acknowledge the audience. When their organ player said "Thanks" to the audience, the rest of the Stilts threw him a surprised smile. So the band is pretty inscrutable live. A curtain of beetle-black bangs obscured drummer Frankie Rose's eyes for the whole set, and guitarist JB Townsend's Cobain-length hair did the same. Heavy echo covers up Hargett's lyrics and the needle on Townsend's Multivox Multiecho stayed in the red for the entire set. But this is interesting in itself: watching a band that's made a pact not to look at you or each other. It's like we entered into a tacit agreement that we'd just focus on the music if they would. It worked-- the room cleared after their set, even though there was another band afterward and there was no re-entry. "They must have been the band everyone came to see," I heard someone say on their way out. Maybe not see, just hear.
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