Four Bands, Part II

(This is the second part of an essay about four new bands worthy of your attention by Caitlin Servilio. Please see Part I, to begin.)

MORE BANDS YOU SHOULD SEE:

+/-: Second up at the Rock n’ Roll Hotel show was +/-, a Brooklyn-based electropop outfit that began their first song with a Cake-like trombone intro, then totally left behind that reference and changed into a much denser, heavier, guitar-strong sound. Perhaps the least whimsical of any band in that lineup, they made up for it by rocking out — hard. The strong backbeats and repetitive melodies of the songs were somewhat hypnotic and the band was so plainly mesmerized by their music that the crowd was as well. Singer James Balayut also has a great voice. The band's latest release is last year's Let's Build a Fire.

Bishop Allen: This was the band that I had actually come to the Rock n’ Roll Hotel to see, and having to wait until the end of the night for them to come on increased my anticipation. They didn’t disappoint. Bishop Allen has a really charming, upbeat, melodically rich style — that indie sound, actually done right. Though six band members were on stage at some points, the two members that made the set great were Christian Rudder and Justin Rice, both extremely interesting musicians and people (If you don't believe me check out references to Rudder in Salon or his film credit. Or Rice's various film credits, for that matter.). Rice, doing most of the vocals, attempted to dance around the stage even though, as it was the ever-cramped Hotel, the amount of space available for him to dance in was about two square feet. Rudder rocked out his guitar, at one point picking up a mini-guitar and rocking that, and generally laughing at all the girls in the crowd screaming for him. At one point the girl next to me (we were literally right in front of the stage) turned to me and shrieked “I just want to hug them!” which was a little too creepy-cute for my taste, but in a way true.

The best part was that going last allowed Bishop Allen to play an encore consisting of “Penitentiary Bound” and “Things Are What You Make of Them,” which are their two hits and they played them with astounding verve. If you want to hear these songs or any other, I strongly suggest you pick up 2003’s Charm School. The band released 12 EPs last year with plenty of new material.

(To read this entry from the beginning, please see Part I.)

(Photo of Bishop Allen playing at Schubas in Chicago by TheeErin via Flickr, using a Creative Commons license.)

(For more photos of Bishop Allen and +/-, please see Caitlin Servilio's other group blog, Please Don't Feed the Artists.)

music
rock music
Bishop Allen
+/-
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