Y-LOVE
Private basement apartment
255 McKibbin St., Williamsburg
For a show that saw the insular East Williamsburg/Bushwick scene open up a little bit, Y-Love’s raps of U.N.I.T.Y. were a nice fit. Pogoing Rastafarians watched alongside beer-swilling hipsters while Y-Love killed the set rapping in English, Hebrew, and Arabic. Packed into a space no bigger than a subway car, this motley crew got so rowdy that they threatened to ruin the paintings from that afternoon’s art show.
Quality of unrest: more riot than revolution.

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THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM
Europa
98 Meserole Ave., Greenpoint
The Gaslight Anthem plays a blues-tinged, uplifting pop-punk: Hearing the crowd sing along to the chorus of “I’da Called You Woody Joe” (“Let it out let it out let it out / You’re doing alright”) in what seemed an unpromisingly dingy Polish club was a transporting experience. The band also covered “Lean on Me,” and the good-looking lead singer smiled a lot. He had excellent teeth.
Percentage of audience that sang along: 25.

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LOCAL MELONS
Piano’s
158 Ludlow St.
The sound at Piano’s is better than other smallish spots for up-and-coming bands, which helped Local Melons’ carefully plotted compositions. Though they self-identify as a “garage” band on MySpace, that seems more an aesthetic distinction—they certainly dress down and play loud, but their front woman–guitarist mixed dark-edged shredding with sweet, high vocals in a manner that doesn’t really fit in any genre category.
Lingering question: Pretentious or adventurous?

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TALL BLACK GIRLS
Lit Lounge
93 Second Ave.
Lit Lounge’s narrow downstairs music dungeon was packed with rabid fans of this high-tempo, heavy-riffing female foursome who are somewhat tall but definitely not black. The “girls” part could also be questioned, as the lead singer announced during the show that she was about to turn 30. She then sprayed the crowd with beer.
Her winning personality: part punk fury, part come-hither.

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CHAIRMANRACE
Union Pool
484 Union Ave., Williamsburg
ChairmanRace were lackluster in their attempt to conjure hair-metal’s heyday, and the screeching noises emitted by the amps kept the crowd a safe fifteen feet from the stage. The lead singer made multiple references to the tambourine her band members had mistakenly left at home, though it is doubtful its presence would have made a discernable difference.
Success of female lead singer’s stripping strategy: limited.

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WIZARDRY
Union Pool
This premiere performance included fur vests, leather pants, black face paint, a large papier-mâché skeleton of a tyrannosaur, a smoke machine, a chalice, and a large silk-screen zebra tapestry. Gimmicky? Yes. Bad? Not totally.
Chance they’d lead a hair-metal revival: low—more likely to revive Dungeons & Dragons.

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REALLY LOUD MUSIC
(Best With a $2 Beer From a Cooler)

USAISAMONSTER
The Market Hotel
957 Broadway, Bushwick
USAISAMONSTER is the kind of band that will play in your friend’s toolshed (as long as there’s sound equipment), so it’s not surprising to find them at the ramshackle, impromptu space of the Market Hotel. The duo’s heavy, disjointed prog-rock sent an enthusiastic crowd flailing at every tempo change, and inexplicably inspired a few to folk dance. The crowd favorite, “No More Forever,” climaxed with drummer Tom Hohmann’s singing Chief Joseph’s famous words of surrender just as guitarist Colin Matthews switched into overdrive and sent the crowd’s scuzzy hipsters cavorting.
Matthews most closely resembles: Thor, Norse god of thunder.

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AWESOME COLOR
The Market Hotel
When the Stooges’ “Loose” was played over the PA before Awesome Color’s set, it could have been a buzz-kill. (The band’s records offer not much more than adept Stooges worship.) But their performance at the Market Hotel was a visceral, dizzying experience, the pace unrelenting and the volume extreme enough to constitute a health hazard. Midway through the set, a friend of the band hopped onstage to do his best Iggy impression, but it was a mere formality—these erstwhile Michiganders had already done their hometown heroes proud.
If the band were manufactured by General Motors it would be: a 1970 Pontiac GTO.

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FILM SCHOOL
Death by Audio
49 S. 2nd St., Williamsburg
Film School’s dreamy, reverb-heavy sound produced more bobbing than full-on dancing (excluding the obligatory guy oscillating wildly in the middle of the room), but it’d be a mistake to take the crowd’s stillness for apathy—the band had everyone’s attention from start to finish. The rhythm guitarist threatened to take out a ceiling tile when he triumphantly lifted his instrument over his head in what looked like an aborted guitar smash, and the lead guitarist spent half the set hunched over his amp, willing feedback brilliance. It’s a credit to DbA’s sound system that the set didn’t devolve into a pile of sonic mush.
Recommended for: your friend who has stopped smoking weed and now needs to fill that vacancy in his life.

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