ACID DAD THROWS A PRE-BLIZZARD BLOWOUT AT BABY'S ALL RIGHT

NYC’s psych punk raiders Acid Dad threw a big celebration at Baby’s All Right on Friday to hail the coming of their debut EP on the same night that saw a massive blizzard moving in on the Big Apple. The bellowing winds and first flakes of snow proved to be a perfect symbolic backdrop for the night, as the hot and sweaty sold-out party that ensued inside was a tempest of weird on it’s own right, and hot and sweaty fans reveled in every fantastic note.

The Baltimore-D.C. area quintet AMFMS opened the show with their retro-centric tone that goes a extensive distance in search of the perfect power chord, with moody wisps of Roxy Music, to high-adrenaline screams of Fugazi, to the slicker indifference of the Strokes, this band clearly does pack in quite a range. Their debut EP Captives was just recently released for all those times you can’t decide if you want some smooth glam-pop or some raw garage-rock.

AMFMS

The Brooklyn outfit Total Slacker were next, and to say this band has changed over the last several years is putting it lightly. Several years back, this band was everywhere on the NYC scene it seemed, with a line-up was far more expansive and a sound that was far more cheeky party alt-pop than the more straightforward shoegaze rock group they are now, and it seemed like watching a band going from the B-52s to the Cure within the blink of an eye. Much of that undoubtedly has more to do with the personnel changes than natural progressive tones, as guitarist and vocalist Tucker Rountree is still the driving force, but the rest of his army has changed up after their second drummer, Terence Connor, was killed in a hit-and-run accident back in 2012. Now, the group is a far more streamlined power-trio setup and their sound also reminds me of a large number of influential ensembles like early Sonic Youth and late 70’s Talking Heads, as well as some more modern ethereal offerings like Beach Fossils and Real Estate. They are apparently hard at work on their 3rd LP, and if the new material is any indication, they are definitely set to blast into some tasty new territory.

Total Slacker

The night was clearly all about the new Acid Dad though, and the bursting Baby’s All Right was all set for a lift-off densely packed with devotees that filled the place wall to wall with the youthful aroma of unbridled pubescent energy. At one point, I thought I saw another few people my age, but they turned out to be the delightful parents of drummer Kevin Walker, whom we took to calling Acid Dad and Acid Mom. The band does inspire a lot of wicked energy, which is undoubtedly why the place quickly began to pile up into a hot and sweaty mess of blissfully moshing teens. Their sound reminds me of Thee Oh Seas, Ty Segall, King Gizzard, the Black Lips, and the list could easily go on as their expansive sound ranges from surf punk to 60’s psycadellia. They had apparently been spending some time in upstate NY creating their debut EP, and with a punky adrenaline-rocketing and sexy-climaxing vibe, this band is clearly going places.