LAZYEYES CHARM LPR WITH A CAST OF TRAILBLAZERS

Brooklyn’s shoegazing mischief-makers Lazyeyes have returned from touring, and before jumping in the studio briefly before heading back out on their way to SXSW, performed a hometown show as part of the On The Rise series by and at the excellent West Village basement nightclub spot (le) poisson rouge. The bill was packed with four up-and-coming bands and proved to be a welcome escape from the frigid blizzard that had just immobilized NYC.

First up, was the Boston to Brooklyn transplants Coaches who exorcize an earsplitting version of shoegaze akin to My Bloody Valentine and Deerhoof in many respects. They could be messy and raw at times, but that was clearly part of their appeal, and as a plus, there was some real quality songwriting in there.

Coaches

Next, was a band I was extremely spellbound by, the Invisible Familiars. At times this power trio reminded me of Adrian Belew from somewhere in his late Talking Heads/early solo/beginning King Crimson era, with all of the finely manicured squalling guitar screeches, bold noises, to the spot-on off-time rhythm changes. Not to be to cerebral though, they have some impressive glam rock qualities too, like David Bowie or T. Rex era, found within some great hooks and harmonies to keep you captivated throughout. You can count me as impressed.

Invisible Familiars

Now, the Brooklyn band Zuli I had caught before, and their much more straight-up psychedelia is also quite seductive. With a shimmy and a shake, this band woos you into their wild party in progress on stage and keeps you high with some seriously tripped-out jams. They are a band worth getting to know.

Zuli

Then, you have Brooklyn’s own Lazyeyes, a band who have definitely gone through some changes over the last several years, especially personnel-wise, but frontman and guitarist Jason Abrishami and drummer Jeremy Sampson have both stayed the course. Along with some excellent new additions, they have managed to grow stronger and even mature musically over the years. At times, it feels like seeing them is just like hanging with some old friends and getting shit-faced in your kitchen, but at other times you are reminded that beyond their more whimsical qualities, there is an immensely solid band there with harmonies and tonalities that can touch you in ways that many other shoegaze bands miss. How they can go from sounding like classic Galaxie 500 or The Cure one minute and then darken into Radiohead or Interpol the next is quite awe-inspiring. They played some new material, which sounds great, and even though we will probably have to wait till well after SXSW to here it on record, I highly suggest you catch them as soon as you can.