Charalambides, WTF?
It was a great show, it's just that the music was awful.
Me and my boy made it out to Cake Shop last night to see the Charalambides, a Texas-based psyche-folk duo. They fall in line with bands like Flying Saucer Attack and Windy and Carl. Spacey, out, yet pretty and melodic. But not anymore, I guess, evident via Christina Carter's off-pitch howls, and Tom Carter's metalish guitar work. The couple seemed to be performing in opposition; trying to unravel what the other created. Most of all, both deliveries were curiously devoid of any effects. It would've helped if the two would have slung that shit through some delay for chrissakes.
Special mention goes to La Otracina, a Brooklyn-based post-metal noise trio, with a hilariously spastic powerdrummer that resembles an unholy marriage of Garth and Animal. Guitarguy needs to take the annoying super grating feedback/short hum out of his signal line, but hey. They're were great to watch.
The real star of the evening was Cake Shop itself. Cake Shop is a bakery, cafe, record store (new and used), as well as a bar and venue. Typically there is a hefty amount of indie cred one needs to even get near Cake Shop, located just down from Piano's and Living Room in the LES. But last night was different, and it was a school night, so the kids were mellow, friendly even. The bakery has this delicious coconut-brownie square thingy called a Lamington that's worth fending off the hippest hipsters to get hold of.