FRICTION Recap: 6.8.08 w/ These New Puritans, School of Seven Bells, & Soundpool

I got into a conversation over the weekend about which weather I would rather have to deal with: a) bitter cold or b) heat and humidity. It’s a no brainer for me, I’ll take the bitter bitter cold any day over this hot and humid as fuck weather we’ve been experiencing the last couple of days. It causes me to shut down and not want to leave the confines of air conditioned spaces. That said, I’d like to thank everyone who braved the dirty heat last night and came out for the 30th FRICTION show with These New Puritans, School of Seven Bells, and Soundpool at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Extra props go to These New Puritans frontman Paul Barnett for rocking metal feathered chainmail as temperatures outside crept into the upper 90s.

Soundpool started off the night with a sexy dream-pop set. Out of focus film strips filled the stage, highlighting and flickering off the group as they churned out shimmering sonic morphine, anchored by sound-washed guitars, bumping basslines, girlie vocals, and pop beats. Brooklyn trio, School of Seven Bells brought a little of the steamy weather indoors to the otherwise cool Music Hall with their sultry blend of droning dark synths, psychedelic reverb, booming laptop beats, and charismatic vocal harmonies of twin sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza. With start-stop Fall-inspired paroxysms, the cryptic These New Puritans made their Brooklyn live debut with an icy precision. The fiery Barnett controlled the stage with abrubt barking vocals over brilliant staccato rhythms and jerky angular guitars, shouting lines like “what’s your favorite number, what does it mean?” I’m not sure, but Barnett seemed a bit angry about something, contrasting his anger with calling for “peace” and “peace in the Middle East.” The highlight of the set (and which everyone seemed to be anticipating) was the live rendition of the driving electro hit, “Elvis,” perhaps getting the best response from the crowd during their set. Like them or not, for a group who’s average age is less than twenty, this quartet is showing a lot of potential and should grow into their sound quite well.

Also, special thanks to Brooklyn’s (by way of D.C.) Jean-Baptiste, aka Anicet, for pulling together one of the better DJ sets I’ve heard in quite a while. If you have a chance, check him out at Happy Ending on June 18th and stream some of his mixes on Virb.

Pictures will be up on Flickr shortly. Music Snobbery has up a nice review from last night’s show.

FRICTION jumps back across the river for a show at Cake Shop on June 29th with Crystal Stilts, Tickley Feather, PWRFL Power, and Rings. Tickets are $7 and available the night of the show. Keep your eye on the site for more information and check out the rest of the summer’s FRICTION shows on MySpace.

[MP3]: Crystal Stilts  ”Converging in the Quiet”
Crystal Stilts, eMusic Select; 2008