Crystal Stilts And Love Is All

12/12/08 7:18pm

by Steve McLean (CHARTattack)

After leaving the VideoFACT holiday party on Thursday night, I headed a few blocks south to the Horseshoe Tavern.

I missed Tropics, but was told they were too shrieky by a friend who admits he's not a big indie rock fan.

Brooklyn, N.Y. band Crystal Stilts were up next. The quartet are composed of a lead vocalist, guitarist, bassist and a female drummer who played a minimal kit while standing up. Their sound was a mix of The Raveonettes, Joy Division and The Jesus And Mary Chain and was appropriately "primitive." Frontman Brad Hargett had a deadpan delivery, which suited the fact that there was little movement on stage and very minimal stage lighting. I really enjoyed their 40-minute set and would take Crystal Stilts over Crystal Castles 10 times out of 10.

Sweden's Love Is All's first number had an opening that sounded like The Clean's "Tally Ho," but unfortunately the rest of the song wasn't as good. Singer Josephine Olausson's voice was occasionally annoying, but it fit the band's material, which will appeal to indie music bloggers and readers. The saxophone player made the group stand out a bit, and at times his contributions reminded me of X-Ray Spex. While I liked Love Is All more live than on record, it wasn't enough to keep me from going to the front bar to see the end of regulation and overtime in the Bears-Saints NFL game. I returned to the back just as the group were finishing their cover of A Flock Of Seagulls' "I Ran." I stuck around for the encore, and was glad I did.

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