Panda Bear @ Webster Hall 10.1.2011

Panda Bear (aka Noah Lennox of Animal Collective) performed at Webster Hall last night to a packed house and while his layered electronic sound paired with echoed, harmonic vocals often brings to mind The Beach Boy's Brian Wilson, as a performer the effect was much more akin to Pink Floyd especially with the visuals projected on stage which were created along with director Danny Perez.

It was one of the rare shows which was more of an experience than a performance with its repetitive, trance rhythms and hallucinogenic images and I'd argue that the best place to enjoy it might've been toward the back of the house as opposed to the front. Overall, the hour-long set felt more like a acid, indie, hipster, new-age church than a rock show as the young NYU audience soaked in the sound sprinkled with a few older music aficionados such as former Talking Heads simger and artist David Byrne. The show closed with a short encore which included the crowd favorites such as "Comfy in Nativa" and "Bros" followed by a funky visual of repeated, distorted faces as the sound lingered and the stage fell dark.

Tokyo Police Club live at Webster Hall 2.25.2009

Wednesday night New York welcomed Tokyo Police Club back to town for a sold out show at Webster Hall along with the Born Ruffians and the Harlem Shakes. The show was only the second night of their tour but the band proved quickly that they were up to the task rolling through a number of their short upbeat tunes like "Juno" and "Your English Is Good" with enthusiasm.

What’s fun about their live show is the subtle variations in the performance of the songs which on record are often remixed and reworked a number of times. The band was a bit like a poppy, Canadian version of the Ramones with the plethora of great tracks that are nearly all around 2-3 minutes live. The crowd was a mixed bunch between young 16 year old fans using their iphones to grab photos along side twenty something kids dancing and thirty year old hipsters. The stand-outs were some of the more densely melodic songs off their recent album Elephant Shell like “Graves” and “Tessellate” but the band really did a good job keeping it varied and interesting.

One of the highlights was the score of new tracks like “Breakneck Speed” and “Favorite Color”. The most memorable moment was without a doubt the encore as the band stepped back onstage calling the Born Ruffians back out to play a new song, “Spark” which they recently wrote together. The track is really interesting with the merger of TPC’s Dave Monks unique vocal sound pairing up with Born Ruffians singer Luke LaLonde. They closed it out in style inviting the Harlem Shakes out onto the already crowded stage for a classic rendition of the Clash’s “Train In Vain”.

Here's a video clip of “Spark”