The Fiery Furnaces' Sonic Epileptic Fit Heats Up

One doesn't so much dance to the Fiery Furnaces as twitch pleasantly, grabbing whatever snatches of rhythm one can as Eleanor Friedberger's Ritalin-addled incantations about blueberry boats, mystery Mormons, and who knows what else dart about brother Matthew Friedberger's keyboard lines. This arrangement was great with the kids, thrilled to be out of school (and the semi-adults wishing they were still kids glad to be out of school) last night (July 5), as the huddled masses in black-frame glasses gleefully convulsed at D.C.'s Black Cat venue. Following Orphan (whose singer noodled, back to audience, combining the onanism of the worst classic rock with the disdain for the audience of the worst indie rock) and Cali psych rockers dios (malos) (who made like a stoner-friendly Fountains of Wayne, filtering sugar-pop through bong water), the Furnaces were a shock -- they played "Bitter Tea," "Oh Sweet Woods," and "Single Again" as well as a host of tracks from their forthcoming LP, Widow City -- but bled together into two electrifying hours, a sort of prolonged musical epileptic fit. JEFFREY PARKER / PHOTOS BY NESTOR DIAZ

We asked: The Fiery Furnaces' Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger are brother and sister. Who are your favorite rock'n'roll siblings and why?

Name: Megan Lueders
Age: 19
Hometown: Raleigh, NC
Occupation: Works at a video store
"Eisley -- they're about the most gorgeous group of siblings. I've seen them about three times in concert, and they're adorable."

Name: Stephan Crown-Weber
Age: 20
Hometown: Danville, KY
Occupation: Student/intern
"The Gallaghers from Oasis. There's sort of a guilty pleasure to reading the British tabloid, seeing the Gallagher brothers' shenanigans."

Name: Ray Zhong
Age: 19
Hometown: Rochester, NY
Occupation: Student
"Those guys in the National. It's two pairs of brothers, isn't it? That's pretty cool in itself."

Name: Mike Hurley
Age: 25
Hometown: San Antonio, TX
Occupation: Student
"The Jackson 5. Musically, they were really great, and Michael's singing was good, and not crazy like now. The dancing, too."

Name: Becky Temple
Age: 21
Hometown: Acme, PA
Occupation: Congressional intern
"The Beach Boys, because their songs are classics."

Name: Joseph Cutler
Age: 21
Hometown: Scranton, PA
Occupation: Potato grower
"Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson, because they can both come out on stage and look like one another, and no one could tell the difference."

Name: Nikki Guerra
Age: 26
Hometown: Miami, FL
Occupation: Student
"Nelson. The hair."

Name: Tiffany Pek
Age: 25
Hometown: New York, NY
Occupation: Designer
"The Jackson 5, because they were adorable. They had dance moves, and I love dance moves."

Name: Andrew Leonidas
Age: 28
Hometown: San Francisco, CA
Occupation: Software engineer
"The Carpenters, because Karen Carpenter is the best ever singer/drummer. She killed Phil Collins."