It Happened Last Night
HEALTH / Photo by Jackie Roman
HEALTH / Photo by Jackie Roman
HEALTH / Photo by Jackie Roman
Crystal Castles / Photo by Jackie Roman
Crystal Castles / Photo by Jackie Roman
HEALTH Perplex NYC's Dance Party Seeking Hipsters
The Los Angeles-bred experimental rockers spur a bewildering reaction, and warm stage for headliner Crystal Castles' gloom and doom freak out.
By Abby Everdell 03.27.08 3:08 PM
HEALTH / Photo by Jackie Roman
As the first notes of HEALTH's palindromic beatdown "//M\\" pounded through Manhattan's Mercury Lounge last night (March 26), the audience seemed puzzled. Wasn't this supposed to be dance music? But by the time the chanting melody of "Crimewave" (a song remixed by Crystal Castles into one of 2007's best dance tracks) emerged from the tribal onslaught, expectations had changed.
A husky guy with a buzz cut, chin strap, and leather jacket began intently skanking to the industrial thump and skronk, as the rest of the room braced against beats so loud they threatened even the most feedback-tempered eardrums. Band members jackknifed their lanky bodies with every grinding note, and the drummer, a youthful Metallica roadie-looking guy with arms the size of muscled thighs, appeared to be on the verge of passing out by end of the nine-song set.
The audience, in the meantime, still wasn't sure how to behave. Like too many voyeurs at a sex party, each seemed to be waiting for the other to start up the action. The insanity for which bands from Los Angeles' Smell scene are renowned never quite caught on, but luckily for the eager crowd, Crystal Castles brought a secret weapon; as the house lights dimmed, a beat-timed strobe transformed the whole joint into an Atari-goth rave. Ahhh… chaos at last.
We asked: Seeing as tonight's show is sold out, HEALTH are looking, well, pretty healthy. How healthy do you feel on a scale of 1 to 10 and why?
Name: Beverly Hames
Age: 26
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
Occupation: Retail
"8.5. I'm well-fed, well-rested, and sober! Plus I work right by whole foods"
Name: Miikka
Age: 25
Hometown: Helsinki, Finland
Occupation: Musician
"9.5. I've been walking a lot and eating organic food."
Name: Greg Hawthorne
Age: 24
Hometown: Roxbury, NJ
Occupation: Programmer
"5. It's been too cold to exercise and I'm too cheap to pay for a gym. Nothing like drinking a few beers to get in shape!"
Name: Alexis Slorio
Age: 29
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Occupation: Fashion PR
"8.5. I've been doing Pilates since New Year's. It was my resolution."
HEALTH / Photo by Jackie Roman
HEALTH / Photo by Jackie Roman
Crystal Castles / Photo by Jackie Roman
Crystal Castles / Photo by Jackie Roman
What a fun show this was from the very start. Apache Beat really was a great act! I haven't heard anything that sounds quite like them. I was particularly impressed by the dynamic between the bass & drums. They have some sort of African - Sonic Youth - Iggy Pop thing going on that’s just hard to explain.
Team Robie were a lot of fun and indeed had the markings of Williamsburg 101 via say Ohio? Their straight ahead punk pop songs were good though and they kept the crowd in good spirits.
Speaking of Williamsburg…. Health are the text book definition of “Hipster Band” though they had a great sound & used some interesting instrumentation (including what appeared to be a hand held electronic drum). I did get the impression that they were “too cool” for school though with their over the top theatrics and all too familiar Klaxons wardrobe but they were entertaining nonetheless and had some interesting moments.
Crystal Castles played the same show they always play with the strobe light, Alice jumping around – nothing new. By this time after having a few drinks settle comfortably it didn’t matter, everyone just wanted to have a good time and that it was.
I was at this show to check out up and comers Apache Beat and Health who were both good. Apache Beat should have gone on later for they were one of the better acts and have an interesting sound. Health sounded good and had the "hipster" thing down better than a lot of Williamsburg acts. Cyrstal Castles are another story.... these guys just suck! I don't get what the buzz is about other than their remix work which I haven't heard much of? They just seem so full of shit, especially the guy that's always wearing the hood (give me a break). If you were to take the strobe light away there would be nothing happening up there, no essence. The set sounds like one long MP3 and it doesn't go anywhere. This is basically Atari Riot all over again. Is everyone so clueless as to give these guys the amount of credibility they receive? It's childsplay by a couple lucky Canadians who got some big $ thrown at them for looking good with a strobe light and taking some candid good pics....big deal. Thanks but no thanks, I'll pass and wait for the next great white hope. Hopefully it'll be an actual band and one that has something to say. Next...