(All pics yoinked from Brooklyn Ski Club's flickr stream.)
Personally, I'm not much for 'glam rock' and was never into the whole Ziggy Stardust thing. So I was a little worried when Apes and Androids (myspace) appeared on stage in the above ensemble (after carrying a massive boat through the Knitting Factory crowd not once, but twice.)
It was already late, I hadn't really wanted to come out anyway, there were no more Sparks in my bag, woe was me. But they immedately proceeded to tear the house and my weariness into confetti. You could listen to their tracks on their myspace page, but they really don't do them much justice. In fact, "Hot Kathy" is the only track on their jukebox I don't find terribly annoying. So check out "Hot Kathy", if you dare.
Live and in person, they're simply extraordinary. Imagine a sordid love affair between Freddy Mercury, Jon Anderson and Spinal Tap. Actually, don't. (I did so you don't have to.) Point is, the subsequent love children would sound something like the prog quintuplets in Apes and Androids.
They're clearly a very well-rehearsed unit. The Stonehenge-inspired choral harmonies were remarkably on-key and the hooks, which were incessant, stopped and started on a dime. They obviously put a lot prep time into Tuesday night's extravaganza. When, finally, the stage became crowded with a brass section and some sort of traditional Asian marching band, the songs played were as tightly rendered as everything that proceed them. That doesn't just happen. This was not a case of a band getting bored backstage and trying to slap together some half-assed idea involving giant Q-tips at the last minute.
Though, when they chose to slowly wind their way through audience twice with that glow-in-the-dark boat, I had to offer some criticism to the nearest innocent bystander, Jen.
ME (whining): Can't they just start already? One lap with the boat is theatrical, but two is indulgent. Unless some miniature pirates jump out of it now or something.
JEN: Come on, it must have taken them forever to build that boat.
It was a valid point. If I'd been up all night building that fucker you can bet I would have paraded it for AT LEAST two laps. It was a pretty impressive boat. And, thankfully, not some cheap gimmick to try to distract us from weak compositions. No, they're really something else musically. It was that rare breed of wildly imaginative rock that at some point just leaves me standing there agape, saying, "What the fuck?"
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