Show Review: You Scream I Scream At BAR, October 26

Halfway through You Scream I Scream’s show last night at BAR in New Haven, opening for White Arrows, the light sabers came out. Yep, instead of glow sticks, the Hartford based band had people brandishing light sabers and getting into mock fights with each other. It was all part of the fun, party vibe the band exudes.

Led by Floyd Kellogg on bass and vocals, the band laid down a danceable and slightly fuzzed out sound, which was equally influenced by grungy, quiet loud dynamics (especially from the rumblings of Kellogg’s bass), the simple yet effective robotic rock drum beats of Audrey Sterk and the psychedelic tinged keys of Jake Vohs. They delivered an inspired set of indie rock that had all the hipsters dancing, with or without light sabers.

They opened with the new wave gone grunge of “Tiny Reward” and kept the indie kids dancing all the way til their final song “Adios Pantalones”, whose title is a cheeky reference to one of Kellogg’s previous bands.

If I were to describe them I would say they sound mostly like a guitar-less grunge band, in that many of the songs are short, snappy and concise, where they start out slow and build to an anthemic chorus. There is a new wave influence too, in the almost simple, but sublime Kraut rock-like drum beats that feature a lot of cymbal rides from Sterk. It’s uncomplicated and catchy, which is quite a refreshing take from a form a music that is getting more baroque, complicated and pretentious every day. (Do we really need any more hipstercana bands?)

So, it was a fun night of unpretentious indie rock. You should definitely check them out.