I hadn't planned to check this show out originally. A friend was throwing a housewarming/early Halloween party this same night, and I'd promised that I'd attend. Then I listened to some Helio Sequence earlier that afternoon.
I'm lucky to have such understanding friends. Who stay up late.
I counted about 30 people inside Neurolux when I arrived around 8 pm. I grabbed a stool by the bar. This became prime real estate fairly quickly...
The aptly named Slowdance kicked off the night's music. This Brooklyn group's massive bass sound, mid-tempo dance-beats, ethereal keyboards, brightly hazy guitar and sweetly pensive tunes shot right to the part of me that gets off on Joy Division and the Cure. Lead singer Quay's light but firm vocals floated and soared above the music. Very sexy stuff, in a slow-boil kind of way. They turned the heat up as the set progressed, however. By the time that they reached their hard-swinging closer, they sounded downright happy.
The Helio Sequence played next. This Portland duo's smoothly percolating beats, soothing tunes, misterioso guitar sounds and calm, focused vocals sounded just as beguiling live as they did coming through my tiny earbuds. Actually, I enjoyed the live show more: it gave me the chance to witness firsthand Benjamin Weikel's human-metronome, unassumingly powerful drumwork and Brandon Summers's warm, generous stage presence. The crowd danced and roared with applause as one song after the next washed over them. Wondrous.
You can find info on these two groups on Facebook and elsewhere online.
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