video: Woodsman "Insects"

"Smells Like Purple"

Exploding out of a magenta sunset setting over the New York skyline, Woodsman's first adventure in NYC was a psych-monster that set the tone for a sweaty evening. An onslaught of drums propelled the night into a red flurry of shadows and body heat, while mischeiveous cats meandering in the distance, trying to break on through "to the other side." Pretty cliche, but when its 120 degrees in a basement and there are a couple hundred peeps mulling about, transcendence is motivation to move beyond the presence and into the ether. Ian Perlman's video of Woodsman playing "Insects" should help you remember what it was like.

video: Wild Nothing "Bored Games"

"Can I Come With You?"

A wash in a glow of sweat and awe, Wild Nothing rolled through a set of extremely tight, for lack of a better word, power pop. Jack Tatum has the uncanny gift of a young American to actually communicate emotions without sounding like a total wuss. On record his shy guy songwriting shines bright, but live, he's no quiet lil boy. Standing atop the stage at Monster Island, Tatum, who just completed a whirl wind run around New York City, was as composed as a man who'd been singing to crowds for 10 years, which is pretty amazing considering he's a wide-eyed southern boy in the big city. If you live in NYC and didn't catch Wild Nothing this wknd, chances are your next opportunity will be at a much bigger venue, as the band, captured here by Ian Perlman, is about to blow up.

video: Twin Sister "Something About Us" (Daft Punk cover)

"Homework"

Twin Sister played a late (late) night show this past Friday with Holiday Shores on a roof in the shadows of the BQE. I didn't get there until 1:45 and only caught the tail end of Twin Sister's set, though I wasn't really bummed until Dev told me they covered a Daft Punk song. Luckily Ian Perlman was their with a camera and microphone to capture it for everyone. (A few more tracks on his Vimeo page.)