Woods’ headphone-microphone.

This week I decided to change pace a little and check out a relatively mellower Todd P offering at Silent Barn. I first discovered Woods a couple weeks ago, and was compelled enough by what I heard to make the walk up into the Queens side of town.

I’m a bit ashamed to say that I was prepared to write off opening band Fiasco because of their age. My mistake soon became clear, however. These kids throw down. When the stage banter returned between songs (with jokes that predictably included dick, balls, and ass) I was reminded of how young these guys are. But really, it only made me all the more impressed when they started to play again.

Woods, up second, played a beautiful style of experimental pop and folk. Full of haunting melodies, drenched in reverb, and overlain with white noise and wall-of-sound effects, the music takes on an ethereal quality; like hearing music from another room while drifting off to sleep. Much of Woods’ otherworldly sound is achieved through the use of effect pedals and tape loops, with one band member acting as a sound manipulator while contributing occasional vocal harmonies by singing into a pair of headphones that are modified to act as a microphone. Being a huge music nerd, it was fascinating to me to see how the band constructs their sound in a live setting.

The wonderfully named Abe Vigoda took the stage third. A four-piece from L.A., these guys play an off-kilter brand of shouty post-punk, full of bouncy rhythms and bright, happy melodies. While retaining the energy and tension of post-punk they seamlessly blend in calypso melodies and island rhythms to create something that is completely new and consistently unrecognizable as any of the many styles from which it draws. Akin to Brooklyn’s Pterodactyl and Baltimore’s Ponytail, these guys are creating a sound that pushes post-punk way beyond the genre’s traditional boundaries.

Vivian Girls, sporting a moniker appropriated from the works of outsider artist Henry Darger, closed out the night. I went into this performance with only the briefest of introductions to the band, so I was not quite sure what to expect. What I got was some fuzzy, driving psychedelic-punk, often with droning 3-part harmony vocals. I really dug these gals’ style. They are on tour for what seems like the majority of the summer, with a handful of dates alongside fellow Brooklynites Japanther, but I definitely want to check them out again when they return.