New York – It was another fun night at Matchless last night, where BestNewBands.com hosted our first showcase of the New Year, in usual fashion of friends, fun, and a lot of music to open your ears to. The biggest goal of hosting these monthly showcases is to bring music fans and music makers together to hang out, play, enjoy, and to discover great newly emerging bands they may not have experienced before. So when I have people come up to me and tell me they just heard something new that they really liked, it’s just further reinforcement as to why I do what I do, and why having a venue to make those kinds of new discoveries – by fans and bands alike – makes that difference. Sure, there are more than enough venues around NYC, and everywhere else, but how often do you scroll through a calendar of who’s playing where, and skim right over all the bands you’ve never heard of before? I do it too; because why would I pay to see a band I know nothing about? But that’s where we could be missing something to tell all our friends about the next day. That’s where we want to have you covered with these showcases. We want you to discover a new band or see a band you have heard of, rock out like you’ve never quite seen before. Because every show, no matter what, will have fun and interesting people gathered in a room of good vibes. That’s the point of our monthly showcase. Last night, although there may not have been the biggest crowd ever out on a Wednesday night in January, I learned at the end of the night that the biggest draw was literally people showing up for BestNewBands in general, and friends coming to support me on my monthly showcase night. The majority of folks coming through the door really had no idea who the bands were, but they knew they would find out, and probably have a good time doing so. Of course there were plenty of people who came for a specific band, but for most, Alien Trilogy, Sunflower Bean, Les Bicyclettes Blanches, and Creation Myth were totally new discoveries, and all night I kept hearing, “Hey – who are these guys? I really like it!”
Alien Trilogy (shown above) was the “whoa! What is this!?” cyber punk assault of the night, spazzing out and head banging on stage during their synth-punk noise-core set. They’re perfect for anyone into 80s-90s sci-fi and Lightning Bolt with Blood Brothers vocals. The trio ripped through their set, bending circuits, banging drums, and wiping our brains blank, as a performance like that doesn’t really allow you to be able to think about anything except this visceral experience happening.
Sunflower Bean is currently rising quickly on the Brooklyn underground scene, having played house shows at Emet, DIY shows at Silent Barn, and the now infamous 285 Kent. This psych rock trio definitely looked like they were vibing out, and they sounded great. Guitarist Nick Kivlen and bassist Julia Cumming have a great vocal interplay, especially on their new single “Bread,” which they closed out their set with, full of tempo changes and guitar freakouts. This band makes great head bangers that you can groove to.
Les Bicyclettes Blanche was also a nice surprise. I hadn’t seen them before myself in this particular configuration. Their sound was more heavy psych than even I thought they were going to be. I liked them before, and like them even more now. This was the band that was on when many people walked in, and right away their attention was captured with this effects-laden trio. Singer Magnolia Santibanez was on bass the whole way until the last song. When, she picked up a guitar, grinding out the beat and singing in her husky French accent.
Opening the night was Creation Myth, who kind of rolled in like the fog outside with their ethereal and hypnotic ambient shoegaze. With two guitarists, a drum machine, and singer Jennie’s far away dream world vocals, they create sprawling melodies that stretch and expand around machinist drum tracks that never lose the beat in the swirl.
