Landlady Live At Baby’s All Right

New York – Williamsburg’s Baby’s All Right is a unique venue. Part restaurant, part bar and part music hall, it played the perfect host for Brooklyn’s genre-defying group Landlady. This Tuesday, to celebrate the release of the band’s newest album Upright Behavior, Landlady took the stage after opening acts Celestial Shore and Shy Hunters.

Before doors at 9 PM, Adam Schatz, Landlady’s lead singer, milled about the room. He looked indistinguishable from the crowd of guys in button-downs and jeans that populated the venue. Just shy of midnight, however, Landlady took the stage and Schatz’s took up his full form. After quieting the crowd, Landlady launched into a lengthy set with unrelenting energy.

In between songs, Schatz would stand humbled behind his mess of electronics and address the audience. Early in the evening he looked out on the crowd, which consisted mainly of guys in backwards baseball caps and girls with straight-across bangs, and sheepishly admitted, “This is a bit like a dream I had when I was twelve.” Before starting “Under the Yard,” Schatz took a moment to explain the track, noting a particularly potent drum section towards the end. He encouraged the crowd members to “do what happens with your body” before beginning to sing. Soon, the audience started nodding along.

He’s a fit leader of the small army that is Landlady, and his unique voice seems to find it’s place in whatever sound the band is exploring. Schatz harmonized perfectly with guitarist Mikey Freedom and bassist Ian Davis, creating an unexpected peace amongst all that instrumental fervor. Whether they’re rollicking through “Washington State Is Important” or bopping along to “Dying Day,” the band always managed to stay in sync, which seemed somewhat challenging given that there were upwards of five people on the tiny stage during any given song. With drummers Ian Chang and Booker Stardrum changing places, jumping between drum set and floor toms, and a violinist joining in towards the end, the stage became a clockwork of musicians.

The complexity of Landlady’s sound comes from their ability to skirt any defining lines when it comes to genre. Their songs sound like jam sessions, in which each musician plays their heart out and little attention is played to how formally the song is arranged. In a live setting, audience members get to see the amount of skill and physical effort it takes to put a Landlady song together. Whether you’re a fan of the band or not, it’s worth seeing all their sounds, particularly in songs like “Above My Ground,” replicated in a ferocious live setting.

Photo By Angel E. Fraden - Courtesy Of CMJ.com

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Zoe Marquedant

Zoe Marquedant is a Marylander now living in Brooklyn. She recently graduated from Sarah Lawrence College where she majored in Journalism and English literature. She is a freelance journalist, who primarily writes on music and culture. Her work can be seen in Boston Magazine, Highlight Magazine as well as on rsvlts.com, mxdwn.com and Baeblemusic.com. When not writing, Zoe is probably working her way through a new series on Netflix, researching new pie recipes and collecting dumb jokes (e.g. Two fish are in a tank. One turns to the other and says, "You man the guns. I’ll drive.") Follow her vain attempts at mastering social media at @zoenoumlaut