Pitchfork

Photos by Ahmed Klink; Above: Sian Alice Group

Marc Hogan's coverage: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Amy Phillips' coverage: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Jessica Suarez's coverage: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday

Sian Alice Group [Santos Party House; 10:30 p.m.]






I don't know why Sian Alice Group haven't played more here-- it's impossible to think singer Sian (pronounced like "Shawn," I finally learned) Ahern doesn't want to be seen. She's really pretty stunning: straight black hair and cheekbones like small glaciers. The rest of the Group were equally cool; they didn't let the numerous sound problems (feedback, crackling cords, muddled sound) bother them much. On record, their songs tend to unfurl like smoke, their quiet repetition drawing out subtle (or imagined) shifts. But in person, Sian Alice Group were not nearly as mellow or subtle-- minute-long noise parcels started or ended tracks, pulse-like drum beats pounded out songs that I expected to fade away. Their tracks don't like to be pried apart-- each instrument clings to the next like transparent film-- but I could finally see where the sounds come from and how the songs are built.





Psychic Ills [Santos Party House; 11:30 p.m.]




Santos Party House was crowded by the time the stage guy unrolled the velvet curtain for Psychic Ills. The band's first job was to calm people down, I think: bassist Elizabeth Hart paced at the front of the stage with a string of bells draped over her shoulders, keyboardist Jimmy Seitang waved incense over the crowd. Sound problems continued here-- Psychic Ills sounded muted and dulled when they should have been a little sharper (the bands didn't have time for a soundcheck). They're far from my favorite Social Registry band but I did like the moments when they'd speed and slow down the beat, like a queasy Kevin Shields guitar effect.



Growing [Santos Party House; 12:30 a.m.]


I saw Growing open for Hot Chip a few weeks back and an audience member yelled "Hot Chip!" from their first song to their last. They had an easier time and a more sympathetic audience tonight. Without anticipating Hot Chip's pop-songs-trying-to-be-something-else, it's clearer that Growing's great at transforming guitars into a hundred different beats and melodies, slurpy squelch and little fireworks.



Gang Gang Dance [Santos Party House; 1:30 a.m.]




By the time Gang Gang Dance started, it was already an hour or so past their scheduled set-up-- notable only because CMJ sets usually start right on time. By now it was hot, by now the dirtbags around me-- and dirtbags love Gang Gang Dance just as much as noise faces-- were starting to ferment from their between-set dancing. A guy next to me smelled like a kid's backpack at the end of the school year. But talking about how people smell at Gang Gang Dance shows is as old as talking about how close/not close the group is to making pop songs. There are lots of people making great pop songs already-- singer Liz Bougatsos had three of them on the Missy Elliott/Beyoncé/Alicia Keys tour t-shirt she was wearing. What I like the most now is just how much better they are than when I saw them a couple of years back, how much chirpier and less gloomy they've become. Santos Party House is basically speakers divided by a dance floor, and people danced a lot, which would have been impossible at a Gang Gang Dance show in 2006.