By Maria Gotay
Three lo-fi Brooklyn bands Dive, MINKS, and Beach Fossils came together for an all-ages sweat fest at 285 Kent Avenue last Friday.
Openers Dive seem to be playing everywhere these days. Show up for a concert early at any Williamsburg haunt, and they’ll be there, jamming away into a soft lo-fi spot somewhere on the floor or ceiling. Well, they’ve definitely been successful in getting their name out there, and for the most part, placing space between this project and the lead singer Cole’s famous main-project, Beach Fossils. Instrumentally, there is enough to sink your teeth into but the vocal tracks never seem to go much of anywhere, unlike the lyrical strengths of Beach Fossils.Their performance was genuine but not too impacting- their music comes alive more in album form.
MINKS was the band I came to see on Friday! Their lo-fi shoegaze sound is most often dark and murky, yet breathes a layer of pure-pitch clarity. This band is hard to really learn anything about- they’re from Brooklyn, they don’t play too often, they rarely speak up. Their album, By the Hedge is a fuzzy collection of gems that’s been living in my headphones- a collection of summery uppers and goth-laced downers creating a melancholy middle ground that’s really pretty good. I was honestly underwhelmed by their really short (30 mins?) live set, but what came out of it, including the two songs on their new 7″ Araby and Little Fawn (which you can download over here), was passionate and sounded on. Never received notice of a line-up change though- the band’s female vocalist and tambourine player was notably absent.
Beach Fossils! What could I write that someone hasn’t already penned? Brooklyn-based summer-sheen lo-fi melody chasers (a lot of hyphens) are always fun to listen to and see, unless things get really rowdy, which weirdly tends to happen at their shows. Seeing Beach Fossils is a pretty formulaic experience- these guys have been playing the same handful of great but over-played tracks for a year now. Their fanbase loves to drink whisky from a water bottle and to form a sweat dancepit -which is all good -it just must get tiring after a while…
