Former the Chairs lead singer Alex Schaaf has big indies shoes to fit with his band Yellow Ostrich opening for Los Campesinos Friday night at Le Poisson Rouge. Over the past number of years I've seen both Titus Andronicus and Girls in that exact same role. Both have gone on to bigger things.
So now it is Yellow Ostrich, an experimental hard rocking trio, to come up with the goods. And with Alex busy fiddling about with loops and tapes and a badly misjudged first song "Whales" off their first album Mistress, which is exactly what you were afraid it was, I was afraid the run on openers stopped here.
But the set was a steady and consistent. It was, indeed, a little strange. The theory is the that most sets build momentum but the truth is they don't: they sink in the middle and regain buoyancy towards the end. But Yellow Ostrich got better as they went on. Alex looks like a young Thurston Moore and his band delve into sonic soundscapes and indie cred Real Estate like pop songs until they don't. The band builds their songs from the inside out and slowly a song pends itself till Alex and the band explode with riffalick splendor that gets better as the set goes on. Jon Natchez, good on everything but great on bass, is beaming with pleasure during these songs.
The set climaxes with "Marathon Runner" an aural metaphor for the title and a banging crowd pleaser of the first order which wins over any remaining doubters.
The LC Great Opening Bands streak continues apace!
Grade: B+