Live Log 2024: A Night In Purgatory
My first concert of the year featured Or Best Offer, Theadoore, and Droba Kid
Even after traveling south from the A train’s northern terminus to 14th Street, another 15 stops east on the L train seemed to go by in a flash. That’s partly because after the post-hurricane Sandy repairs and renovations, the L train moves like never before - but mostly because I was so psyched to see Or Best Offer. The duo of Grace Schmidhauser and Brian Culligan released their thrilling debut, Center, in January and quickly gained a lock on my list of the best albums of the year.
I instantly loved the way they use homemade electronics, drums, and guitars, layering swaths of noise to surround Schmidhauser’s sweet melodies and searching lyrics, so I was eager to see how they would translate this to the stage. I was also glad for the chance to get to Purgatory, a venue I’d been hearing about for a while, which is appropriately located on a dead-end street in Bushwick. It turned out to be a cool spot, with colorful décor, a few rooms, and two levels packed into its small footprint. Most important was the warm welcoming vibe that is everything when it comes to seeing live music - especially when flying solo, as I was. Also cool was the email I received after I bought my ticket, which gave me a coupon for a free shot or soft drink.
After drinking my well whiskey in the Red Room, I headed upstairs and found the first band, Theadoore, already in progress. This is the chamber-jazz-folk-art-rock project of Grace Ward, who was playing guitar and singing, accompanied on the small stage by a cellist, a sax player, a guitarist, and a drummer. I liked what I heard, too, connecting to a sound reminiscent of the European post-punk explosion as represented by Aksak Maboul and other bands on the Recommended Records Sampler I bought in high school. Theadoore’s last album, Tears For The Timekeeper, came out in 2021, but it seems new things are on the horizon.
After a quick reset of the stage, Drobakid, who have a standard two-guitars-bass-drums lineup, played their set of draggy, dreamy indie rock, their slow-burn intensity amplified by searing guitar solos that built to satisfying crescendos. It seems their latest EP, 2023’s Full Belly, is only on Spotify - get to it. And if you’re in NYC, Drobakid will be back at Purgatory on April 15th.
Drobakid cleared off and Schmidhauser and Culligan put their gear together, the latter moving his drums off into the corner and setting up a suitcase-like kit of ramshackle electronics that he could access while playing. Schmidhauser had put together a few guitar pedals and plugged in a vintage Casio SK-1 and left it on the floor. This was one of the first affordable sampling keyboards - I bought one the week they became available, reveling in the seemingly limitless possibilities of a chip that could hold one second of any sound you loaded onto it. It’s also polyphonic and produces a surprisingly rich sound when amplified. Mine died years ago but you can hear some of the fun I had with it on the interstitial bumpers on my podcast.
And then there they were, Schmidhauser strumming those gnarled, tangled chords or picking out enthralling, oddly tuned figures while Culligan pushed and pulled from the drums, generating noises from the suitcase and driving her on. When she sang, she seemed to get lost in herself and we followed her there, the involved crowd hanging on every twist and turn of her vocal phrases. When she kneeled on the floor and generated drones from the SK-1, the sense of ritual was only more present. Or Best Offer are one of those bands that put aside the conventions of music in order to tap into its primordial power. This was never more evident than when they were on that tiny stage at Purgatory, completing that ancient circuit between performer and audience. It was electric in every sense - and I can’t wait to experience it again.
Seen any great live shows this year? Tell me all about it!
From the archives:
A Song For Friday: Or Best Offer