Widow Babies’ bassist Neal laid his instrument to rest after Saturday night’s show at the Smell. The word on the street is that Neal will be attending Columbia University this fall—starting Monday, actually—and for that reason he couldn’t play the Spaceland show. Despite this shortcoming, the band played on: Elise gave a lively vocal performance that sounded like a child singing to their favorite song while Danny kept his guitar sounding surfy and Tabor built complex beats out of simple rudiments. Even without a bassist, the Widow Babies ensnared the listeners with style and beauty. After their set, I heard the audience debate whether the band’s name was Widow Babies as in spiders or Widow as in a phonetic spelling of ‘little.’ (“Awww … look at the widow baby.”) We can only hope the group continues with the same strength and pace they’ve already put forth.

The next band was a group called Casxio who featured a male guitarist, bassist, drummer, and a female keyboardist. Despite the band’s impressive time changes and breaks, they just didn’t do it for me. Sure, they had a sound that walked a fine line between the Rapture’s scratchy guitars, funky rhythm, and sexually charged lyrics and, at times, the Cure’s soft key melodies and shy, introspective lyrics; but, with these two contrasting styles working simultaneously, the band seemed to contradict itself. With over-exaggerated stances and pelvic thrusts, the band was a study in hyperbole gone wrong—not to mention the singer’s falsetto, which sometimes fell flat in both pitch and demeanor. It may be my job to be critical, but the audience could have cared less—they danced, clapped and sang along to Casxio’s infectious songs.

Last but certainly not least were the Happy Hollows, who on the second night of their November residency played their fierce and effervescent style of rock and roll. This particular night, the group placed a painted backdrop behind them with globs of multicolor paint on it that looked either like hybrid flowers or mushroom clouds. With songs uch as the minor key “Faces” that talk about smiles being what the world needs right now—an uncharacteristically happy notion—and the purely abstract “Silver,” the Happy Hollows sound like what Jackson Pollock paintings look like.

—Steven Carrera

Mika Miko performed Friday night at the Smell where they were joined by No Age at the end of their set. Also performing that night were Audacity, The Widow Babies, and UV Lights.

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