Once upon a time, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were a no name band
that travelled the
Williamsburg
circuit making a splash with their outrageous shows. Karen O would hop on stage
wearing nothing but a bikini bottom and some tape over her nipples, and proceed
to get into tussles with broken glass.
Fast forward to 2013 at Glasslands Gallery and it is clear
that that brand of thrashing, brutal minimalism is alive and kicking in
Hunters.
With hardly a word to the audience, the
Brooklyn quartet proceeded
to roar through their set.
Consisting entirely of punishing two-minute riot inducing anthems,
Hunters perforated the ear drums of the audience with a fine frenzy of noise. Without
fail, Derek Watson and his dreadlocked coiff kicked off each track with savage
guitar attacks and leering vocals before engaging in a feisty vocal fire fight
with his partner in crime Isabel Almeida.
As the two traded shots, innocent bystanders were
indiscriminately sprayed with their sneering petulance, and as the set wore on
the vocal exchanges escalated into a kicking and shoving match that ultimately
ended in a scuffle on the floor that resembled the tangled chaos of Custer’s
Last Stand with arms and legs splayed every which way.
An adept graduate with honors from both the Karen O School
of Mayhem and the Alison Mosshart School of Wicked Flailing, that hell cat she
devil Almeida radiated raw energy and sexual malice, creating that brand of
terrified arousal that swallows you whole and spits out your bones. As my
friend eloquently put it, she’s “nymphomaniacal.”
Needless to say, their post punk garage rock left the
audience breathing hard, charged with sexual energy, and ready to light some
shit on fire.
For a sample of the mayhem, have a gander at the video
below, courtesy of
DeathMirror365 (although, i can't vouch for the audio quality).
Taken at last year's show at Glasslands, with significantly better audio quality.
