Javelin played the Whitney w/ Warpaint (pics, video), playing the Soho Grand (tonight)

August 20, 2010

words by Andrew Frisicano, photos by Devyn Manibo

Javelin @ the Whitney
Javelin

Javelin and Warpaint played a show at the Whitney on Friday, August 13th as part of their now-finished tour together (previously on the trip, both bands played Lollapalooza). The pay-what-you-wish entry fee covered both the music and the museum’s current art, which includes the vividly styled watercolors of Charles Burchfield (his previously mentioned Heat Waves in a Swamp retrospective) and Christian Marclay: Festival, a collection of the artist/composer’s sound-centric work with daily performances.

On Friday, the line to get in stretched around the block: I arrived at 6pm and got in the door just before Javelin started their 7pm set. The duo, playing off their Luaka Bop-released debut LP No Más, brought their wall of dismembered, rewired and colorfully spraypainted boomboxes to project the sample-based songs. One half of the band, George Langford, stuck to the drums, playing cymbals and a digital pad, while “frontman” Tom Van Buskirk worked up a sweat on the mic. The excellent No Más covers a lot of ’80s-inspired ground: breakbeats, New Wave, downtown disco, dream pop and so on. On top of the samples, Buskirk interpolated his own words with borrowed hip-hop verses and hooks from the same era to complete the circle. A neon-painted keytar and fuzzed-out kazoo rounded out the melodies.

Warpaint started shortly afterward, but I didn’t see much of them, opting for a quick walk around the museum before closing (in hindsight, pretty stupid: the exhibits require a few hours). Like Javelin, Warpaint’s funky drums got the crowd moving and bobbing along, and the band sounded at home in the crowded basement-like space. The sidewalk outside actually provided one of the best viewpoints on the action below.

Warpaint go on tour with the xx and Zola Jesus in September. That includes an October 2nd show at United Palace Theatre (tickets still on sale).

Javelin’s next show is Friday, August 20th (TONIGHT) the Yard at Soho Grand along with a DJ set from JD Samson as part of their free Summer Hummer series (RSVP). Javelin also just cut a recently posted Daytrotter session.

The last Whitney Live show of the summer happens August 27th with DJ/Rupture and Tanlines.

More pictures of Javelin and some video of Javelin & Warpaint are below…

Javelin