Black Light Dinner Party, A Lull, and Murals played Pianos (pics); Family of the Year played The Living Room (pics)

photos by Eric Townsend; words by Bill Pearis

Black Light Dinner Party / Murals, Pianos 7/27/2012

For those looking to see a bunch of newly-hyped bands from around the country in one place, Friday night (7/27) at Pianos was a good place to be, hosting Brooklyn's Black Light Dinner Party, Chicago's A Lull and Louisville, KY's Murals, and LA's Nightmare Air.

I was there early for Murals, a young six-piece whose ambitions are maybe just slightly out of their grasp at this point. While the core songwriting is folk pop not dissimilar to The Shins or '80s New Zealand, the songs suffered sometimes from overly busy arrangements or sudden stops. That said, when it comes together (and it did more than a few times), Murals are capable of bliss-out moments that are mellow but never dull. They are a new band with lots of potential, they just need time to figure it out.

I left after Murals to go see The Soft Pack at Union Pool, but our photographer stuck around for BV Chicago favorites A Lull, and Black Light Dinner Party who apparently turned Pianos into a full-on dance party and gave away copies of their vinyl EP to the pumped-up crowd. Photos of all three bands are below. He also stopped by The Living Room a few doors up Ludlow to catch Los Angeles' Family of the Year (who were in town after supporting Milo Greene at Mercury Lounge [7/26] a day earlier) and photos from that show are below as well.