Slingshot Dakota, Runaway Brother, Crazy & the Brains and Vasudeva played Baby's All Right (pics)

January 12, 2015

photos by Amanda Hatfield, words by Andrew Sacher

Slingshot Dakota / Runaway Brother / Crazy & the Brains

Slingshot Dakota, Runaway Brother, Crazy & the Brains, and Vasudeva took over Baby’s All Right on Saturday (1/10), for a show proudly presented by BrooklynVegan. Vasudeva kicked things off with their mathy/dancey instrumental rock, sounding something like a vocal-less Minus the Bear. They were good.

Then came NYC’s Crazy & the Brains, the evening’s most traditional punk-sounding band, save for the fact that they have a full-time xylophone player embellishing every song. Theatrical singer Christopher Urban came decked out in a sailor hat and gold chain, and spent as much time rocking out as he did whipping out almost-chin-high kicks. They opened with “Ice Cream” off their new EP, played a bit off 2013’s Let Me Go, and ended with a punked up cover of The Shangri-Las’ “Give Him a Great Big Kiss.”

They were followed by Cleveland’s Runaway Brother, who were making their NYC debut a few months ahead of their debut album, Mother, due 3/31 on Tiny Engines. RB looked like they were still tightening up their live show a bit, but the songs themselves sounded great. Vocally, they’re in a group of other youthful newer bands like Modern Baseball and The Front Bottoms, but these guys push the boundaries more musically than those bands. They pack their songs with multiple bridges and interludes, and sounded super tight on all of them. Definitely keep an eye out for their album.

Finally, Slingshot Dakota wrapped up the show with a set of their driving pop. Singer Carly Comando seemed in especially high spirits, excitedly pointing out the amount of ladies in the audience more than once, and just in general seeming really happy to be there. Tom Patterson was a beast behind the kit as always — he’s the kind of hard and technical hitter you wouldn’t normally associate with this kind of music and Slingshot Dakota are only better because of it. They played a good mix of new songs and old favorites, and included their cover of Rainer Maria‘s “Rise” that they recently released on a split with Pet Symmetry. (Perhaps coincidentally, Slingshot’s last time in NYC was on their tour with Petal, who just opened Rainer Maria’s first show since 2006.)

Great show all around, and thanks to everyone who came. We hope you had as much fun as we did. BV will be back at Baby’s two more times this month with Hop Along, Beach Slang, Aye Nako and Ryley Walker on Tuesday (1/13) (RSVP), and The Sidekicks, Cayetana, All Dogs and Roger Harvey on 1/23 (tickets).

More pictures from Saturday’s show below…

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Vasudeva