Your mood rings will remain entirely devoid of the color blue this Friday. Though all three bands on this astonishing bill actually sound nothing alike, none of them are afraid of amping up the revolutions per minute.
Arrive early, sad sack, and get your mind blown by Brooklyn-based trio the Big Sleep, whose largely-instrumental brand of darkness rolls in apocalyptic waves, with traces of early (pre-“The”) Verve-meets-Sonic Youth-meets My Bloody Valentine-meets the awesome dream you once had after you stayed up for three days straight. But the Big Sleep are less about who they might remind you of, and more about where they’re going. If you went to Disney World and rode Space Mountain, and there were moments of blissful drifting between the times you’re hurtling through the cosmos at breakneck speeds, it still wouldn’t describe what you’re in store for. Wearing a seat belt on your trip with the Big Sleep won’t do you any good at all.
And just when you’ve caught your breath, Lake Trout’s take on space rock will likely melt whatever’s left of your brain. The Baltimore-based band’s take on “Street fighting Man,” which starts out like karaoke Cocteau Twins before ending up like ramshackle Radiohead, only tells part of the story. Their latest album, Not Them, You, rises and falls like a movie, and it translates well to their live show, which includes guitarist Ed Harris snake-slithering on one side of the stage, and bass player James Griffith violently lurching on the other. Your heart will approximate both styles in equal measures.
Editors, Birmingham, England’s newest “New Joy Division,” are something of a unique success story in their homeland. Several months after their dour debut album, The Back Room, made little more than a splash, their fortunes turned on the strength of four-straight Top 40 hits, including comparatively upbeat “Bullets.” This is straight up introspective navel-contemplating indie rock meant to be danced to in a dorm room lit only by candlelight and teardrops. A venue packed with people who feel exactly the same way will do in a pinch.
Though the stage might not hold any actual smiles, this triple bill is likely to turn a Gloomy Gus into a Smiling Sam, at least while no one’s looking.
July 28. Irving Plaza, 17 Irving Pl. (at 15th St.), 212-777-1224; 8, $23/$25.
