Watching a band of hairy post-grads nerd their way through high-concept Art can be absolutely boring. So if “engaging stuff” is more your speed, look for the intelligent sweaties mangling familiar song structures, corralling the weird and the saccharine-sweet with equal esteem, and making pop music their own bastard. It’s more interesting for us (the listeners), and more of a challenge for them (the musicians). Win-win.
Justin Moyer, bassist and vocalist for NY-DC radio-revisionists Supersystem, agrees: “Ten years ago, I thought I was wild and crazy when I played ‘free’ drums—you know, slathering the kit with annoying double-stroke rolls in a vaguely Elvin Jones-ish way. Many 20-year-olds don’t realize this is tedious. It’s more of a mind-fuck to say: ‘Hey, we’re working within traditional pop structures. How can we make them our own?’”
The answer, it would seem, is to call on every influence at your disposal. The twirling guitar stutter of last year’s Always Never Again? Thank trained flamenco player and afro-pop guy, Rafael Cohen. The head-swiveling drums on “Defcon?” Josh Blair, the band’s lone grindcore lover, also drums for DC-noisies Orthrelm. Even more, keen on DJs and electronic music, keyboardist Pete Cafarella moonlights as Shychild, while Moyer cops to liking tough stuff like punk rock and The King.
Of course, such a profusion of influences could never make it through in every song—there’d be enough trouble jamming flamenco guitars into Orthrelm’s skree. But Supersystem’s latest Touch & Go release, A Million Microphones, points in a million of musical directions over it’s forty minutes, refusing to stand still even for a second: weirdo rock turns to beat-heavy vanilla-hop, funky dancefloor freak makes way for afrobeat, and somehow it all makes sense. “We don’t think much about fitting into a particular music store bin or iTunes category,” says Moyer. “It’s hard enough to write material with half the band in NY, half in DC. There’s just not enough time to be like, ‘Oh, is this too dance punk free jazz hip-hop be bop metal smooth cool classical classic grunge garage supercalifragalisticexpealadocious?’”
August 30. Mercury Lounge, 217 E. Houston St.
(at Ave. A), 212-260-4700; 7:30, $10.
