“Once a month, the Museum stays open late, and the adults come out to play.” The entire museum is open late for First Fridays at the Natural History Museum. DJs perform all night in the African Mammal Hall lounge, multiple bars surround the bones of the dinosaur centerpiece, and live buzz bands such as Warpaint, Little Dragon, Fitz & the Tantrums, and so on play in a diorama hall of taxidermy animals. This month, the deeply moody and mysterious venue presented up-and-coming Crystal Stilts and Los Angeles indie dance heroes Moving Units.
Brooklyn based Crystal Stilts hit the stage and my heart thumped to the ceiling the moment they started up. The gentlemen in their modernly mod attire casted an uncanny presence and the moment I saw Brad Hargett sing, I was forever charmed. The combination of early ’60s garage pop by the band which reminded me of a hip and dark verison of Polaris (the band playing in the garage in The Adventures of Pete and Pete) and Hargett’s melancholic distant yet captivating voice intertwined the already intimate audience to a vacant stare off with Hargett.
Hargett had a constant empty stare and obsessive dance like hand jerks, guitarist JB Townsend in a black turtleneck, mop top hairstyle that covered his eyes while he quickly strummed, bassist Andy Adler with an everlasting blank stare, drummer Keegan Cooke who either starred straight down at his drum kit or at me the annoying photographer who had too much access, and finally keyboardist Kyle Forester who truly was the only one that snapped back to reality and attempted connect with the the crowd, but everyone seemed to be floating around the ceiling like me. Easiest way of describing the band is Ian Curtis singing with The Monkees from, well, Brooklyn but they are a band to definitely watch out for and watch them grow.
A crowd favorite was one of their latest “Shake the Shackles” off of In Love With Oblivion which came out April 2011.
One fan seemed to go into such an euphoric trance in the front that he pushed the metal barrier as far as he could while dancing and then fell over the barrier. Their glorious haze of sinister yet bubbly melodies came to an end and my heart disappeared while the band left the stage.
I did miss most of Moving Units, since I wanted to check out the rest of the event and museum with a beer in hand! Luckily, one can hang out in the forum where the giant dinosaur centerpiece is and be able to watch the performance projected on the walls instead of paying for a separate ticket for the concert. The night was filled with tours of their exhibition “What on Earth is this Thing?” and discussions on the topic “Can Mammals Keep Up When Climate Warms?” conducted by Dr. Elizabeth Hadly of Stanford. You can hear all of the discussions from the podcast of the Science Discussions Series here for free.
Caught the last few songs of Moving Units. They had an overwhelming dark touch though they were super stoked about their fans and continuous thanked everyone for the support. Their latest EP Tension War and their performance at Coachella this year proved their return even with their wild yet controlled stage antics. Lead singer Blake Miller was dressed in a black cloak that covered most of his face and flared on and off the stage as he prayed towards his guitar that he threw on the stage, but it seemed so natural and normal.
Don’t miss the final First Friday event on June 3rd with Coachella and Sasquatch approved Gayngs or make sure to check out the performance on their live webcast! Not to be missed, and it’ll be the season finale which sure does call for special celebration of this amazing event.
