Brightest Young Things

all words: Joshua Phelps
all photos: Shauna Alexander from last time

There’s a certain hype and hyperbole attached to Brooklyn 4-piece Tigercity, echoing a swarm of bees; someone even told me they were “so good I could cry.” Uh oh. During my research, and with regards and fairness to their latest, Ancient Lover, I use headphones bought with the same philosophy as sunglasses – they’re inevitably going to be lost or crushed by my ass in a car seat so I strap my ears into hospital gift shop off-brand butter cookies. Any record with bump (and in this case, serious grind,) is going to lose a little in translation, so please forgive me if I expected a live amalgamation of 80’s derivations, a murderers row of tunes influenced by Survivor’s Burning Heart, Cyndi Lauper’s All Through the Night, Timex Social Club and whoever sang One Night in Bangkok.

Tigercity took the stage Wednesday around 10pm, augmenting their setup with synths for frontman Bill Gillim and guitarist Andrew Brady, new chimes for Gregory Settino, and my favorite: some sort of box o’ booty bouncing loops manned expertly by bassist/vocalist Joel Ford. It was patently clear from the jumpoff, “Red Lips” off Ancient Lover, that these guys wear their hearts and influences on the sleeves of their plaids and rock tees. Brazenly unapologetic in dispensing traditional R and B clichés from the stage, they pull it off with an undeniable honesty that wove a thread throughout the entire set. How else could you get the 35 or 40 people in the audience to buy-in and shake-ass to this brutal dart in the heart ode to those inescapable post-breakup backslides under the cover of night and booze? Gillim proceeded to crack open the sweet falsetto and firmly plant the sex flag on stage with 2007’s “Powerstripe.” It must be the voice that gets the women all warm and fuzzy or maybe an appreciation for the theme of “transparency” that’s so 2009 in DC. Either way, the salacious details of a search for Miss Right Now is explicit that sexy is going down, “with or without you, girl.”

Brady’s guitar lines spilled about like a flood in Paisley Park while Ford’s driving groove and backing vocals had the heads nodding and pelvises twerking. Gillim handled the mic and the crowd with precision from thereafter, reinventing himself from the nice-guy who just needs you to “look into my eyes” in “My Type” but reminding us that, wait, this is all just fantasy on lead single “Fake Gold.” Fully entranced at this point, there was as much an eruption as could be at a half-filled DC9 during standout “Are You Sensation” from the Pretend Not to Love EP. Ford triggered the funkiest distorted loop of the night, a wild child of Zapp and Lipps, Inc., and stepped to the front of the stage with the urgency needed to deliver lines like “I can’t stop givin’ it up” without irony. There’s was legitimate sweaty grinding going on all about me at this point which is to say that they fucking owned the place. You’re going to have to if you mine R. Kelly territory of “mind is giving up but my body keeps on moving.”

Tigercity’s delivery of oft-treaded themes like games of love, broken hearts, and end of the night desperation could easily lose a snarky crowd but when delivered with conviction everyone just seemed to lament the fact it was over by 11pm. This is night-into-the-AM weekend music, where the reality of Gillim’s lustful fantasies manifest or at least have a chance. The good news is they seem to be in and around DC plenty, or, to quote Gillim, “keep on comn’ back,” and, when they do, he’s right: “I can’t deny it.”

Previously in Live DC:

• 2/9: LiveDC: Theophilus London @ 930 Club
• 2/9: Best Weekend Bets
• 2/8: LiveDC: Kathleen Edwards @ 930 Club
• 2/8: LiveDC: Thurston Moore/ Kurt Vile @ Black Cat
• 2/8: LiveDC: Thurston Moore/ Kurt Vile @ Black Cat
• 2/7: LiveDC: Demetri Martin @ Warner Theatre
• 2/7: LiveDC: Augustana/ Graffiti6 @ 930 Club
• 2/6: LiveDC: All Things Go Presents: Reptar/ Casual Curious/ Fort Lean @ Gibson Guitar Showroom
• 2/6: LiveDC: TYCHO/ Beacon @ RNR Hotel
• 2/6: LiveDC: The Kills / Jeff The Brotherhood @ 9:30 Club