Mercury Lounge

showview

Sat 4/5

$12

http://www.myspace.com/robbersonhighstreet
http://www.robbersonhighstreet.com/
Robbers on High Street began performing publicly during the summer of 2002, but the band's roots stretch back much farther. Ben Trokan and Steve "Sparky" Mercado have been friends since their preteen years growing up in the upstate New York town of Poughkeepsie. Morgan King, who plays bass and brass, joined the band in 2005. The current line-up is filled out by David Sherman and Mikey Post on keys and drums, respectively. Tree City, the band's first full-length album, was released in 2004. They toured for most of 2004 and 2005. Grand Animals is the band's second full length album, released on July 24, 2007. For this album the band connected with Italian film composer Daniele Luppi, known mostly for his string and orchestra work with Danger Mouse (Gnarls Barkley) and pop artists like John Legend. The band recorded in New York and mixed with Jeff Peters (Beach Boys) in Los Angeles. The new collaboration brought out the band's clear obsession with 1960s and 1970s AM radio, and allowed them to explore broader sonic landscapes.

http://www.myspace.com/actionpainters
http://actionpaintersband.com/
Action Painters do twinkly heartache with the best of them ("Cold Dead Corner"), and their up-tempo numbers ("Never Say I'm Sorry") are convincingly jagged. It's when they let the excitement of being young and romantic make them dizzy, though, that they excel. Album opener "Absolutely Clear" can't decide whether it wants to be classic rawk or post-punk, so Haslow lets his voice tremble and shake and splits the difference, landing somewhere frenetic and epic and sweet. It all sounds sort of tossed off, as if the band doesn't care, but buried beneath the artsy fury lies AM radio gold. Think the Replacements if they had given a damn more often. (Spin.com)

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=196699154
Gustaf Heden, now 22, is a Swedish singer songwriter who left his home town of Malmo when he was 19 to travel to London where he spent 2 years pursuing his musical endeavors with his band and is now based in New York. Heden gained European success and recognition last year with his previous London based band The Michelles. The band began to dominate the London UK scene throughout 2006 renowned for their melodic, harmony layered, rock and roll songs, and the band's high energy performances which found Heden on lead vocals and interchanging rhythm guitar and bass.