Liz and Sean of Xeno and Oaklander are the most successful live sequencing, analog synthesis band I have ever seen.  They are able to seemlessly develop ideas and construct songs using nothing but analog synthesizers and sequencers.  Beyond the gear, their music is amazing.

I went to see Silk Flowers (members of Soiled Mattress and The Springs) record release show Saturday Night July 18th at The Cake Shop. Silk Flowers are truly one of my favorite bands.  I have seen them 4 times now, which includes seeing them in LA earlier this spring.  They have taken their own spin on minimal/cold wave and industrial pop.  It is truly zooming this style of music into a modern window and changing how to make pop music.  They play everything live, including live drum pads, keys, and samples with very little sequenced parts.  Also Aviram Cohen’s voice is haunting. One of my favorite voices I have ever heard and also his live performance is awesome and sounds even better.  The keyboard parts (played by Peter) are sonically distinct using new synth sounds and complicated parts with a lot of developtment.  The third layer and use of noise/concrete is played by Ethan and is no less some of the best use of sonic layers in pop set I have heard.  They play a lot and their blog is killer.  They just released their debut full length Silk Flowers Silk Flowers.  It is up on Amazon, iTunes, and Post Present Medium (record label).

Here is their video for Shadows In Daylight.

SILK FLOWERS “shadows in daylight” from brian degraw on Vimeo.

The other great thing about the show was Further Reduction.  A two piece featuring Shawn from Let er Est and his girlfriend Katie.  They also played a killer set and Shawn is really outstanding at live sequencing and song writing.  Cold Cave played and so did City Center.

Saturday was a day of awesome shows.  I went to see Xeno and Oaklander play at PS1 during the afternoon which also included DJ set from Peter Wierd Records.  Xeno and Oaklander executed a seamless highly involved synth/drum machine/sequencing live set like I have never seen.  It is difficult to describe people’s music because I always feel like I take role of a music critic, but descriptions are good.  Xeno and Oaklander are rooted in the tradition of cold/minimal wave with a dash of early pop industrial.  Their musicality is like watching a darker Vince Clark.  The most impressive thing is that their songs are highly involved with chord progressions, beat developmets/transitions, different multi-layered sequenced keyboard parts, and not to mention live vocals.  It is really impressive and is worth checking out evey single one of their shows. Here is a video.