Brooklyn’s hotspot Verboten played host to a couple of Crew Love’s stars Friday night as No Regular Play and PillowTalk transformed a Williamsburg club in to a concert venue feel.
I arrived as No Regular Play was asserting their presence. As Resident Advisor says, they do this by fitting “equally at home in the rehearsal rooms of Julliard as in the main room of Fabric.” So when you walk in to the club and hear a reverb-heavy trumpet solo slowly build in to a jackin’ 120bpm beat, it’s none other than NRP. No one else does it better, or at all actually.
The duo also takes it down a notch and trumpet player Greg Paulus does some occasional singing, which breaks things up for those who are more into John Digweed than John Coltrane. The entire thing has a very indie vibe, and while the duo could play any club on South Beach, I think it fits in quite nicely with the Brooklyn crowd…which is probably why they call this place home.
PillowTalk followed up immediately following the hour+ set delivered by NRP. Making things seem a little more indie, the three-piece threw down their new wave-inspired club music to an ecstatic crowd. “Soft” and “We All Have Rhythm” had the crowd holding on to each word and enjoying the live element of their set.
The band, consisting of vocalist Sammy D, multi-instrumentalist Ryan Williams and Michael Tello, are based out of the same neighborhood that birthed the Grateful Dead, and while the similarities aren’t exactly uncanny, it does make sense.
Most relatable to the jam pioneers would be Ryan Williams. Each catchy synth stab, funky bass-line or tasteful guitar solo came from Williams, who would have fit right in at a Dead show with his shorts and long hair tied back in a pony tail.
After PillowTalk closed the night out with “Lullaby” and a huge sing-along ensued. Slow Hands finished out the “mini Crew Love,” as Sammy D called it, with a selection of house tunes until the sun came up. On a night where there was a half-dozen shows going on within a mile of my house, Verboten was definitely the right choice. Check out their August calendar below…
