Converse brought their Rubber Tracks Live concert series to Boston recently for a stacked show featuring acts both local and national. Headlined by psychedelic synth-pop Brooklynites Yeasayer, viagra sale the show also brought Real Estate side project Ducktails and local crews Camden and Bodega Girls to the sold-out Sinclair. Combine all that with $10 tickets that benefited The One Fund Boston and it was hard to find a downside to this night.
Camden kicked things off with a set of exuberantly delivered and surprisingly loud noise pop. The Boston-based foursome had hooks and smiles to spare as they bounced breathlessly from one song to the next with nary a pause or wasted second to be found. Matt Mondanile, view who performs under the stage name Ducktails, nurse was on next. Mondanile’s primary gig is with jangly indie rockers Real Estate, but he explores a chillwave-indebted strain of psychedelic guitar jams with his solo project. Mondanile seemed lost in his own world on stage, looping guitar phrases over his own pre-recorded beats and improvising exploratory solos. It was a sound that was easy to get lost in right along with him.
Bodega Girls shook off whatever relaxed vibes Ducktails had imparted on the crowd for a non-stop dance party of a set. Borrowing elements of soul and funk, along with a healthy dose of DFA-styled dance punk, Bodega Girls were an ostentatious but undeniably fun live act. In their stated goal of getting the audience to move its collective ass, they were plenty successful. They also earned bonus points for busting out a faithful cover of the Modern Lovers’ classic Massachusetts ode “Roadrunner.”
Yeasayer took the stage at 10:30 for a set heavy on their so-so 2012 record Fragrant World. The album saw the band trading in the worldly weirdness of their first LP and the vibrant psych-pop of 2010’s Odd Blood for a more straightforward and dancefloor-friendly approach, and while the studio versions of the songs are a bit flat, they came alive pretty effectively for a live show. The entire band had an energetic, enthusiastic stage presence that completely sold even the weaker songs in the set. Refined by tours that have seen them headline sizeable venues like Boston’s House of Blues, Yeasayer had no trouble keeping the comparatively tiny Sinclair completely within their grasp. A few more older songs in the setlist couldn’t have hurt, but they chose their back catalog songs wisely. Odd Blood’s “Ambling Alp” is essentially a perfect pop song, and closed out their main set on a major high note.
