Radio Exile | An Horse and Telekinesis (6/14/09, Mercury Lounge, NYC)

An Horse and Telekinesis (6/14/09, Mercury Lounge, NYC)

By Tom Williams June 29, 2009 Post a comment | Email the author

We are at an uncertain time in the world right now. The mideast, it is explodin’, the economy’s still collapsin’ and Mark Sanford, he is a screwin’. Obama’s been elected but Michael Jackson and Billy Mays are dead. The environment might be dead unless we pass cap-and-trade, which will solve the problem, unless it does nothing but destroy the American economy. China wants to dump the dollar and Russia and Nigeria just teamed up to create Nigaz. Not only that, but Radio Exile just linked to the Moscow Times. That’s never a good sign. Seriously, if everything ended by next Friday, I wouldn’t be THAT shocked.

Uncertain times call for one thing: power-pop (didn’t see that coming, did you?). Whereas once we sought solace with the soothing and reassuring sounds of Rivers Cuomo and the Weezers, nowadays that’s a less certain proposition, what with them covering My Po-po-po-po-po-po-just say it already junior!-ker face Lady Gaga and all.

What are we to do? Find out after the jump…

So what is an uncertain soul such as myself to do? Well, I checked out Radio Exile’s friends An Horse and Telekinesis at Mercury Lounge. When I say “Radio Exile’s friends”, I mean “bands on my iPod who I really enjoy and likely have no clue about my existence”. I like to pretend I’m cool. Anyways, if this nation ever turns en masse back to power-pop (and in uncertain times like this, I’d give that pretty decent odds), then I’m pretty certain that An Horse and Telekinesis will be leading the charge.

An Horse, a two piece out of Australia, slightly recall Tegan and Sara but with a lot more ROCK behind them. Is there a more glorious sound than the guitar in power-pop? Not for my money. Give An Horse a few more years a couple more tours and they should be able to conquor the indie world and even some of the mainstream. Whoever signed these guys is going to be viewed as very smart someday.

Telekinesis (who were oh so kind as to let me interview them at SXSW, despite my having only ever heard half of one of their songs….I faked it well) were also awesome. Michael Lerner is possibly the loudest drummer I’ve ever heard. After about the third song the sound guy gave up on trying to keep the kick mic attached, as Michael would inevitably send it flying a minute into each song and really, you don’t need to mic this guys drums. Oh and he also manages to sing while doing his best impression of the Muppet’s Animal. Coast of Carolina is hands down one of the top songs of 2009.

[mp3] Telekinesis – “Coast of Carolina”