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Tryst are a New York band that are playing when I arrive. They have apparently just started playing, as they play for about seven more hours after I arrive. Or maybe it just seems that way. I'm sad for them, because they're not really bad at all. It's just really boring. I hate the reflexive sexism that I seem to default to in a situation like this, but I can't help thinking of them as Five Musicians in Search of a Testicle. (Seriously, the sexes of the various band members have nothing to do with this. It's strictly metaphorical balls that are missing here.) All the songs sound like they could be Billy Joel songs. There's noodly one-hand keyboard parts slathered like margarine all over everything. The pretty backing vocals from the rhythm section would be a huge plus if everything weren't already too pretty. I literally cannot keep my attention on the stage even when I try, and wind up watching the end of the baseball game on TV because it's more entertaining. (I fucking hate baseball.)
I enjoy Blanketeer much more. Now, when you break it down, they sort of employ similar elements. Guitar and keyboards share lead duties, and there's even another all-female rhythm section. (These women, however, rock.) They're also fairly poppy songs. But there's some passion in the playing, and some elements that give it all some guts. More distortion in the guitar sound, and the singer's voice is kind of freaky, with a bit of a Robert Smith yowling quality that sets off the melodies well. The keyboard lines are more driving and percussive, and that rhythm section is awesome. They are a fine repository for my grateful attention.
And then we continue our steady journey into the darker and gutsier with my beloved Lady of Spain. It is my first time seeing them since May (!), and also my first time seeing them with their new drummer. It's unfair, but probably inevitable, that I can't consider him without comparing him to Allen, their former drummer, whose playing style matches my stylistic preferences so perfectly. So yes, I miss his crispness, the sparing use of the cymbals, and the heavy reliance on the toms instead. But considered objectively and on his own merits, the new guy is good, and a good fit for the band. They make a lot of use of my favorite eight-beat (3-3-2), which gives almost any song a self-propelled momentum that I love. I think Anna's singing has gotten better in the months since I saw them last. It's lost some of the shy fragility it used to have, and gets the melodies across better. Of course, the guitars are key, and their dark, brooding interplay is intact. Also, the sound for their set is fantastic; I can hear absolutely everything. They close with "The Office," which I love, and I wish we could have more (i.e. "Lie To Me"), but we're all out of time.
