Thee Goochi Boiz, Night of Joy, Bury My Bones, Miracleman at Rockaway, 03/05/11

Tom Murphy

Miracleman

Miracleman -- the duo comprised of Chris Westin and Sara Century -- with its bedraggled drum kit, keyboards, a tape player with samples and an acoustic guitar, set up on the floor in front of the stage. You'd be excused for thinking the band was going to be one of those eccentric Americana acts, except that neither Westin or Century went for that sort of look. Instead, the pair offered a fractured, often atonal sound pushed along by an emotional savagery and eruptive exuberance that nearly made the music tip over into shambles.

Miracleman's cover of Sleater-Kinney's "Don't Think You Wanna" took the original and stretched it out into a slightly different shape that captured the spirit of the original. On the Gun Club's "Sex Beat," though, the reworking of the song was the equivalent of all the King's horses and all the King's men trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. Except that, against all odds, it worked. The final two songs of the band's set included keyboards, with the first sounding like a song by The Residents from The Commercial Album, and the last like a jingle for a better way of life, rather than some useless product you don't need.

Tom Murphy

Bury My Bones

Bury My Bones, up next, is the kind of band that a lot of people like for the wrong reasons. A part of that being that a lot of people probably have only a vague clue about the music being referenced in the soundscaping Diana Sperstad creates with her guitar. Yes, her stuff is expansive and ethereal, often with electrifying guitar sounds and melodies.

But a lot of people see this petite, cute girl who can actually play and this blows minds. Yes, it happens -- a lot of women can really play, too. Where Sperstad deserves the most credit, though, is in her ability to time the guitar loops she creates, layering a lead over a rhythm line in a way that creates a much larger sound with solid songcraft and technical proficiency, which is much more difficult to do.

Along with drummer Fez Garcia, Sperstad was able to create great dynamic tension balanced against a heartbreaking melancholy that perfectly expressed a yearning loneliness. Sperstad and Garcia closed their set with a surprisingly spot on cover of "Behind The Wall of Sleep," sans bass and Ozzy's inimitably robust vocals.

Tom Murphy

Night of Joy

Fez Garcia didn't have to take his drums off stage because he also plays for Night of Joy. Backbeat's own Bree Davies and Valerie Franz set up to his left. Without much preamble, Night of Joy opened the set with "Cool Runnings." Garcia's drumming was only divergent from his performance with Bury My Bones in that he excels at matching his percussion style to the mood and the texture of the music. Night of Joy's generally more aggressive music had Garcia playing to break his sticks.