BNLX is back for another pair of area shows
Friday, May 20 Piano’s, 158 Ludlow St., 212-505-3733, $7, 8:00
Saturday, May 21 Rock Shop, 249 Fourth Ave., 718-230-5740, $10, 10:30
www.myspace.com/bnlxmusic
As we wrote back in February, whenever a new pop band emerges from the shadows, the music industry rushes to pigeonhole them, but some groups defy categorization. The mysterious BNLX, who surfaced in 2010 in Minneapolis by releasing a series of four-track EPs in plain brown cardboard packages, is one such band. Just a look at the songs they covered on BNLX4 makes you scratch your head in wonder: Can’s “Soul Desert,” Rhianna’s “Shut Up and Drive,” Black Flag’s “Rise Above,” and a smokin’ version of fellow Minneapolis native Prince’s “When Doves Cry.” Led by husband-and-wife-team Ed Ackerson and Ashley Ackerson, who run the Minneapolis label Susstones, BNLX plays joyful pop built around groovy synths and fuzzy guitars, evoking such forerunners as X, the B-52s, Norman Greenbaum, and Cracker in such rave-ups as “Do Without,” “Where Is the Love,” and “Frogger.” The impossibly infectious “Blue and Gold” is one of the most beautifully crafted pop songs of last year; when Ed sings, “I’ve been here before,” you might think you have too, but you haven’t. The BNLX First One Year Plan continues with the release of BNLX5, another outstanding collection of fine tunage, described by the band as “four ‘music’ compositions expressing Nordic, Gallic, Tri State, and West Coast idioms.” The quartet of power-pop gems are laden with catchy hooks; Ed Ackerson even channels Morrissey on the too-cool “Garbage Strike.” The EP concludes with a ridiculously amazing version of Ice Cube’s “It Was a Good Day” that we’ve had on repeat play all week. BNLX, consisting of e.a., a.a., knobby, and blinky, will be at Piano’s on May 20 at 10:00 with Kleenex Girl Wonder (8:00), Thunder and Lightning (9:00), Creepoid (11:00), Fantan (12 midnight), and Arpline (1:00) and at the Rock Shop in Brooklyn on May 21 with Black Onassis. We can’t wait for BNLX6.