BNLX will bring its fuzzy synth pop to Fontana’s on Thursday night and rock the Rock Shop on Friday (Photo by Christian Erickson)
Thursday, February 17, Fontana’s, 105 Eldridge St., 212-334-6740, $7, 8:00
Friday, February 18, Rock Shop, 249 Fourth Ave., 718-230-5740, $10, 8:00
www.myspace.com/bnlxmusic
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 quartet 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 2010; when Ed sings, “I’ve been here before,” you might think you have too, but you haven’t. If John Hughes were still alive and was going to remake The Breakfast Club in London, BNLX could handle the soundtrack all by itself. The quartet, officially billed as e.a., a.a., knobby, and blinky, will be at Fontana’s on February 17 with the Setup and Dream Job and at the Rock Shop in Brooklyn on February 18 with Hard Light, hopefully premiering songs from the upcoming BNLX5.