The Double
Friday
Reviewed by Audra Schroeder, Fri., Sept. 30, 2005
The Double
Zilker Park, Sept. 23
Taking the place of the Ditty Bops, the Double were good sports about playing the dreaded noon slot. The NYC quartet's most recent Matador release, Loose in the Air, borrows from kin like Interpol singer David Greenhill's eerily similar voice yet takes that act's jangly sound and fills it with piss and vinegar. 2004's Palm Fronds deconstructed the Double's sound until it was boiling over onto the stove; Loose is a more simmering affair. Electric organ clashed with verge-of-dub instrumentation and slashes of blunt guitar. Greenhill, clad in a dress shirt and sunglasses, stared straight ahead most of the set, statuesque, delivering his echoing boredom-is-passion diatribe of the city. The vibe called for a dark corner, a shot of whiskey, and a tie that could double as a noose. Instead, with the sun beating down on the skulls of men in Phish T-shirts and women in Budweiser bikini tops, the Double's loud bursts of noise floated through the park in between dance-boogie and hip-hop. It was high noon, and the Double unearthed some trap door where songs are drugged and have their kidneys removed. At least that's what it sounded like.