POP MUSIC REVIEW : Galactic Buzz by a Basement Band

Galaxie 500 is the perfect accompaniment to drinking espresso in a ‘90s post-modern art bar. At Club Lingerie on Friday night, the Boston trio droned like a mix of the Dream Syndicate, Pixies and the Jesus and Mary Chain. Songwriter Dean Wareham stared intensely into the void, strumming guitar chords as tranquil as a Valium buzz while singing in an eerie wail. Naomi Yang plucked around the high end of her bass with the aplomb of a Rudi Gernreich model, and Damon Krukowski played drums so stark that a cymbal crash signified a major dynamic.

All this swaying spaciness proved as deceptive as the calm before a storm. Midway through each piece Wareham pushed his guitar through fuzz and wah-wah effects into white light/white heat crescendos, forming tense contrasts with his introspective musings about decomposing nature and garden-variety alienation. This determined basement band’s earnest innocence overcomes the musical sameness, but when the band’s enigmatic producer, Kramer, joined them late in the set on guitar, the result was a stronger, fuller sound. The trio should discuss becoming a quartet over their next round of cappuccino.