Woom is Eben Portnoy and Sara Magenheimer, formerly Fertile Crescent, even more formerly half of Brooklyn quartet Flying (the other half of which carries on as Glass Ghost).
The pair have migrated to the west coast and revamped their sound with stronger beats and jauntier guitar licks, but they seem to have given up none of the low-key charm and attention to detail that marked their former projects. They even managed to get the audience slow dancing during a placid centerpiece between the higher energy of the rest of the set. Their first full-length album since the Flying days, Muu’s Way, will be out on Badabing records at the end of June.
Shooting Spires (Parts and Labor’s BJ Warshaw) has also revamped somewhat since I last saw him. Still the same solo noise-pop marked by deep-buzzing riffs and prickly keyboard counterpoint and propulsive vocals, but he’s now playing his lead melodies off of a distortion-pedaled autoharp. Which proves to be an excellent idea. The instrument sounds fantastic, even when being occasionally blasted into sheer molten feedback to accent a fill or transition, and seems to lend these songs previously unheard nuances.
