If you’re to believe Night Shapes’ Facebook bio, they are just “five dudes playing rock & roll with delay and stuff.” That’s a bit simplified and needs correction as they are currently a four-piece band. Beyond that, there’s a lot of other elements that go into their music. For one, the kind of rock these guys play is flipped on its head. The familiar four-on-the-floor driving rock beats are there, but they often dither away into psychedelic never-never land, sounding at times perplexing. The use of delay pedals is a critical element for the group as they focus a lot more on mood and texture than melody and hooks. It’s also interesting how mechanical their beats can sound — it puts you in a near trance mid-song. The band bridges the gap between eons of underground post-punk ranging from Joy Division, the Fall to Fugazi, and the Melvins. It isn’t any one of those things. It’s a little bit of all of it.
Monday, June 19, 9 pm, $8, 311 Broadway, Oakland, NightShapess.com.
Monday, June 19, 9 pm, $8, 311 Broadway, Oakland, NightShapess.com.