Uninhabitable Mansions + Spacecamp | Union Hall | 2.27.2009

Spicy Times is a monthly party at Union Hall put on by the blog of the same name that's a joint production of a couple other bloggers: Jinners and Nora of I Rock I Roll. This was the second edition and featured a couple hot new-ish bands, too much free Colt 45, which led to some silly dancing to '80s hits.

This was my second time seeing Uninhabitable Mansions, a band that features Robbie and Tyler of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Annie from Au Revoir Simone. Whether it's that they've been practicing a lot or just that I'm now familiar with some of their songs via MySpace, but I thought they were decidedly better than their Cake Shop show back in January. UH also more my kind of thing than CYHSY, poppier, warmer friendlier to these ears, with a strong '80s Flying Nun kind of vibe. I'm also a sucker for male/female vocals. This show was a release party for their debut 7", pressed on lovely white vinyl. I especially like "Do You Have a Strategy?"

MP3: Uninhabitable Mansions - Do You Have a Strategy?

You can pick it up at your favorite NYC-area independent record store or via their website. I also shot video of an as-yet-unnamed song, which you can watch further down this post.

Also on the Spicy Times bill were Spacecamp who, full disclosure, are friends of mine and I've written about before. As all three members are Professional Musicians and back other artists collectively and separately, they are tight and have their act together. While a bunch pros forming their own band might inspire visions of Toto for some (ok, maybe just me), Jon, Chris and Steven are good songwriters too and, most importantly, seem to be doing this 'cause it's fun. Somewhere between The Kinks and The Police, they are party rocker in the best possible way, with totally catchy songs like "Girls on Bikes" and "Puppy":

MP3: Spacecamp - Puppy

The guys just finished up work on Lightspeed Champion's second album, and Dev was in the house. While hopes that he might take the mike to debut a new song with the band didn't happen, he did join them onstage to play some pretty smokin' guitar on a brand new song which I think is called "Teen Idol." (Video of which is also below.) Rumors also abounded that night that Spacecamp's next paid gig might be backing Joaquin Phoenix on his new career as a hip hop artist but maybe that was just the free Colt 45 talking.

The night started with Staten Island's all-girl Vessels who play lovely chamber pop, complete with a string section. Lovely stuff, but maybe a bit too delicate for a Friday Night party that also featured the aforementioned free malt liquor and subsequent dancing to "Ghostbusters." 

Those videos after the jump...