The last time I saw Teeth and Tongue, frontwoman Jess Cornelius was part of a four-piece troupe (with one member sick), but tonight it was only Jess performing their excellent repertoire of deeply hypnotic, post-punk. While she did look terribly alone on the large stage, she cleverly hid it with clever drum beats, a loop pedal and wandering stage banter. But after one track, she did apologise to the crowd for her loop pedalling: “That was a little slower than I expected, but once you set [the loop pedal] you have to go with it,” she shrugged. “It was the stoned version. I actually feel stoned at the moment. I took a sleeping pill last night, and it was the type they say that people do bad things, like binge eat, stab their neighbours or have sex with strangers. So I tied myself to the bed with pantihose…” The bondage overtones of the story sure did make all the males in the room fall more in love with the sultry singer.

The John Steel Singers came onstage and the first thing I heard was someone yelling, “Get a haircut!” And it’s true, they looked like a bunch of alterna-hotties (i.e. hot geeks who probably have beer for breakfast) and their slogan on their MySpace even reads, “Long haired hippes.” With their quirky sense of humour, very danceable tunes and brass section ( Scott Bromiley plays the trumpet, Pete Bernoth on the trombone), you really can’t be unhappy listening to the John Steel Singers. But it’s a weird type of happy – more happy like the Cure or Philadelphia Grand Jury than say, The Grates or Aqua.

After their appearance at Falls Festival 2009 wearing horse masks, a punter yelled out for some equine action. The bemused Singers all yelled out various quips all at once. “No horse masks this evening!” “They’re in stables.” “We’re flying Tiger Airways. They’d probably tax us.” Animal faces or not, the John Steel Singers’ quirky sound of multiple keyboards, 22 strings collectively, brass instruments and a chorus of hot male singers made for some intensely energetic, excellent and catchy tunes. They opened with the popping Overpass, and also played Strawberry Wine, Masochist, Evolution and closed their mind blowing set with choppy Rainbow Kraut. So mind blowing that there may still be bits of my brain stuck on the ceiling at the East Brunswick Club.

After what seemed like an eternity, the curtains at the East Brunswick Club parted and three familiar faces casually sauntered onstage. Even before they started, you could tell that The Dodos were not your typical rock band. The main drum kit, without a bass drum, was set up right at the front of the stage. And instead of the usual guitar-drum-bass set-up, the Dodos are guitar-drum and… vibraphone. The curious instrument set-up harks back to founding members Meric Long and Logan Kroeber’s drumming backgrounds, with unusual syncopated rhythms coming to the foreground of the music. Newest member Keaton Snyder is just as talented, quickly alternating between using four mallets on the vibraphone, beating away on his drums or playing the vibraphone with violin bows.

They opened their awe-inspiring, clap-inducing set with Paint the Rust and played other shimmery tracks like Fables, Jodi and Joe’s Waltz. The entire audience was entranced, and by the end of their set, the trio was completely dripping with sweat. “We’ve been on vacation in New Zealand for two weeks… we’re a little rusty,” a humble Long explained.

The threesome delighted the audience to even more tunes for their most awesome and unusual encore. “Can we have the lights completely off?” Long asked the sound guy, before adding to the audience, “Don’t touch each other!” The Dodos then proceeded to play their first encore song in pitch black darkness. The only lights in the East Brunswick Club was the dim glow from the bar and the coloured L.E.D. lights that Long, Kroeber and Snyder had attached to their wrists. As if their glittery songs are entrancing enough, the audience were watching the Dodos like moths, with each light flicking around to the beat of the music. Their closed their dazzling show with The Ball, and it’s safe to say that while the dodo bird may be extinct, The Dodos are far from it.

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