Halfway through Alex Zhang Hungtai's -- known to most as the one-man band Dirty Beaches -- set, it appeared he'd created his very own genre of rock: amplifier and brimstone.
With his electric guitar, a microphone whose effects gave his vocals a seedy, sinister tone and pedals to build one guitar loop over another, Dirty Beaches occasionally resembled a deranged preacher over his eight-song, 35-minute NXNE set Saturday, June 18.
The performance at the AOL-sponsored Yonge-Dundas Square concert, which included some rough cuts (introduced by the Vancouver-based rocker as "new stuff I'm working on"), was at times eerie but always compelling. Whether on 'True Blue,' which he dedicated to the ladies, or the rockabilly-laced 'Sweet 17,' the music rarely give the audience a warm, fuzzy feeling.
If there was one miscue, it was a cover of Mattress' 'El Dorado' which had him sans guitar and crooning like a jilted lover from a David Lynch film. Acknowledging that he'd "graduated from playing basements" to NXNE's main stage at Yonge-Dundas Square (the same stage that New Wave icons Devo would grace hours later), Dirty Beaches ended the set with a grin on his face and a few fist pumps. A fine set, even if the songs provoke images of dark, dimly lit alleys -- a strange brew for a gloriously sunny day.
Watch Dirty Beaches Perform at the Silver Dollar During NXNE 2011
Matthew C.X. Langford
