Sometimes you just have to jump in. Sometimes you just have to ride the wave and see where you end up. Such was the case last night, when I ended up at Trash Bar and ended up enjoying the hell out of an excellent Brooklyn band, Oceanographer.
Hearing about Trash Bar again and again, but never actually going there, and never having heard Oceanographer but having heard of them, I wasn’t sure what to expect.
As usual, the typical assortment of Williamsburg hipsters greeted me at the door. There were girls wearing way too big glasses and guys with beards so big they could pass for Hassidic Jews.
Dive-y enough to assume that someone threw up on the floor the night before, Trash Bar definitely embraced it’s this-place-is-a-toilet-but-we-like-it-like-that aesthetic. Funnily enough, the last thing I was about to see was a dirty rock and roll show.
From the first notes to the last rumble of the drums, Oceanographer threw their hooks in me and didn’t let me go. Shimmering riffs coupled with the interlocking precision of a clicking typewriter, these guys were on point. Again and again, the guys in Oceanographer dropped beautiful riff after beautiful riff on me.
Most striking about this band was the space they give listeners. Swaying back and forth like waves crashing against the beach, there was nothing in your face about Oceanographer. As a result you’re just left with intricate, delicate, and for lack of a better word, pretty music.
Going to places you’ve never been before is kind of like spinning a roulette wheel. Sometimes you come up double zeros, sometimes you land on black, sometimes you hit the star. Watching Oceanographer perform last night was like landing on the star, in the most gorgeous way possible.
Oceanographer is made up of Jeremy Yocum on vocals/guitar, Eric Elterman on synths/vocals/mandocaster, Zach Eichenhorn on drums, Ryan Goolsby on bass, and Kevin Plessner on guitar.
Check out Oceanographer here, here, and here
