This artsy NYC collective juggles genres almost as skillfully as it
juggles members. Spearheaded by a pair of former club DJs, the
Phenomenal Handclap Band run through a dizzying array of sounds on
their debut album. Opener “Journey to Serra da Estrela” starts as a
lazy-day psych trip before zooming off into a space-age-synth and
’70s-organ funktopia. “All of the Above” assimilates LCD Soundsystem’s
hipster shakes. And “Testimony” could be the house soundtrack at an
upscale martini bar. And these are just the first three songs. By the
time the nine-minute “The Circle Is Broken” wraps the record and heads
to the afterparty, Lady Tigra, Jon Spencer and TV on the Radio’s Jaleel
Bunton have dropped by for some old-school hip-hop, tranquil chill,
horn-speckled R&B and straight-up rock. The Phenomenal Handclap
Band is like iTunes shuffle come to life. — Gallucci
This article appears in Jun 24-30, 2009.
