Neon Indian’s Alan Palomo is kind of nerdy.
Fans at the Grog Shop Saturday learned of his nostalgic obsession with Terminator novelties, which he had shopped earlier at the Big Fun toy store around the corner. He apologized, strangely, that the T-1000 figure he was hoping to perch on the kick drum wouldn’t stay put and was sadly unavailable.
He then apologized for taking up too much of the crowd’s time with his Terminator rant, and compensated with a new song from his group’s upcoming album.
The warped, poppy track featured a grinding keyboard line and a busy kick drum. It treads in familiar sonic territory for Neon Indian, but the lack of familiarity had the crowd frozen until the chorus came back, then hands were in the air.
Fans packed into the Grog for the band’s set, which was performed with a drummer, a guitarist/bassist, and two keyboard players (Palomo was one of them). Shoved together body-to-body, the crowd tussled to Psychic Chasms hits “Local Joke,” “Terminally Chill,” and “Deadbeat Summer” like a box full of unnaturally sweaty puppies.
This article appears in Jun 8-14, 2011.