Scissor Brothers

Despite their utterly forgettable name—“Who are we seeing again?” asked our companion for the third time—Scissors for Lefty give good show. We arrived at Chop Suey last night way early* in time to catch some of the soundcheck before the band played their tight-ass set. And what we heard both times was well put-together: sweet synth lines, catchy guitars, and Brit-leaning hooks up the wazoo. Cribbing from the Strokes one moment and verging into Pavement territory the next, the fact that this SF quartet is unsigned in the U.S. (in Europe, they’re on the venerable label Rough Trade) astounds us. While they didn’t play the soaring “Mama Your Boys Will Find a Home” [YouTube], they did close with “Ghetto Ways” [mp3], a radio-ready single if we’ve ever heard one.

Scissors for Lefty’s set was followed up and complemented nicely by the simple, occasionally exciting pop of The Pharmacy. Though not overly original, The Pharmacy had its moments, mostly in the series of covers that closed their set, especially their versions of “Don’t Bring Me Down” and Adam Green’s “Dance With Me”—the latter of which de-evolved into a full-fledged crowd-invited-onstage dance party. But Scissors for Lefty were still better.

* (For future reference, and despite the lack of information from Chop Suey, their monthly Club Pop shows are always doors at 9pm, show at 10:30pm.)

Photo care of Flickr / user Seng Chen.