BAEBLE CONCERTS: Blonde Redhead at McCarren Park

While it might be slightly misleading, I don't think the aptly titled Blonde Redhead had devious intentions in mind. Having built a sturdy, longtime foundation on the artful bedrock of noisy, resonant guitar drones, and off kilter tunings, Blonde Redhead earned a reputation as a kind of Sonic Youth lite over the years. But on their latest album, 23, the band favored dream pop, a la Zero 7 or Air. In this sun baked show at the McCarren Park Pool, the band leans hard on the hyper hypnotic, and for good reason. August heat waves have a tendency to release a wash of sweat tickling down the forehead and send one into a hazy headed half euphoria. This lounge ready performance for a bulging, half naked Brooklyn crowd is just the kind of intense, dramatic, and squinty eyed moment worth standing in the middle of an empty, concrete bowl on a Sunday afternoon in August for. - David Pitz