Maher Shalal Hash Baz & others

Ok, so I didn't catch the whole show because I was off volunteering at the Clinton St. But! I caught the Watery Graves and Maher Shalal Hash Baz, the former of the two was great as usual. Bassist Davis Lee Hooker stood in for Adrian Orange on drums who is off in Europe. WG's played loose like always and for one song brought in Arrington De Dionyso of Old Time Relijun on bass clarinet + tuvan throat singing = huh? anyways Curtis Knapp (piano in WG's) probably said it best when he responded to Arrington's claim of" not knowing the songs well" by saying "Neither do we."
Maher Shalal Hash Baz (Longest first name in the Bible) was incredible. Melodic but often disjointed by purposefully playing off tempo with a guitar two trumpets and other melodica type things. The percussionist made the best of brushes, soft mallets, and a cardboard box and definitely pulled it off. Lead singer and writer Tori Kudo fumbled around with what appeared to be hastily written sheet music and in broken english just said "ahh no." Later on in the relatively short set he sugared up the audience with these lyrics "I was born in Portlandtown." The music they played was honest and its refreshing to see a band like Maher Shalal Hash Baz that is completly comfortable in their awkwardness.