Wye Oak at the U.S. Open, and the Academy of Music
Indie-rock is where you find it. And because I travel far and wide to find it for you, dear reader, today I being you a video of the Baltimore trance-folk-drone duo Wye Oak performing last week at the U.S. Open in Flushing, Queens.
Indie-rock is where you find it. And because I travel far and wide to find it for you, dear reader, today I being you a video of the Baltimore trance-folk-drone duo Wye Oak performing last week at the U.S. Open in Flushing, Queens. Imagine my surprise when, after watching Daniela Hantuchova and Agnieszka Radwanska's upset victory over seventh-seeded duo Shuai Peng and Jie Zheng 6-0, 4-6, 6-4 in a first-round women's doubles match, I stumbled upon Merge recording artists Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack performing on the Baseline Stage outside Arthur Ashe Stadium for a crowd of largely indifferent passersby.
What in the world were Wye Oak doing there? When I asked Wassner that question afterwards, she said she was sure she had no idea, and added that she thought in that setting the band sounded "absolutely horrible." Not true, I would counter. And add that in the constantly reshuffling music business, bands often find themselves booked into unconventional spaces in their handlers' hopes that some sort of positive exposure might come out of it, maybe via a chance encounter with an iPhone-armed rock fan from Philadelphia, where Wye Oak play tonight, and tomorrow, opening for The National and Yo La Tengo at the somewhat more conventional Academy of Music. Wye Oak's cool roller coaster video for "Holy Holy" is here. Tickets here.
Previously: PJ Harvey wins the Mercury Prize Follow In the Mix on Twitter here
