Rush Midnight and Chad Valley at Glasslands 4/12/13

Rush Midnight and Chad Valley

Glasslands

April 12, 2013

Last Friday was a pretty busy night – although not uncommon for me – as i was first at Piano’s to catch Leaves of Green and House of Blondes, earlier that night. And from there, I bolted off to Williamsburg for Rush Midnight and Chad Valley at Glasslands.

I was a little delayed and wound up arriving at Glasslands when Rush Midnightt started their set and by the time i got in, I heard the first two or three songs of the set outside – thanks to the fact that the venue was packed to the rafters. In any case. Rush Midnight, a.k.a. Russ Manning of Twin Shadow and his backing band played a short set, consisting of material from his excellence debut EP, +1 which Cascine Records released last year. +1 was a personal favorite of mine as the material is slickly produced 80s-inspired pop with elements of reggae. It reminded me quite a bit of the synth based R&B that Motown used to put out – but with a bit more muscular insistence. (I should mention that while catching Rush Midnight, I noticed that the cloud installation that had been up for years, had been taken down. i’ll have to find out why.)

Chad Valley, a.k.a. Hugo Manuel of Oxford, UK’s Jonquil and the Blessing Force collective followed suit with more 80s synth pop which sounded quite a bit like Spandau Ballet and Wham! With that in mind, we’re talking about big, melodramatic but seductive ballads. And although the crowd was going wild for them, I remember hearing Spandau Ballet and Wham as a child, so his material struck me as being – pleasant, and danceable but unoriginal. Still Manuel was an extremely amiable, charming presence and I can see why he’s developed a devoted fanbase.

Rush Midnight