Os Mutantes, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti Webster Hall 11/13/10

Getting the chance to see in the flesh one of psychedelic music’s father’s is one of those things, at least for me, I can check off my musical list of must see shows in life and Os Mutantes certainly did not disappoint! Being on a bill with Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti seems like an odd pairing but made perfect sense once the bands got under way.

Leading off the night was opener DIVA who hit the stage dressed in what looked like a white see through sheet, face paint and horns (yes horns!) and played bass over recorded beats while singing slightly off key. She had balls for coming out to a packed house at Webster Hall on her own but aside from totally hypnotizing her audience, and how could you not dressed like that, her music needed some work. While it was ethereal and ambient, it was missing something. I will say her cover of “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” was gorgeous.

Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti hit the stage next, and he played several tracks off his newest album Before Today including opener “Beverly Kills,” which got the crowd going. If you’ve never heard him before, Ariel Pink is AM radio. With garbled lyrics and smoothed out music he makes some really cool music. His song “Round and Round” had the crowd going crazy. The members of his band were actually incredible players and the intricacies of Ariel’s music seemed effortless with them at the helm.

Headliners Os Mutantes came out in robes and while the two remaining original members Sergio Dias Baptista (guitar/vocals) and Dinho Leme (drums) remained, the all new band were top notch musicians who captured the bands psychedelic sound while updating it. Vocalist Bia Mendes was by no means a Rita Lee replacement as she didn’t sound anything like the original, and she did a fantastic job of singing classics like “Bat macumba,” and an updated version of “El Justiciero” which poked fun at Bush and Obama and “A Minha Menina.” Highlight of the night was Os Mutantes rendition of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and weep it did as Sergio Dias went into a stirring guitar solo that totally had the audience by the seat of their pants. It was a great show featuring different acts that were completely different in their own right but all psychedelic in their own way.

Words Dave Lipp Pix Kevin Serra