At one moment whispering against a sampled squelch, the next careening into a shearing art-rock-terrorist attack, Blonde Redhead are a study in musical dynamics and the power of contrast. On record, they have developed from oft-accused bastard children of Sonic Youth (they remain the most compelling of the pioneering art-rock band's disciples) to possessors of their own distinct, experimental voice. In a live setting, Blonde Redhead truly soar. |

Drawing heavily from their most recent album, last year's In an Expression of the Inexpressible, the trio kept the capacity crowd entranced for an hour. Identical twin brothers Amadeo (guitar/vocals) and Simone Pace (drums) and Kazu Makino (guitar/vocals) turned in a taut performance -- so instrumentally polished, in fact, that the lack of a bass player didn't matter in the least.

For a few numbers they disarmed even further, with Makino abandoning her guitar and singing atop exquisitely spare arrangements. Straddling her guitar, writhing around with dress straps flailing, headbutting Amadeo and unleashing torrents of sound, the petite Japanese frontwoman is a riveting sight to behold. Her vocals, which are hard to describe but handily define the band's palette, range from soft baby-like murmurs to full-bore shrieking (she actually covered her ears to block the intensity of her own voice a few times).

From the opener, "10," through obvious crowd-pleasers like "Missile" and "Water," the set steadily collected momentum before exploding with "I Am There While You Choke Me." As Makino's wail reached the highest pitch of the night, the song morphed into indie rock's answer to Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You." After a potent run through "(I Am Taking Out My Eurotrash) I Still Get Rocks Off" the singer promptly went demure and meekly thanked everyone for coming. Her final words may have been inaudible, but the pleasant ringing in fans' ears was the only sound they really needed to hear.

WILLIAM VAN METER(February 4, 1999)