Dirty Beaches meets Femminielli

Los Escuadrones de la Muerte have yet to play a show have no recorded material available to listen to, but given the respective pedigrees of the newly minted band’s three members, they’re worth watching out for. The “Death Squad” will be popping its concert cherry tonight.


Femminielli
 

Los Escuadrones de la Muerte have yet to play a show have no recorded material available to listen to, but given the respective pedigrees of the newly minted band’s three members, they’re worth watching out for. The “Death Squad” will be popping its concert cherry tonight.

The trio is comprised of Dirty Beaches mastermind Alex Zhang Hungtai, Bernardino Femminielli (you may know him simply as Femminielli) and former Grand Trine member Shubhayan Roy. The three will also be playing as Dirty Beaches in the near future (Roy has done so since Grand Trine’s demise), but they’ve been working on their own songs for a few months.

Femminielli says fans of Dirty Beaches’ otherworldly rockabilly might relate more to this group than would devotees of Femminielli’s experimental Italo-disco sound, but even then, their early jam sessions — recorded on Zhang Hungtai’s iPhone — have produced some interesting results.

Dirty Beaches
Dirty Beaches
“It can sound a little like krautrock with industrial aspects, and there are steady four-four beats, but it’s mostly electronic, with some vocals done by Alex and I. It’s like an improv band as well — there are some structures, but it’s really a free-form band,” he says. “It’s heavy; it’s rougher.”

Where releasing music is concerned, Femminielli says “it’s a matter of finding out what to do with [the jams],” and warns that even the band’s name could be subject to change. “It’s almost hard to describe it because we haven’t heard opinions from other people yet, since we haven’t played together. But it’s an interesting project, a really cool collaboration. It’s going to sound like Dirty Beaches with a full band, but songs that were composed as a three-piece,” he says.

As for Femminielli, he’ll be releasing his first full-length, Double Invitation, this October. He’ll also be performing this Saturday at la Brique with Noir. He’ll be “telling a story,” and Noir will provide musical accompaniment. ■

Los Escuadrones de la Muerte open for Tyvek with Wet Hair and Ultrathin at Casa del Popolo tonight, Thursday. Aug. 9, p.m., $10

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