By: Lisette Johnson
Rating: 7/11

Psycho Rainbow could not be from anywhere but New York. With happy and familiar G-C-D chords that bring out the pop punker in all of us, they’re The Beastie Boys hanging out on a sunny beach dressed in studded belts — with just enough effects that they’re something totally different. Lyrics like “This is a jam song / I don’t write my own songs / who’d want to write them anyway?” give them an ironic indie cred that keeps them relevant, and the chorus of tinny, grating voices in songs such as “Taste Butter” secures a place for their hodgepodge of sounds from decades past in the 2009 New York music scene.

Ever so often, songs break into trippy interludes that feature sounds (one could almost call it musique concrete) like water dripping or buzzing feedback. This earns them their self-proclaimed psychedelic style, though the “psychedelic-ness” isn’t what you’d find in the mud-covered pit of a jam band show. It’s a subtler, background kind of experimentation that makes some listeners feel free to do the gypsy dance without alienating those who prefer a consistent rhythm and beat. Songs like “Darth Invader” have an arguably political overture (my guess is that the song was written in the darker days of the Bush era), which keeps their punk integrity alive. Sunny days at the beach are once again evoked in groovy riffs and slides that bring to mind images of Frankie and Annette waxing their boards.

It’s the voices themselves, however, that jeopardize Psycho Rainbow’s place in the annals of bands that last in New York City. The nasal (read: whiny) stylings of their singers (and it sounds like there are several) is typical of a 2009 indie band, but the background music isn’t quite poppy enough to put up with it. The vocals just doesn’t match; a softer, more cultivated voice would bring out the talent and innovation of their music, rather than cause listeners to chalk them up with a thousand other bands in Brooklyn that all sound the same.