A Touch of Keytar

Minusworld adds to the fun at Midway Cafe on Monday, 5 June 2023.

Public Faces, Will DePiano, and Amber Fly fill out the fourstack bill.

Monday nights get oversold as bears for going out. Like it’s some huge burden to catch music on the first night of the week.

Sure, a lot of the traditional nine-to-fivers are worn out from their Sat/Sun revelries. But how traditional is the workforce these days? If you work in the service industry, the start of the week is a light stretch. You might even have a day or two off.

More likely what makes Monday or any day a tough ask to get off the couch is that we all work too many hours, regardless of our scheduled days. This is not breaking news: Americans are overworked and most of us are underpaid to boot.

Monday nights don’t need to be any more difficult than any other nights. So performing artists should lean into the fact. Never apologize to or pat the back of the Monday night crowd for showing up.

Monday nights at Midway Cafe rock if you rock. It’s the kind of place where the staff will sell you hard on the peanut butter & jelly shot.

It tastes “surprisingly” good.

Will DePiano

The solo electric guitarist Wiil DePiano would put together the perfect indie rock mixtape for the turn-of-the-millenium set.

His tracklist on Monday night included covers of the Strokes, Pavement, Nirvana, plus a bonus “I’m Waiting For My Man” by the Velvet Underground. (Hey, the bartender even said he looked like Lou Reed). You know, a mix of canon, contemporary classics, with a few DePiano originals sprinkled on top.

Nothing obscure on this jaunt through the Jamaica Plain joint. Maybe deeper cuts next time.

Public Faces

Local giggers Public Faces have a lot of different sounds. Their strongest punch comes as a prog rock trio, playing straight ahead krautrock highway music.

Sure, you might find the mountain of pedals at their feet intimidating. Trust that it’s all for your sonic enjoyment and go along for the ride.

Think: Popul Vuh meets stoner Devo. Shout out to the 80s new wave covers. It’s one thing to nail the notes and chords, a whole other (rarer) thing to nail the effects textures. Shades of Donnie Darko.

Minusworld

It’s hard to get past the keytar in writing up Minusworld. It’s hard to get past the keytar physically in the club – that mother is huge!

But don’t we all need more fringe instruments in our life? The Boston fourpiece plays uptempo pop, laced with a little chiptune. Shout out to the song that was a spiritual homage to Carly Rae Jepsen.

But seriously, let’s get Minusworld on a bill with Muzzins and Battlemode, and they can bring all the weird axes into the fold: keytar, melodica, electric flutes, gameboys, and more.

Amber Fly

Amber Fly performed as a three-piece, opening with a kind of XXL pop punk operatic prelude. The set included some ambitious vocal layering and multiple broken drumsticks. Shout out to the regular singer, who was AWOL studying for a law exam. Extra points for the tambourine guest spot.