Whitney Live: Javelin and Warpaint

Lower Gallery and Sculpture Court

Whitney Live rocks this July and August with upstarts in experimental pop, tropicalia, chill-wave, beach music, garage rock, post-punk, and globe-trotting bass-inflected DJ beats.

Javelin:
Musical omnivores and darlings of David Byrne’s Luaka Bop label, Javelin uses colorfully painted boomboxes that form large speaker totems (“boombaatas”) which can hang from the ceiling or stack up on the floor like pyramids for their performances. Sounds range from broken dance jams to relaxed instrumental cut-ups, featuring long forgotten samples, chopped and re-assembled with drums, wooden recorders, old keyboards, handmade thumb pianos or whatever instruments are readily at hand. Javelin is George Langford, Tom Van Buskirk, and friends.

Warpaint:
Warpaint is Emily Kokal (vocals/guitar), Theresa Wayman (guitar/vocals), Jenny Lee Lindberg (bass/vocals), and Stella Mozgawa (drums), an all-girl quartet from Los Angeles. They weave intricate guitar lines, hypnotic vocals, and driving post-punk rhythms into songs that skirt the line between psychedelia and intimacy. Playing to many captivated audiences, Warpaint has opened for Yeasayer, Black Heart Procession, and The Slits.

Free with Museum admission, which is pay-what-you-wish on Fridays from 6–9 pm; there are no special tickets or reservations.