Harlem Shakes @ Mercy Lounge tonight

I can't remember the last time I was as excited about a show as I am about Harlem Shakes at the Mercy Lounge tonight - I've seriously been waiting since July of 2005 for the Brooklyn band to pay Nashville a visit.  From the very first time I heard "A Night," I've been crossing my fingers and hoping they take a tour that dips south - and tonight they'll finally be here to play Mercy with Deerhoof and Busdriver.

Harlem Shakes released the excellent Burning Birthdays earlier this month, which you can pick up directly from their website.  The EP sees the band moving in a slightly different direction than you would expect from their initial demos - there isn't really anything as punchy as "A Night," which drew early comparisons to the Arctic Monkeys.  Burning Birthdays is still danceable, but reviews of the EP are now name-checking the likes of the Walkmen while describing just how perfectly "Brooklyn" or "New York City" the Harlem Shakes sound.  If that means hooky, catchy, and utterly fantastic... I completely agree.

In the past few days, I've listened to "Old Flames", the last track on the EP, about 8,000 times.  Like the Hotpipes song I posted the other day, there's one specific moment that just seals the deal for me - on this track it comes in at about 1:20 - and to fully appreciate it I think you should play the song super, super loud in your car.  I can't even tell you how many people I've caught laughing at me as I sit rocking out to this at a stoplight.

"Old Flames" (from Burning Birthdays)
"A Night"

If you can't make it out to Mercy Lounge tonight - fear not, because you have another chance to catch Harlem Shakes in Nashville - on April 18 when they'll be playing the venue again with Tapes 'n Tapes.