From a logistical standpoint, last night was a bit of a bust. We had planned on hitting Shea Stadium to see Shilpa Ray perform a solo set then head out and catch MEN at The Knitting Factory but it didn’t go according to plan.

I like Shilpa’s music, with the weird confessional tone and unusual instrumentation in the full Happy Hookers line up, I was curious to see her perform a solo set. It was actually one year ago that I first saw her perform with full band on the corner of North 6th near the Northside Festival’s headquarters for last year. They took up residence and played an acoustic set for a good twenty minutes attracting many passers by with her strong voice and great instrumentation on her harmonium.

Unfortunately the 9:30 set time was optimistic at best as Shea Stadium’s Eternal Sound Check caused us to give up when the set was a half hour past the running time. I love you, Shilpa, but we got other things to see!

We hit the Q59 and head out to The Knitting Factory to catch the Pride Party with Men and No Bra. Men is JD Samson of Le Tigre, Michael O’Neill or Ladybug Transistor and Ginger Brooks Takahashi of The Ballet making radical queer dance music that touches on trans issues, queer issues, and issues of a general leftist bent. They were well served by their opening act, No Bra.

No Bra is, and this is going to sound absolutely mad, electronic industrial noise sing song spoken word folk with abrasive lyrics and music and a gender defying stage persona. Male? Female? It doesn’t matter, ultimately, as the music is so unique. Poetic trash culture lyrics and just absolutely amazing. The best track of the night was “Munchausen” which was about the inane game of one-upmanship you run into in “art” culture. I had never heard No Bra before but I am totally a convert now. Art. Trash. Tart.

I hadn’t seen MEN and was honestly wasn’t a huge fan of Le Tigre, though This Island seemed to hit at the perfect time when that electro-rock confluence was at its highest and the two scenes bled together exposing the act to a new audience. I had heard that MEN was a bit more radical in its outlook and that the strong house background would be more my speed.

It certainly was. MEN is JD Samson on Keyboard and Sequencer while Michael O’Neill and Ginger Brooks Takahashi played guitar. The beats and structure were all strong electro, enough sawtooth synths to clear a forest, with the demanding drums of the best Circuit House. Michael and Ginger both performed in their underwear while JD was in a once piece jump suit in the DEVO mold.

The vibe was thick like the best gay nights smiles and a constantly moving crowd which had shed its inhibitions responding to the music and identity banter in equal amounts. JD led rousing chants of “Who am I to feel so free?” and “Gay people making babies” during “Credit Card Babie$” a song about gays having organic babies instead of adopting or remaining childless.

“Credit Card Babie$” is one of the stronger examples in how MEN uses dance music to make immediately accessibly statements, fulfilling Armand Van Helden’s request to hear people make political dance music.

MEN closed out with a brand new (“This is the third time we’ve performed this so it’s going to be scary”) cover of Bronski Beat’s “Small Town Boy.” It was an amazing and uplifting set and I cannot stress enough, go, check it out. You’ll feel like family regardless of orientation.