Peace Out, Man

Tuesday night promised to be a night of chill-out music at the Danforth Music Hall. Opening act Cate Le Bon certainly started that way. Songs like I Can't Help You were moody pop, although sometimes enlivened with some yelping from the singer. But they also had a 60s psychedelic vibe that they indulged mid-set; Wild and Sisters careened through wavy chords while maintaining a solid bass. As a native Welsh, she should put more emphasis on her appealing accent which, when it came through, seemed to energize the words.

The near-capacity crowd was there for all-girl band Warpaint. They played dancey but slow and understated tunes with whispery vocals including the Madonna-esque Undertow that immediately got the ganja lit. Even their "cover" of My Guy (actually a reworked song called Billy Holiday) stripped away the upbeat poppiness. But they slowly ramped up the tempo and instrumentation until by the encore, they were doing extended jams that got the crowd, if not rocking, then at least doing some serious head-nodding. Most dudes were into the hypnotic mood, as well as the attractiveness of the members of Warpaint, while the women preferred to sway to the increasingly sexy beats.