Credit: Photo by Gary Miller

Matt & Kim

Zilker Park, Oct. 9

Ready? Okay! Thronged by tens of thousands of giddy partygoers, Brooklyn’s best-yet answer to the question of what, exactly, follows when five boroughs’ hip-hop and Strokes-y retro become last year’s news proved that 212 micro pop is stadium-ready in a ridiculously huge way. And it wasn’t just that Kim Schifino becomes a visibly delighted dervish on drums nor that it’s Matt Johnson’s palpable eagerness that ultimately manhandles his keyboards. Mixing inspired snippets of Biz Markie with the dynamite sing-alongs “Good Ol’ Fashion Nightmare” and explosive closer “Daylight” (nada from new CD Sidewalks), these two scrawny East Coasting indie kids with nary a guitar between them owned the ecstatic, pogoing crowd. “Don’t Slow Down” was less a hit than an imperative, a communal groove that moved at “Lightspeed.” Like Matt & Kim, it was fluid, fun, frantic, and all over the place. Hello, Brooklyn! Welcome to the new school.

This article appears in October 15 • 2010.

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