If Oneida is out to alienate and disappoint fans with instrumental records and pretentious three-part concept albums, they sure go about it in an awe-inspiring way. For those of us who chose the Brooklyn noise-groove quintet (née trio) over that other show, our faith in the unfamiliar was well-rewarded.

Playing to a small but enthusiastic 9pm crowd, Lullabye Arkestra took to the stage shrouded in smoke and with devil horns held high — obviously with intentions of rocking. Katia Taylor’s fuzzy bass riffs and powerful twang-metal pipes aside, their Motörhead-on-estrogen bass and drum shtick seemed to leak personality as the set wore on. However, new songs like “Hiroshima” and an alt-country ballad show considerable promise. And to be fair, I spent the bulk of their set once again recovering from the awesomeness of Tropics. The combination of Slim Twig’s guitar playing — which is what I assume Greg Ginn would sound like if Black Flag had ever gone rockabilly — and Simone TB’s vicious yet tasteful drumming gets better every time I see them.  

As their early evening Lee’s Palace set was under the dance-club gun, Oneida wasted little time with small talk — other than the usual self-referential introduction from guitarist Hanoi Jane (“This is a tribute show to a band called Oneida”) and keyboardist/singer Bobby Matador’s: “Listen... that’s all.”  Opening with their latest album, Preteen Weaponry, in its entirety, Oneida embarked on what would be a half-hour all-or nothing journey into something resembling Battles covering Ornette Coleman’s Free Jazz.

Despite an energetic plunge straight into the chaotic repetition of “Part 1,” a fairly sloppy mix made it hard to decipher any sense of melody until Bobby picked up the most hideous looking red Warlock bass and added a weighty foundation to the slowly-mounting chord progression.  After a serious feedback freak-out that most bands would save for the very end of the show, the tribal drum pattern of the second part trudged along as an ominous counterpoint to Hanoi Jane’s (barely audible) guitar solos. But it wasn’t until the skittery beat of “Part 3” where the sound began to even out and the band locked into a frantic groove. The overwhelming applause at the album’s conclusion was clearly a testament to Oneida’s ability to sustain their pretensions (although there may have been a little relief sprinkled in there as well).  

As if playing the new record wasn’t enough of an auditory challenge, Oneida used the bulk of their remaining set to debut a pack of new songs — presumably from the upcoming triple-album Rated O. Unlike the drone-y Preteen, the four tracks (including “I Will Haunt You,” “Town Crier” and “The River”) are more or less classic Oneida: propulsive dance-thrash grooves, percussive keyboards and Bobby’s emphatic vocal spazz. As much as I appreciate a band willing to push their own envelope (read: not to come off like one of those play-the-old-stuff purists), the highlight of Oneida’s set came with their extended finale: Happy New Year’s “Up with People.” This proved to be a double shame, as the 11pm curfew precluded both a healthy back catalogue and the band’s seemingly boundless energy. I guess there’s always a next time.

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