Parts & Labor

At a show this past spring, opening for Adult. and Erase Errata, Brooklyn trio Parts & Labor launched a volley of digital noise that seemed to presage a sense-assaulting experience. Then suddenly, the sound waves turned tuneful —structured, even — and the threesome pushed through a high-energy set of sometimes danceable, frequently distorted, nearly always melodically addictive electro-punk. Strangely enough, at times it was kinda like listening to glitched-out songs from Hüsker Dü's Zen Arcade. Parts & Labor, which has been around since 2002, is made up of bassist-vocalist BJ Warshaw and guitarist-vocalist Dan Friel, along with an array of keyboards, noiseboxes and other electronic goodies — oh, and drums, can't forget those. Although manic beatmaker (and erstwhile music journalist) Christopher Weingarten just quit the band after three years, he's been replaced by Joe Wong, whom P&L will break in on this tour in support of their third album, Mapmaker.