Javelin Fly High at Kings

Local label Denmark Records brought Brooklyn electro-pop duo Javelin to town this past Thursday, November 11, for their third Raleigh show in four months at the recently re-opened Kings. I unfortunately missed the Panda-Bear-but-less-weird sounds of local act It Is Rain In My Face, but arrived right in time to catch the start of Athens, Georgia's Reptar. With bassist Ryan Engelberger M.I.A., the band still managed to put on an energetic show, keeping the crowd dancing with synth-pop reminiscent of Passion Pit, sans the obnoxious vocals. Dressed in a choir robe and multi-colored sunglasses, keyboard player William Kennedy bounced around with singer/guitarist Graham Ulicny like two kids hopped on Red Bull and Pixie Stix, their boundless energy clearly rubbing off on the crowd.

After a brief set break, Javelin kicked off their set of sample-heavy party jams. Mixing in older tracks such as "Radio" and "Soda Popinski" with newer cuts, including personal favorite "C Town", the duo of George Langford and Tom van Buskirk never once let their set go into non-danceable territory during their nearly hour-long set. The duo also managed to drop in a few verses from songs other than their own, including Beastie Boys' "Sabotage." With a much larger turnout than the nearly-empty Small Black show a couple weeks before, the show proved to be a success for everyone—for Denmark, for Kings, for the fans, and especially for Javelin, who went so far as to ask, "Why haven’t we moved here yet?"