Lightspeed Champion at Mercury Lounge, Free Live Download

Download Lightspeed Champions’s June 17 Mercury Lounge show here

Dev Hynes is indie rock’s Brooklyn-by-London-by-Texas answer to the 60s’ Henry Saint Clair Fredericks, aka Taj Mahal. Dev’s newest project, Lightspeed Champion, creates dark, Fleetwood Mac style country/blues infused rock featuring subtle instrumental buildups and teasing riffs, often curtailed just before climax, that lightly set you back down into murkier, keyboard-jangling passages to float you a bit further down the river Lightspeed.

Did that make any sense? Probably not. But if nothing else, Dev is one cool cat (#20 according to NME magazine last year) and you should give Lightspeed Champion some itunes attention. He’s played back-to-back shows here in NY over the past two days, first headlining Mercury Lounge, then as opener for newly pronounced indie(read: arena) rock gods Phoenix at last night’s Music Hall of Williamsburg midnight extravaganza. With previous band names and musical endeavors such as “Blood Orange” and “Test Icicles,” how can a man now calling himself “Lightspeed Champion” go wrong? Brooklyn’s “SpaceCamp” currently acts as touring band and also assisted with the new album’s recording (that’s right, its coming! Sorry, but I’m sworn to secrecy on name and release date). For more info, visit the Champ’s myspace and buy a record, or check out a show. It’s worth it.

And don’t just take my word for it, download the June 17 Mercury Lounge concert bootleg here. Rocking and rolling; gentle breeze, lots of steeze.