Alex Schaaf started recording music on his own as Yellow Ostrich in his dorm room in Wisconsin; last summer he relocated to Brooklyn, where he’s recruited former members of We Are Scientists and Beirut to play in his band. Yellow Ostrich’s new full-length, The Mistress, still sounds very much like a homegrown affair—clattering drums, disheveled, lo-fi guitars, and Schaaf’s raw, wailing vocals. The primitive sounds work just so with the music’s simple melodies, especially after factoring in the youth, imaginative quirks of Schaaf’s songwriting—The Mistress’ best song is about riding into the ocean on a whale’s back, another is titled “Hahahaohhoho” and goes pretty much like that, another contains just two sweetly short lines—“I think you are great/ I think you are great!” With Say Hi, Blair. ERIN K. THOMPSON

Thu., March 31, 8 p.m., 2011