Alex Schaaf started recording music on his own as Yellow Ostrich in his dorm room in Wisconsin; last summer he relocated to Brooklyn, where hes recruited former members of We Are Scientists and Beirut to play in his band. Yellow Ostrichs new full-length, The Mistress, still sounds very much like a homegrown affairclattering drums, disheveled, lo-fi guitars, and Schaafs raw, wailing vocals. The primitive sounds work just so with the musics simple melodies, especially after factoring in the youth, imaginative quirks of Schaafs songwritingThe Mistress best song is about riding into the ocean on a whales back, another is titled Hahahaohhoho and goes pretty much like that, another contains just two sweetly short linesI think you are great/ I think you are great! With Say Hi, Blair. ERIN K. THOMPSON
Thu., March 31, 8 p.m., 2011