[tonight in the fens] Tan Vampires + Moe Pope + Grey Sky Appeal @ Church

We’ve been hip to New Hampshire indie sextet TAN VAMPIRES for a while now, recently adding the frolicking pop of standout single "Digital Rot" into rotation on Boston Accents, so we're excited to see Tallboy Productions add a bit of hop to our hipness.

Tonight at Church in the Fens, the band we named New Hampshire's nest new act in our 2010 50 Bands 50 States summer fling joins two of our city's best hip-hop acts, Best Music Poll winner MOE POPE (Best Rap/Hip-Hop Artist), joined tonight by QUILLS, and the always-hustling rhyme-spitters GREY SKY APPEAL, who Chris Faraone shined some Starlight on back in August. GSA's TAJ was just named Hip-Hop Producer of the Year in last month's Boston Music Awards. 

Quite a bill. The Vampires of the Granite State have been making a name for themselves by constantly blowing into town on the strength of eclectic bills -- last month they played with Slothpop and Ruin/Renewal at All Asia, and before that crashed Yes.Oui.Si. -- and it's certainly a testament to their expansive, don't-call-it-chamber-pop sound that's pretty hard to pin down.

Here's what we wrote in 50 Bands back in the Summer of '10, and check out some tracks after the jump:

WHY THEM? We've had our eye on Jake Merhmann's humble solo outings for a few years, but only recently has he picked up the pace with a full band and more than a handful of live dates. Tan Vampires (no relation to the Ivy League Afro-poseurs of similar appetite) flesh out Merhmann's shrugging emotional skeleton with seasick drums and underwater electric-piano flourishes that give that wavering vibrato of his some well-worn Muscle Shoals tread to roll with. They're finishing up their first full-band record as we speak, but there's no equal to a brooding night out with some lonely well drinks and this band up there onstage, takin' it easy for all us sinners.

BONUS BIT! The whole project stems from a one-off collection self-recorded by Mehrmann for the annual RPM Challenge in 2007.

Paper Cranes: live at UNH by Tan Vampires

Leaves by Tan Vampires

Threads by Tan Vampires