PUi at Irving Plaza

PUi Ritual IV at Irving Plaza tonight was more than a concert by the band PUi (also known as the PUi Tribe) celebrating its debut album, Neo-Primal. Pui Ritual IV was a party that included several bands, art exhibits, live percussionists playing along with the disc jockeys and scantily-clad body-painted dancers. Want a little controversy as well? Just days after Dov Hikind, a state assemblyman from Brooklyn, was roundly criticized for wearing blackface to a Purim costume party, PUi lead singer/guitarist Nazimcan Shuva, dressed bare-chested with a leather kilt and looking like a cast member of the movie 300, wore black body paint over his entire body. The event was filmed for an IndiMusicTV show.

Describing a band as unique or original is difficult today in a music world where everything goes, but PUi’s performance at Irving Plaza was challenging to niche. The music was loud and heavy yet melodic, fell into a groove led by three men playing percussion, and mixed in Middle Eastern sounds and soulful rock vocals. Maybe I will not be the first to label it “gypsy groove metal.” The band calls it “neo-primal.” PUi returns for the second part of PUi Ritual IV at Irving Plaza tomorrow night.