A night in the meatpacking district offers plenty of entertainment options, but many flock to Soho House New York for its exclusivity. The members club features five stories of private rooms, theaters, bars and restaurants, not to mention the rooftop swimming pool. These spaces welcome musical guests nightly, with programming that includes household names, as well as up-and-coming artists. This past weekend I entered the Vinyl Room to experience B00TY.
B00TY SO FAR
The LA based electro-funk band B00TY released their first single in 2016 and have been making waves since. Many Soho House attendees had heard about the band through their 2022 single “Matter of Time,” which was featured in Issa Rae’s HBO series, Rap Sh!t. As a younger band, the set included their entire discography, offering a good taste of their career so far.
As you can probably tell from the band’s name, B00TY is there to have fun. In addition to their music, the band’s high energy and blitheness helps the whole room cut loose. The frontman, Edan Frei, jumps and spins around the stage as he sings, almost as if in a trance. If I’m honest, I felt at times the vocals were sacrificed for the sake of exhibition, but it felt right. The studio recordings offer tidy versions of B00TY’s voice, while their performances are a communal sharing of the joy the music gives them.
the vinyl room
The Vinyl Room is the perfect venue for a band like B00TY. The small space allowed the band to fill all four corners of the room without becoming overbearing. B00TY’s evident seventies influence was perfectly complemented by the main light source of the Vinyl Room: a disco ball. The room fittingly only consisted of standing room, as listening to B00TY’s music while sitting would not have been nearly as effective. The band’s strength is in their rhythmic bassline grooves which inspire movement in the audience.
B00TY’s performance is playfully soulful, casually pining. There’s a yearning in their lyrics and vocals, kept from melodrama by the playful pairing of their production and performance. Their high energy offers enough intensity to get a crowd going, while their easy style relaxes the crowd, putting them on a sort of cruise control. B00TY is a great option when looking for a chill night in a smaller venue. With their recent successes, B00TY should only just be getting started.