Foreign Islands

Brooklyn’s Foreign Islands instantly raised the level of sophistication amongst the contingent of dance punk bands, with infectiously thick rhythms and squawky angular guitars. Pacing the stage, vocalist Mark Ryan cradled the microphone in his two hands and perfectly cut through his band’s dive-bombing instrumental assault. Revealing more punk influences than many of their hi-hat obsessed dance punk peers, Foreign Islands sweated a million reasons to keep your eyes locked on them.