Brain-Teaser Pop From Easter and Crew

Is Mitch Easter too smart for his own good? The whiz producer has studied the handbook of pop craft and has a great collection of vintage guitars. But, despite all that, Easter’s group Let’s Active has failed to make much of a breakthrough.

Formerly a cute, wimpy wimpy co-ed trio, Let’s Active flexed some new muscle at Club Lingerie on Friday, issuing happy sarcasm on rockers like “Too Bad� and other samples of Easter’s subtle, brain-teaser pop. The quartet can hit the slight-but-right combination of floating vocals, hopscotch rhythms and stinging guitar breaks, but Let’s Active is often too calculated and insulated. It’s music you can appreciate but never quite love.

The second-billed Silos evoked plains of amber grain waving in the wind. The New York quartet is suitable for a Sam Shepherd score, singing of family relationships with enough home hearth fire and sincerity to keep the beer-drinking rowdies happy. Those prone to cynical reality checks should beware: Too much exposure to this yearning workingman’s heartland rock might induce a caustic seizure.