The first good sign last night was the standing bass. Besides this, the six members of experimentally inclined Icy Demons play guitar, drums, keyboard, a gourd maraca and more. The Chicago band is on a tour, and they stopped off in Williamsburg's glorified basement venue, Death by Audio, to give an energized performance despite sweltering heat and a seemingly glazed over (McCarren-Pool-traumatized?) audience.

Opening was Buffalo Stance, a one-man act from Philadelphia. His name is hard to come by on the Internet, which seems fitting given his music: part low-fi electronica, part folk. Buffalo sang short, intentionally "unsophisticated" songs (in a "chipmunk voice" as one audience member demanded) accompanied by a tinny Hammond organ. On the sample board he threw in the occasional spare drum beat, or reverbed and doubled his voice. One song was carnivalesque, and reminded me both of Coney Island and the ice-cream truck jingle. The overall effect was of a little kid learning to play music in a room alone, singing off the top of his head to himself. Embarassing or intriguing: you decide.

As soon as Icy Demons started to play, the audience got bigger, filling up the room and actually getting into it. Icy Demons are some kind of crazy fusion band, with full-throttle hooks and beats; bassist Griffin Rodriguez is also talented on vocals. Fans of Man Man will also appreciate Christopher Powell on drums. The group showcased an uncanny ability to mix and match instruments — which they all traded — and genres, from samba to hip hop to rock. One song's incessant 4/4 beat reminded me of Interpol, another song was pure Brazilian pop. Then there was a series of rising guitar scales and it was like, yes.

Listen to them here, or go check them out tonight at the Knitting Factory.