Tonight’s Concert Pick: Oberhofer at Johnny Brenda’s

Oberhofer has played at Johnny Brenda’s before, but never quite like this. The members of the NYC-based quartet spent a couple of years touting their EP and opening for the likes of The Morning Benders and Tapes ‘N Tapes. But with Oberhofer’s debut album, Time Capsules II, dropping next week, the band is now a headlining act—a charge it does not take lightly. On Oberhofer’s current tour (which brings them from SXSW up to New York to play on Letterman) they seize every opportunity to pack their live show with the kind of reckless abandon the album is rooted in.  Songwriter and front man Brad Oberhofer’s experimental and unpredictable compositions burst with the energy and angst of adolescent love. Many of the album’s tracks are polished versions of songs from the EP; if any sense of the EP’s lo-fi spontaneity was compromised for the fuller instrumentation featured on the album, however, it’s more than made up for on stage.  Oberhofer performs with Pond and White Birds at 9 p.m. at Johnny Brenda’s; tickets to the 21+ show are $10. –Naomi Shavin