D.A.N.

Burgeoning group D.A.N. were catching punters’ attention during their soundcheck. Whereas other bands taking the Rookie-A-Go-Go stage Saturday night played one straightforward song and sauntered backstage, D.A.N. looped a sample that sounded like it originated from some old pulp sci-fi (something about “beautiful engineers”) before breaking out into a jam session accented by woozy synthesizers and steel drums. That snapped a lot of people into attention, and drew a solid crowd for when they properly started up.

That song popped up again, among a mix of mellowed out guitar passages that practically floated away and some wonky electronic passages. The warm-up song remained D.A.N.’s finest moment — a locked-in groove with an otherworldliness to it — that the following songs didn’t quite reach up (the back-end of D.A.N.’s set was a bit slower and moodier, good for the late night setting and capable of turning into a groove, but also a bit too dusty eyed). Yet the crowd swayed along all the same, and popped for the weird twists that wormed their way in to the music. A good lesson to learn — treat the soundcheck seriously.