Sometimes volume actually works. Generally in live rock 'n' roll, it winds up as an excuse, an over-compensation, something adhered to as protocol. Kids grow up being told rock 'n' roll must be loud. Very few artists, however, embrace the volume as a tool along with the beat, the melody, the lyrics, and the overall groove.

Enter Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, sprung from the brilliant wreckage of The Brian Jonestown Massacre.

Last night at Water Street Music Hall, the band's wall of volume was as integral to the sound as the psychedelic wash and mesmerizing beat. Roughly 300 people dug and danced as the band swung, threatening to hypnotize. The stage setup looked like a prison break in the fog, and the black-clad band stood relatively motionless. But at the heart of this aural painting and hep-cat swagger, was pure rock 'n' roll: the kind the you can feel, with its requisite, appropriate, gorgeous volume.