POP MUSIC

Doc Watson shared old stories and masterful picking at the Birchmere. (By Allen Aycock For The Washington Post)

-- Mike Joyce

Super Furry Animals

In previous local appearances, Super Furry Animals has supplemented its music with extensive videos and outlandish costumes. On Sunday at the 9:30 club, the Welsh quintet's performance was more spontaneous, which suited the material from its new album, "Hey Venus!," one of the group's least involved and most engaging releases.

Although the band didn't trim anything from its eclectic style, playful frontman Gruff Rhys restricted himself to just a few props: a motorcycle helmet, a hand-lettered sign and the celery he crunched during "Receptacle for the Respectable." The group played most of "Hey Venus!" yet never seemed simply to be flogging its latest product. That's because the 90-minute set was also stuffed with surprises, from the new "Earth" ("the shortest song we've ever written," which was done twice) to the rarely performed "Keep the Cosmic Trigger Happy."

Whether the dominant note was pop, punk, techno or "European metal" (as Rhys introduced "Into the Night''), there were always stylistic counterpoints and unexpected asides. The band stitched surf-music harmonies, prog-rock fanfares and electronic beats into the same song, but the results were never ungainly. Guided by their peerless sense of melody, and of fun, the Furries balanced between down-to-earth immediacy and cosmic goof.

The two bands that preceded the headliner had little in common, save that both spurned guitars. The Fiery Furnaces' overly similar songs were defined by Matthew Friedberger's keyboards, which ranged from churchy gospel to tinkly baroque, while sibling Eleanor Friedberger sang energetically but indistinctively. The opening act, which is sometimes called Holy F, was not as abrasive as its full, unprintable name suggests. Matching electronics to a live rhythm section, the Canadian quartet played techno-rock that recalled the formerly D.C.-based Trans Am.

-- Mark Jenkins