Buried Treasure: The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players

Videos by American Songwriter

The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players are a self-described “indie-vaudeville-conceptual-art-rock-slideshow band,” who count among their fans Simpsons creator Matt Groening, David Cross, Eugene Mirman, The White Stripes’ Meg White, and director John Waters, who describes the band’s gigs as being “like The Lawrence Welk Show gone insane.”

I used to see this band all the time on the Lower East Side (back when little Rachel was knee high to a grasshopper); they were quite the sight. If you don’t know them, they’re obviously a very visual band. Below is a video primer.

Here’s them on Conan, demonstrating their crazy songwriting technique:

But they’re good without the slide show too:

Or when they’re playing solo. This one is strictly for the birds:

The family that appreciates Syd Barrett together, rocks together. Here’s a fairly awesome cover of Pink Floyd’s “Gnome”:

“You always seem to be on the lower east side of my heart:”

For more Trachtenburg Family goodness, check out their 2006 DVD The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players: Off & On Broadway.