Ringing in the “Year of the Banana” with Rubblebucket!

^{Article by Waverly Cayo}

Last Friday evening, Thalia Hall concert goers and music fans alike got to ring in the “Year of the Banana” with New York’s very own art-pop music duo Rubblebucket. Embellished by geometric shapes and big frilly skirts, frontpeople Alex Toth and Annakalmia Traver coupled their quirky sound with psychedelic visuals and bouts of synchronized dancing. 

Promoting their new record Year of the Banana, Rubblebucket kicked off their 2025 tour in Pennsylvania earlier this month, accompanied along the way by pop musician Hannah Mohan and the surrealist dance band CAPYAC.

When the crowd chanted “Rubblebucket!”, the band returned neo-psychedelia — in a way that quickly taught newcomers of the interactive nature of Toth and Traver’s performance style. Their eccentric, inherently zany take on concert culture allowed sight and sound to work together to capture the audience's attention completely. 

There wasn’t a single point in the set where the crowd wasn’t completely entranced by what was going on on stage. From the self-made stage centerpiece to Traver’s tendency to join the crowd themself, Rubblebucket provided non-stop stimulation for the Thalia Hall crowd. Needless to say, when the audience realized that Traver and Toth could even emerge from the top of this giant set piece, Thalia Hall felt nothing short of electric.

In combination with playing songs off their new record, Rubblebucket also performed past fan favorites - from “Geometry”, a song off of their 2022 record Earth Worship, to “Came out of a Lady”, a song off their 2011 album Omega La La.

From conga lines to vegan French beret substitutes, Rubblebucket graced the venue with something to love, listen to, and laugh at throughout the entire show. Out with the old and in with the new, perhaps this will inspire your Spotify queue!