Afrosonics, Rosa dos Ventos and Henchmen for Hire @ Neurolux (12/17/13)

I caught Afrosonics' set at the Boise 150 Sesqui-Party back in July and liked what I heard.  Upbeat, multicultural funk--just the thing for a James Brown-enamored music writer who gets awfully tired of the same old surf-garage stuff.  I was also impressed with bandleader Dayo Ayodele's nonprofit Global Lounge, which seeks to help immigrants adjust to living in the Treasure Valley.

I got the chance to write a Boise Weekly feature about Afrosonics and Global Lounge.  When some free time came up on my calendar, I decided to come down and check out the band's new lineup.  I also looked forward to checking out two local groups I'd never seen before, Rosa dos Ventos and Henchmen for Hire.

I counted about 40 people at Neurolux when I arrived.  When Afrosonics played, I counted 65.  I'd like to think that my article helped persuade some of these folks to come down, but that's probably a little hubristic.

Henchmen for Hire opened the show.  This band's soul- and reggae-tinged sound had an adult alternative feel to it--Dave Matthews, Counting Crows, like that.  I'm sure that's enough to make some readers run screaming for the hills, but really, this group wasn't as bad as all that.  For one thing, their lead guitarist was sharp--terse, tasteful but capable of letting off some fireworks.  For another, lead singer Gabe Hess managed to deploy some soul mannerisms (some moans here, a little melisma there) without embarrassing himself.  The band sounded stiff and nervous at times, but a few more gigs should limber them up.  Also, any group that can do all right by Ben E. King's "Stand By Me" and Van Morrison's "Sweet Thing" (not to mention cite James Brown and Marvin Gaye as influences on its Facebook page) has its heart in the right place.

Rosa dos Ventos played next.  This Portuguese/Brazilian/Latin American music group sure didn't need to limber up.  Their horn-like keyboard, fluid rhythm section and snarling guitar hit so fast, tight and hard that they could've been auditioning for the JB's.  Kristine Nunes's warm, low voice had some impressive power, but like the rest of her bandmates, she didn't feel the need to show off her chops too much.  It took the crowd a little while to get on its feet, but the dance floor had filled in pretty well by the end.

Afrosonics closed out the show.  "Rhythm is the key," Dayo Ayodele said at the start of the set, and his band's funk/jazz/reggae-inflected grooves proved him right.  Malleable, hard-driving bass and drums weaved with manic guitar and quirky, dexterous keyboard solos.  The rough, friendly vocals added a nice human touch.  At times, the whole mixture called to mind one of my favorite groups, Sly and the Family Stone.  I don't know if the folks in radio-land caught Ayodele's closing admonition to support local music, but hopefully, they at least caught his opening shout-out to the late, great Nelson Mandela.

You can find info on these acts on Facebook and elsewhere online.

Soft Metals, Psychic Rites and EVILS @ Neurolux (7/30/13)

I'd never seen any of the three acts on this bill before.  That, of course, gave me all the reason I needed to check this show out.  It helped too that the bill featured Psychic Rites, a band that I'd missed at Treefort, and Soft Metals, a Los Angeles-based group that makes my kind of electronic music (i.e. subdued, moody, sexy).

I counted about forty people when I got to Neurolux.  When Soft Metals played, I counted about the same number inside.  Pretty good turnout for a Tuesday.

EVILS, the new project of First Borns' Christopher Smith and Erik Butterworth, opened the show.  With their driving basslines, straight-ahead beat tracks and snarling guitar, they sounded closer to the Sisters of Mercy than to Joy Division (though a couple of slower numbers made me think of "The Eternal" and "Day of the Lords").  This didn't bother me--I've got a soft spot for Floodland and Vision Thing.  But while the music was enjoyable, it somehow felt a little static.  Maybe they'd do well to beef up the bottom end of their sound.  Or maybe they just need to play a few more gigs.

Psychic Rites played next.  Stasis wasn't this group's problem.  Their bouncy, throbbing beats pushed their chiming guitar and layers of synth hooks forward.  Meanwhile, their lead singer spent a good deal of time hopping around the stage.  The only rub was the caterwauling vocals.  While they did have a certain rough charm, they also seemed to throw the music off slightly.  Then again, I felt the same way about Annex Madly at first.  Besides, the lyrics that I caught had a nice off-kilter humor to them.

Soft Metals' set felt a little off.  Not that the music wasn't good; the chant-like tunes, Ian Hicks' bubbling beats and Patricia Hall's cool, siren's-call vocals were plenty enticing.  The swirls and colored shapes on the screen behind the band augmented the music's hypnotic quality.  But in spite of some bobbing and swaying, the crowd's reaction seemed too subdued.  Maybe the music would've worked better at, say, China Blue during Treefort.  Still, the duo received some good cheers and whistles at the end of the set.

You can find info on these groups on Facebook and elsewhere online.  Special thanks to Eric Gilbert and Radio Boise.  If you like what you've read and would like to keep it going, click the yellow "Give" button and donate.

Boise Weekly Review: The Maldives, Star Anna and Jan Summerhays @ Neurolux (7/23/13)

photo by Tyler Carney

When The Maldives played Neurolux last July, lead singer Jason Dodson wore a Neil Young T-shirt. That seemed a bit redundant, given the Seattle band’s folk/country melodies, steady tempos and terse, yowling guitar solos.

Dodson’s shirt read “Mississippi Records” this time around, at Neurolux July 23, but the music still suggested that he and his bandmates have worn out a few copies of Harvest and After the Gold Rush.

In spite of the derivativeness of their material, The Maldives turned in an enjoyable performance. But the two openers, Jan Reed Summerhays and Star Anna, were far more distinctive.

***

For the rest of this review, you can go to Boise Weekly's Cobweb blog.  Special thanks to Tyler Carney for his photos.

Adventure Galley and Blurred Vision @ Neurolux (7/2/13)

As faithful readers know, I don't mind seeing a band I've never heard much about.  Quite the opposite.  And hey, with a name like Adventure Galley, it almost felt like a dare to go see them.

I counted about thirty people when I got to Neurolux.  About forty-five people were there when Adventure Galley played.  A pretty good turnout.

I sat at the bar for a while, wondering why the show hadn't started.  Then I realized that local DJ Vestral was doing his set.  It wasn't too bad at all--your straight-ahead booming, bombastic clubbin' stuff.  I recognized one sample from a TV commercial.  Nobody danced, but that was probably less the music's fault than the unsuitable sunlight and blood alcohol levels.

Blurred Vision's set surprised me.  I haven't cared much for these guys in the past, but they sounded better here than I remembered.  It could have been due to a better mix or better acoustics.  Whatever the reason, I could hear more little layers and rhythmic wrinkles to their simple synthesizer riffs and stomping, steady beats.  Their detached, heavily filtered vocals stood out more as well.  Not that the lyrics seemed particularly important; I did appreciate having my rational mind tickled, however.  The flashing lights, smoke and lasers were nice touches too.  I still prefer Cloud/Splitter and Edmond Dantes, but pretty good nonetheless.

Adventure Galley played next.  At first, their airy synth drones and squiggles seemed a bit like the fluff on the lead singer's pirate hat: cute and fun but not especially crucial.  However, as their material progressed from a blend of surf, disco and New Wave to a more straightforward, Killers-esque dance-rock, they felt more integral.  In any case, their strong beats, snarling guitar, charmingly cheesy keyboards and pleasantly rough vocals got the dance floor to fill in pretty nicely.  If this group comes back, maybe they can get the Dirty Moogs to open.

You can find info on Blurred Vision and Adventure Galley on Facebook and elsewhere online.  Special thanks to Eric Gilbert and Radio Boise.  If you like what you've read and would like to help keep it going, click the yellow "Give" button and donate.  Even $5 would help.

Slam Dunk, Radar Brothers and Ola Podrida @ Neurolux (6/18/13)

I didn't get to see Slam Dunk at Treefort this year; I saw Grandparents instead (but I SHOULD have seen YACHT).  Anyway, this show caught my interest because it gave me a chance to check them out.  It didn't hurt either that I'd never seen Radar Brothers or Ola Podrida before.

I counted about thirty people when I got to Neurolux.  When Slam Dunk played, I counted a little over fifty people watching.  A very good audience for a Tuesday.

Ola Podrida opened the show.  This Austin band made me think of different bands at different points--maybe some R.E.M. or early Built to Spill here, maybe some Sleepy Seeds or Wilco there.  Which, I guess, indicates how much I liked them.  Jangling, misty guitars and smooth, steady rhythms carried David Wingo's breathy tenor along.  The touches of howling distortion helped keep the dreamy tunes from floating off into the ether.  Very cool.

Radar Brothers played next.  There's a thin line between dreamy and sleep-inducing.  With their ambling, stately tempos, their unwavering drones and their light, subdued vocals, this Independence, CA group might have wandered a bit too far on the latter side of that line.  Those drones were still plenty tuneful, however, and their synth buzzes and squiggles added a neat pinch of new wave to their straight-ahead indie-rock.  The lyrics that I caught were intriguing too ("You don't love me, so you don't pay me anymore. / You won't hide me, you won't pay me to clean your floor.").

Slam Dunk closed out the show.  These Victoria, BC guys and gal kept you awake, that's for sure: swinging, muscular drums, honking sax, charmingly caterwauling vocals.  Something about their hodgepodge of punk, surf, doo-wop and who knows what else nagged at me, however.  It wasn't sofistimacated enough to be called postmodern; instead of Derrida-obsessed caffeine junkies, this group called to mind bright adolescents who'd had too much sugar or gone off their ADHD meds.  Which, I guess, is just a pretentious way of saying that their music felt a bit too scattered and miscellaneous.  Still, their high energy and good cheer were impossible to dislike.  Call them Scarf with better chops and better tunes, maybe.

In any case, the rest of the audience didn't seem to share my quibbles.  It only took two songs to get people moving, and the dance floor stayed bubbling for the rest of the set.  When Slam Dunk started setting down their instruments, the calls for an encore were so loud that they didn't even bother with the ritual of stepping offstage, waiting and then coming back up.

You can find info on these acts on Facebook and elsewhere online.  Special thanks to Eric Gilbert and Radio Boise.  If you like what you've read and would like to help keep it going, click the yellow "Give" button and donate whatever you can.  Even $5 could go a long way.

Tango Alpha Tango, Sun Blood Stories and Modesto @ Neurolux (6/11/13)

I saw Tango Alpha Tango at Tom Grainey's last year.  I'd started a blog only six days prior and didn't have a clear conception for it.  As I listened to them and another Portland band, Violet Isle, a light bulb went off over my head.  "Hey," I thought, "why don't I write about these guys?"  The rest is history.

So when I saw that Tango Alpha Tango would be returning to Boise, I didn't care that I'd seen all of the acts on the bill before.  I immediately gave the show a spot on the calendar.

I counted over thirty people when I got to Neurolux.  When Tango Alpha Tango played, there were about fifty, thirty of whom stayed inside.  Not bad.

Modesto opened the show with their best performance yet (that I've seen, anyway).  Their groove struck just the right balance of tight and loose.  Their shifts in dynamics and tempo felt smoother, which rendered their sharp arrangements even more impressive.  And while I could complain that their lyrics still felt a little too generic, songwriting in and of itself seemed a bit beside the point.  Instead, the songs served more as excuses for the thunderous riffs, yowling solos, liquid basslines and sly, slippery drumming to weave with and bounce off each other.  For now, that's enough: more than any band I've heard lately, these guys conveyed the pure joy of making music as a group.

Sun Blood Stories' set proved a bit disconcerting.  Not that they sounded bad; their scorching wah-wah guitar, screeching sax and lumbering, funky grooves sounded as sexy and menacing as ever.  It was just strange to see so few people watching them.  Eh, whatever; there were still a handful of folks getting down, and they got some good applause at the end.  This set featured some pounding, hypnotic new material that should go over well with larger audiences.

Tango Alpha Tango closed out the night and sounded even better than I remembered.  While Nathan Trueb's protean soloing called to mind Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan once again, his vocals sounded fuller, deeper and defter.  He found strong support in Mirabai Carter-Trueb's unassumingly fluid bass, Aaron Trueb's spooky keyboard and their new drummer's subtle, steady work.  They handled jazzy swing, roiling funk, Zeppelin stomp, country-blues bounce and Crazy Horse chug with equal assurance.  Nathan Trueb promised that they'd come back again.  Judging from the dancing and cheering, I doubt that the crowd will mind.  I sure won't.

You can find info on these acts on Facebook and elsewhere online.  Special thanks to Eric Gilbert and Radio Boise.  If you like what you've read and would like to help keep it going, click the yellow "Give" button and donate whatever you can.  Even $5 would help.

Junior Rocket Scientist, Ugly Hussy and Heart Hunter @ Neurolux (6/4/13)

Originally, I'd considered passing on this show.  No offense meant to Junior Rocket Scientist; I'd just written about them a few times already and had a bunch of work to do.  When I heard that this would be Joey Jeter's last gig before he moved to San Francisco, however, I decided that I should check this out.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one.  I counted about twenty-five people when I got down to Neurolux.  When Junior Rocket Scientist played, there were almost ninety.  A big chunk of that number opted to hang out on the patio, but that still left fifty people watching the band.

Heart Hunter, a new local act, opened the show.  She titled one song "Lullaby," but between her sweet murmur, her church-like organ and her pretty, hymn-like tunes, the name would've fit most any of them.  Her simple, suggestive lyrics had some bite, however ("You're breaking my heart... You're shaking my belief in myself.").  Also, I can't think of many local artists who could bust out a George Gershwin cover and not come off as unbearably priggish (played a pretty good solo on that one too).  A little raw--she didn't quite sing into the mic while playing a number on accordion--but still promising.

Ugly Hussy played next.  I've always liked this guy's work, but this was something else.  This set featured mainly new numbers (they were new to me, anyway) and a more confident, aggressive sound--harsher noises, a more intricate layering of licks and riffs.  Even the numbers I recognized sounded darker and heavier than I remembered.  There were times where, if I'd closed my eyes, I could've almost sworn that I was listening to Red Hands Black Feet.  Very well done.

Junior Rocket Scientist closed out the night.  It's a shame that Joey Jeter won't be around to follow up on this gig, but at least he got to go out on a high note.  Their angular grooves sounded more limber, their vocals more confident and their guitar noise fiercer than I've ever heard them.  These rendered their tart melodies even more agreeable.  The crowd gave this performance some suitably loud applause.  Here's hoping that this group can find a good replacement or that Jeter comes back to visit regularly.

You can find info on Ugly Hussy and Junior Rocket Scientist on Facebook and elsewhere online.  If you like what you've read and would like to help keep it going, click the yellow "Give" button and donate whatever you can.  Even $5 would help.

Sera Cahoone, Stoneseed and Cassie Lewis (the Foxxtones) @ Neurolux (5/28/13)

I like Sera Cahoone so much that I gave a copy of her album Deer Creek Canyon to my dad as a present.  Seeing as how my dad taught me a lot about music and writing (indeed, this blog probably wouldn't exist if it weren't for him), I can think of no higher compliment.  Her show at the VaC back in November was one of my favorites of last year, so when I saw that she'd be coming back, I immediately marked the concert down on my calendar.

I counted about twenty people when I got down to Neurolux, including Sera Cahoone and her pedal steel player.  When she played, I counted around forty-five.  A solid turnout.

Cassie Lewis from the new local duo the Foxxtones opened the show.  Her partner, Taylor Rushing, didn't make it to the gig for reasons unknown.  With a voice like hers, however, she didn't need much accompaniment.  Lewis's rich, blues-mama vocals were so strong and massive that she drowned out the handful of folks chatting behind me.  It was thoughtful of her to step a foot back from the mics when she really started belting; if she hadn't, she might have blown out someone's eardrums.  Thanks to all of this firepower, Lewis's honky-tonk-steeped originals sounded right at home next to her covers of "Blue Moon of Kentucky" and "Jolene."

Stoneseed played next with a new bassist.  Their lived-in blues/folk tunes and smooth, politely funky grooves proved just as enjoyable here as they did at the Tater Famine show back in January.  Ty Clayton's gritty baritone laid on the drawl a little thick at times, but he had brains enough not to rely on it too much.  It didn't hurt that he had Lindsey Hunt Terrell's coolly sultry vocals and sweet, yawning violin backing him up.  Their lyrics about whiskey, dark days, heading down the road and the like had a touch of corn in them, but their music was both slick enough and earthy enough to make it feel like part of a balanced diet.

Before she played, Sera Cahoone received a gushing introduction from Radio Boise DJ Wendy Fox.  I don't fault her for it: as both I and Neurolux regular/Merle Haggard devotee Greg Wiggins said afterwards, this was country music as it should be.  Her lyrics' occasional eschewal of rhyme only enhanced their air of intimacy and emotional frankness; it was as if she didn't have the time or the patience to gussy up what she felt.  Her simple, evergreen melodies, on the other hand, showed plenty of polish.  Both ends met the middle in Cahoone's singing.  Confident but not preening, sensitive without drowning in her own tears, her clean vocals felt as easy as talking but hit just the right nuance with every note.  Add on her sure sense of rhythm, her chatty, down-to-earth stage presence and Jay Kardong's elegant pedal steel embroidery and you had one of the loveliest performances that I've heard this year.

The rest of the audience seemed to feel the same way: they whooped and cheered wildly throughout.  "You don't have to clap along," Cahoone said at the start of "Nervous Wreck."  Most of the crowd did.

You can find info on these acts on Facebook and elsewhere online.  Special thanks to Eric Gilbert and Radio Boise.  If you like what you've read and would like to help keep it going, click the yellow "Give" button and donate whatever you can.  Even $5 would help.

Black Pus and Aan @ Neurolux (5/14/13)

This show caught my interest when I learned that Black Pus was the solo project of Lightning Bolt's Brian Chippendale.  I'd never heard either act, but Lightning Bolt attracted a good deal of buzz when they played the Shredder last September.  It didn't hurt either that the bill included Portland band Aan, whose set at the Red Room last February I'd enjoyed greatly.

I counted sixteen or so people at Neurolux when I arrived.  When Black Pus played, about twenty people were inside watching.  Not a big crowd, but admittedly, this stuff wasn't for all tastes.

Aan opened the show.  As longtime readers have probably noticed, when a regularly returning out-of-state band returns again, I'm prone to make some crack like, "Why don't they just buy a house here?"  I'll refrain from doing that with this two-time Treefort act, however, because I like them more each time that I see them.  Their glittering, stinging guitar, their smoothly eccentric rhythms and their airy synthesizer all sounded in fine form.  So did Bud Wilson's vocals: his growl, flutter and wail proved equally skillful and enjoyable.  Neurolux's flickering lights and twirling lasers complemented Aan's thorny dreaminess very nicely.  Say, actually, why don't these guys buy a house here?

Black Pus played next.  I got the feeling that things were gonna get interesting when I saw Chippendale set up his drums on the dance floor.  I wasn't wrong.  Some people would undoubtedly have found this guy's mix of buzzing, woofing, whoomping, squeeing noises and manic, unyielding drums too friggin' weird.  Me, I found it as cleansing and invigorating as the (now sadly defunct) Finer Points of Sadism.  It helped immensely that this stuff felt genuinely inventive and experimental; I didn't know what kind of sounds were going to come at me at any given moment.  That spirit carried over into the slightly jazzy feel of Chippendale's drumming as well.  This set featured an impromptu cameo by one half of local experimental group For Fuck's Sake, who hollered into Chippendale's mic-mask during the encore while the man bashed away.

You can find info on these acts on Facebook and elsewhere online.  Special thanks to Eric Gilbert and Radio Boise.  If you like what you've read and would like to help keep it going, click the yellow "Give" button and donate whatever you can.  Even $5 could go a long way.