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West
Regional Report
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Edited by Sarah Bruner
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Editor's Note: We're always looking for show reviews. There's a lot of great music happening in California, Oregon, Washington, and Nevada. West Region also includes Hawaii and Alaska. If you are interested in contributing a show review for West Region, please email Sarah Bruner for submission guidelines. Don't worry, they're not too complicated. In
This Issue:
Galactic
Afforded the opportunity on January 22nd, I caught my first Galactic
show at one of my most admired venues, the House of Blues in Los
Angeles. This crickety, antique riverbank dwelling provided a
visual ambiance complimenting the Cajun musical performance about
to take the stage. The wall above the stage read "Unity through
Diversity", I perceived it more as "unity through similar drug
experiences", as a sufficient portion of the audience became enchanted
by the effects of ecstasy. The crowd of urban funk burners and
dreaded hippies roared as the quilted curtain separated while
a supernatural blue tint cradled the corners of each wall as invisible
gospel souls swaggered in undetected.
Along
with the distinguishing vocals of Theryl deClouet bursting through
that silver- netted mic on a few selected tunes, Galactic is a
youthful quintet comprised of guitar, bass, drums, keyboards,
and the saxophone. Of my most favored vocal pieces, “Your Love
is such a Thrill”. Lyrics like "Every time we touch . . ." slither
down into a pit of funk, in sink with the swanky path of instrumentation.
Drummer, Stanton Moore, draws in the structure and calenture found
in jazz while racing neck-n-neck with those cooperative antagonistic
funk beats. With his synthesized snare and a fluorescent green
tube dangling from his mouth, Moore squeezes in impermeable fills
while saxophonist, Ben Ellman steams off at those tugboat baritones
in between the metallic saw sounds of Jeff Raines’ guitar. Galactic
presents that twangy molasses Mardi Gras euphony that everyone
talks about along with a build up of a Santanaish and Blues jam
residue. Although Galactic proves to be a talented up and coming
jam band my expectations of this band fell short in comparison
to what I have heard on their albums. Many would agree, the origin
of jam bands stems partially from the structure of jazz, where
in which the head of a song is rehearsed but the remainder is
let to instinctive artistry.
My
general pathos was it lacked the smoldering cauldron of slinky
notes coiling up into a smoky stage light silhouette, sounds present
at my last Medeski, Martin, and Wood engagement. I would explain
Galactic’s music as a compilation of refined jams stacked next
to each other, producing building blocks of sound dependent upon
each other for stability but encompassing separate sets of time
throughout the course of a song. Each building block, comprised
of a series of notes played two to four times then crawling along
to the next stone of resonance. In so many words, "a disillusioned
flow of grooves". I felt as though many jams had some sort of
orchestration to them as though each musician had intended their
extemporization down to the very last note. Perhaps the comfort
of invention comes with experience. Phish and MMW have cultivated
their jams due to their decade of live concert know-how whereas
Galactic is only five years in the making. I’d like to watch the
evolution of this band and see where they are five years from
now. So to Galactic, "All in due time, my friends, all in due
time."
Galactic,
Tight As A Mosquito's Ass!
1/22/00 - House Of Blues, Sunset Strip, CA
A month ago, friends of mine from Tennessee now residing in Santa
Monica turned me on to a band they described as a fun, funky.
Realizing that the band's performance date matched the birth date
of one of them, we decided to journey to the HOB on the Sunset
Strip the next month. As with most new bands I am turned on to,
I did some research both over the net and the purchasing of a
cd. The internet brought me to the website of the band and a few
reviews from past shows. All were impressive and again the words
fun and funky describe the band. The cd titled "Crazyhorse Mongoose,"
is a combination of instrumental funk and several ballads with
R&B overtones. Still there was no description that satisfied my
musical intuition.
The crowd that night was a mixture of head kids and LAs finest.
Its a strange scene at the HOB, its hit or miss with the crowed.
Galactic took the stage at about 10:15pm and busted out with one
of the funkiest grooves I have heard as of late. Straight ahead,
in your face, get down and boogie music.
The set was a combination of Jazz, Funk and R&B, all the right
combinations at all the right times. The crowed at points fell
into a trance type groove and other times moved as if they were
at a hip hop show. That was what made the show so unique. It was
like being at a show with several different bands. The first set
ended at 11:45pm.
After a long, half hour break, the band reappeared on a dark foggy
stage at broke it down with a combination of organ, guitar, saxophone,
harmonica and percussion. Each member had his time and one could
feel the joint (and smell it too) unity of the band. They can
definitely play as a unit. Each part playing on its own, but complimenting
the rest. Truely unbelievable. Galactic rocked until 1:30am, including
the encore. If you do not take the time to see Galactic, you are
robbing yourself of a goodtime with some good peeps and most of
all good music. This guys are mature, playful, innovative and
tight as a mosquito's ass.
The
String Cheese Incident
When I set my course due south for Hollywood, CA on February 4th,
I really had no intentions of writing a review of The String Cheese
Incident's two night stand at the House of Blues in Hollywood.
With the Solstice Warfield dates just around the corner, I thought
I'd leave my muse to save all of her inspiration for that occasion.
However, my muse has definitely got a mind of her own. And, she
can be downright demanding when her mind gets set. A couple of
good tunes and she inspires my mind to wandering and my pen to
scribbling. Hence, some brief thoughts on the Cheese at the Hollywood
bungalow...
It seems that the most logical approach to reviewing a two night
run would be to start with the first set of the first night, right?
It makes sense, it is chronological, it sets up the rest of the
review, and how can anyone argue with starting at the beginning?
Well, as the climax of this run is the second night's encore,
the muse cuts to the chase. After rocking the House of Blues with
the best of the four sets, which included a magical rendition
of Peter Gabriel's Shaking the Tree, the boys disappeared behind
the large patchwork curtain while the lights brightened the room.
Normally, when the lights go on, you can count on the night being
over. But, a stubborn crowd refused to believe that the night
would end without an encore. And, they proceeded to roar a noisy
demand that the quintet step out for one more.
On this night, however, the curtains were closed for good. As
the crowd roared its desire for another serving, the boys made
their way through the packed space in front of the stage and settled
into a spot just off the dance floor for a truly special moment.
Unplugged, and surrounded by a mass of grinning faces, an acoustic
session of improvisation ensued. Literally joining the audience,
the impromptu jam hushed and surprised the crowd. In a matter
of seconds, the String Cheese Incident transformed the venue into
a cozy living room. And, they boys eventually took the jam and
the crowd onto Sunset Boulevard for just a little bit more. A
remarkable gift to those in attendance, The String Cheese Incident
showed that they are a fresh band, who will at any time create
an unforgettable moment.
And, this crowd earned it. As the lights came on (which normally
sends people straight for the doors), they refused to let the
night end. In doing so, the true spirit and meaning of an encore
was reincarnated. The tradition of encores, where the crowd absolutely
DEMANDS just a bit more, can often be anticlimactic. So often,
a set ends, the lights stay down, and the band jumps back on after
a short applause of two minutes, obliges the tradition and packs
up to go home. But on February 5th, an encore in the true spirit
of the tradition took place. So, I'll leave my review at that.
A killer encore, and a priceless moment.
Robert
Walter's 20th Congress - Bend's Best Bet The
show started out, as they all do in Bend, with the doors opening
at 8pm and the crowd showing up after 10. I guess it's just to
make us all jumpy. At any rate...
Around 10pm, a local hip hop duo, called THC, took the stage,
for their debut performance. They've just been signed to Universal
Records and have a miniCD due out on Feb. 22. They played 3 of
the songs off their disc, "Testing Testing", "Who You Try To Be",
and "Gotta Make That Change". Their style was very smooth, with
positive lyrics, and an overall good vibe. One guy reminded me
of Chuck D. I believe they hail from San Diego originally and
will be on tour, in March, with the HipHop Fest 2000(ID and Ontario).
Next up, was what the crowd...who had finally made it in, was
waiting to see. Robert Walter's 20th Congress. Robert Walters
is the former keyboard wizard of the Greyboy Allstars...but he
wants you to quickly forget that, as he had us change the marquees
and take down the fliers that said, "of the Greyboy Allstars".
I don't know the details of their break up, but I'd say that Mr.
Walters is "bitter" possibly - but then again, the merchandising
tables sold Greyboy CDs, so who knows.
The band was young...and very attitudinal, almost disrespectful,
to all of us that had brought them to town. Maybe it was the fact
they've been touring all of January, but they were still rather
"pissy". We throw a nice party, in Bend, and this was still the
case, even though these new musicians seem to take it all for
granted!
The bottom line is these guys can play! Their blend of funky jazz
was both refreshing and powerful, causing rumps to rumble, and
bodies to groove!!! They played 16 songs, 10 in the first set,
and 6 in the second. First set highlights included great renditions
of "Funkitis"(the opener), "Vegetarian Bake Sale", and a "Cisco
Kid" that seemed to weave in and out of the last 3 songs. Very
good indeed.
The second set had the place "ablaze", smelling like Oregon should,
with everyone sweating up the dance floor, and nobody standing
still. It got downright slippery! They played a well received
"Dark Star", that was absolutely fantastic, and the last two songs,
"Twang Thang" and "Blues For USSR", sent us home with a big smile
on our faces! The Quantico VA was sweet too.
After hosting Karl Denson's Tiny Universe, I can say that these
Greyboy alumni are musical forces to be reckoned with. They'll
make you sweat. I'd say that KDTU is a much more mature, class
act...whereas the 20th Congress are just "kids" - but never the
less, check these guys out. You won't be disappointed! And props
to Brian. YOU make the band a pleasure to work with!
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