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Last night I headed to Emo's anxious to see some Austin bands. There are a few Austin bands I'm looking forward to seeing for the first time, but Saturday those particular bands were not playing. I had seen The Carrots before, and enjoyed their show enough that it was time to see them again.
There were four bands on the bill. Damaged Chromosome was first. They consisted of four guys: two guitar players, a drummer, and a keyboard/drum machine guy. The drum set up was simply made up of a floor tom and a snare with a tambourine on top of it. It was hard to tell what was going on here. I couldn't separate the guitar parts from each other, or the tom from the drum machine. The lead singer guitarist had a capo halfway up the fretboard which seemed a little strange. I also had trouble hearing or understanding the vocals. The lead singer guitarist was oddly placed next to the drummer instead of out in front. I think these young guys just need to work on their confidence a bit more and they'll be much better. I am sure I lacked in that department when I was that age, too. I did appreciate their "woo" falsettos in harmony, that takes some guts.
Diagonals, a five piece band was second. They had a keyboard player (with a Nord Lead 2, of course), two guitars, bass, and drums. The lead guitar was very effectsy and the single note lead guitar parts stood out nicely in their music. Sometimes at the end of songs it would turn into really effectsy echoey guitar noise, though, which I didn't like. That's maybe a good ending for one song, but keep it at that. Their last song had some nice rhythmic breaks in it. Same echoey guitar noise ending though.
The Carrots were next. This show was better than the last time I saw them at Beerland. They've really nailed the 60's girl group genre, as their originals really have that feel without seeming like they're copied from other songs. I give their head songwriter, the keyboard player, a lot of credit. Also I give the rhythm section props for really driving the music along. There are a lot of rhythm changes within the music, say from going from a straight rock beat to a swing beat back to straight rock, which he handled well. I talked to him a bit after the show. The only thing I missed was the clear guitar part which must've been mixed low this time.
Mermaid Blonde was last. I thought it was hokey that the lead singer was wearing a yacht cap until I remembered the name of the band. This band is guitar, bass, drums, and two keyboards. Only three of them were standing. The lady drummer was sitting, obviously, and one of the keyboard players was sitting behind her really small amp with the keyboard on top of the amp, in a black cocktail dress. She had to look up at everyone else. This was hot on several different levels, and it's probably wrong for me to be thinking that way! They probably just can't afford another keyboard stand right now, but I suggest that they keep things the way they are. They had some guy using an overhead projector to make a color fluid background, but it was very faint and didn't work very well. I don't think I noticed it at all until shortly before they stopped using it. The girl drummer was kickin' ass but switched with the bass player for the last couple of songs. The ending was a little interesting too--the lead singer jumped off the stage before the song was over, and ran to the back (to use the restroom presumably). I expected him to come back but after twenty seconds or so the band just stopped playing. It was unexpected and therefore pretty cool.
Throughout the course of the evening I chatted with a father from CA, who was there with his daughter scoping out universities. I guess they were looking for a town with a lot of music going on and they were deciding between here and Seattle. I convinced him to stay at Emo's for The Carrots. I hope they had a good time!
There were four bands on the bill. Damaged Chromosome was first. They consisted of four guys: two guitar players, a drummer, and a keyboard/drum machine guy. The drum set up was simply made up of a floor tom and a snare with a tambourine on top of it. It was hard to tell what was going on here. I couldn't separate the guitar parts from each other, or the tom from the drum machine. The lead singer guitarist had a capo halfway up the fretboard which seemed a little strange. I also had trouble hearing or understanding the vocals. The lead singer guitarist was oddly placed next to the drummer instead of out in front. I think these young guys just need to work on their confidence a bit more and they'll be much better. I am sure I lacked in that department when I was that age, too. I did appreciate their "woo" falsettos in harmony, that takes some guts.
Diagonals, a five piece band was second. They had a keyboard player (with a Nord Lead 2, of course), two guitars, bass, and drums. The lead guitar was very effectsy and the single note lead guitar parts stood out nicely in their music. Sometimes at the end of songs it would turn into really effectsy echoey guitar noise, though, which I didn't like. That's maybe a good ending for one song, but keep it at that. Their last song had some nice rhythmic breaks in it. Same echoey guitar noise ending though.
The Carrots were next. This show was better than the last time I saw them at Beerland. They've really nailed the 60's girl group genre, as their originals really have that feel without seeming like they're copied from other songs. I give their head songwriter, the keyboard player, a lot of credit. Also I give the rhythm section props for really driving the music along. There are a lot of rhythm changes within the music, say from going from a straight rock beat to a swing beat back to straight rock, which he handled well. I talked to him a bit after the show. The only thing I missed was the clear guitar part which must've been mixed low this time.
Mermaid Blonde was last. I thought it was hokey that the lead singer was wearing a yacht cap until I remembered the name of the band. This band is guitar, bass, drums, and two keyboards. Only three of them were standing. The lady drummer was sitting, obviously, and one of the keyboard players was sitting behind her really small amp with the keyboard on top of the amp, in a black cocktail dress. She had to look up at everyone else. This was hot on several different levels, and it's probably wrong for me to be thinking that way! They probably just can't afford another keyboard stand right now, but I suggest that they keep things the way they are. They had some guy using an overhead projector to make a color fluid background, but it was very faint and didn't work very well. I don't think I noticed it at all until shortly before they stopped using it. The girl drummer was kickin' ass but switched with the bass player for the last couple of songs. The ending was a little interesting too--the lead singer jumped off the stage before the song was over, and ran to the back (to use the restroom presumably). I expected him to come back but after twenty seconds or so the band just stopped playing. It was unexpected and therefore pretty cool.
Throughout the course of the evening I chatted with a father from CA, who was there with his daughter scoping out universities. I guess they were looking for a town with a lot of music going on and they were deciding between here and Seattle. I convinced him to stay at Emo's for The Carrots. I hope they had a good time!
Labels: music
posted by PlaysByEar at 7:14 PM
1 Comments:
I think the capo makes the sound "tinny", and the higher up the capo the worse it sounds. Maybe that's the tone they were after? Or they only know 3 chords so they need a capo to change keys...
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