Friday: Free Energy
Perhaps the best-kept secret of this year’s LCL festival, there’s a buzz surrounding Philadelphia rock band Free Energy. Their debut album, Stuck on Nothing was lauded by Rolling Stones and Spin Magazine. They performed recently on the Late Show with David Letterman. But at Left Coast Live, they played to a small, modest crowd. Not a lot of people have caught on to these guys, though that could all change soon.
They draw heavily from bands like Tom Petty, Cheap Trick, and The Cars. It’s straight-forward, hard-driving rock and roll with a slight pop twist—good old fashion ’70s garage rock for kids born in the ’80’s. They have gone to such lengths to look and sound like the ’70s that the drummer even sports a skuzzy overgrown mustache, long curly hair and a ratty tank top. It’s like watching a cultural artifact, yet the band seems totally devoid of irony. They also write great songs, put on an awesome show, and rock pretty damn hard.
Free Energy are so good at sounding old that a classic rock DJ could sneak one of their songs in-between “Stairway to Heaven” and “Wish You Were Here,” and nobody would notice a thing. But the band is not for that generation. Judging by the age of the more enthusiastic members of the audience, Free Energy just may give the kids of 2010 a fresh slice of the 70’s all for themselves. Despite the small crowd, the guys played like they were in front of thousands.
What they’re doing seems a natural step forward from bands like The Strokes and The Vines. They too were pulling heavily from driving 70’s rock, but were dressing it up with the irony and despair of the 90’s. The same is true for bands like The Killers and Interpol, post-punk revivalists full of homage, but playing it through a modern lens. Free Energy have no such filter. That’s what seems fresh about them.
Friday: Tolteca Extra
The colorful flashing lights and the blowup palm trees inside The Miami Beach Club were an odd contrast to the music of Tolteca Extra. Simply put, their music was loud, dark and metal, though they were no typical metal band. They played at The Back Bar in the Miami Beach Club, one of the tucked-away stages at Left Coast Live, but a well worth trek for those that found it.
The guys in the band were younger than a majority of the audience members, a testament to the unsatisfied metal cravings of San Jose’s aging scenesters. Despite not a lot of energy from the band members, the music had massive power. It was loud, thick, and instrumental.
My first thought about these guys was “surf-metal.” But I was wrong, it was really “heavy metal pop.” After a few more songs, I revise my assessment to “slow power prog-rock.” But I scrapped that one, too. I couldn’t tell what they were. Their music gave the appearance of something simple, disguising the subtle complexities of their songs with trance like repetition. The simple chords and heavy distortion spiraled in my head in such a distinct way that all my music analogies went belly up. The driving force behind the band was their drummer. With the guitarists off on the ground, sitting down, or looking to the side, the drummer took center stage and carried the energy of each song, pounding the skins and cymbols in constant syncopation with the thrashing guitar hits.
Really, the best compliment I can pay them is to mention my own selective tastes for all things heavy metal. I’m even choosier with long repetitive instrumental songs. Tolteca Extra’s greatest asset is their lack of pretense. They manage to be strange without going for the obvious. It gets better as the songs build, even though they don’t seem like they’re building anything. Your subconscious is aware of what’s going on, and you find yourself wanting them to just keep on playing as long as they want to, and let them pound each concussive guitar beat into your head. Although, maybe your eardrums wouldn’t mind the occasional break.
Friday: Heavy Mello
One of the more unique bands to play Left Coast Live this year was Heavy Mello, a side project of Felix Archuleta of the Mumlers. Archuleta jangled and plucked his acoustic guitar with awkward fervor, alongside a drummer who played so quietly I can only assume he learned to play drums growing up in one bedroom apartment. The duo played on the outdoor stage next to the California Theater. The patio setting almost disguised how weird the band was, since they were basically a bizarre approximation of an acoustic lounge act, albeit much stranger. If you were stuck inside a sweaty nightclub watching these guys perform, they would stick out like a sore thumb. But out in the cool summer breeze, standing next to a guy in a Tuxedo dispensing cold beverages, after you’ve had your second Martini, you forget that there’s something that doesn’t quite fit about this band.
The life that Archuleta breathed into his acoustic guitar was amazing. At times it sounded like multiple guitars. Other times he made it sound like a horn. He tapped and strummed odd acoustic patterns that resembled formless guitar noodles. But really they were refined parts that he looped and jammed out with the drummer, occasionally slapping some wordless vocal-noises over the top of it. Their songs sounded both unfinished and complete at the same time. If there wasn’t enough social discomfort on stage already, they called up a friend to join them for lead vocals on a couple of songs. His stiff nervous demeanor was heavily contrasted by his smooth and domineering vocals. He could sing and rap with such style and grace that the songs evolved into something that was both awkward and grooving.
I checked out their website later that night. Most of their songs sounded nothing like the live act I had witnessed. This led me to two possible conclusions. Either they put together an entirely distinct live show every time they play, and I caught the eccentric lounge night, or they are really just a weird 4-track band that’s heavy on the experimentation. But for live gigs, they try to rein it in and create a cohesive sound. Either way, Heavy Mello is a great act to see in concert. Don’t forget to bring your cocktail shaker next time they play.
Saturday: Dr. Nurse
The announcer at Left Coast live introduced Dr. Nurse as an experimental band, a description that just doesn’t fit. Creative, yes. Unique, for sure. Well written songs, no doubt about it. They sound like a ’60’s/’70s era psychedelic rock band, but pull away before truly becoming it. Their set was a great big sonic force layered with harmonies and dissonant noises that blended into one single sound, lacking individual contributors. It was heavy on mood, shooting right past your thinking-brain settling comfortably instead next to your abstract mind.
If there is a middle ground between Pink Floyd and Yo La Tengo, Dr. Nurse have found it. The music comes at you from every angle all at once like an expensive home stereo system with state of the art surround sound technology. The vocals are gorgeous. It’s not hook driven, but it dares you to sing along. Their songs were well crafted and performed, but it seemed the byproduct of hungry musicians and not studio pros. It could work perfectly as a soundtrack to a surreal Western, but it would be a shame to waste their music simply as an accompaniment to somebody else’s art.
Even though a pair of headphones would be the best place to listen to Dr. Nurse, it was also quite spectacular in concert, a powerful wall of sound that was totally engulfing. With compressed dynamics and a diverse mixing of instrumentation, the band found a sweet spot and meandered along like an airplane on autopilot, gently landing at the end of each song.
It was little details, like the way the drummer would allow his beats to fade into the background by choosing to play with mallets on some of the songs, that really demonstrated the band’s commitment to creating magnificent musical landscapes. Even the vocals were primarily performed by several band members in unison, rarely with one person taking lead. The music was the sound of a collective blending all of their colors into one, creating a rainbow that made you stop and marvel at its sheer force.
