A huge thanks to Music Box Media for turning me on to The Bright Light Social Hour. I have no idea how these guys didn’t land on my radar because they are a fucking force of nature.

Openers, J.C Brooks and the Uptown Sound, tore it up with a fun, funky, rock-tinged neo-soul.

TBLSH is explosive. A hefty mix of the southern rock and eclectic pop of My Morning Jacket meets the frenetic energy of Morning Teleportation. These four guys are sick – drums, bass, multiple lead vocals, keys (mostly with organ sounds), and guitar are spot-on. The show went from crazy, high energy jams to spacey, tripped out interludes that supported smart, powerful rock n’ roll with a twist of bar room blues. Basically, they are all over the map but The Bright Light Social Hour does it seamlessly and with ruthless authority. Prediction: There may have been 120 people at this show. The next one, sold out.

Jack O'Brien: Bass and Vocals

Curtis Roush: Guitar and Vocals

Joseph Mirasole: Drums

A.J. Vincent: Keys and Vocals

If you go to see Beach House perform with the knowledge that they are not going to melt your face off then you won’t be let down. If you are looking for a somber and ethereal band on record that kicks it into high gear with screeching guitar antics and full band instrumentation in the live setting then you could possibly be bored. Fans of BH seem to understand the former and are calmly, happily engaged by the 3-piece’s mesmerizing, dreamy sound.

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“Silver Soul”

“Myth”

“Irene”

Dream poppers, Beach House, will be bringing their chill, darkly romantic vibes to The Beacham tonight. Hopefully Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand will be more than a duo as they reproduce the lush sounds of Devotion and Teen Dream in concert. This show will be right around one week shy of the debut of their fourth album, Bloom. The quality of their new-ish catalog and the sheer beauty of the songs should make for a great show.

“Myth” from the Upcoming Beach House Release, Bloom:

Lee Fields & The Expressions

Sarah Jaffe was sort of an indie-folk type, but just broke her mold with “Glorified High“ a sticky, muddy, electro-infused dance rock tune: (Embedding is turned off on this track which is stupid – click link above to visit)

British sisters comprise the braintrust of 2:54. “You’re Early” rocks just enough to catch my attention amid the tidal wave of new indie music – strong enough to break through the wall of laptop artists, 2:54 is driven by real guitars and drums … thank god:

2:54 – You’re Early by 2:54 Band

Formed by some of the dudes in Fleet Foxes, Father John Misty is a side project that flexes a little more straight forward rock muscle than the Foxes usual somber folk. Listen to “Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings”:

Father John Misty – Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings by subpop

Another side project, this time from some of the guys in Tame Impala, is Pond. “Elegant Design” embraces the psychedelic trip-rock of Impala more than some of the other tracks on their album and that’s probably why I like it:

Elegant Design by POND

White Rabbits are back with a new album. Now I never loved them nor hated them before, they just kind of existed. Their latest album pushes the Rabbits another step away from their percussive, nearly Latin debut album toward a more fully integrated rock sound. I absolutely adore the first single “Heavy Metal”:

White Rabbits – Heavy Metal by theinsound

Now this motherfucker has soul! Lee Fields & The Expressions have a new album called “Faithful Man” and this is the title track. Like Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Fields takes the roots rock ‘n soul approach with a traditional sound that is neither tired or contrived, but spot-on:

Lee Fields – Faithful Man by Rodion Gusev 1

Jeff the Brotherhood is another 2-person outfit, but instead of fleshing out songs with synth and loops they opt for the layering of crushing organic rock guitar. “Hey Friend” lays thick guitar tracks on top of a drum kit for a more traditional White Stripes meets 70’s guitar rock feel:

Mellow Out by Jeff The Brotherhood

Like Lee Fields, Nick Curran and the Lowlifes embrace tradition. Curran evokes early Sun Records Elvis or Gene Vincent with a retro garage rock blast that is so authentic you would never know it came out last year. Check out “Rocker”:

Rocker (Nick Curran & the Lowlifes) by aphasiac00

The Bloody Jug Band had their CD release party for Coffin Up Blood. So just as our economy is showing false signs of recovery and the US dollar is on the precipice of disaster, a 20s era jug band is just what we need:

Grave Return bitch slapped the Peacock Room with their ear-splitting straightforward punk:

The songs are rooted in bluegrass tradition, delivered with rock attitude, and smeared with ghoulish themes. They do to bluegrass what Tiger Lillies do to cabaret: make it dark and visceral. The first track, “Graverobber Blues” stomps out of the gate with the usual bluegrass toolkit: guitar, mandolin, harmonica, washboard, and even a washtub bass, but the thudding backbeat and driving rhythm guitar add a modern rock dimension. The scene imparted is less about tracing her little footsteps in the snow and more about following a trail of blood through the swamp to a pile of corpses.

“Chained to the Bottom” is bolstered by the powerful backing vocals of Stormy Jean – one of the stronger contributors to this 7-piece band. Producer, Justin Beckler – one time member of Thomas Wynn & The Believers and producer for Matt Butcher and The Lonesome City Travelers to name a few, does an incredible job blending the large band together into a cohesive unit with a unique sound. Cragmire Peace’s throaty growl is counterbalanced by Jean’s classic, yet ghostly country croon and the incredibly adept bluegrass band is mixed together to create a very new sound. If musicianship is being credited, Bloody Rick Lane’s freight train harmonica is worth the price of admission alone. This dude blows harp and singlehandedly pushes this outfit into the realm of heavy hitters.

“Boy Named Lucy,” is something of a Grimm’s Fairytale adaptation of “Boy Named Sue” and is something you would expect from a band like this, but other tunes such as “Reaper Madness” and “The Pain” highlight Bloody’s talent and Beckler’s spot-on production. These songs push out of a niche genre and have a nearly cross-over pop quality. These guys are doing something cool here – from cartoonish horror to killer country – Coffin Up Blood demonstrates what BJB has to offer.

Reaper Madness by The Bloody Jug Band

The Bloody Jug Band are having their CD Release Party at Will’s Pub on Saturday, March 31^st at 9:00 pm. Check them out and pick up a fresh copy of Coffin Up Blood.

The Bloody Jug Band Official Website

Bloody Jug Band on Facebook

Written for Tampa’s Premiere Music Blog, Suburban Apologist @SubApologist

photo by Michael Chavarria

Laptop rock can go a few ways in the indie world: hot chick (Phantogram), add howling guitars (Sleigh Bells), rock it out with a full band (Caribou), or add a single multi-instrumentalist for depth (Active Child). I prefer Caribou’s style, but both Youth Lagoon and the opening act, Dana Buoy, chose the latter.

Dana Buoy served as a worthy counterpart and opening band. His electro pop that swayed from indie rock leanings to all out dance music complimented Youth Lagoon in sound and style.

Youth Lagoon is able to achieve an epic and expansive sound with such sparse instrumentation that I cannot help to wonder what Trevor Powers could achieve if he were backed by a well-arranged 4 or 5 piece band. It could be monumental. It was still nice to see YT recreate that somber, slow-building ambiance that is captured on The Year of Hibernation. He’s found a tone that strikes a primal human emotional chord making Powers seem older than his years. A large crowd of kids hung on every word as the duo deftly moved through album highlights like “Afternoon,” “Cannons,” “Montana,” and the latest release, “July.” Trevor’s voice showed signs of stress and hoarseness – possibly from the tour – but it added a little gristle to his charming oompa-loompa style falsetto. A sampler or synth shit the bed during the closer, “July,” and stole the thunderclap drum beat from the climax but a howling Powers pounding on the keys and an enthusiastic clapping audience filled in the gaps nicely. This was a really good show – intimate and well paced – for a first time out and only one album’s worth of material. The concert proved YT’s songs in front of an audience further laying the groundwork for what could be an interesting musical career.

Originally written for Tampa’s Music Blog, Suburban Apologist

This is the second video directed by Tyler T. Williams who seems to have a knack for underscoring Powers’ uncanny ability to build a slow song into an epic crescendo out of seemingly nothing.

Youth Lagoon – July from Tyler T Williams on Vimeo.

Youth Lagoon is playing at The Social tonight

They can be dismissed as self-indulgent new cock-rock neo-cock rock, but who cares? The world needs it right now. Kasabian’s musicianship is spot-on for what they do and their songs are polished and anthemic, delivered with the slightly subdued cocky swagger the Brits perfected. Unlike Oasis, Kasabian can back up their cheekiness with a longer list of worthy recordings AND they actually finish their shows. Kasabian might not have glowing 5-star albums, but they do have enough good tunes on each record to put on a hell of a show.

Of Montreal took control over the stage just after 11 PM. Early parts of the performance traded some of the theatrical antics for movie screens and psychedelic projection gimps. These guys, clad in spandex gimp suits, used sheets, umbrellas, and their bodies as projection screens adding to the trippy pop carnival that is of Montreal. Claire Boucher aka Grimes (who is incredibly cute in person btw) was in attendance at the show and going apeshit for Kevin Barnes and company. She was with a clan of French Canadian counterparts who were easy to identify because of the seamless blend of pushy, obnoxious, and smelly only French Canadians can attain. I kid. I kid because I love. I wonder if the know of Montreal isn’t really of Montreal?

They played nearly all of their new album, Paralytic Stalks, and ended the first set with a monstrous “The Past is a Grotesque Animal.” Montreal ended the show with another epic 10 minute-plus Skeletal Lamping medley that slid into “Gronlandic Edit.” As a casual fan I’m still caught up in Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? but Barnes has an impressive catalog of music to draw from and is not afraid to sissy smack you upside the head with it.