Long Walks on the Beach - Fergus & Geronimo - Archivists -- Velvet Lounge - Aug 17 2010

Archivists - Their first song was an excellent segue from the Roky Erickson & the Aliens song I just finished on my IPOD. It was a good singer/songwriter garage rocker right in that vein. This two-guitar four-piece then went into a rocker that reminded me of Mission of Burma.  Strong angular guitar moves with a thick rhythm line. They shifted seamlessly to indie rock and some garage-Americana rock in the style of Elliott Brood, maybe. If this was 1970 and I was an A&R (Artists and Repertoire--if ever there was a stupid title...) rep, I would probably scold them for not having one definitive sound. But this is 2010 and it is welcomed these days, especially when you keep your identity while doing so. This band did and the crowd was into it. Good set from an up and coming band that I am sure I will be seeing again some day.

Fergus & Gernimo - Another two-guitar four-piece hit the stage with some garage rock of their own. These guys are from Denton, Texas, home of some great garage psyche bands past and present. Their style is sort of a jangly psyche-power pop with some driving songs as well. I heard hooks that linked to the 50s and 60s. Some songs rocked well, but a few kind of flattened out a bit. The vocals weren't as strong as I had hoped although some harmonies did work. Solid set that went over well with a surprisingly large crowd tonight.

Long Walks on the Beach - This drums and guitar duo says that this is their first "venue" show. If that is the case, then they did a nice job of it. They started with a rustic folk song that sounded good, but they dropped that sound to more of an indie-dance pop sound that I would call Caribou-lite. The drums were good, there were computer samples (with the bass sounds a bit too high and fuzzy at times), guitar and vocals from the guitarist. The set did not knock my socks off, but for a start, it was entertaining enough. With continued work, these guys could do just fine.

Quote of the night: From the openers... "You are such an attentive audience. It's so quiet as you hold your breath waiting for me to say something witty. I don't advise that." Yes, I too was holding my breath in shock that there weren't 18 conversations going on around me as you were playing. Talk about going back to 1970...