Kohoutek - Luger - Caves Caverns - PJB -- Velvet Lounge - Mar 12 2011

PJB - The acronym is for Psychedelic Jam Band, although the music seems only slightly psychedelic to me and there is not a whole lot of jamming. But it is a band as there are two members on stage with keyboards. One with a microphone and one with a computer. The guys intensely pore over their instruments, so much so, it is hard to tell when one song ends and another begins, not that that matters a whole bunch as the music is melodic more than ambient. The crowd of about 20 does want to show their support when they sense a break. There are icy vocals throughout which is a nice touch. They sound a bit like Robert Wyatt with a rod up his butt, which is a compliment. Not a bad start tonight for this half hour set except for just one problem. The show began at 10:15 and my stomach is spraying acid throughout my entire digestive system, so I may not be long for this evening. These late starting shows tend to wipe me out with far more regularity these days.

Caves Caverns - It took 45 minutes to set up the second of the four bands, although actually they could have started a little earlier. The smoke machine heavily cranked out its product at 11:23, so I guess the set begins. The four-piece cranks out a nice psychedelic swirl of noise. This is more of a psychedelic jam band. Nice lighting and decent enough on the musically accessibility scale. Still, a bit too loose and obvious at times. They had a bit of sax and extra percussion and just as some variety kicked in, they ended the set after 16 minutes. Hmmmmm... I sense a disproportionate amount of times between sets as opposed to the actual sets. Again. Late start? Four bands?

Luger - From Espana, comes these five guys raring to crank out their psyche-rock set. They have drums, bass, guitar, keyboards, and a percussionist hitting a metal table and floor tom. The bass player sings throughout and along with the solid pulsating rhythms, the music stays in a solid rock foundation. It does have a wonderful hard psychedelic feel throughout. My first thought is Flipper on krautrock? Well, I am not so sure about that, but there is a propulsive krautrock style and the music is steady, heavy and even rather playful almost. Hawkwind is another obvious comparison. They do have a nice style beyond the cliches of psychedelic rock. Very cool sounds, the keyboards are powerful, the guitar chords are ground out with passion, and the vocals are good on top of the rock steady percussion. The audience was pulled into their world and that is what you want from a set like this. Now off to SxSW to see if they can carve a little space in Austin.

Kohoutek - Sadly, my health was deteriorating too much to stay for one of my favorite local psychesters. I am sure they did their usual brand of dynamic instrumental psychedelic rock and brought the evening to a satisfactory ending. Next time I will bring my antacids and try to survive the evening. There is always a next time for me with Kohoutek.

Quote of the Night: "Well, I have to say I came here because of the price". A guy in the crowd explaining why he was at the Velvet Lounge when he was in the mood for live music, but was not sure where to go. Nothing wrong with that answer. Although, I some times have issues with this club (I have some issues at every club), how can you beat 4 bands for $8 including one from Europe?