Mood Rings - Fall Seattle -- DC9 - Jul 9 2013

Fall Seattle - This young area quartet brings it on strong with some creative moves that seem to combine shoegaze and indie rock in a pleasing balance. Their second song had a dark riffing pattern that was a gutsy change and reminded me of the Pixies when they were in a bad mood (which was pretty much every day after 1987). Musically this band was solid throughout their set, aside from a few too casual-Sebadoh moments which weren't as fitting as their more assertive work. But their inane stage patter drove me crazy whether it was their attempted Steely Danesque humor or their Cheech and Chong bit involving asparagus and weed. And did they do an 'original' song called 'Summertime'? Can't wait until the next show when they debut 'White Christmas' or 'Satisfaction'. The music was good and the small crowd was nice, but I kind of missed the guy yelling "shut up and play!"

Mood Rings - Yet another Atlanta band as the state of Georgia seems to be overflowing with high quality touring rock bands these days. This band may have a lush dream pop/psyche pop style, but they lay it down nice and thick. They have two or three guitars working with one guy adding full keyboards several times. I particularly liked the rhythm section with the drums quick and offering a more understated version of a mototik beat and the bass player laying down a bold and flowing line. The pillowy vocals floated along with it all as it reminded me a bit of Hush Arbors or lighter MV & EE. They slowed it down at times while emphasizing more psyche-pop moves and almost lost me, but added just enough jagged edges to keep my interest up. There are other bands from California mostly that play this style these days, but Mood Rings has enough personality and core strength to carve out their own space in this world. They have a lot of tools and they have a good handle on how to use them. I suspect that next time through will be even more impressive than this fine set.

Quote of the Night: From the opener... "This next song will be called 'City Nights' and it will be a song."