Thee Lolitas - The Frustrations -- Velvet Lounge - Aug 3 2011

Thee Lolitas - Low down, stripped down, and raucous. This duo featured grind it out guitar chords, intense vocals, and frantic drumming. That is all. It is not only post-Ramones, but post-Lazy Cowgirls as well, and just a bit more intense. It does not go over the top, however, as the songs are clear enough. But the riff and power-beat are the kings. A drumstick splintered in half during the first song was about all the symbolism I needed to match the visual with what I heard. The songs are decent, with room for improvement like most bands, but were satisfactory for a good opening set like this one. They sounded a bit like sped-up mid-level Johnny Thunders songs with more of Syl Sylvain guitar style. Nice finish where the drummer took his little used high-hats to the back of the club while someone else from the crowd jumped up on drums. The drummer returned to play the one cymbal and the finished off this fun, energetic set. I always have room for bands like this on a night out in a rock club.

 

The Frustrations - A Detroit trio closes out tonight's festivities. Lots of really good rocking sounds from Detroit, so I am hopeful. The guitarist handles the vocal work with the drummer adding some back-up. This is rather tricky music as the first song is a bit hard to read with its blend of punk, pop and shoegaze amidst an up-tempo beat. The second song really yanked me into their sound as it exploded all over the place with post punk screams, A Jah Wobble-like bass and psychedelic freak-out close. My notes on the third song say 'also twisted and way cool'. They even shared a bit of the sound of a powerhouse Detroit trio known as Paik, although the Frustrations were a bit quirkier and less consistent. No matter, as they still offered all the twists and turns of a good mystery novel without losing the plot. A shame there were only about ten people tonight with four of us (two from the opening band) present to hear the final notes. There are plenty of good things happening in the smaller clubs, people. Let your hair down and lose an hour's sleep for work the next day. You can do it!

Quote of the Night: From the guitarist of the opener... "I was in the wrong key". The drummer just laughed and since the guitarist was singing, he was only screwing himself up or creating an atonal masterpiece.