Fuxa - Kuschty Rye Ergot - Teething Veils -- Velvet Lounge - Oct 30 2011

Teething Veils - This is a one-man show with vocals and electric guitar. It begins with a moderate tempo that induces a light psychedelic rock feel akin to Richard Buckner. Vocally, it's closer to psyche-folk mast Mark Fry. After a couple wobbles, this music settled nicely. The second cut was almost pure-psyche folk magic in the Mark Fry style once again (perhaps a little tougher). He did an excellent cover of the Ramones "Pet Sematary" and his original songs were easy to get involved with. This was a lovely set that flew by. When I fall into a trance like this, these 32 minutes feel more like 10.


Kuschty Rye Ergot - I am not sure the world needs another review of this band from me, but people do stumble on these reviews for the first time, so I will still do a simple review and remind people that this is a band they should check out some time.  They create an excellent psychedelic sound that can twist and turn within many musical forms from Eastern to Krautrock, and then some. They lined up as the core three-piece that you always see here and in Kohoutek. They had great touch tonight and kept it a bit more on the deep side of things with a touch of garage sneaking in. But as one person summed it up best when he shouted after the set "Thank you for taking me to space."

Fuxa - This is pronounced fuchsia which creates much confusion among those of us that adore a certain early 70s UK album. Instead, this is a duo from Detroit who play synthesizers, keyboards and electronics. It's simple enough, but I found the set extremely effective in the way they moved along a time line. Early on, I was reminded of my parents' instrumental albums which created some of my initial excitement for music. Although Fuxa's sound was soft and clean, there was a disturbing David Lynch mistrust of suburbia underneath. They moved further into the 70s with a cover of Suicide's "Cheree" and had songs that reminded me of both Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream. If I had been in a bad mood, I may have blown this off entirely, but a relaxed listening had my mind moving with every song. Thus, an effective set that turned out a lot better than I had initially thought. But I would like to ask the one member (formerly of Windy & Carl) with a microphone to somehow get the reverb off when you talk to the audience. I understood precious little of what was said and it would have been nice to have your friendly interaction. Frankly, at the Velvet Lounge in front of 20 people, it would have been clearer if you had stepped aside and just talk to us. But when the music flowed, life was good.

Quote of the Night:  From the opener... "It's not Halloween without the Ramones."