Beacon - A New York duo begins this evening of electronica. One guy is on the electronics table with another on vocals and occasional keyboard stabs. The vocals are rich and luxurious and really make the set come alive. The electronics are the usual beats and such with nice washed out sounds and occasional melodic niceties. There were a frew darker moments which was a good offset from some of the songs that were beginning to roll together a bit much. The closer was a real snappy song that was on the invigorating side. This was a nice little set that was well received by the crowd that was a little slow to make it in tonight.
Michna - This is a one-man instrumental show this time around. Surrounding his table of effects are two 'Rovers' who instead of maintaining security in
The Village, light up in multi-colors and serve as projection screens as well. The lighting is good and the visual look of the set is the real highlight. Musically, it is all fine and well, but it takes quite a bit in this genre to get me excited. I did like that he turned some of the cliched drum machine bits into a breathy sort of beat which was warmer and opened up things musically. So, another solid job here, if not the most compelling argument to pull me further into this genre.
El Ten Eleven - One of the reasons I lift this extremely tired carcass off the couch to go and see this electronica band is that the two guys play a drum kit and either guitar or bass. There plenty of great electronic-dancey sounds as well, but these two guys bang out some crisp beats and melodies live in the moment. There is a good crowd by now as this band has won over a good share of fans with their releases and cross country tours. And this drive and energy is fully apparent in the songs. The nice grinding rock sounds with electronic highs is reminiscent of a fine local act, Imperial China. They even have moments that have a jarring quality to them, although infectious melodies are never far from the mix. I am sure these guys will be back again and with over a hundred people here tonight bringing in even more friends next time, this band will have even bigger and ever vibrant shows.
Quote of the Night: El Ten Eleven had a difficult time getting the guitar turned on right as they took the stage... "Now, let's pretend that cool intro music is still going and we just walked up."
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