Little Daylight - Terraplane Sun - Flagship -- 6th + I Synagogue - Mar 25 2014

Flagship - Bah! Another cold and snowy day in DC, in late March yet. Well, that has helped keep the crowd down in the Synagogue tonight. Although there is not a marquee name here tonight, instead it is an interesting package of three up and coming young bands that each have a distinct style, but fit well together. They each do 40-45 minute sets with this six-person strong North Carolina band starting things off. Lush and warm neo-pyschedelic British post-punk styled music is what I hear from them. A bit of Teardrop Explodes/P-Furs sort of thing which can get driving at times into Bunnymen territory. Echo abounds which works well in this building, which will allow plenty of natural echo as well. This was a fine set and I particularly enjoyed the more uptempo songs.

Terraplane Sun - More neo-psyche music here with a touch of popsike, yet there is one major difference. This has American roots all the way and it is no surprise that the band hails from Venice Beach, California as I hear a lot of influence from there. They have a nice Crazy Horse vibe, but much tighter--perhaps closer to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers where I hear some similarity in a couple of the songs. There is a lot of personality here as the band has a strong grasp on their sound with powerful lead vocals and guitar work that breathes life into catchy riffs atop a strong rhythm section. I enjoyed the couple of times the keyboardist brought out a trombone for a welcome brass blast. The songs have the ability to grab you firmly, yet gently and it was nice to see the crowd warm up to the sounds and increase their movement as the set went on. It was their first time in DC and I see no reason to see why they won't be back again.

Little Daylight - This was the band that pushed the power pop button a bit more than their predecessors. They had some of the same rich rocking sounds, but with a little more pace in their rhythm section. They employed female vocals which were Lesley Gore cute, but strong enough to hang with the guitar and keyboards. When the band locked into a pulsating beat, they could generate some real excitement. There was actually quite a bit of movement and dancing here for this and all three bands tonight in a venue where that is not at all natural. That tells me this was a sharp crowd that understood what tonight was about and was not there to be cool with the latest name band. Instead, they saw three talented up and coming bands that had plenty to offer on this otherwise miserable night.


Plug of the Night -- While writing this up, I listened to the second Linda Perhacs album, released a month ago. I was a big fan of the first one, which was released in 1970. Of course, like so many others, I did not discover that gem until I started collecting psychedelic folk records in the 1990s. I was excited to hear of her comeback and helped out in a very small way as a Facebook friend. I have gained so much satisfaction seeing Comus, Caedmon, Vashti Bunyan (and July, Fuschia, and I could go on), and now Linda Perhacs make it back to the music scene decades after people were not smart enough to realize how great they were to begin with. Here's a great piece from NPR. Enjoy the search for great music!