Futurebirds - Avers -- Black Cat - May 31 2014

Avers - This trippy Richmond collective blows through my expected guitar ratio with four guitars starting out with the rock rhythm section. Although in the first song, one of the guitarists spends more time on keyboards. They pass my personal test by playing different passages and working well together as the band cooks up a powerful psychedelic stew that is not too heavy but hearty and full of spice. I like that they use (at least) three different lead vocalists and harmonize in different ways. That and few slower cuts keep everything fresh and original. I am reminded of Black Mountain and also the Black Angels at times when they really cook, although the Swedish collective Spacious Mind also comes to... er, mind. Just about every time Richmond sends a band up our way, I end up quite impressed and this was no exception. Avers can easily hold their own at Psychefest or with a variety of psychedelic bands from the extreme improv jammers to the more pop song oriented types. As a bonus, it was nice to get more than a 50 minute set from them, and it was as solid at the end as it was in the beginning.

Futurebirds - Although this band hails from Athens, Georgia, I am hearing the best sort of California light jamming psychedelia coming out of the PA. They have a confidence and control of the tempo that makes their interesting material work all the better. So it is not a surprise that they have nearly filled the big room tonight. What is surprising is how many people here are self absorbed in their own little worlds and treat the live music like a background to their conversation. Oh well, at least they are supporting live music even as they get far less out of it than they would if they focused on the many strengths of this band. Yes, they can go off into jamming Neil Young sort of songs, but like Neil, there are really good songs here to latch onto. And their vocals and song structures are beyond a simple comparison, as they carve out their own turf in this spacey landscape. Definitely a band to follow.

And the next entry form "The Harshest Musician-on-Musician Insults in History" by Tom Hawking is:    28. David Lee Roth on Elvis Costello
“Music journalists like Elvis Costello because music journalists look like Elvis Costello.”