Ancient Warfare - Glitterlust - Hailey Wojcik -- Velvet Lounge - Aug 14 2015

Hailey Wojcik - Hailey is a guitarist/singer songwriter who has a balanced pop rock style with a raw lo-fi edge. She reminds me of Chrissie Hynde in her London SS days (don't bother looking for material from that era). The songs are not quite as profound early on, but as I stayed with the set, there were some real gems. The closer 'Wise Blood' was a fabulous cut with great melodic shifts and power. Her set was aided with the headliner's drummer (and tourmate) which helped flesh out what would have been an overly thin sound, even with the light backing employed.

Glitterlust - It took me a couple of looks as they set up, but I finally recall seeing this band 16 months back and was surprised I would forget as they are a memorable pair. The guy handles the vocals, electronics and general craziness, while the woman handles the powerful guitar moves. The set is every bit as colorful and crazy as previous, but they really reminded me tonight of how much I miss my friend Gyn Cameron of Dementia Precox. The sound is eerily similar with the vocals and dance oriented electronics coupled with the secret weapon of power guitar chords that occasionally show a bit of intricate flourish. I could close my eyes and hear the 'Huh' era of Dementia, which still sounds fresh the way these two bring it forward. You can't go wrong with these two, they will start your weekend out the right way.

Ancient Warfare - This fascinating foursome comes from Lexington, KY and sounds a lot different than the band I used to know from there, Red Interiors (who remarkably were much more like Glitterlust). This band shifted things to 'the Twilight Zone' as they stated, which was an accurate way to describe their fleshed out psychedelic folk rock sound, full of mystery and devious power. The violin is the magical ingredient adding layers to the usual guitar, bass, and drums. But don't overlook the skills of each player as the percussion is very clever, with busy little bass runs, and deep resonant guitar. There are three part female harmonies that transcend the darkness of the underlying material. They remind me of so many bands in my extensive psyche folk record collection, along with some of the droning psyche bands, but this group forms its own psychic space. Perhaps they are closest to the Trees (Mark 2 with bootleg recordings), but it isn't terribly obvious. This was quite an evening of diverse and rewarding music.

Photo grab of the Night: Two of my favorite bands!.. well, kind of.