More March Madness

The azaleas - both the pinks and the whites - are now almost in full bloom.  Meanwhile, some more catch-up pictures from March Madness.

MIRACLES OF MODERN SCIENCE

Brooklyn's Miracles of Modern Science opened Thursday night's show at The Drunken Unicorn.  The band's name is ironic, as it suggests cutting-edge electronics and synthesizers and they actually play an acoustic, stand-up bass, fiddle, mandolin, and drums.  

The band was the discovery of the week.  Despite their traditional instrumentation, they play very entertaining music in a variety of genres, and had the full attention of the sell-out crowd there to see Youth Lagoon, despite the complete absence of keyboards and guitars.  

DANA BUOY

Oh look.  It's our old friend Dana Buoy, who played drums with Akron/Family in this very same venue back in January.  

I don't know if Mr. Buoy (and it's "Dana," not "Dan" like the retarded poster I made up for the event) pronounces his last name boy or boowie.  My guess is it's boy, which would make the name is a slight play on the traditional Irish ballad Danny Boy.

Mr. Buoy's music is a reasonably similar to the Akron/Family style of rock, but delivered by bass, guitar and electronics only rather than a full band.  He presented his lyrics earnestly and with much gesturing and arm-waving, although I couldn't make out a word of what he was saying in the bass-heavy mix.  In any event, it was a fun, enjoyable set.

YOUTH LAGOON

Boise's Youth Lagoon was Thursday night's headliner.  If there's any doubt that he's from Boise, Trevor Powers, the man behind the brand, has a big outline of the state of Idaho tattooed to his arm.  In fact, he must have been keeping his tattoo artist busy, as he had far more tattoos, including a really cool-looking octopus, inspirational mottoes ("Freedom on my mind"), and dates, than can be seen in a August 2011 photo of him over on Pitchfork.

Youth Lagoon's sound is laid back and reflective, bringing to mind memories of nearly forgotten summers and friends.  But rather than simply meandering, Mr. Powers frequently brings the repeating motifs of his songs to a dramatic climax, as if one were waking up from a deep reverie.  

BLACK GIRLS

Friday night's show at Athens, Georgia's 40-Watt Club also was opened by an ironically named band, as Black Girls are four white men playing music somewhere between garage rock and roadhouse R&B.  They're a perfect opening act, as their barrel-house music gets the attention of everyone in the club (a feat which usually requires a horn section) and keeps them moving to the beat.

DREW GROW AND THE PASTORS WIVES

The middle act, Portland's Drew Grow and the Pastors' Wives, was another major discovery.  I hadn't heard them (or heard of them) before, although Mr. Grow, their front man, apparently has ties to the Athens music scene.  They played a truly terrific set of quirky original songs that are hard to classify, with a sound that ranged from new-wave revival to slightly countrified gospel blues.  

Mr. Grow is an entertaining and charismatic bandleader, and although he was apparently in a pretty serious automobile accident a year or so ago, he seems to have recovered from his injuries just fine.  

Towards the end of their set, Mr. Grow brought on stage the talented singer-songwriter Kelli Schaefer, who apparently just got married to the band's drummer.

THE HEAD AND THE HEART

Friday night's headliners were Seattle's The Head and the Heart, whom we saw last at the Variety Playhouse back last September.  Their popularity has apparently only increased since then, as the capacity crowd (like the previous evening's show at The Drunken Unicorn, this one was also sold out) greeted the band as they took the stage with thunderous applause, and sang the lyrics along with the band on as many songs as they knew from the  first number on.

There's always been a gospel element to The Head and the Heart's sound, but this show felt all the more like a revival due to the audience's enthusiastic adoration.  The applause and cheering after each song was among the loudest I've heard from an audience in a long time.

The band played all the songs that the audience obviously wanted to hear, and introduced a number of new songs as well.  Towards the end of the set, during Feels Like Hallelujah, The Head and the Heart brought Drew Grow's band, Kelli Schaefer, and the members of Black Girls on stage with them for an ecstatic climax.  Despite the number of musicians, the audience's singing still managed to be louder than the music from the stage.

I don't know how anyone could have left Friday night's show feeling anything other than elated.  Outside the 40 Watt, the streets of Athens were filled with smiling young people, which might be the usual for this college town for all I know, but seemed to have that extra something from the joyousness of the evening's music.