La Luz at Mercury Lounge

A surf rock band without a performance art angle? What is this world coming to? (Huff! Pout!)

La Luz are a Surf rock band from Seattle, but not really. Sure, their surf influences are right up front, with guitar chords drenched in reverb and tremolo which should be instantly familiar to anyone. In fact a few of their songs are instrumental tunes. Yet the vocals and lyrics come from a slightly different era, the era of the girl group. The four ladies of La Luz harmonize brilliantly on melancholy songs of longing and loss which could have come straight out of the 60s. That might make then sound like a drag, but not to worry. Plenty of their songs are peppier dance numbers with faster tempos and hints of Western and Doo Wop influences.

La Luz are not one of those the "how loud can we get" bands like certain modern girl group-influenced acts. They seem to be more interested in getting you to dance. When the New York audience didn't cooperate of their own accord (Shocking! Unprecedented! Not!) they actually got a Soul Train going. By God We Looked Like Fools (especially me) but we did dance...

Posted: 7/15/2013 at 2:22am     Tags: La Luz  Mercury Lounge 

Total Slacker at Mercury Lounge

Total Slacker is often compared to Sonic Youth, possibly because of lead singer Tucker Roundtree's hair, but surely also because of their oblique take on punk rock. I believe they actually started as a standard punk band but then got more creative and wandered into unexplored territory. If you can imagine a band which was inspired by the songwriting of Talking Heads, The Minutemen and Ween but looked to Fugazi and a bunch of grunge bands for their sound then you can get a good sense of what this band is like. Or you can just watch this video because technology.

Posted: 6/5/2013 at 6:42pm     Tags: Mercury Lounge  Total Slacker 

French Films at Mercury Lounge

Now this is the kind of pop band I like. Contrary to what their name might suggest, French Films play songs which are not overlong and pretentious (though they certainly are smokin'). It is as though they edited out the unnecessary solos and repetitions and instead played just the catchy core of the songs which most bands would have played. Everything is either buildup or release so the energy level stays high. That's the right way to do it.

I admit that I only caught the second half of their set but that second half was a blast! These guys aren't afraid to have a little fun on stage, or out there with the audience for that matter. Nice.

Posted: 6/5/2013 at 4:17pm     Tags: French Films  Mercury Lounge 

Las Rosas at Mercury Lounge

Here we have something which is kind of rare in NYC: a garage band who sound like an early rock-n-roll band instead of a punk band. Las Rosas are more doo-wop than punk rock, more Troggs than TSOL. Considering that the lead singer is Jose Boyer of Harlem and The Gondoliers that makes perfect sense.

Las Rosas can and do rock, but they also take the time to express some actual emotion. Some songs are effused with sweetness and longing, others are more funny or at least just fun. This is rock with depth instead of just volume. It's especially nice when a band which has only been playing out for a few months has that kind of depth. It means they actually put some thought into the band instead of just saying "Hey let's be in a band!" They sound much better than the average newbie band too. I for one am going to keep an eye on these guys.

Posted: 5/20/2013 at 8:05pm     Tags: Las Rosas  Mercury Lounge 

The Upper Crust at Mercury Lounge

Between the band name, song titles such as "Come Hither" (about picking up girls) and their outfits I will assume that we can all guess this band's gimmick. Yeah, it's a gimmick, but it's a fun gimmick. The songs are catchy and fun. Even the banter between songs is funny. So hey, why not?

Posted: 3/25/2012 at 2:10pm     Tags: Mercury Lounge  The Upper Crust 

Mark Sultan at Mercury Lounge

Mark Sultan has some voice! He'd better if we wants to sing old-school, doo-wop inspired rock-n-roll without sounding ironic. What really amazes me though is that he manages to play guitar, drums (kick and snare) and tambourine while singing. What Rangers are to regular soldiers, this guy is to musicians.

Posted: 10/17/2010 at 11:09am     Tags: Mark Sultan  Mercury Lounge 

The Girls At Dawn at Mercury Lounge

I cannot say that I'm a fan of the sort of wistful pop The Girls At Dawn play. Once in a while they pull out an uptempo rock-n-roller which I much prefer, but I simply cannot relate to a band which makes even happy songs seem so sad.

Posted: 10/3/2010 at 5:14pm     Tags: Mercury Lounge  The Girls at Dawn