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Tonight is Aloud's EP release party at the Plan. Opening up are Scuba. I find their overall sound very compelling. It keeps reminding me of Green Magnet School a little bit, with the crisp, melodic bass punching through the wash of reverb and distortion laid down by the guitarist. The singing is the weak point, with a fair amount of sloppy wandering around off-key, but I like the guitar enough to pretty much offset that. The other weird thing about their songs is that most of them lack recognizable endings. This isn't an inherently bad thing--I'm not one to insist on straightforward song structure from every band--it just means that they get less enthusiastic applause than they deserve, because no one is sure when it's time to start clapping.
Aloud's vocals are their greatest strength. Two top-notch singers, a guy with a strong, pure tone and a sexy growl and a woman with a deep, rich alto who can wail and scream and really rip it up, they also harmonize beautifully, and they seem to effortlessly adjust their volume to let whoever's singing lead at the moment stay out front. With their fused guitar leads and clowning banter, they threaten to turn it into the Jen and Henry Show, but in fact the rhythm section is really good, too, with solid bass and fast, flashy drumming, heavy on excellent tom-tom fills. The songs themselves are upbeat rockers, classically plain and simple. An instant favorite is a wild roadhouse blues with a chorus that begins, "I believe in Rock and Roll." There's also a Beatles cover, to take full advantage of the gorgeous harmony singing that they have available to them, and the obligatory set-closing rave-up, which ends with Henry on his back on the floor in the audience.
