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I just love Aloud. Good, basic rock with powerful drive, achingly gorgeous melodies, and seriously first-rate singing. Tonight the vocals are a bit low, so I have some trouble hearing Henry at times, but Jen can power through any mix. (To be fair, so can Henry under normal circumstances, but I later learned he's sick tonight.) The rhythm section are the best I've seen them, and we get a couple of newer songs, which sound good.
Tonight's show is a benefit for Kitty Angels, so it's many bands and short sets. (I've already missed two at 9:30.) Rosie Huntress is next, doing the rockin' pop chanteuse thing that she does so well. Her songs expertly balance bright, sunny melodies with murkier, minor-key sections, and she's a hell of a singer. I wonder why she never plays keyboard in this band, as she did in Flexie. Rosie's singing is the centerpiece in this configuration, so it sort of dominates my experience of the band, but there's some nice harmony vocals from the lead guitar player on one song, and I think he should do more.
Next are The Charms, with a set comprising mostly new material. Like all their songs, they're short, raucous nuggets of raunchy sugar-pop, blessed with a kind of instant familiarity. If I miss hearing some old favorites, it's great to hear that the hits just keep on comin'. Joe has amp issues and we lost the guitar completely for a while, but the keyboard is able to carry the song surprisingly well, and he comes back in precisely in time for his solo. It's a great Rock Moment.
The Garagedogs are... something. (In a "Well, isn't that something!" sense.) One of their singer/guitarists is fetching in a little red dress with black boa ensemble, and he even seems to have shaved his legs for the occasion. But the heavy, smeared makeup and surly, trashed demeanor sort of offset the effect. This is a Wrecked Woman. The other singer/guitarist is so plastered that I make out about one word in four when he speaks between songs. The rhythm section sort of plods along basically behind them. The songs are simplistic little punk screamers, played pretty sloppily. Beyond visual appeal, there's really nothing here for me. At the end of the set, which I hear is their last, girlfriend smashes her guitar on the edge of the stage and stalks off while the rest of the band grinds to a halt.
Caged Heat make a good answer to that: no big onstage antics, just serious low-key virtuosity. They're a raw, bluesy four-piece, and all four of them are great without projecting a lot of rock-star attitude. Fortunately, the mics are mixed will for this set; Jill's voice and her harmonica can get lost sometimes, but tonight they come through clearly, and it would be a shame to miss those fierce harmonica solos.
Fluttr are next, and they pull people right up to the stage. Their delightfully bizarre, swirling prog-goth sound (One of the other musicians playing tonight uses the phrase "Yoga Metal.") is an odd fit with the rest of the bill, and there's not a whole lot of overlap between the people crowded around now and those who were paying attention to the other bands. The only other time I saw them, their drummer had some trouble, so I'm pleased to note that he's absolutely perfect tonight, whether on the trippy/mathy parts or the more straightforward rockers. The second most noticeable thing about this band (after their great, complicated music) is how lively they are onstage, and how they all seem to love performing. It makes for a great show.
The Modifiers are last, and suffer a bit from an audience depleted by band fatigue. I come into it kind of hoping they'll suck, so I can go home and go the fuck to bed. Alas, they're really good. A straight-up, tuneful indie-rock three-piece, they just play good songs well. They all sing, 'though the bassist only a tiny bit. But the guitarist and drummer both have good voices, and the drummer does a lot of unison backup and call-and-response stuff. I'm really tired by this point, so I don't retain a lot of their stuff, but it sounds good and I hope to see them again.
