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Guillermo Sexo are debuting their new bassist tonight, but if I didn't know that I certainly wouldn't be able to tell. He seems completely comfortable when I walk in. I only catch the last few songs, mostly vocal-focused indie rockers with a slightly mathy odd-time break at the end of the last song. (The guitarist's last band, The Nationale Blue, were geniuses of this, and I sometimes wish for a little bit more of it in this band, but it's not really what they're about.)
Shortfilm's songs focus more on guitars. In fact, there are some shouted vocals, and the rhythm section is top-notch (with some very tricky bass lines), but I particularly love the way the two harsh, razor-sharp guitar lines play off each other. Often one or the other guitarist will maintain a high, screaming drone while the other picks a pattern around it. Most of their songs are very fast, jerky and hectic and danceable, but they do have one song with David Lynch pacing that they seem to pull out with particular relish, as if eager to alienate any remaining potential fans. I am not alienated, although I'm a bit put off when they play one more (very short, to be sure) song when the sound guy tells them they're out of time.
Ellipsis wind up getting their set cut a little bit short as a result, and they're celebrating a record release tonight. Three quarters of this band are quite good, and in fact the rhythm section is great: solid, flashy, and incredibly driving. Unfortunately, I really don't like the singer. He's a good, dynamic performer, and the songs are fairly catchy modern rock radio-type material; I'm often reminded of Incubus. But his voice is thin and whiny, and his pitch is problematic. If he weren't such a good frontman, it might be less of a problem, but he really does grab your attention.
Shore Leave have stepped it up to FIVE vocalists! (You've gotta think the sound guys really love them.) For all that singing, their songs are really string songs. Afshin is a multi-instrumentalist who plays keyboards, bass, and sitar; with the addition of a full-time bassist, they now have several dual-bass songs that sound HUGE! The two guitars play beautiful and intricate lines that mesh like watch gears. In fact, the complexity of the guitar lines provides the only problem with tonight's set: the drummer takes a few songs at a breakneck pace. Since the guitar parts were already lightning fast, they get kind of slurred at this tempo.
