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A Sea of celebration for Heliotropes at Glasslands
Brooklyn’s own high-voltage darlings of girl-powered rock called Heliotropes threw a party for the release of their long-awaited first full-length album A Constant Sea last night, surrounded by happy faces, good friends, and a whole-hearted praise from their fans who had seen their steady climb up through the NYC scene to one of the most buzz-worthy bands in the industry. At the former factory spot turned killer venue on Kent Ave in Williamsburg called The Glasslands Gallery, many familiar faces appeared grinning from ear to ear, from members of other bands they had so often played with like Quiet Loudly, Crazy Pills, and pow wow!, to good friends that had supported them all along, to some first timers who had just heard about this amazing all-girl band, all nestled together into the grand rustic open room with spacey light fixtures swarming overhead to enjoy a truly joyous night of music, hugs, and revelry.
FAN-TAN/Bad Cop/Heliotropes album release party, Glasslands Gallery, Brooklyn 6/18/13
Starting off the night was the Brooklyn trio called FAN-TAN, who had also come through the scene with the headliner, and I have also seen them play together a couple times in the past. The echoed vocals and guitar twists and sustained icy wails of Ryan Lee Dunlap, the little lady with the big bad bass Sandee Kooks, and the straight-up power-drummer Michael Sherburn combine to form a dreamy sound that beckons of wistful recollections of classic 80’s teen heartbreak movie soundtracks, not only because of the Cure-like guitar chimes and anthem-like courses, but also because Dunlap’s voice gives off this eerie feeling that you know that melodic inflection like a memory of a dream still burnt into your brain, resembling a Jesus and Mary Chain or My Bloody Valentine vision in tone and texture. Their sound does have that new shoegaze sway or nu gaze veneer but also breaks out with an edgy post punk rawness and an artsy prog rock sustain that often builds gradually through a heavy bass current to epic climaxes. A powerful 10 minute long art rocker graced their latter set, as did their spirited single “1969” from last year, all ending with a perfect cover for Ryan’s ghostly voice in New Order’s “Age Of Consent.” I highly suggest checking out their debut LP, A Strange Game that was just recently released, as it will soon enough become your favorite Summer soundtrack or bitter break-up album too.
Bad Cop was up second and added a very different spicy south flavor to the darker NY’er sounds heard from the other two. Hailing from Nashville, Tennessee, they have a bass-heavy classic rock funk, like a MC5 mixed with mid-60’s soul outfit. Duel guitarists trade loud leads and funky rhythms, lead singer Adam Anyone Moult took all opportunities he could to step out into the edge of the stage or into the audience to get the enthusiasm going, and some in the audience took the bait, while others seemed less into the rather drastic change of sound, but they did manage to keep the energy up throughout. They did have some very catchy pop melodies too, and some touches of a mellower post punk as well. Their EP The Light On is ready to be released on July 23rd and will serve as an interesting listen.
Heliotropes’ lead singer and guitarist Jessica Numsuwankijkul started by thanking everyone, of course, but also saying given the special night, they were prepared to play the longest set they’d ever played, as they were often used to 25 minute long sets, and with the rattle of Amber Myers’ tambourine and a wail from Jessica’s axe they were off, with Nya Abudu laying it all down on the bass, and Cici Harrison tearing through the drums like a gale force wind, this all-girl rock quartet is truly a force of nature, especially as they get into their choice power-rocking tracks. I’ve heard them described as psych-rock recently, and I suppose that’s not far off, as they certainly rock harder than other shoegazed outfits, but Jessica’s singing can also often come off as darkly dry and deeply sorrowful, but with Amber’s barefoot backing harmony and touch of tambourine-fueled bluegrass flavor, the music lifts off and by the end and Jess is often swinging her impressive hair around like a tempest of deep black locks while she wails into a choice axe solo that beckons of their contemporaries like Screaming Females or UME. It’s that mix of dark early heavy metal, 60’s blues rock, and breathless ballads that produce a truly unique mixture, held together with lots of guitar fuzz of course. The 50’s girl-group ballad opener (that had John from Friend Roulette on keyboards for one brief moment) was a little slow for the their often bombastic onstage bursts, but the of godly rocker “Psalms” pounded out ghostly rhythms combined with some choice banshee vocal wails, and the lengthy closing song combo that included "Ribbons" was so earth-shattering and seductive it put all else in it's tidy place. A Constant Sea is really a stunning epic for such a young band, and truly with all the buzz this band has been wrapping in over the last couple years, and it's good that a band finally lives up to the hype. Amber called attention at one point to her Mom standing up front, who had trained in just to see the show, and got unanimous cries from the packed house of “Awesome Mom!’ over and over again. There were so many joyous cheers sent through the air towards the stage that regardless of how they got here, or however they got so many dedicated fan friends, they proved Tuesday night they were here to stay, and they had just gotten started.
A hot and sweaty show overtook the intimate out-of-the way Williamsburg DIY spot called Muchmore’s, whose cheap bar and welcoming opening café that opens to the adjacent dimly lit stage room lined with couches and mural art sprawled across the walls. On the bill was a number of local Brooklyn bands that often appear in extremely muted lighting together, but none of them are formed from the same cookie cutter genre labels, sounds, or looks, and each were certain to bake your face off with amazing rock.
A young musical prodigy from Baltimore by the name of Rob Karpay opened up the night heading a trio called Scherzo, taking time from his studies at Manhattan School of Music to play some whirling keyboards and fuzzed-out vocals that reverbed of multifaceted new wave and punk, like a bizarre combination of 80’s King Crimson and early Devo with a dash of X. He has a number of highly experimental recordings out there, and really seems to have many faces of musical expertise in his freshly talented palate, going from ambient sound layerings to concerto-styled keyboarding to loud boisterous punk howls in the drop of a hat, with the aid of a true force of nature drummer who plays like a complex hurricane of swirling blond hair, like if Janice switched places with Animal from the Muppet Show’s Electric Mayhem band, and a bearded guitarist, who reminded me of a sonically rich Robert Fripp carrying a weight of twisting guitar lines and electrified shrieks that were hard to ignore. Overall, their music easily breaks beyond the academic and into zones that can be quite rich and surprising.
Fan-Tan was one of those bands that I’ve kept meaning to see, but something always inevitably stood in the way, from shows where they didn’t show up, to a date who got to drunk and I had to take home before they came on, to even getting lost on my way to one show and missing entirely. Who would have known how much I was missing?!? The power trio of vocalist and guitarist Ryan Lee Dunlap, bassist Sandee Kooks, and drummer Michael Sherburn were jaw-droppingly amazing. They had their new debut LP A Strange Game on-site for an early listen, and from the sounds of the material on stage, they are truly a band to watch, and of course, listen to, with great zeal. Their sound is somewhat less shoegazy and alt-pop than their local contemporaries, hazy and catchy but more punk and rawness, with howls of guitar noise and powerful time and tempo changes that easily set them apart. Especially impressive was a 10-minute long jam that almost closed their set, which I do believe was called “Begin,” that managed to never stagnate to long, with yowls of harmony and elated with great emotion and swaying melancholy, served with many finely stitched movements of different tempos with high peaks and low valleys that reminisced of progressive rock epics of the 70’s with a more modern contemporary charm. They finished up their set with their first single from a couple years ago, which was far shorter and catchier, called “1989,” which felt like a ray of sunshine bursting into the dark hallows of the barely lit back room. This is a band that should be caught if at all possible, and take it from me, don't regret having missed them.
Eastern Hollows were the band I was there for that night, and they did not disappoint, as they have always delivered an impressive set every time I’ve seen them play, often performing with any number of other highly impressive local bands I’ve gone to see, many of which have formed a tight upcoming scene of their own, even members of some of those bands such as Dead Stars and Heliotropes also showing up to lend support. Packing the stage like extremely flavorful sardines, you had frontman and guitarist Travis deVries, who’s often stoic onstage persona broke into wide smiles many times in the night, Martin Glazier blazed on vocals and guitar, Sean Gibbons gave an additional 3rd layer of shimmering guitar, the hairy bass beast Brian J. Brennan who can always be scene in the audience jamming out to the other bands, and Jeremy Sampson (aka Cheddar J. Magnificent) on drums and who was all but hidden behind the wall of guitars in front of him. The lush shimmering noise produced by this trio of fine axe crafters really generates a haunting blend of timeless jangle-pop, which I find extremely reminiscent of late-80s/early 90’s Manchester shoegaze rock bands like My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, and Ride. They have an album all but ready to drop called Days Ahead, and on early hearings of the material, it reverberates with a pertinent prevalence, producing an undulating brilliance on songs like the one single they’ve released from it called “Summer’s Dead,” with mountains of vocal layering, twisting guitar flickers, and dropping rhythms that both drive and change in complex, progressive ways.
Grand Resort was up next, and although they had an impressively dense sound too, less of their set stuck with me. Many of the songs were from their debut EP Vanguard Dreams, and listening to it now, proves that some did in fact stick with me, but sound much better in a more produced environment. It was another packed stage with Andrés M. Pichardo, who played an impressive array of instruments: from guitar, to bass, to keys and drum machine sounds, not to mention singing the vocals, and Jorge Strofer played a commanding lead guitar with lots of superior solos, with Rony Bonilla on drums and Steve Brown on bass. Overall, they had a sort of a 90’s synthy shoegaze sound that merged with some 80’s new wave luster that did a blender mix of the last three decades of alternative sounds, even as Pichardo's Dominican Republic roots shone through on some of the Caribbean rhythms that intertwined, his appreciation of English jangle pop, C86, and shoegaze scenes tended to haze it up at times, but the combination got rather muddy at points, even though Strofer’s intense solos tended to bust through those more tame labels, and, in the end, you had a seriously complex combination of tastes and tones that are all very cool, and do sometimes converge quite well. I look forward to seeing them again to see if the deep flavor sets in better with a second taste.
Headlining was the local Brooklyn band that brought the night together called The Veda Rays, who are an experimental duo consisting of Jim Stark, with his distinctively mod blond mop hair, black specs, and Warhol flair, who fronts on vocals and guitar, and Jason Gates rapping away in the dark recesses of the stage on drums. Together they produce a distinctive and prominent performance, with a sound that mixes art rock, roots alternative, raw post punk, and fuzzy power pop together very smoothly. The opening cut off their last year’s LP Gamma Rays Galaxy Rays “All Your Pretty Fates” started off dark and gloomy but pushed into the clouds as Stark’s vocal range warbles into ethereal zones and Gates’ drums drive you in ultimate comfort. The songs are short despite heavy jams, but exceptions like “Cop Knock,” from one of their many recent EP releases (Songs From) Die Fast sails through the ears like a tranquil sea of emotion that just makes you glide for what seems like eons and ultimately reminded me of Radiohead vocally, but with a rawer garage-ish production. Named after a disorder that effects the inner ear and thusly the brain’s sense of balance, turned into a ray, you pretty much get a sense of their musical intent, a sonically intense experience with an angelic vocal quality and a reverb that swims through your consciousness and leaves you rather unsteady but impressed. They were certainly worth sticking around late for, and they’re very libel to stick around for quite some time, so catch them before they start headlining larger venues.
