Gliss and Moderates at the Viper Room

Indie 103.1 Check One..Two by Mr. Shovel airs on Sunday night from 6-8 pm and features some of the finest upcoming Los Angeles bands. They also put their money where their mouth is and sponsor a Monday night showcase at the Viper Room featuring bands that they play on the show. I was fortunate to catch this most recent Monday night.

Black Kites



Black Kites started the evening with a dreamy keyboard shoegaze collage of sounds. They seem to be second cousins of Mazzy Star, Sea Ray, and Longwave. Evelyn Reyes (Keyboards/Vocals) was working the keys of her Nord Electro and Nord Lead 2x as she provided breathy vocals that meshed nicely with Alan Petherick (Guitars/Vocals) husky vocal delivery. Alan had an intense guitar effect setup in combination with his Vox AC30 to create his spacey sounds. I especially liked his use of the Boss Vibrato pedal. Their Black Kites EP is available on itunes for your downloading pleasure.

Io Echo




IO Echo had a haunting presence the second the curtains were drawn. I couldn't help thinking of a female fronted Bauhaus or shades of Siouxsie and the Banshees. The goth imagery was accompanied by some post punk fast paced rock that is not far from the Horrors and Bloodcat Love who are both top friends on their myspace page. "Addicted" lived up to its name as it featured a fast paced drum beat against some creepy keyboard layers. "I'm On Fire" ended with IO(Vocals) writhing on the floor in time with the feedback. They will be playing with Low vs Diamond at Spaceland on August 27th.

Gliss








Gliss had no problems following up IO Echo as they launched into their swirling hypnotic rock set. "Gimme The Hit" was spectacular as David Reiss (Guitars/Bass/Drums) was punishing his Les Paul and bending the notes until they broke into an explosion of feedback. "Kissing The Boulevard" filled the room with its snake like guitar lines and throbbing bassline. Martin Klingman covered all the bases as he switched between guitar, bass, drums and vocals. Victoria Cecilia contributed nicely handling drums and bass. "Huh..What?" had its pulling guitar lines contrasted with a super huge bass line that you may have heard on a Mastercard commercial. They play the unofficial Sunset Junction afterparty at the Detroit Bar on August 18th.


Moderates




Moderates closed the night with their catchy post punk indie songs. I always like to see bands multiple times to get a better handle of how they sound and gage their live show. The Moderates didn't have their trademark multi colored lights on stage, but made up for it in their performance as they laid down a droney driving set. After a second viewing I see more of a dreamier Burning Airlines and Jets to Brazil influence with amplified spacey textures in their music. They were distributing free copies of their EP "Anthony The Poet" which will quickly transport you away for 20 minutes of your life. They are currently heading back into the studio to record a full length album. Overall, an excellent Monday night of music.