Thursday, August 23, 2007

Midnight Movies and Gliss at the Detroit Bar

I was worried about missing Gliss and Midnight Movies as I waded amongst the masses after Blonde Redhead's electrifying set at Sunset Junction. I double timed it from Silverlake down to Costa Mesa just in time to catch a few songs of The Minor Canon.

Minor Canon


The Minor Canon had the stage packed with various instruments and members. I have been meaning to check them out for some time. Paul Larson (Vocals/Guitars) was in Strictly Ballroom and contributed guitars to the Dntel album "Dumb Luck". The Minor Canon is not an electronic outfit though and has an indie orchestral rock vibe. I didn't catch the whole set but was super impressed with their closing Pavement cover of "In The Mouth of a Desert" with bonus points for the call and response vocals. Their album "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" is available on itunes or you can order directly from the band via Paypal.

Gliss



Gliss was up next and played their back alley garage rock tunes with fiery abandon. They opened with "Kissing The Blvd" with Martin Klingman drumming away adding his raspy whisper vocals. David Reiss was all over the stage thrashing his Les Paul in an effort to break a string so he could play his shiny new Gibson 330. Gliss then launched into the catchy "Make Believe" with a searing guitar line grinding against a wobbly keyboard groove. Victoria Cecilia was holding down the low end with her Fender Precision bass when she wasn't drumming away. Their album "Love The Virgins" will be released fairly soon and I recommend you pick it up. They will be touring with the like minded and sounding Raveonettes for an East coast swing.

Midnight Movies



Midnight Movies continue to tighten their live set. It was nice to see them headline their own show at the Detroit Bar. They showcased their psychedelic swirling indie rock. Gena Olivier (Keyboards/Drums/Vocals) triggered some spooky organ tones from her Korg MS2000 for the opening of "Patient Eye". Larry Schemel was doing an outstanding job on his Fender Telecaster using his Electro Harmonix Line Booster to get some smooth overdriven fuzzy tones. Ryan Wood mans the keyboards and will bust out his Fender Jaguar on a couple of tunes. He also as a small blue home made synth generator that he uses to add some textures to the songs. Gena displayed some of her drumming skils during "Should've Known" to give the song a tribal feel. "Strange Design" is one of my favorite Midnight Movies songs as it starts with a catchy bassline augmented with percolating synths that is featured on their self titled debut album. As the night ended, I was glad I would get another dose of Midnight Movies and Blonde Redhead on Sunday in Pomona.

Midnight Movies setlist for the Detroit Bar (8/18/2007)
"Patient Eye"
"Two Years"
"Should've Known"
"1910"
"Strange Design"
"Nights"
"Souvenirs"
"Lion Song"
"Parallel Paramour"

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