Autolux at the Henry Fonda Theater

One of my great expectations for 2009 would be a new Autolux album. Autolux is rapidly approaching the ten show review mark, as I have caught them numerous times since the inception of this site. Greg Edwards (Guitars) from Autolux has a meticulously crafted guitar tone that would leave any guitarist slack jawed.

Wooden Shjips





Wooden Shjips sent the audience adrift with their psychedelic drone drenched tunes. Wooden Shjips drill their riffs into your head with pulverizing repetition. "Loose Lips" from their Subpop release was a fuzzy phased out acid trip of a ride with Ripley Johnson (Guitars/Vocals) leading the way. Nash Whalen (Organ) kept it real with his Farfisa organ and a collection of pedal effects stacked on top at his disposal. They closed out the evening with a floating rendition of "Death's Not Your Friend". The Henry Fonda seemed to be at sixty percent capacity when they closed their set.

Autolux






Autolux conducted a lesson in sonics from start to finish. The haunting notes of "In The Way" filled the densely packed Henry Fonda Theater. A metallic bristled swarm of feedback washed over crowd during "Audience No.2" which is a highly recommended download from their website.

The new material kept coming with the unveiling of "Supertoys" before returning back to familiar territory with the quiet then super loud roar of "Capital Kind of Strain". Eugene Goreshter (Vocals/Bass) was swinging his bass around for the fuzzed out "Here Comes Everybody" backed by the floating vocals of Carla Azar (Drums).

"Headless" cut like a guillotine with Greg's guitar sound morphing into a metallic mangled synthesizer. The distinctive drum shuffle of "Turnstile Blues" elicited a large cheer from the faithful fans with the trio interlocked in its dreamy grove. A firm tension permeated the room with the shuffling "Blanket" and Greg's high octave outbursts.

"Subzero Fun" bled into the trance like looping feedback of "Finder's Fee". Greg threw me for a loop when he exchanged his trademark silver Gibson SG for a Gibson hollowbody for a new tune that would be the lead track from their new album. Greg conjured a storm of dissonance that would make Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth proud.

Eugene asked the crowd if they wanted to hear Carla sing, to which Autolux answered with a cover of Velvet Underground "After Hours". "Plantlife" and "Reappearing" concluded the noisy encore that galvanized my desire to have an Autolux album in my hands before the end of 2009.

Autolux setlist at the Henry Fonda (1/17/09)
"In The Way"
"Audience No.2"
"Supertoys"
"Capital Kind Of Strain"
"Here Comes Everybody"
"Headless Sky"
"Turnstile Blues"
"Science of Imaginary Solutions"
"Blanket"
"Subzero Fun"
"Finder's Fee"
"SYRH"
"After Hours"
"Plantlife"
"Reappearing"