Apparently this was Ann Delisi's 22nd listening party. I didn't realize she has been doing this for nearly two years! It's only my sixth. She also had a guest co-host tonight, Brett Callwood, of the Metro Times. You can read his take on the listening party here.
There was some very interesting descriptions of the bands this week. Ben Howard's song was described by Mr. Callwood as music that would be great in a driving scene of a Hollywood film. Alabama Shakes was described as what you would hear if you "let a hobo loose in a studio." She also played Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. One of the attendees called them "Pink Floyd meets Johnny Cash," while another said she didn't like them because they sounded like "Hare Krishna pop...the airport acoustics made it sound good." I actually felt like there was a lot of Edward Sharpe type music tonight. We also heard The Temper Trap, Young Man, and School of Seven Bells, all of whom I would put in the same genre as Edward Sharpe.
Ann played a new Garbage song that was very different than their original stuff. I thought it had something of a Sublime/ska/reggae feel. She said this song made them seem "desperate for a radio hit," which I'm not sure I agree with, but I do like their old stuff better. My favorite two were Kimbra, who Mr. Callwood called "the most manufactured, pop, generic...", and History of Pan!c. I personally thought Kimbra didn't sound generic at all. I felt like that song kind of popped. It was well-punctuated, which I don't normally hear in pop music. I feel like generic pop is very bland usually. The History of Pan!c reminded me a bit of Lenka and a bit of the Submarines.
We were also treated to a 15-year-old local artist that Ann met at an earlier listening party, whose name was Leah Levine. I personally thought it was a little poppy, but still good. One of the other listeners said she needs to "keep working at it," which I second. I think she has a lot of potential but needs to grow into her own sound. It was excellent for a 15-year-old but doesn't quite stand on its own yet.
Mr. Callwood introduced us to a local death metal band called Writhing. Everyone was a little thrown off by that one. Ann made an executive decision to not play that one on the air, but as Mr. Callwood mentions in his blog, it led to an interesting discussion about the differences between the types of heavy metal music. I may have been the only one there besides our guest host that had an idea of the difference already, but it was still helpful to hear his description of the distinctions. And as much as I appreciate metal, I'd have to agree with Ann that metal probably doesn't belong on her show. Especially not death metal.
Doop and the Inside Outlaws closed out the night. They definitely have something of a distinct sound. When Ann played them I knew who it was, but I still feel like most of what I'd heard by them was very country and not something I'd normally listen to. But I definitely liked them better live. Some of what they played definitely made them harder to pigeonhole into the country genre. They actually played a few songs that reminded me a bit of Marc Cohn ("Walking in Memphis") or the Wallflowers ("One Headlight"). I also appreciated the plug for their guitarist's solo project and the sample we got of his music. Unfortunately, I didn't catch his name.
Doop and the Inside Outlaws performing at the Listening Party
They have a pedal steel guitar
- Ben Howard
- School of Seven Bells
- Alabama Shakes
- Rio and the Rockabilly Revival
- Leah Levine (spelling?)
- The Temper Trap
- Young Man
- Doop and the Inside Outlaws
- Writhing
- Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
- Kimbra
- Garbage
- Jassepy Moses and the Vagytarians
- Heartbreak Dallas and the Unfaithfuls
- Spiritualized
- Justin Jones
- The History of Pan!c
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