Debuts, Jams, and the Spirit of Giving

Refugees all over the world need our support, and the International Events Association hopes to provide! This group brought us a fund-raising night of tunes last Tuesday night to help satisfy this need.

Matt Daniel of the awesome band Leading Edge took the stage first to present his solo act. He's quite the talented fellow, I must say! He served up some nice, original songs on the keyboard and guitar and even gave us a musical homage to John Lennon.

Moments later, it was time for the official downtown debut of the band once called Neptica. Although (as I explained in my birthday party entry) they are now introducing themselves as Atlas, everyone I've talked to agrees that the Ha's Neptica Atlas sounds like a rockin' name. Hint, hint. :) Regardless, their songs were wonderful as usual. Jeff was particularly amazing on the flute and sitar. Wow, that guy can play! And Sarah's cello playing really completes their songs. She brings a finished quality to their sound which makes their tunes quite amazing to listen to. Singer Adriana was feeling a bit sick, but man, she's great. Even with her voice not up to her usual standards, she managed to sound absolutely beautiful, only a bit quieter than usual. Lovely music, indeed.

Another name-changing band, Bigfoot, stepped onstage next. Last spring, I raved about a new band called Cyrnaca that rocked the Myers Quad. Well, it seems that this band has gained a new member or so as well as a brand new name. Their sound, too, has changed to become a bit more danceable though they still maintain their ground-vibrating rock style. Best of all, the girl in the band played her violin as if it were a guitar. In all of my adventures through the Athens music scene, I've never seen anything like it! Weirdly enough, though, they were the third band I've seen in a month that played a cover of the Ghostbusters theme. Is this a new band favorite or something? I've truly enjoyed all of the awesome differences in each incarnation of this tune that I've heard so far this year, but honestly, if one more band plays it any time soon, I may have to ever-so-painfully remove my ears. One can indeed have too much of a good thing.

Then the final band emerged from amidst the crowd dancing wildly to Bigfoot's set and took their enthusiastic energy to the stage. Calling themselves CocoRico, they brought a refreshing taste of pop to the mix. Their sound was very finished, very impressive, and the singer's and keyboardist's unexpected series of hilarious risque dance moves was just plain unforgettable. They finished out their set with about 15 minutes of straight jamming with guest guitarist Parks Miller. Well, that was kind of unexpected. They're definitely a rockin' band though.

Good show. What a cool way to help those in need.

The Man in Dreads Speaks the Truth

Pholksinger Josh on the Myers Quad
(The band played a grand total of five instruments at once. Wow!)

The whip cream on top of this musically delightful weekend occurred at HPSC's Night on the Quad right in front of Myers Hall on the UGA campus. We were treated to a banquet of several bands, each uniquely delicious. Excellent!

Having caught only half of Pholksinger Josh's show on the twentieth, I was eager to see him perform again. Luckily, I managed to obtain my free t-shirt and food in just enough time to leap to the front of the audience and claim my spot before he began. I've checked out his songs on MySpace several times, but truly, I think that they need to be experienced live. There's a certain energy and passion that exist in his live show, particularly when he's singing about failed relationships, that draws you into the songs and makes you want to sing along. Also, the combination of his talents and those of his bandmates Andrew and Hannah is inspired. Although the three of them won't be playing together after this, I certainly wish them luck in their future (sure to be plentiful) musical endeavors.

Honestly, it's quite difficult to describe Pholksinger Josh's sound. He calls his genre "gangsta folk", but I feel that the music, at times, definitely has a bit of a hard rock edge as well. I'm generally not a huge fan of folk music, but his sound is so wonderfully unique that to class it in just any one genre would be an insult to his creativity. Most specifically, his songs Imperfection and 18th Summer (April to August) caught my fancy. He truly has a way with the lyrical word!

The bands that followed Pholksinger Josh were certainly worth listening to as well. Jam Manual, a rather loud hard rock group, performed quite an excellent cover of a Muse song. Later, Stone Irvin, a talented lone guitar player, sang an amazing original tune entitled Spiderweb. Then the female vocalist of the freshman band, Quiet Hours, finished off the night by sharing her beautiful voice with all of us.

However, one band that performed in the middle of the show, Cyrnaca, particularly captured my interest. I'll be honest. It's awfully hard for me to be truly impressed by bands that I have no previous knowlege of, but Cyrnaca managed to completely break through my skeptical wall. Their musical style was ground-vibrating hard rock, very intense. I was shocked when they said that they've only been together for six months! They were rather awesome.

Altogether, this weekend gave me an exquisite sampling of some of the more established acts as well as some of the fresher ones that the Ath-town has to offer. Thirteen bands in just three days! All of this joy never ceases to blow my mind. Tuesday night's Venice is Sinking show at Cine at 10 pm certainly has a lot to live up to, but I'm sure it won't disappoint.