speed of dark

This was the first time I had been to Club Spaceland, located in the Silver Lake district of metro L.A., officially in Hollywood. What I like about it is that it is small. What I don't like about it is the poor ventilation and the blue lighting back-lit with yellow. That just doesn't make for great photos because the shutter speed on my camera slows way down when there is no white light, resulting in too many blurry pictures. Luckily, with a 2 Gig card in the camera, I never run out of "film," so I just blast away, and a few come out good enough to use.

Hearts of Palm UK

"I Flow" has become one of my favorite songs of 2007, so when I found out that Hearts of Palm UK were opening for the Helio Sequence, I had to go even though Indie Mom was sick. The ladies are regular openers at Spaceland.


Although the band will soon be a foursome with the addition of a cellist/autoharpist and a guitarist, on Tuesday it was just the original duo of Erica Elektra and Ambi-D. Erica, who writes the songs, sang and played keys and guitar with an impish twinkle in her eyes. The serene Ambi-D played a host of other instruments from glockenspiel to guiro.

The other musical parts were prerecorded, a technique also used by headliners the Helio Sequence. The result was smoothly choreographed, cleanly delivered, sweet electronic pop, buoyed by Erica's animated personality. I also liked that they were dressed up. Let the men wear the T-shirts and ripped jeans; I like to see the ladies bringing beauty and class to the rock stage.

"I Flow" and "Portugal" are from their 2007 self-released EP. The other songs will be featured on their first full-length CD, due to be released in April.

Set list:
1. Don't Wanna Say Good-bye
2. Kavorka
3. I Flow
4. So Long
5. Forever
6. Trust
7. Open Letter
8. Portugal



MySpace | Website | Label: They're looking!


Next up was The Builders and the Butchers, and I'll write about that in a separate post.


The Helio Sequence



The Helio Sequence was scheduled to perform at 11, but the sound check seemed to go on and on, then the two band members left the stage for an extended period of time. The little club was packed and hot from being worked up by the previous act. For me, the ambiance was not improved by the irritating grindcore played on the music system. Brandon Summers (guitar, vocals) and Benjamin Weikel (keyboards, drums) finally came on at 11:30.

I am very familiar with the Helio Sequence's new album Keep Your Eyes Ahead, but not with older songs. Leave a comment if you can fill in the blank or make a correction. The Helio Sequence also uses prerecorded layers and what I overheard Summers refer to the sound technician as "effects" to stand in for phantom band members while Summers provides lead on electric guitar and Weikel gets absolutely ecstatic on drums.



The resulting mix is full and rich, and Summers and Weikel are animated and enthusiastic enough to fill the stage, at least a little stage like this one. Although he hardly talks at all, Summers moves all over. There were occasional bursts of feedback that were perhaps intentional because Summers was obviously pleased with the sound.



Summers builds up stacks of rapturous layers, then proceeds to shred through them with the guitar, like an electric knife through a cake. This is similar to what Film School does with a full band onstage, only Greg Bertens' style of shredding is more like a chainsaw or pneumatic drill. One of the most common criticisms of the Helio Sequence's older albums was that the lyrics are difficult to pick out from all the mix. This is not the case with the new songs, which give the vocals a clearer space. Also on the current album, Summers slices more delicately, leaving the layers more intact, which gives the songs a cleaner, more melodic character.

Most of the songs were from the current album, however the final song of the evening was a truly amazing cover of the Beatles song "Tomorrow Never Knows" (from Revolver) that appeared on the Helio Sequence's first album Com Plex (2000). The recorded version is anemic in comparison to what the Helio Sequence does to it live. In short, the Helio Sequence are a very satisfying band in performance, and the live versions surpass the album versions in power and sheer beauty.



Setlist:

1. Can't Say No
2. Don't Look Away (from Love and Distance-2004)
3. The Captive Mind
4. ?
5. Harmonica Song (from Love and Distance)
6. Shed Your Love
7. You Can Come To Me
8. Keep Your Eyes Ahead
9. Lately
10. Hallelujah
11. The Echo-Blomp? (from Young Effectuals-2001)
12. [Square] Bubbles (from Young Effectuals)

Encore:
Everyone Knows Everyone (from Love and Distance)
Tomorrow Never Knows (from Com Plex)

SXSW Info:
Helio Sequence will perform on March 13 for Team Clermont and Under the Radar at the Official SXSW College Party at the Flamingo Cantina from Noon to 6pm and also on March 14 at Bourbon Rocks Patio.



MySpace | Website | Label: Sub Pop