De Lux At Amoeba, Thursday April 10th 2014, reviewed
De Lux
De Lux is definitively a great and entertaining band, their music tickles your brain in repeat and there’s no way someone can stay still during their maxy-funky-disco hit ‘Better at Making Time’. Yes, I see this one as a hit, possibly a major one of the summer, or Foster the People should have never existed. Not that they sound like FTP, but De Lux’s infectious rhythms had some similar instantaneous hit potential. The band was doing an in-store show at Amoeba on Thursday night, just before their show at the Echo, the release party celebrating their full-length ‘Voyage’ on Los Angeles label Innovative Leisure (home to Hanni El Khatib, Allah-Las, and Classixx among others).
I had seen them before, opening for another band much more well-known (Cults), but they stole the show, and I connected right away with their multi-influenced music expanding into some super trippy jams, which could probably explain why they named their album ‘Voyage’ – a fancy French journey. With a totally laid back attitude, they built gentle to contagious grooves with layered guitars (and tons of pedals), a moog organ and a smooth rhythm section made of drums and funky bass lines. Of course, The Talking Heads are the first reference that comes to mind, Sean Guerin‘s vocals are very reminiscent of David Byrne’s monochord and unique style, but all this is also so James Murphy in the most LCD Soundsystem sense of the term, that you will end up dancing in the street, in your car,… just listen to ‘Make Space’ or ‘Sometimes your Friends are not’…and you’ll see! Add to this Isaac Franco’s very funky bass à la Nile Rodgers, and you have all the big heads of the music business gathered in the same place,… this is quite impressive for such a young band. And the most surprising part is that De Lux doesn’t even sound retro. Most people have qualified them of post-disco, and although I am not sure what this term exactly means, it kind of gives you the idea, some fresh fantastic dancers that sound totally familiar at the first groove, because lining up with the best in the business?
One guy, who was standing front row with me, was visibly already a huge fan, vinyl in hand, ready to get it signed, and he jumped from joy when he won a ticket for their show at the Echo. Who knows, in a few years De Lux may play at Amoeba again and I already see the long line outside and me stuck 10 CDs rows in the back? It is not so out of sight, it has happened so many times before…
Founders and multi-instrumentalists Sean Guerin and Isaac Franco were on stage three other bandmates, so they were kind of loud, adventurously loud and complex, although extremely laid back, while building some coolness without even trying. Actually these guys are so cool that they don’t even have a Facebook page? They are free spirits, and live, the music seemed to follow the same philosophy, going in many directions, effortlessly and unpretentiously looking for new space, new jams, new grooves and making people dance in the CDs alleys, However, it certainly wasn’t its main goal, remember, the goal was the voyage.
For more pictures of the show, go here.
