Guards was opening for Grouplove at the Bootleg theater on Monday night, but as I arrived early, there was another act playing, one-man-band Alex Walker, whose was making very expressive faces over obsessive guitar loops and repetitive lines. He hardly seemed to touch his guitar at times, and was making ample movements with his arms as if he was slowly swimming in some imaginary water, or rather drowning in his own half-paranoiac musical swirl. He kept saying his music was free to download at lapdanceacademy.com, and the whole thing sounded quite strange, but still creating an unpredictable and intriguing ambiance.
Then Guard, which is a recently formed band, took the stage, and the quintet played in semi-darkness, the room being only lightened by an antic lamp decorated by a stuffed black bird.
With his long straight hair and his tall stature, frontman Richie James Follin rocked his guitar accompanying himself with echoing, bright but seemingly distant vocals, sweet hooks, bouncing and inviting-to-tap-your feet-rhythms, solemn organ, and even soaring sing-along whoa-o-oh’s choruses.
‘Don’t wake the dead’ had this upbeat, happy feeling, with a sweet chaotic punkish rhythm for a while, which ended up in a languished and soothing place.
And there was ‘Crystal truth’, which was sounding clearly like a 60’s pop classic, without even trying to hide it…. A little bit like Devendra Banhart when he wants to sound like the Beatles.
But for other more austere and heavier tunes, the climate was way darker and far less sweet. Well it was a little bit all over the place, but not in a bad way, as this was actually painting an interestingly moody and atmospheric piece of work ,… Follin has even tagged himself his music with ‘alternative-doom-new-wave-power-pop-rock & roll’ on his bandcamp page.A few years ago, I remember seeing him playing in the Willowz, a Californian band which was playing a very energetic, almost punk, garage rock. Last year, he released a solo album, ‘Battle’, which, I read, is sounding quite different, and now, after moving to New-York, he is fronting this new band, and releasing an EP with the contributions of Caroline Polachek of Chairlift, James Richardson of MGMT, the Willowz’ Loren Shane Humphrey and Cults’ Madeline Follin (his sister). It is impressive, but when your step-dad is Paul Kostabi from White Zombie, and that you spend your childhood hanging out with the Ramones and Metallica, you cannot expect something else.
Ok he is prolific, but he is also generous, since you can download the entire seven songs Guards EP for free on bandcamp: http://guards.bandcamp.com/
But for other more austere and heavier tunes, the climate was way darker and far less sweet. Well it was a little bit all over the place, but not in a bad way, as this was actually painting an interestingly moody and atmospheric piece of work ,… Follin has even tagged himself his music with ‘alternative-doom-new-wave-power-pop-rock & roll’ on his bandcamp page.A few years ago, I remember seeing him playing in the Willowz, a Californian band which was playing a very energetic, almost punk, garage rock. Last year, he released a solo album, ‘Battle’, which, I read, is sounding quite different, and now, after moving to New-York, he is fronting this new band, and releasing an EP with the contributions of Caroline Polachek of Chairlift, James Richardson of MGMT, the Willowz’ Loren Shane Humphrey and Cults’ Madeline Follin (his sister). It is impressive, but when your step-dad is Paul Kostabi from White Zombie, and that you spend your childhood hanging out with the Ramones and Metallica, you cannot expect something else.
Ok he is prolific, but he is also generous, since you can download the entire seven songs Guards EP for free on bandcamp: http://guards.bandcamp.com/
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDjCyWNwvx4&fs=1&hl=en_US]