Halloween is already a ridiculous time, and Halloween on 6th Street in Austin is an absolute riot. There's mass hysteria in the streets, as several blocks are roped off and people can roam in their silly costumes at will. When the opportunity to duck off the street and see an entertaining live show was presented to me, I made like Dexter Morgan (my costume for the year) and snuck in without looking back.
The venue this time was The Parish, which I've probably passed a hundred times without actually realizing it. It's incredibly tucked in, but it's right there on the heart of dirty 6th. With the folks in attendance mostly donned in their (much more modest than the outside world) costumes, I knew it would be a fun night to remember.
Song Preservation Society started things off with an all acoustic set. They were the only act of the three that wasn't in their Halloween costumes. They claimed theirs were too inappropriate and they'd have to change into them after the show. I never did find out what they were...
No matter, they did a solid job of starting off the evening. They reminded me a lot of The Byrds, maybe with a hint of Simon and Garfunkel in there too, with vocal harmonies aplenty and a very airy sound. I felt I could end up in a dream montage at any moment.
Caught a Ghost came up next, and having never heard of them at all, I didn't really know what to expect when they arrived in costumes reminiscent of A Nightmare Before Christmas. But they put on a really fantastic live show. With both a male and female vocal seamlessly crooning over and around each other, a saxophonist, drummer and a synth player, they invoked all kinds of emotion from the crowd, namely dancing. This video I'm putting below doesn't really justify their live act at all (seeing as how it's pre-recorded), but I'm definitely digging that 50s/60s funk swing sound. Good stuff.
The headliner of the night, He's My Brother She's My Sister, kept the dance party going. The big highlight with them is their tap dancing drummer, Lauren Brown. It's difficult enough to drum normally (at least for me), so to see her doing tap solos while also keeping the rhythm was really impressive. And while the band's name is a little confusing, since there are five people in there total, they were formed by real-life brother/sister duo Robert and Rachel Kolar. So now it all makes sense. In any case, they do some excellent live work, and I thoroughly enjoyed this entire evening. Check 'em out if you get the chance! And until then, you can stream their new album Nobody Dances In This Town. Until now, because I'm dancing.
No comments:
Post a Comment