2/24/08 - Red Monroe, MOM, All in a Golden Afternoon

short and sweet, just like my trip to dada...


actually had to be at work on sunday night, but needed to kill some time, so i thot i'd head down to dada for a couple hours to catch some of the last day of the melodica music fest so's i could keep my local music cred intact. plus i wanted to see red monroe.

had two stages goin on - the outside stage was a lotta death metal, grindcore, noise, that kinda shtuff. lotsa black, lotsa hair, lotsa tats. not the usual dada crowd. felt a little out of place wearin my american eagle sweatshirt (and the fingers plugged firmly in my ears didn't help either). i won't pretend to understand that uh, music, so i won't even try and critique what i heard. one band had a dude wearin a giant longhorn-type skull over his head, another dude in stained choir robes with his face painted red. couldn't figure out if it was supposed to be funny or not, but i thot it was ('tho i kept the giggling to a minimum, lest i get skewered by a longhorn).

inside, the acts were closer to the usual dada fare. first band i saw was all in a golden afternoon - one chick, one dude, two guitars, plus lots of electronics. ambient, atmospheric, slightly psychedelic instrumentals with wispy vocals. whipped out an autoharp at one point - don't see that too often. some nice, pleasant tunes.

next up was MOM, who get a ton of press around here, so i was pretty excited to finally hear them. really dug these guys. two man instrumental band - violins, cello, guitar (played with a bow sometimes), plus lots of electronics. some beautiful, enveloping, soothing, multi-layered tunes. reminded me of lemon jelly sometimes (check 'em out, if you like MOM). for a brief second, i heard mannheim steamroller, but only for a moment. nice accompanying visuals ('tho it was hard not to be distracted by the 'cinema dada' playing on the wall - had to close my left eye to block it out). a very unique experience.

red monroe - phenomenal, as usual (seen them 3 or 4 times now). i think these guys get better every time i hear them. driving bass lines, incredibly catchy guitar riffs, infectious vocals. if their live performance doesn't get you rockin, there's somethin fundamentally wrong with you. played blue mountain air, one of my favorites, for the first time (pretty sure). had to head back to work after their set, but they alone made the trip worthwhile.