TalkDemonic, Candypants, Carolyn Edwards et. al.

I made the lonely trek out to Spaceland last night to dig the scene and hear a few bands, chief among them my beloved Candypants. Typically for me, the real crowd showed up to see another band, the Oregon-based TalkDemonic.

Didn't like 'em.

I can see how someone would. They have a very dense sound, and it's good solid trancey music. But it just seems wrong for a club date. First of all, there's only two people on stage. It's the only violin/drum band I've ever seen. The rest is supplied by a keyboard and a laptop, which means that much of the music was pre-sequenced. And if people aren't dancing, then it's not that interesting a visual unless you put the laptop on a light box or something. Second, no vocals. And to my ears, the music, while not sounding the same, did all tell the same story.

Still, the crowd was into it, perhaps because the violinist was with The Decemberists. I don't have any idea how many CDs they moved last night, but when TalkDemonic left the stage most of the audience went with them.

Candypants were fabulous as usual, though not particularly fresh. Maybe I just see them too much.

There was a band called Misfit Toys led by Carolyn Edwards and I found them appealing. Songs about mundane things, performed by people who resembled, in attitude, Shelly Long's character in CHEERS. Tasty keyboard work. (Carolyn just wrote to me to say that she introduced the band as the Misfit Toys, but she was only kidding.)

The closing band, The Sexies? Well, they're good at what they do but let's just say it's possible to be TOO retro.

I came in too late to judge Jeff Merchant's band, but I was impressed by the variety of instruments.