Lucius [the band] Anyone?.... Long unrant

[guitron45]

Let me begin by saying I stopped listening to pop i.e. rock bands indie bands, just about every kind of music exdept jazz. And there is plenty there that doesn't ring my chimes much either.

I guess another way to say this is I don't get out much to see new groups. Much of that is location... rural like crazy, and all the local bands are playing the same stuff they played forty or fifty years ago. So it's quite possible you been there and done that where Lucius is concerned. Your done then. And thanks for listening.

If not I'll fall all over myself regarding these brave souls. Perhaps there others beside myself who see 2 and 4 as a kind of tyranny in most popular music. It's one way you can tell smooth jazz from 40s 50s 60s jazz. In jazz it isn't used very much. And when it is it is quite effective [see the sentence before this one]. I've had about a year in the classical guitar mines back a ways. There I became more aware of some of the subtlties tone and picking dynamics and dynamics in general. I spent few years in an R&B group in Chicago in 64 or so where dynamics was something that got attention. I think of this sort of stuff as devices that enhance the drama that can be present in a live performance.

Also did some touring on a bill with Alice Cooper. There again, dynamics but in a louder and smaller spectrum. But with a big accent on the visual/theatrical aspect of presenting music. None of this will be news to some of you but it's part of what knocked me out about the band. Then I looked up their lyrics, same level of craftsmanship and economy there too. You can find all this stuff and more there. Lucius pushes every one of my music wonder buttons. None of this means you will fall all over yourself over these guys But see what you think…. If you want skip the verbiage and cut to the set here:

https://www.youtube.co/results?search_q ... erformance

I am a sucker for different, original, good lyrics and leaving space for the music. The link leads to all that and more.


Here is a band that…. after listening to their 8 song set I was a slobbering fan. This in spite of some old and unfounded prejudices and pre concieved notions I had before seeing them. I love it when those get obliterated.

So I clicked on this link on youtube and when the file came up and the tune began I went eeewwww, chubby girl!, ewww eye make up on ten ewww look at those dumb dresses. Before the first tune ended that turned to Hmmmmmmmm. 
No dedicated bass player, only two fairly small guitar solos in the outro's of two tunes, tasty and sparse synth work, creative guitar fiesta between the tunes to clear the palette.

No guy/gal sitting behind a drum kit, instead the drums are all over the stage played by everyone except one of the guitar players. No jiggle what so ever, the two ladies are hip enough to know they don't need to use T and A to sell their tunes. Tunes are very good, arrangements like you get from two grads of the jazz program @  New England Conservatory IIRC. You would never know they studied jazz. This is very well played Rock n Roll by a band where most of them look like late twentys maybe. Dan the guy who counts the tunes looks more thirty-ish.

Something I forgot. They recorded and album before they toured or played out much. You can tell if you hear any of the official vids. Some of these are fine visually but it a very different sounding group on mostly the same tunes.

Simple chords and great melodies, hooks like crazy, All five of them sing. The guys are all dressed alike too. Eeewww band uniforms. Their education shows in the arrangements, vocal and performances; and their implementation of every device known to musicians to engage an audience. How they are placed on stage, plenty of motion and the joy of doing what they are doing go together to weave their spell. Dynamics like crazy and on one or two songs, short vocal and instrumental nods to the Beatles and George Martin. Their lyrics are on line if you want to know. Those are as good and as concise as their music. The lyrics are from a female perspective most of the time. Sorry, way too much said. And then again….


Also if you want to see something like a stripped down white R&B band that also has two ladies and very open and sparse arrangements and killer vocals look up Lake Street Dive on youtube. Again, these folks are as off the wall and original…… and very good at what they do as it can get. All are from the jazz program at some conservatory. 

People forget that the songs we all love were spood fed to us ten or twenty or more times a day, and night. Joni Called it the Star Make Machinery. On youtube they don't get that kind of saturation nationally. The potential for big numbers there but it gets right back to word of mouth.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... erformance. 

If you'd like a shorter perview try this from the same set but later in the set. They are a rock band and very young so they like to take the levels up there but they don't stay there more that about 8 bars or so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APP9CBa ... freload=10

Even if you don't like them It would be good to know what wasn't working for you.
Ron

[guitron45]

It occurred to me that the first tune of their set does not contain all the device merit badges I bestowed on them.

If you want to see what I think is a very good representation of their attributes; in the youtube search window type Lucius KEXP Genevieve.

There are links to the Paris performances where Dan is standing between and behind the ladies with Andy on the Tele and Peter on the 56 or Airline/Dan Electro guitar amp rig. It was one of the little cool things I noticed on many of their other appearances they both are playing what I think of as hock shop guitars. They can sell you [well me anyway]these tunes with a Cort guitar thru a pignose, vocals and light percussion like on NPR Tiny Desk Concert. But for me the KEXP stuff sounds the best. Two killer tunes not in that set are Shenandoa, a vid with just Jess and Holly, and It Doesn't Matter Anymore in two performances one in Austin..... or at City Winery. Almost forgot Nothing Ordinary. The best visual version is the one with the white hair and blue lights but the kexp black and white version has a little more low end.

Ron

[leigh]

Thanks for posting this, Ron. I liked it from the first notes I heard. I'll definitely listen to them again, lots of interesting things happening and they don't sound like anyone else.

In the interest of keeping this off-topic and rambling, I'm a big fan of composer Shara Worden who performs as My Brightest Diamond:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CePpTXIuQzY

She has operatic training and uses the theatrical element of opera very effectively.

**Leigh

[Shooshie]

Never been much for bands. I'm an orchestral person, myself, grew up on classical music in a cowboy household (on a horse ranch; we were the real deals). My first band was the Beatles. Thinking I just liked them because they were "first," I dropped them, but came back years later and realized how great they were. My second band was Chicago. I loved that group and still do love their early stuff. Later it became a brand for charting and sales of whoever was working the franchise at the moment, but the core brass guys have remained the same. I learned a lot about recording techniques from Chicago, especially compression and EQ.

Later, we entered the disco phase and punk phase and rap phase; I just couldn't get on board with any of those. My favorites now are jazz (including 50s and 60s, i.e. Bebop), oldies (Sinatra, Martin, Glenn Miller, and the like), various odd groups like the Jive Aces (with their Louis Prima homages) and of course, classical, which is my constant mainstay. I learn deeply from Bach, Chopin, Debussy, Prokofiev, and a hundred others, more recently Mahler, who I've never really appreciated until listening to Bernstein explain it all.

But back to the present subject. I loved the band. My reactions were linearly about the same as yours, though I wasn't put off by their looks. It just appeared retro, and I get that. The 60s introduced a lot of fashion and art styles that have yet to be fully exploited. My memories of the 60s, despite the violence and turmoil, are still good. It was a time when the people got fed up and said "enough." I was one of those people.

So, I probably won't be falling all over Luscious, oops... Lucius. But I do think their music is a fresh break from most of what I hear. I connect with the sound. It's very tasteful, and there's no better way to keep people quietly on the edge of their seats than to bring down the dynamics, slow down the tempo, and make them crave to hear all those little climaxes. It's great stuff, and I thank you for introducing them to me.

Shooshie
PS: I come bearing gifts: Here's a link to the Jive Aces doing Bring Me Sunshine, which is my favorite of their videos.

[guitron45]

Dang, thank you both for the wonderful imagery and music. So different and both such a joy to look at and hear. Tears and smiles for the same reason are as good as it gets. I saw two things from the Diamond lady. The Sea, for me, very strong visual images and sounds. The modern dance number was also very fine.

The Jive Aces was such a delight. I used to have some of that clothing in that vid. Pre WW II stuff from my uncle's best friend who paid the price somewhere in Europe. James, I also have two H Bar C shirts kind of in the Porter Wagoner vein, from the same era same person. Plus it made me think of one of my favorite Steeley Dan lines. `A skinny man in two tone shoes'.

During Jr. High and high school we spent most sundays listening to big band stuff loud on the sixties version of an audiophile stereo. Artie Shaw. Elgart and Dorsey Bros... well you know the rest. These were concurrent with Jerry Lee, Elvis and Carl Perkins, Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, Little WIlly John and Screamin Jay Hawkins from my buddy's older brother's record collection. Because of my age at the time the rock stuff held sway till I started guitar in 85 or so. Those big band horn riffs reared their heads which turned my head towards jazz eventually.

Back to Brightest Diamond and strong emotional images. I have tried to get people to look at the Movie Across the Universe mostly because of the Carry The Weight scene, but the whole draft thing in general was very powerful....

maybe you had to be there. I have never seen a more perfect assessment of what went on in Vietnam. I got to see lot's of that for my self in my 19 months there. Six of which were spent passing as civilian musicians and playing from delta to the DMZ in small soldier bands. They always assumed we were from state side and we didn't question their authority to boot the XO out of his quarters so we could be more comfortable. Got to jam with a harmonica playing general and meet June Lockhart in Danang.

I usually include one more link for people who pick up on what Lucius is doing and why they are doing it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iYQZaT ... freload=10

This is probably their edgiest tune. I include it because.... well I love the tune cuz the ladies education shows a little in these changes and it's probably their most visually active tune. I would be amazed if they don't begin adding more reasons for this kind of music in motion. The hair color and the lights really augmented the music.

I thank you guys for the great links. Jive Aces deserves a lot more of my attention. As does the The music stands on it's own but I'm betting they will keep us interested visually.

One last thing: Lake Street Dive, just about any tune but here's one that owes a debt to the 40's like Jive Aces. Rachael's lip stick would have gotten her a seat in that diner. All Rudy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnjVMMK ... freload=10

Ron

[bongo_x]

So I clicked on this link on youtube and when the file came up and the tune began I went eeewwww, chubby girl!, ewww eye make up on ten ewww look at those dumb dresses.

There’s the moment when I wrote you off...