Thursday night’s Neumos bill of Brawley Banks, Woods, and Sweden’s Dungen ended up being one of the best nights of music I have experienced in quite a while. I was very excited to check out opener Brawley Banks which features ex-members of Seattle’s Cobra High, and Sunny Day Real Estate drummer William Goldsmith. They have received some decent hype after their first few shows in the city and have even been compared to Zeppelin mixed with Mountain. They surely did a nice job channeling those 70’s rock titans, and had some very nice heavy psych and blues rock infused moments. I was impressed to a point but it was obvious they are in the early stages of refining their live show, and had a few shaky moments. I would say the potential is most definitely there, and I can’t wait to see what this band has in store after playing a few more gigs together.
Next up was Woods, the lo-fi freak folk quintet from Brooklyn, New York. I had been listening to their most release “Songs of Shame” in preparation for the show but was pleasantly surprised that the lo-fi recordings were so much better in a live setting. Actually it sounded like a different band all together. I was thrust into my happy place as guitarist Jeremy Earl channeled Neil Young and Crazy Horse when some of their psychedelic folk tunes broke into full on fuzzed out jam sessions. I was very impressed with Woods on a whole, but it was the mad scientist setup of tape effects technician G. Lucas Crane that drew the most attention.
The reason we were all in attendance Thursday was because of Sweden’s psychedelic masters Dungen. What an absolutely amazing live band! Mixing psych, progressive, classic rock, and jazz they were incredible tight and compelling to watch. They played much of the songs off their newest release “4” including album opener "Sätt att se" with help from Fleet Fox J. Tillman on percussion. A pretty cool moment came as front man Gustav Ejstes dedicated a song to the Fleet Foxes and Josh Tillman, and then invited the whole band on stage to help with percussion including Robin Pecknold. The show was amazing, and I was totally mesmerized by guitarist Reine Fiske’s inspired playing. The Foxes also helped close the show reprising their role as extra percussionists.
Dungen is one of the best live bands I have ever seen, and with the surprise appearance from one of Seattle’s most loved bands it made for a very memorable night of music. Check out my high quality iPhone pics in the flickr slideshow below for a recap of the night. Cheers!
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