Music dump: Phoebe Defiance, Lunacus, Elektron Graffiti Kult
Plus, Fresno concert news and your weekly events list.
This week, I’m doing a music dump. Here’s some stuff I’ve stumbled upon and enjoyed.
Phoebe Defiance, “Sick of Sour Candy”
Phoebe Defiance is making a focus of her solo work these days and on the first single puts out a pretty great little stripped down, folky (or folksy??) pop-love song (or anti-that, maybe?).
Phoebe (who played around Fresno as Dandelion Massacre and I Kill Cameron before moving to Sacramento) has a voice that moves, but also gets sweetly quiet and breathy and is perfect for the song’s ukulele and bass accompaniment (though I would love to hear this with a full band backing).
“I wrote it in the backseat of my friend’s SUV on my first West Coast tour in 2013,” Phoebe says. “The person I wrote it about peed on me in his sleep on the first night of that tour.”
“It’s inspired by songs from this AM radio station my friend and I used to listen to, Kings Radio. I don’t know if they are still around, but if they are, I sent my love.”
Bottom line: “Every love I’ve ever had, I found in a sour patch. They’re sweet, they’re sour then they’re gone. It’s never gonna last.
And that’s so depressing.”
Lunacus, “Night Machine”
“Night Machine” is a five-track EP of progressive metal (it’s metal-ish certainly) from Eugene Nobles, performing here under the moniker Lunacus, with help from Brandon Freeman (Cloudship) and Jeron Schapansky (Artificial Language).
The EP is a follow-up (but prequel) to “Light Machine,” the project’s debut EP, which was released last year.
This thing is easy to enjoy for fans of prog-rock. The musicianship is stellar, especially in the guitar work, which kinda slides through styles throughout, but especially on the title track.
Freeman’s voice is monstrous and soaring. On “Night Machine,” he pulls off the harder edges of a “Painkiller”-era Rob Halford.
This is what he was built for.
Bottom line: “Floating through the fog on a sea of limbs. Clawing at the hull. Abandon ship.”
Elektron Graffiti Kult, “Volume One” + “Volume Two”
This one comes via Scott Oliver, who locals will know from his work with the Miss Alans, the Blackcoats and Thunderbolt 650.
It’s a set of two full length albums available for preorder now, with limited streaming on Bandcamp (full streaming out Nov. 4).
As the name suggest, the music is full of electronic elements, more or less, depending on the songs and which volume you are listening to. Vol. 1 kicks off with some heavy ’80s synth vibes and also settles into a kind of electronic-tinged college radio rock (“Near Me” brings to mind Granddaddy).
Vol. 2 seems to be the quieter album, working in some acoustic guitar and drum tones and slowing the pace overall (“Time to Move On” brings to mind the quieter pieces of Neil Young’s “Sleeps with Angels”).
Bottom line: “I want you near. Me.”
Concert news: New Kids On The Block, MixTape Tour 2022
The New Kids on the Block are touring again.
They’ll be at Fresno’s Save Mart Center next May. Tickets are on sale now.
How a group of middle aged men manages to continue playing music they wrote as teenagers, who knows, but no one questions the Rolling Stones or Motley Crue or whoever else, so …
NKOTB seem to know the audience and it’s called MixTape tour for a reason. Joining the boys will be Salt-n-Pepa, En Vogue and … Rick Astley!?
Events list Oct. 10-16
The Big Fresno Fair continues its 12-day run of music with:
Ramón Ayala y Sus Bravos Del Norte, 7 p.m. Oct. 10. $25-$95.
Queen Nation, 7 p.m. Oct. 11. Free with fair admission.
Chris Tomlin, 7 p.m. Oct. 12. $22-$42.
Midland, 7 p.m. Oct. 13. $47-$62.
Nelly, with Blanco Brown, 7 p.m. Oct. 14. $30-$50.
Smokey Robinson, 7 p.m. Oct. 15. $47-$62.
Aja Vu, 7 p.m. Oct. 16. Free with fair admission.
Other events for the week:
Los Angles Azules, 7 p.m. Oct. 10, Saroyan Theatre. $35-$125.
The Queers, with Lifejacket and Sunnydales, 8 p.m. Oct. 10, Strummer’s. $10, all ages.
The Doobie Brothers, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 11, Save Mart Center. $43.75-$133.25.
The Score, Cemetery Sun, Stereo Jane, 7 p.m. Oct. 12, Strummer’s. $18, all ages.
Flogging Molly and Violent Femmes, 4:30 p.m. Oct. 13, Rotary Amphitheater. $59.50.
Dom Dolla, 9 p.m. Oct. 13, Fulton 55. $15-$30.
Mr. Crowley with Glam City, 8 p.m. Oct. 15, Strummer’s. $12-$15, all ages.
Luke Bryan, 7 p.m. Oct. 15, Save Mart Center. $34.75-$100.75.
Jeremy Camp, 7 p.m. Oct. 16, Saroyan Theatre. $29-$69.
System of a Down, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 16, Save Mart Center. $49.50-149.50.
Taste the Arts with Macondo, T-Bone and Gravy Train, Linds, Ray Yung and No Voodoo Here, 10 a.m., Oct. 16, Center Street Visalia. Free, all ages.
The Chill Suite: R&B and Soul Jams, 9 p.m. Oct. 16, Fulton 55. $5.
That’s it for this week. If you have anything you think I need to be looking at or listening to, feel free to let me know: jtehee@gmail.com