Lotus: a fruit eaten and considered to cause indolence and dreamy contentment.
That's how Merriam-Webster defines the word Lotus. Now the indolence part (inclination to laziness) isn't the case, but dreamy contentment is 100% right on.
First, some back story. Lotus is a band from Philadelphia that I had been listening to for 2+ years before seeing these two shows. They play live-tronica or jam-tronica (whichever term you prefer). They incorporate the same melodic hooks that a band like STS9 does, but Lotus takes their jams way out there. Not quite on the level of the Disco Biscuits, but comparable to a band like Particle, just much better. Where Particle's jams tend to be annoyingly repetitive, Lotus manages to successfully walk the fine line between repetition and experimentation.
10-17-06 W.O.W. Hall, Eugene, OR (TUE)
I: Nematode, Kesey Seed, Comptroller, Point/Electric Counterpoint > Umbilical Moonrise, Tip of the Tongue
II: Suitcases and Sandwiches, Kalea, Wax, Hammerstrike, Flower Sermon > Greet the Mind > Flower Sermon
E: When H Binds to O
I was super-psyched for the Eugene show being that it was my first time seeing them and all. Man, was I ever blown away. They took the first song ('Nematode') to a level I didn't think they were capable of quite frankly. I mean the peak of the jam was pure bliss. (I already knew I'd be going to Hood River after one song.)
'Kesey Seed' was to be expected (if you don't know why, I can't help you), and I was glad they got it out of the way early. The other highlight of my first set of Lotus was 'Umbilical Moonrise'. WOW is all I can say about that one. It's an older song that I'd heard many times on CD, but as with all live music, there was something much more powerful about seeing it in person.
The second set was not quite as energetic as the first, but still packed a major wallop. The highlights being 'Suitcases and Sandwiches', 'Wax' and 'Flower Sermon > Greet the Mind'. 'Flower Sermon' was #1 on my list of 3 songs I really wanted to hear, so that was very nice.
I left during 'Greet the Mind' and unfortunately missed the encore (which is a song I totally dig). It was 12:40 AM on a Tuesday after all. The crowd of around 160 was treated to one of "those" experiences. I compare it to seeing moe. at the same venue on 9/13/98, but I digress...
10-20-06 The River City Saloon, Hood River, OR (FRI)
I: Juggernaut, Expired Slang, Did Fatt > Sunrain, Epidemic, Travel
II: Livingston Storm, Wooly Mammoth, Slow Cookin' > Greet the Mind, Marisol, Tip of the Tongue, Space in Between, Intro to a Cell*
*with Cross-Eyed and Painless tease
The 3 hour drive to Hood River after working all week wasn't much fun, but I figured my boys would deliver. I didn't get to the venue until after 9 PM, so I had about an hour until show time to "pre-game". I mulled about the small but quality bar and met a few locals as well as lead guitarist Mike Rempel. He was a totally nice and down to earth guy (especially when you take into account his considerable talent). We talked about how the crowds had been on their West Coast tour, how to pronounce the song 'L'immueble', and other such small talk.
By the time the show started I was more then ready. Unfortunately the first set was a little down tempo for my taste, although 'Sunrain', 'Epidemic' and 'Travel' was a nice way to close it out. This set sounded exactly like the shows from the tour I had been listening to on llama. So it really wasn't disappointing or surprising.
Set #2 got off to a much better start with 'Livingston Storm'. Love this tune, and it's a great opener taboot. The rest of the set was only so-so, with the exception of 'Slow Cookin' > Greet the Mind'. What made the trip completely worth while though was the closing 'Intro to a Cell'. (That only left 'It's All Clear to Me Now' out of the 3 songs I wanted to hear.) I'm glad that whoever their setlist person is noted the 'Cross-Eyed and Painless' tease. It was more then a mere tease, they played a good chunk of the song, to the point that I though they were going to actually sing it.
Even though it wasn't the non-stop-dance-party-Lotus of two years ago, I was still happy with what I saw. They are a young band that is still very much in their creative stage. You can tell by the sheer amount of new tunes I heard over the two nights. 'Comptroller', 'Hammerstrike', 'Expired Slang', 'Wooly Mammoth' and 'Marisol' were all debuted on this tour (along with 5 others). It's hard to complain about what you saw when the band is taking chances every single night. Really, you can't ask for more then that.
If you enjoyed this, I plan on having a full report on my Vegoose up in the near future.
First, some back story. Lotus is a band from Philadelphia that I had been listening to for 2+ years before seeing these two shows. They play live-tronica or jam-tronica (whichever term you prefer). They incorporate the same melodic hooks that a band like STS9 does, but Lotus takes their jams way out there. Not quite on the level of the Disco Biscuits, but comparable to a band like Particle, just much better. Where Particle's jams tend to be annoyingly repetitive, Lotus manages to successfully walk the fine line between repetition and experimentation.
10-17-06 W.O.W. Hall, Eugene, OR (TUE)
I: Nematode, Kesey Seed, Comptroller, Point/Electric Counterpoint > Umbilical Moonrise, Tip of the Tongue
II: Suitcases and Sandwiches, Kalea, Wax, Hammerstrike, Flower Sermon > Greet the Mind > Flower Sermon
E: When H Binds to O
I was super-psyched for the Eugene show being that it was my first time seeing them and all. Man, was I ever blown away. They took the first song ('Nematode') to a level I didn't think they were capable of quite frankly. I mean the peak of the jam was pure bliss. (I already knew I'd be going to Hood River after one song.)
'Kesey Seed' was to be expected (if you don't know why, I can't help you), and I was glad they got it out of the way early. The other highlight of my first set of Lotus was 'Umbilical Moonrise'. WOW is all I can say about that one. It's an older song that I'd heard many times on CD, but as with all live music, there was something much more powerful about seeing it in person.
The second set was not quite as energetic as the first, but still packed a major wallop. The highlights being 'Suitcases and Sandwiches', 'Wax' and 'Flower Sermon > Greet the Mind'. 'Flower Sermon' was #1 on my list of 3 songs I really wanted to hear, so that was very nice.
I left during 'Greet the Mind' and unfortunately missed the encore (which is a song I totally dig). It was 12:40 AM on a Tuesday after all. The crowd of around 160 was treated to one of "those" experiences. I compare it to seeing moe. at the same venue on 9/13/98, but I digress...
10-20-06 The River City Saloon, Hood River, OR (FRI)
I: Juggernaut, Expired Slang, Did Fatt > Sunrain, Epidemic, Travel
II: Livingston Storm, Wooly Mammoth, Slow Cookin' > Greet the Mind, Marisol, Tip of the Tongue, Space in Between, Intro to a Cell*
*with Cross-Eyed and Painless tease
The 3 hour drive to Hood River after working all week wasn't much fun, but I figured my boys would deliver. I didn't get to the venue until after 9 PM, so I had about an hour until show time to "pre-game". I mulled about the small but quality bar and met a few locals as well as lead guitarist Mike Rempel. He was a totally nice and down to earth guy (especially when you take into account his considerable talent). We talked about how the crowds had been on their West Coast tour, how to pronounce the song 'L'immueble', and other such small talk.
By the time the show started I was more then ready. Unfortunately the first set was a little down tempo for my taste, although 'Sunrain', 'Epidemic' and 'Travel' was a nice way to close it out. This set sounded exactly like the shows from the tour I had been listening to on llama. So it really wasn't disappointing or surprising.
Set #2 got off to a much better start with 'Livingston Storm'. Love this tune, and it's a great opener taboot. The rest of the set was only so-so, with the exception of 'Slow Cookin' > Greet the Mind'. What made the trip completely worth while though was the closing 'Intro to a Cell'. (That only left 'It's All Clear to Me Now' out of the 3 songs I wanted to hear.) I'm glad that whoever their setlist person is noted the 'Cross-Eyed and Painless' tease. It was more then a mere tease, they played a good chunk of the song, to the point that I though they were going to actually sing it.
Even though it wasn't the non-stop-dance-party-Lotus of two years ago, I was still happy with what I saw. They are a young band that is still very much in their creative stage. You can tell by the sheer amount of new tunes I heard over the two nights. 'Comptroller', 'Hammerstrike', 'Expired Slang', 'Wooly Mammoth' and 'Marisol' were all debuted on this tour (along with 5 others). It's hard to complain about what you saw when the band is taking chances every single night. Really, you can't ask for more then that.
If you enjoyed this, I plan on having a full report on my Vegoose up in the near future.
posted by D$ at 12:10 PM
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