It’s funny; a lot of psychedelic era or music influenced by
the psychedelic era doesn’t sound that psychedelic to me. I think in many cases
these were in essence garage bands on psychedelic drugs. Minds are still
getting explored and bent, but the sounds frequently aren’t all that
mind-bending.
Exception: Rochester’s psychedelic sonic sensation The LSD Enigma, a duo the works in
intensity, swirling color, and depth, and is just a couple of clicks away from
being weird. The band played Friday for the art-crawling set for First Friday
festivities at the Record Archive. The band adheres to the genre’s folk-story
roots but splashes in tons of slap-back and reverb over an infectious go-go
beat. It was the delay and dimension created by the reverb that gave the show a
truly psychedelic twist and shout over the otherwise organic strain of the
choppy acoustic guitar, snappy, treble-tight drums, and harmonies reminiscent
of Phil and Don in outer space.
I’ve preached and pontificated and pleaded the case for
classic bar bands. I’m talking about artists that play hard, performing music
for scooting around the joint with your hands around something cold and your
arms around something warm. Bands like The
Nightstalkers. Honestly, there are few better. I’ve been going to
see this band since when the late Marshall James roamed the earth and fronted
the band with his soulful pipes and dry wit.
I made my way to Sticky Lips Juke Joint Saturday night as the
band was laying down its badass blend of bluesy boogie, rock ‘n’ roll, and
jazz. There is something so cool about a blue-collar, working-man’s band that
relies on zero frills while delivering the thrills for the
working-off-their-dinner crowd. It was a moment in time of varying significances
— first date, last date, beers with buddies — depending on who you ask. When
you have a bar band as tight and rockin’ as the Nightstalkers, regardless the
outcome, it sounds alright.
This article appears in Oct 30 – Nov 5, 2013.
