In Waves @ Silverlake Lounge, 1/28/08

I fucking love this band. If I could describe them in one word, it would be "sprawling". With a tsunami of post-punk revival bands flooding the music scene, for some damn reason, In Waves really rise above and drown the whole lot of them. They'll drown you in their music, too. Joy Division and Echo and the Bunnymen are definitely recalled in their sound, but who isn't these days? Where this band stands out and totally kills the most recent wannabe acts (I won't say any names) is in their deeply lush and organic soundscapes.

A band like this, in my opinion, has too big of a presence for a small venue like Silverlake Lounge. I saw them play with A Place to Bury Strangers at the Viper Room on December 3rd (check my review on that show as well!), and I thought the same thing. But that doesn't mean they don't sound fucking HUGE.

On this particular night, In Waves barely tested their instruments and just started playing suddenly. No unnecessary long intro jamming sessions. Just pure immediate bliss. Dreamy ambient music, and from only three musicians! The vocals echoed with a deep lush reverb as if they were sung by frontman Jimmy Vincent in a giant empty church. Drummer Dean Cooper fucking pounds the shit out of the drums, and the bassist Tim Gregorio especially thumps through well structured basslines and rocks out more than most bassists I've seen in recent times. Dancing, moving around, and stomping his feet without looking awkward or out of place.

Not only are they great on stage, but Jimmy Vincent is a very nice guy. When I gave him a $20 bill to buy a demo, he said he didn't have change, and when I said I'd come back with it, he insisted on me taking the CD for free. I know how hard it is to make it in today's music scene. Excessive touring to get your name out there can be very tough, not to mention the very little money that bands actually make when playing many smaller shows...not trying to brag, but of course I came back with the money. After all, I started this blog with the primary focus of helping to promote the music scene, not to take from them.

On a closing note, some bands struggle live and have too many damn people on stage. Some peer into the audience to see if people actually give a damn. These guys don't seem to worry about that, and I don't think they have to. Not all bands have got it. In Waves do.