Midnight Movies, Dead Meadow @ Echoplex, 2/5/08

Midnight Movies were better than ever at the Echoplex on Tuesday night. Too bad the sound wasn’t. The vocals were just not loud enough and some of the distorted sounds clashed with each other, but I blame it on the sound guy and not them; I’ve seen them a few times and they’ve always sounded stellar.

Bearded guitarist Larry Schemel wore all black as usual and sounded better than ever with loud shrieking power and the sharpest playing I’ve seen from him. The beautiful Gena Olivier displayed more vivacity and confidence than ever as well, stomping and dancing around on-stage and exuberating a definite boost in energy.

They fully utilized the large backing wall with projections of psychedelic kaleidoscope-like visions which also combined real time live video of the Ms. Olivier singing. I was expecting them to do a cover of Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbit, as they looked and sounded similar to 60s flowerpower acid tripping music on Tuesday night.

The vocals weren’t loud enough, and neither was drummer Sandra Vu's flute on the breathtakingly beautiful "Mes Rêves De Satin (Nights in White Satin)", where singer/keyboardist Gena Olivier gives up front position to Sandra to take over on drums, yet still sings. A cool jazzy flute solo really moves the song along but gets washed away when the song gets really heavy and chaotic with distorted guitars and banging drums. This song is virtually perfect as a bonus track on their latest album Lion the Girl.

The grand finale was a new track titled "Should Have Known" which featured duel drummers Sandra Vu on the main set and Gena standing and pounding on a bass drum. It was an amazing way to close out the shows…I don’t remember Gena ever rocking out that hard since they got mummified and opened for Ladytron at the El Rey on Halloween 2006!

I see good things coming for the band as are slowly changing their live performance…stay tuned for their next EP "Nights EP" featuring "Should Have Known", scheduled for a digital release of March 11th.

Here is Midnight Movies' set list of the night:

1. Parallel Paramour
2. Coral Den
3. Persimmon Tree
4. Wolf
5. Mes Rêves De Satin (Nights in White Satin)
6. Lion Song
7. Souvenirs
8. Should Have Known

I barely started listening to Matador Record's Dead Meadow a week before the show. They are a pretty good band; I enjoyed some tracks on their albums, but I feel like they’d be much better if they cut out all the filler songs that sound the same and maybe had just released two albums instead of five.

They went on stage after making us wait a little too long and jammed out with what they’re good at and what they’re known to do--slow and sludgy, psychedelic, bluesy, stoner rock. Similar in sound to The Black Keys, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and Brian Jonestown Massacre, but not as distinctive or engaging. Singer/guitarist Jason Simon shreds the shit out his Telecaster, and he pumped out jams mostly from the fresh new LP Old Growth all while making it look all too easy.

All in all, the vocals aren’t distinctive enough, nor do they sound that memorable, and the band is pretty good but didn't really stand out that much, although Jason Simon's guitar tone is definitely something to be envied. Two words--“Big Muff”.