Rogue Wave

Rogue Wave
Last night I went to see the band Rogue Wave at the Black Cat. One of the
band members is a friend of a friend, but I'm not certain which one. It
was a Schrodinger's cat-like situation, with four individuals waiting to
randomly collapse into a single person who I distantly know.

Rogue Wave is from Oakland, so they don't usually have to wait in the
sleet to get into shows. To be honest, I didn't wait in the sleet either,
but when I emerged from the bar hours later there was a soft
tintinnabulation of falling ice pellets, and they polyped the trunks of
cars to half a fingernail. Combined with the ringing in my ears and the
Bluegrass Music awards, which happened to be on the radio, this made the
trip home as wholesome and tonic as a night drive in D.C. is likely to be.

The show itself was good; there were two opening bands, both of which are
creditable. Mazarin disagrees with me, but they have nice chops. If I'm
not confusing my impressions, they do a little too much with long segments
of tension building repitition, which went over especially poorly at
11:50, when most people were ready for the main act to come on. The
opening band, Kaleidoscope, is local and quite good. Their sound gives the
impression of being indistinct and fuzz-loaded, but the underlying
architechture is flawless and the distortion is purposeful and well done.
The vocals have a Virginia tinge to them, and the frontman likes to
display his twang in between songs.

At 12:30 I was wonding what the hell I was still doing there. When RW
finally came on, that feeling went away. They have a lot of grape-nuts
style potency, but the music is still pleasantly unpredictable. They are
"authentic" in a way most modern bands eschew, but innovative enough in
their sound to still be fresh; their lyrics mean something, and they mean
them.

Besides three guitars and keyboards, they have a background noise track
that's controlled by the drummer. This comes through on their recorded
tracks as a kind of ambient roaring, which, probably deliberately,
connotes a "rushing wave" type of sound. It's energizing and good. Last
night, though, they seemed to be having some problems. Either they had a
feedback issue, or the monitors weren't letting the band hear what the
audience did, namely a distractingly loud drone.

Technical issues notwithstanding, RW's recorded music leaves little doubt
of their virtuosity and originality. Their album Descended Like Vultures
was recently on the Billboard top 50. They recently signed with Sub Pop,
which is plugging them with free downloads from their podcast outlet.
Given the band's relatively recent manifestation, their best work is
probably still in the future; all indications suggest it will be worth
investigating.

Rogue Wave
Mazarin
(The Sounds of) Kaleidoscope