Bloomington’s Kentucky Nightmare and Hanz Bronze joined Indy’s Amo Joy and Rooms for a swirling mixture of psych-pop, loud noisy indie rock pop, post punk pop, and, well, pop rock pop.

Hanz Bronze

Rooms

Kentucky Nightmare

Amo Joy

It was a full night of great local music at The Vollrath with a celebration of sweet sounds and happy faces, chalk these bands up to success.

Brendan Riha

Giraffes Eating Lions

Household Guns

The Post Script

Let me begin by saying that Tuesday nights at Coaches Tavern have been the most strangely awesome DJ residency for five years now.

Out of all the residencies that Metrognome has held, this was the one that I never expected to last. There’s no real dance floor, almost no formal promotion, and it’s a Hip-Hop night in a sports bar.

But here we are half a decade later and “Take That! Tuesdays” are still going strong.
This particular night was a pretty good example of why this jam has to be experienced at least once.

MetroGnome began the night with a recipe that keeps the regulars coming back: 1 part tasty breakbeats, 2 parts underground Hip-Hop joints, a dash of vintage soul, and a side of succulent slow jams.

Chicago DJ, RTC took over for him without sacrificing the funky tone that was in the air. His set was across the board but it focused on Hip-Hop. Somehow Red Hot Chili Peppers and Thievery Corporation made their way into his mix, but they impressively worked like a charm.

Around 11, the spot got dense with people. DJ Chase got on deck. He’s been one of my favorite funk/breaks DJs for a super long time. This was the first time I had heard him spin a straight-forward Hip-Hop set. It was more Boom-Bap (a sub-genre of NY Hip-Hop) than breaks so the crowd went goofy.

Here’s where I’m going to stop to explain an amusing phenomenon that only occurs around hardcore Hip-Hop heads and MCs: the concept of “Rap Hands”. It’s a way of gesturing to emphasize the lyrics you are reciting. Look up the “Hip-Hop Hooray” video if you’re not sure what I’m talking about. Sidenote: I made up the term so don’t look for it on urbandictionary.com.

“Rap Hands” are significant because they mainly grow in a soil that’s rich with underground, golden era, Hip-Hop classics. Seeing three or more cats throwing them up in the same location means that the DJ knows his stuff. This night was so full of “Rap Hands” that it looked like a debate in the House of Commons done in sign-language. That was a heavy seal of approval from the masses.

Back to reality. DJ Limelight hopped on after Chase finished his set. Limelight has amazing track selection, but he often spins only the first third of a song. I believe this is actually a tradition of sorts among Hip-Hop DJs. But, evidently, it didn’t matter because my peers and I proceeded to dance on the floor, regardless. This was instigated by local B-boy legend Ronin(aka Twosy) and the rest of us followed suit because the songs were just too nice to ignore.

Breakers, Poppers, and other styles of street dance are, actually, fairly common at “Take That! Tuesdays”. As I mentioned before, there’s no actual dance floor; so for us to form a circle means blocking off foot-traffic. The crowd was full of people who either knew us or thought it was funny. They would patiently wait for someone to finish their “run” before scooting by.

The rotation came full circle when MetroGnome came back on around midnight. He started his second set by doing something cool that virtually no other DJs in Nap do on a regular basis. What he likes to do is start with an original Funk/Soul/Jazz song, set it on a repeating loop, and then bring in the song that made that sample famous. In this case, the original was “I Just Can’t See Myself Without You” by Creative Source and the song that sampled it was “What We Do” by Freeway, Hov, and Beans.

I’ve heard of Topspeed doing a whole set with this technique but MetroGnome is the main cat I see doing it on a consistent basis. It’s basically like a lesson in music history without being preachy. Plus, it makes you way more excited when you hear the part of the original that you recognize and know he’s about to bring in one of your favorites. Powerful stuff.

The DJs continued rotating over the next three hours but hopefully, I’ve already made my point. If I’m not in bed on a Tuesday night, I probably came out here to hear funky songs, dance, and be around friendly faces.

DJ Kyle Long

The Vallures

Pujol – http://www.myspace.com/danielluccapujol

Turbo Fruits – http://turbofruits.com/blog/

Free Energy

Links:
Holerado: http://www.hollerado.com/
Free Energy: http://www.freeenergymusic.com/
Radio Radio: http://www.futureshock.net/radioframeset.html

Something I have recently learned since attending shows at Radio Radio; never make an appearance at the time they list on the bill. Unless you plan on starting off with a dozen discounted shots or tackling a few yummy Sun King brews; it’s easily an hour or more wait time.

So here I am waiting through a lag-ridden sound check, with no one to blame but myself. Canada’s Hollerado were staggering around the stage, looking lost and anxious. Even when they were finally mounted to their instruments, their blatant lack of confidence was distracting. Lead singer Menno Versteeg made a questionable plea to a mostly indifferent crowd, “We got a lot of space up here in the front, so come join us! Um…if you want…your call.” A few oblige this request but mostly is left with eye rolls.

This awkwardness completely dissipates when they thrash into the catchy yet sarcastic “Do The Doot Da Doot Do”. On immediate reaction, gave a Finger Eleven “Paralyzer” vibe only with a power pop presence. Bassist Dean Baxter supplied funky bass line after another on songs like “Americanarama” and “Riverside”. As if their repetitive choruses and hooks weren’t enough, Hollerado themselves were the true showcases of their set. Finally, the nerves are settled and the true personalities shined. As true Canadians, they joked about hockey coaches, Canada’s version of colorful language among other randomness. Some band’s in-between song banter can be provoking at times but these guys had the crowd entertained and giggling throughout. Hollerado, whether performing or simply being social, had a fun and infectious energy about them that couldn’t be ignored.

The crowd liked them enough to demand an encore. Their enthusiasm must have traveled backstage, as the lead guitarist (Geoff Bucknam) and drummer (Nick Shuminsky) for Free Energy joined them on stage for an impromptu jam session to close out the set.

Free Energy wasted little time after Hollerado before they broke into their breakthrough single, appropriately named “Free Energy”. It was initially hard to transition the flamboyant antics of Hollerado but this was replaced with a knowledge and fondness of the band’s more popular material. It took no time for the floor to be packed. With a band that has very recently rose to its fame, they had an overly relaxed ‘been there, done that’ stage presence with lead singer Paul Sprangers leading the charge. Free Energy was destined for radio with songs like “All I Know” that has floating hooks that conjure up memories.

They played a new song off an upcoming album that could easily be mistaken for a tame Andrew W.K. minus the terrible voice renditions of Andrew W.K. himself. I was conflicted on “Bang Pop”. Even live with Lynyrd Skynyrd guitar styling, the song seems campy and hard to take seriously. Only problem is, as much as I hated myself for it, I still found myself gleefully bobbing my head back and forth. Luckily, all four members of Hollerado jumped on stage to distract me from my internal struggle. A spark was lit under Free Energy as they fanatically jumped up and down with Hollerado throughout the song’s climax. I found it pleasingly ironic that a band called Free Energy was proactively borrowing energy from another band entirely.

It was a brisk set from Free Energy. Without Hollerado, I’m sure I would have left disappointed with just an album’s worth of material to assemble. I’m sure with future albums and more road experience, both Hollerado and Free Energy will only grow from these experiences. When those times come, I’m afraid more than likely the price of admission will change and they won’t be at the approachable Radio Radio. Let’s just hope that’s all that changes with these guys.

Neon Love Life

Vanity Theft

The club wasn’t big enough…

I got to at Hyde around 10:30. I was practically the 7th person there. Given some downtime, I immediately proceeded to touch base with key figures. Kevin Munoz greeted me at the door. Kyle Long was taking it super easy in the DJ cave. I decided to bounce over to the Blu side to check things out.

I tried to maintain a habit of bouncing back and forth about every 15 minutes to be able to evenly cover both events. I succeeded for the most part (much to the dismay of the security/doormen), but I definitely passed most of my night in Hyde.

The Blu side was just as sparse, this early in the night. Slater Hogan was on his cell making moves, but took time to greet me. Ashley Ross was spinning and seemingly having some fun with his track selection. I jumped back to Hyde to talk to Kyle some more.

Rekha showed up a little over an hour before she began spinning and settled in quickly. She was clownin’ while being super approachable and very informative, but also hilarious with a lot of presence. Definitely a dynamic lady.
As she was approached by more and more enthusiastic attendees, Kyle started to focus on his set a little more. About four guys had locked down the center of the dancefloor and were killing it.

By 11:35, that same dance floor was probably about 85 percent full. Ladies and all. Very pretty ladies, I might add.

In Blu, around the same time, the bar was pretty full and there were people sprinkled throughout the main walk-way and the upper-deck. John Larner had begun his set a short time earlier. This was the first time I had ever heard him spin and it was a good first impression. He was playing a banging Latin House tune with drums so syncopated that it was almost UK Garage (a genre half-way between House and Breaks).

Blu’s dancefloor is somewhat of an afterthought in the club’s design. When it’s full, it blocks access to the bar from the entrance and the seating area takes up much of the space in the room. Most attendees seem to prioritize socializing over hugging speakers so I guess the layout makes sense. The bar and upper-level remained the hubs of activity until the headliner went on at around 1 a.m. I had no idea who Chuck Love was but I’m not a house-head. A dope local House DJ/Producer, Wes Clay explained that Chuck is known for singing over his sets, playing guitar, and doing live PA. Chuck has a very unassuming appearance, to my eye, so I wan’t prepared for the funkyness of his guitar or the soulfulness of his voice. His work was next level. I didn’t stay long but was incredibly impressed by what he put down.

There’s essentially a small hallway that separates the two clubs. Walking through the double doors into Hyde was the struggle. The dancefloor was so packed that even walking through the crowd required patience. Patience and assertiveness.

Rekha was definitely in control of the crowd. She had begun her set with Shri & Badmarsh remix that she had forewarned me would dead the dancefloor but she played it for my benefit, regardless. About 30 seconds in, there were about a hundred faces looking at her questionably. She killed the record and officially announced that some real Bhangra stuff was about to go down. Indeed, it did.
The energy level in Hyde was berserk. I had to put it in perspective, though. Bhangra parties are infrequent here. If I was looking forward to an event that only occurred a few times a year, I’d get loose, too. Plus, this was the first time that an internationally acknowledged Bhangra DJ had spun in Nap, as far as I know.
The rest of the night was pretty much straight madness. Even by 2:30, the crowd was still pretty hype and thicker than one would expect a place to be that late in the night. People didn’t fully settle down until the music was done.

Overall, the night was pretty epic. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if both clubs had been able to intermingle freely without needing a wristband to crossover but it was still two amazing events. Both Keepin’ it Deep and Cultural Cannibals did the city proud, but I have to say that the Cultural Cannibals side was a little more remarkable. I mean, they had Bollywood movies being shown on projectors all night. That has to count for something, right?

For November’s First Friday in Fountain Square, I headed out to longtime hot spot Radio Radio to photograph one of my very favorite local bands, Tonos Triad. I was pretty stoked. They were having a CD Release show for their latest album Typewriters And Tarantulas. They ran through every song from the new release, as well as their good ‘ol “oldies.”