Thalia Zedek Band

The Thalia Zedek Band was having their EVE CD release party at Great Scott's on Thursday. The bill also had Minibeast and Black Helicopter so Blowfish was sold on that line up! The club filled up without being crowded...but not with college students as you would expect just because it was September but, as Richie Parsons said on Facebook, parents of college students. I missed the openers but caught Black Helicopter who I've been dying to see. I've liked the songs I've heard on the radio for a long time now. They turned out to be hard hitting on stage. They have a creative two guitar attack. One guitar was doubling the bass line and also hitting open strings. The other guitarist did some alternate lines on the high strings and also hit open strings. The reinforced bottom end with the ringing upper strings gives a full sound with lots of depth. It's a little dissonant and at times they reinforce that more for effect. The songwriting as a whole makes sure the overall sound has drama which makes for an interesting set. Half way through they played a new song that will be on their new EP that dropped the open string approach and just played full bar chords and that was one of the best songs of the set. The next song did the same thing before they went back to their signature sound. At that point they played even more intense and ended the set with the energy level way up. It took me a long time to catch them but they did not disappoint. We've seen Minibeast a twice, both times at Once in the big room and upstairs in the lounge. The last time they were over the top impressive. It would be interesting to see if they could live up to that last intimate show. The good news is that there's a buzz about the group and many people at the show were there to check them out. It turned out that they got a loud response from the audience. This is so inspiring because they are not a cookie cutter group. They are playing in an experimental sound collage style that is challenging. I was again knocked out by the bass and drums. Individually they are exceptional players but together they are EPIC. Richie Parsons said they reminded him of the Mahavishnu Orchestra and I thought the same. It has a thundering mechanistic feeling that evokes fate or inevitability. Matt Graber, the drummer of Endation is the only other drummer I would compare to this drummer. They build the menacing wave and Peter Prescott does his thing on top. He has a few keyboards that trigger samples and he puts an endless loop on his vocals to create soundscapes. He also is the visual center with some oversized hand gestures. Prescott will let the rhythm section do their thing with hitting that repetitive groove and then finally giving relief with a slash of guitar crunch. It makes you feel good to see a group taking chances and going over so well like this. Zedek's new CD is getting the attention you would think and also from Richie Parsons who heard it early and has already added one of her song to his next song cycle. Thalia has a long history with Dangerous Birds, Uzi, Live Skull, Come and now her solo career since 2001. She also has side projects. We've seen her often and it's always memorable. After the early years of dissonance she's settled into more conventional sounds and song structures for her solo material. But it hasn't changed is the depth of feeling she puts into the music. Minibeast challenges you sonically Thalia challenges you emotionally. She's playing music for thinking grownups. We like to think that's us. She had her familiar line up with keyboard and viola added to bass and drums. She plays a Hagstrom guitar that has a distinctive sound if you are tuned into that. Hilken Mancini helped to sing the first song "Afloat" as she does on the CD. The group shifts the dynamics but it's never about blasting it out, it's about delivering the songs. There's always some instrumental fills to focus on even as you are drawn back to Thalia's voice. For an encore they did a change up and played a song with just the guitar and that was a highlight. The song "You Will Wake" is on the CD and is a highlight there too. "All I Need" from the CD hit me hard and that turned out to be the song Parsons is covering. The audience stayed even though it was 1:30 before it was over. This was an excellent bill that lived up to its promise.