Music Blog

For a Monday night, the room was packed at 10 pm. The first band to take the stage was Electric iLL, Kevin Robinson’s new project with singer, Ragen Fykes. Their electro-pop, club-drenched jams are vastly different from the directions of Viva Voce and Blue Giant, but are as cohesive and heartfelt as ever. They performed five songs, with Robinson playing guitar and singing on most, and using 80’s inflected keyboard samples and speech synthesizers to distort sounds and vocals. Backed by Fykes’ sultry, R&B style vocals, these songs scream for a dance party, which was not the scene at Bunk Bar. I’ll blame the lack of movement on the audience’s entrancement and focus on the collaborative duo: Robinson, who rocked out with his aviators on, and Fykes, whose falsetto notes and fun dance moves made the set come alive. Watching the show was like witnessing a reinvention; you could see how much fun it was for them to have made this music and to be performing it for the first time.

The next band went by VioHazard on the bill, but was actually Talkdemonic, playing their songs with live backup for the first time. Lisa Molinaro and Kevin O’Connor, who we featured last year for one of our Studio Sessions, typically perform their sets as a duo, with computer made and played tracks, but this time the viola and drums shared the stage. The duo performed with bassist Jay Winebrenner (Street Nights) and banjoist Dustin Dybvig (Horse Feathers). As soon as the four parts came together, it was obvious that this setup is a great move for the band. The already fierce, surprising, and vibrant Talkdemonic set was kicked up several notches with a live band, you could feel the mounting energy between the musicians. Molinaro’s intense and hypnotizing viola playing and O’Connor's powerful drumming came together with the banjo and bass to create a full-bodied, dynamic force. At the end of their set, Molinaro announced that they were indeed, Talkdemonic, and that this was their new lineup.

Tagged: live review