Indie powerpop band, Pangolese hit Riley's Tavern Sunday night - By N.L. Belardes
After I listened to Bakersfield powerpop Indie rockers Pangolese at Riley’s Tavern on Sunday night I went straight home, itching to make a comparison. My ears still ringing from such a high-volume show, I dug through my book of music for my old CD copy of The Pixies Trompe Le Monde. Still determined, I found it tucked away, so pulled the scratched CD out, dusted it off and spun “Motorway to Roswell”… ahh, the sarcasm and vocal strength of Frank Black of the Pixies; the guitar mastery of riffs blended with an incredible array of notes from a screaming guitar of angry intense songs of Frank Black’s own dusty views of Americana.
I blasted “Motorway to Roswell” then sat back, mesmerized, in disbelief and shook my head. It couldn’t be true. Perhaps local favoritism had made me go a little insane, a little too intense for folks from my own dusty Central Valley landscapes. What can I say? I can’t lie to myself. I have to admit: I like the moodiness of Pangolese more than the Pixies. And don’t get me wrong. I’ve seen the Pixies live.
Clearly influenced by the same genre of Pixies powerpop music blended with today’s peculiar mix of Bakersfield working class angry Bakersfield anthems to grunge life, grunge thoughts, and Nirvana-esque hard-edged angry riffs… Pangolese music is presented masterfully in a three-piece band where frontman Dave has an incredible command over his guitar work. It’s not overdone at all, and is filled with guitar screams, straight-up chords that reach fever pitches in vibrato echoes and then dive deep into grinding chords that seem to tell as much of the story as Dave’s intense lyrics…
OK, my only problem with the show: Dave’s vocals were drowned. I don’t mind the loudness of the music at all though I admit more vocals would have been perfect. What I could hear was an incredible journey through the minds of Pangolese. Dave’s calmness as a musician, only seen intense in his command over his hard-edged powerpop riffs and from his calm lyrical singing style that occasionally turned into a screaming chorus ala the genre style that Pangolese is linked to. And don’t count out drummer John and a bass player who is as intense as they come: in style with his taped-up guitar and head of blonde-dyed hair… He shook and spun and even knocked over the cymbals as he nearly went crashing backwards.
Unfortunately, Riley’s Tavern wasn’t terribly packed. The venue needs to get the word out about such great Indie bands playing in the wooden-floored shadows of downtown Bakersfield, hidden away in the Central Valley, where last night I could enjoy a cold pear cider and snap some pictures of such great music-driven moments.
“We just haven’t been packing them in,” said Leslie Reyes, show promoter and girlfriend of Colin Cooke of local band, Broken Record Gospel. Oh, there were folks in the bar. But there could have been more.
When the Rolling Blackouts, LA Weekly voted LA “Band of the Year” performed at Riley’s, the house was packed. That was just a few months ago. I think it’s just a matter of getting the word out to Bakersfield folks that such high quality music can be found right in the beating heart of downtown near Eye and 19th Street.
I will just finish up by saying there were some surreal moments when I recognized a few folks from myspace.com lurking about in the tavern shadows. One such was a young lady, head nearly shaven with a curious joyous look about her. My mind could be fooling me, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen her images in the myspace.com community abuzz online; but here she was, somehow connected to this night, and to Dave as they both smoked after the show outside of the tavern. She’s sat in the very front during the show, smiling, listening intently at Dave’s calm demeanor and smashing guitar sounds… Such hipsters in the scene—hip only because of an independent look and style, hip because such musicians and folks are theie own blend of self and style... ah yes, who can argue with that?
I blasted “Motorway to Roswell” then sat back, mesmerized, in disbelief and shook my head. It couldn’t be true. Perhaps local favoritism had made me go a little insane, a little too intense for folks from my own dusty Central Valley landscapes. What can I say? I can’t lie to myself. I have to admit: I like the moodiness of Pangolese more than the Pixies. And don’t get me wrong. I’ve seen the Pixies live.
Clearly influenced by the same genre of Pixies powerpop music blended with today’s peculiar mix of Bakersfield working class angry Bakersfield anthems to grunge life, grunge thoughts, and Nirvana-esque hard-edged angry riffs… Pangolese music is presented masterfully in a three-piece band where frontman Dave has an incredible command over his guitar work. It’s not overdone at all, and is filled with guitar screams, straight-up chords that reach fever pitches in vibrato echoes and then dive deep into grinding chords that seem to tell as much of the story as Dave’s intense lyrics…
OK, my only problem with the show: Dave’s vocals were drowned. I don’t mind the loudness of the music at all though I admit more vocals would have been perfect. What I could hear was an incredible journey through the minds of Pangolese. Dave’s calmness as a musician, only seen intense in his command over his hard-edged powerpop riffs and from his calm lyrical singing style that occasionally turned into a screaming chorus ala the genre style that Pangolese is linked to. And don’t count out drummer John and a bass player who is as intense as they come: in style with his taped-up guitar and head of blonde-dyed hair… He shook and spun and even knocked over the cymbals as he nearly went crashing backwards.
Unfortunately, Riley’s Tavern wasn’t terribly packed. The venue needs to get the word out about such great Indie bands playing in the wooden-floored shadows of downtown Bakersfield, hidden away in the Central Valley, where last night I could enjoy a cold pear cider and snap some pictures of such great music-driven moments.
“We just haven’t been packing them in,” said Leslie Reyes, show promoter and girlfriend of Colin Cooke of local band, Broken Record Gospel. Oh, there were folks in the bar. But there could have been more.
When the Rolling Blackouts, LA Weekly voted LA “Band of the Year” performed at Riley’s, the house was packed. That was just a few months ago. I think it’s just a matter of getting the word out to Bakersfield folks that such high quality music can be found right in the beating heart of downtown near Eye and 19th Street.
I will just finish up by saying there were some surreal moments when I recognized a few folks from myspace.com lurking about in the tavern shadows. One such was a young lady, head nearly shaven with a curious joyous look about her. My mind could be fooling me, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen her images in the myspace.com community abuzz online; but here she was, somehow connected to this night, and to Dave as they both smoked after the show outside of the tavern. She’s sat in the very front during the show, smiling, listening intently at Dave’s calm demeanor and smashing guitar sounds… Such hipsters in the scene—hip only because of an independent look and style, hip because such musicians and folks are theie own blend of self and style... ah yes, who can argue with that?
This entry was posted by N.L. Belardes, on
Monday, September 26, 2005.
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