Black Magdalene have a bass and guitar player, a drummer, and three belly dancers. They also have a sexy vocalist and decorate their mic stand with swag. Combining world music with electronics and live instrumentation they put on a special show.
They call themselves organic dark wave with middle eastern sounds. They have a bandcamp page where you can listen but of course, the fun is in seeing the band play and dance live!
Eleinvaders played Hi-Fi Lounge jan 8.they bring some swing and ska grooves into the jam band sound. There were some real cool ‘call and response’ riffs between the clarinet and the guitar. When they said, “this songs about paradise, that turns out to not be so great.” “I said, hey I saw that Star Trek…and that Twilight Zone!”
A rockabilly psychobilly band from Eugene.
Eugene’s finest alt country tango hybrid: Mood Area 52.
Human Ottoman play weird beautiful ethereal math rock. They call it polyrhythmic world metal. They say they are influenced by Brazilian rhythms, Fela Kuri, Mr. Bungle and they sing in Spanish and English. Susan loves Dave King from the Bad Plus. Matt loves folk music including Bob Dylan. They were all U of O music students.
I would color them, but they are cool as black and white drawings too, no? Print them out, make your own coloring book!
St. Lucia, the goddess of percussion!
Bustin Jieber call themselves a sister group to Human Ottoman, but they are much more free form, improvisational and silly. Andy plays sax, alternating between cacophonous squonks and howls, and melodic John Coltrainesque splendor.
Dustin seems to be quite skilled on the Primus slap style, but there’s a healthy dose of Tom Waits and off kilter Zappa here too. They sing about nipples and gravy. It sounds silly, but it’s performed by virtuosos! Long live Jeiber! I’m a belieber! The bands also share a drummer, the marvelous master of rhythm Susan Lucia.
The bands combined at the end of the night to play some songs as “Jeff” including “Bonobo Greeting.” It was a thrill. members will be traveling to Peru and relocating to Portland, so I do not know the future of these talented, enigmatic collectives. Andy also plays with Eleven Eyes, The Cherry Poppin Daddies, and The Tim Mclaughlin Project, so catch him tootin sax somewhere!
SOOO many handsome musicians on one stage!
Sammus is a fierce rapper from Ithaca, NY. She spouts rhymes fast and hurls jokes and comparisons, and nerdy metaphors in righteous lyrical spitfire flow. Scattered, frantic, fan fic laptop hip hop.
She made an EP tribute to Samus Aran, (from Nintendo’s Metroid games bruh) and put on a prop gun arm to deliver her songs “Cybernetic Armor” and “Brinstar.”
She told me she has a helmet, but it’s fragile, hard to travel with and hard to rap in. (With the help of some costumed assistants and a smoke machine, her show could be more like Gwar or The Aquabats.) It was pretty awesome to have her in an intimate all ages venue. I loved her song in which she said, “I’m not one thing, I’m not two things, I’m not three things, I’m not four things, I am more things than your reporting!” (The song is called Mighty Morphin”) It was about how she was called an Oreo because she liked video games, cartoons and was articulate! F your stereotypes and assumptions! We are not homogenous! Listening to Sammus can get you pumped to smash the patriarchy and I hope that comes off as sincere and not patronizing. Thank you Sammus, I WILL LISTEN TO ALL YOUR TRACKS!
A former video game programmer and elementary teacher, she now goes to grad school, programs beats and rocks a mic. Her real name is Enongo Lumumba-Kasongo and her website is here.
The Doubleclicks had some charming banter and interacted with the young girls who came to the show. One of whom said, “that’s a terrible lullaby” after they played “Sing a little lullaby for Mr. Bear.”
Another asked, “why are we clapping?” It became a running gag as Angela questioned her goals and choice of dedicating her life to music between nearly every song. “Why are we clapping, indeed?” It really showed their flexibility and comfort on stage. They are willing to make fun of themselves and meet the mood of the room. They also claimed the most popular member of the band is their cat keyboard and played a rendition of the Dr. Who theme in digital meows. Maybe They could meow the x-men theme next, can you imagine how cool that would be? Meow meow meow meow mewo meow meow, MEOW MEOW!
The sci-fi and fantasy pop culture references were nearly absent at this show, instead they opted for more personal and inspirational material. And many songs about cats.
After a string of their popular, crowd pleasing songs, “This is my Jam,” “Hanging with Cats at Parties,” and “I love you like a Burrito,” they played a Jimmy Eat World cover and their inspirational anthem “Unstoppable Force.” Their video has over 9,700 views!
I’ve seen many bands with cellos and I really like what Aubrey does in the songs. The songs are pop songs, and the cello serves the song every time. It isn’t showing off, and it isn’t trying to sound like a guitar or a bass.
“Why are we clapping.” To me it means, “why are we comgratulating adults who write clever lyrics and set them to catchy music when they could have a REAL JOB?” And the answer is too often, “we applaud them for being braver than us, for we do not have the confidence or skills to do what they are doing.” There was no need to explain to that little girl, we all knew it.
I might ask myself, “why do you self publish on the Internet while you lack the artistic skills to properly draw a human arm?”
Faerbella call themselves “dark cabaret” I thought their clever pop lyrics and harmonies reminded me of Camera Obscura and the Cardigans. Trumpet and stand up bass mean they fit in at a jazz venue, a sense of humor and lovely voices make them a fantastic live show.
Serena had several dance performances with her troupe Fusion Fascination. (Michele was very serious and had a stern face as she danced, but Kaity had a big smile.) I took photos to reference for details in my drawing.
Cullen Vance is so talented, producing elaborate middle eastern soundscapes with a fiddle, some drums and a looping pedal. His wife Mia dances belly dance. I hope to see them again because they are awesome! Keep up with them at this website. Cullen also teaches drama and improv and makes animation.
We also heard humorous stories from Tamathy Christenson, who performs monthly at No Shame Eugene. I got to play piano and theremin and share my cartoons while people mingled and enjoyed Steve’s incredible steam punk, diesel punk and ???? art. His work is always up at the New Zone Gallery. It is weird, wonderful and functioning.
Eugene’s funk pioneers Eleven Eyes tore it up at the hi fi music hall. Andy plays in Bustin Jeiber and the Cherry Poppin Daddies. He subbed in on sax and kicked all the asses!
Is it a weird coincidence that there is an anime named “11 Eyes?”
I have drawn them before check it out.
Isaac and the Awkward Situations 