Today’s round-up includes two energetic versions, one a cover, the other a remix, and a bravura original, the former the work of two established acts in Los Angeles and the latter by one in Manchester which, at least in its current form, evidently is just getting started.
The English band (if in fact that’s what it is) is called Black Tooth Songs, and around a month ago it released a debut EP on its Soundcloud page; the third track recalls something of the rhythm and blues of forty-five years ago, flavored with some punk notes from ten or so years later in the vocals and the arrangements – thus suggesting that in the right hands there might be life left in both these musical idioms, especially when conjoined with one another. It is entitled “100 Short.”
Of tonight’s two representatives of the diverse pop music life in Los Angeles, the first is the band Cage 9, for years now a feature on the hard-rock scene there and elsewhere; a point of entry into its music is offered by a quite loud and quite enjoyable version of that synth-pop anthem from the eighties, Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence,” which is refashioned above all for some virtuoso electric guitar.
A remix of “Roadhouse Blues” by The Doors, by the DJ duo The Crystal Method (that is, Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland), completes tonight’s round-up. Here the musical genres which enter the mix are too many to list, but they are expertly put together, with attention to detail and evidently some skilled handwork at the consoles and turntables: it should serve them well during the tour through several American cities on which the two will soon be embarking.
