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Lake Trout with Love Assassins |
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Alley Katz
Richmond, Virginia
12.30.00 |
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review
One of the beauties of living in the United States is the opportunity for people of all walks of life to come together and celebrate under the umbrella of common interest. Cultural boundaries are struck down as music fans open their ears to various cross-pollinated styles. The scene the night before New Year's Eve at the side street club Alley Katz in Richmond, Virginia, was a perfect representation of this wide spectrum of tastes, and music lovers came by the hundreds to see the once funk-infused, now ambient drum & bass crew Lake Trout.
In the overcrowded club, 400 people comfortably bobbed their heads to opening band Love Assassins, eagerly anticipating the headliner preparing to take the stage. Love Assassins, a group consisting of two estranged Jazz Poets Society members, laid down heavy jazz and drum & bass-influenced grooves with a four-piece band (including turntables) and an MC. Their set was short and well received, but could not come close to the multi-textural sounds of Lake Trout.
By the time Lake Trout took the stage, the venue was bursting at its seams. It was apparent that management had ignored the maximum safe capacity of the building, as a full house of 15 to 30 year-olds quieted for the first notes played by Ed Harris. The guitarist eased into a repetitious eighth-note pattern that didn't waiver during the entire first song—a near ten-minute jam. The tune, which remains unnamed, was the perfect way for the Baltimore five-piece to start. The song highlighted what each member of the band does best: Matt Pierce laid a harmonious keyboard accompaniment to James Griffith's deep bass and Mike Lowry's riding drums. All the while, vocalist Woody Ranere—sounding like a cross between Harry Connick Jr. and Marvin Gaye—crooned in a heavily-effected voice: "Don't let the last words I say to you be 'I'm sorry.'" The song was the type that attaches itself to your neurotransmitters and stays in your brain for the next week.
The early portion of Lake Trout's extended, one-set performance bounced between ambient and down-tempo drum & bass songs, some of which are featured on the band's recently released live album, Alone At Last. The speed and volume of the show began escalating with the audience-requested "Derelict Bumper." From there, ambient turned into heavy, distorted guitars and the slowed down beats turned into rapid fire drums that only Mike Lowry could have managed with such intense accuracy (this guy is truly a phenomenon). Lowry kept the groove at Preakness speeds, with random pauses for ambient interludes, before diving back into a set. This, of course, ended in heavy panting by the spastically dancing, head-nodding crowd.
There are not many bands that play like Lake Trout. The group's versatility is incredible, but more importantly, the rapport all five members have on stage keeps the music moving, tight, and forever changing. Word on the street is that a crew from Baltimore is introducing the country to something new and original—if it isn't Lake Trout you're watching, I guarantee you're checking out the wrong show.
by Damani
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