So there's this band I used to like -- and still do, really -- called Ima Robot. They were a fun, manic dance punk band that gained a bit of popularity and radio airplay when I discovered them around 2003, however they quickly faded away after releasing their second album.
Flash forward to today: I've been reading a lot about this L.A. band Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, who before hearing I understood to be some sort of hippied out Polyphonic Spree with hella band members privy to wearing white robes and prairie gowns.
Then I found out this Edward Sharpe character was none other than Ima Robot singer Alex Ebert, who grew a beard, reinvented himself as Sharpe and recruited nine members to form this group.
Sometimes I'm skeptical when a band has more than six musicians because it just seems like an easy way to create a spectacle and elevate the grandiosity of one's look and sound; gimmicks meant to distract listeners from the fact that the band isn't really focused on the music.
Nevermind the symphonies.
But then I listened to Edward Sharpe and his crew and discovered the songs are quite good, and they're definitely a band to further explore.
It's a throwback kind of sound -- catchy, pop-type stuff brimming with harmony from the band's male and female vocal leads, and infused with lots of things to make it interesting like '50s doo wop, country, the Old West and blue-eyed soul.
They're playing Coachella on Saturday, April 17, and also Bimbo's in San Francisco on Feb. 28 for the Noise Pop festival.
Check out "Home" as played live on KCRW:
2 comments:
Edward Sharpe is a cocky douche. The female singer makes his band.
Can't argue with you there, buddy.
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