Music lovers both young and old gathered at Empty Bottle on Friday, April 12 to enjoy a night of consciousness-expanding psychedelic jams, and to enjoy a beer or two as well. The show began at 10pm, so many concertgoers smartly waited in the pizza restaurant next door, enjoying lovingly crafted slices of sicilian pizza in anticipation of a night of distorted guitars and drums. 

First to take the stage was Bruce Lamont. Using a series of pedals and loop machines, Lamont created layer after layer of music, all culminating in an enveloping soundscape that could have soundtracked a feature film. Using a guitar, saxophone, oboe, wood block, drums, and his own voice, Lamont painstakingly crafted a world of music right before our eyes. Seemingly out of nowhere, in the middle of the performance, Lamont reached behind his laptop and unplugged the extension cord bringing power to his setup. In a moment, this world of sound disappeared, and the audience erupted into applause.

At The Empty Bottle, there is no 30 minute wait between sets, as the sound crew are experienced and efficient in what they do, so in no time at all, Minami Deutsch was on stage and tuning their instruments. Making up the band is Kyotaro Miula on lead guitar and vocals, Taku Idemoto on rhythm guitar, Keita Ise on bass, and Kosei Terunuma on drums. The band began with a song from their debut self-titled record, called ‘Futsu Ni Ikirenai.’ The album is based around the famous ‘Motorik’ beat made famous by the likes of Kraftwerk and Neu!, but takes this to a different level, including flavors of psychedelic music and jam. This modern krautrock band takes influence from all over, as is seen through their next song ‘Grumpy Joa.’ This track is also based in krautrock, but takes a far more upbeat approach, with a catchy bass riff from Ise paired with a fun vocal melody by Miula. 

These are both songs that are familiar favorites to myself, but seeing them performed live changed the way I feel about them, and the music of the band as a whole. It felt as if the songs that they wrote and recorded in the studio were showing the band at 25% of their power, and when they are on stage, they allow themselves to go fully 100% for brief stints in each song. The band built melodies on top of each other to increase tension, and then they would release it all in these massive, all encompassing jams that had my hair blowing straight backwards. After the second song, the crowd exploded into applause, cheers, screeches, woos, devil horns, and other forms of admiration, but the band had only just begun.

The band continued with a couple more downtempo songs, including standout ‘Tangled Yarn.’ This song shifts the primary focus of the instrumentation from the bass to the guitar, and highlighted Miula’s proclivity and proficiency at improvisation. Miula announced the next song would be the last of the set, and thanked the crowd for being there. They broke out into another song from 2018’s With Dim Light, ‘Tunnel’ The song featured the most fastest tempo of the night, and allowed the band to dive into some really intense jams, the most explosive of which finished off the set. The song built to the most resonant jam of the night, ending with a long drum solo from Terunuma. 

By the time Earthless had taken the stage, it was past midnight, and the venue was completely packed. Despite the crowd, the stage was easy to see from any angle, especially from the elevated section on stage left. Made up of Isaiah Mitchell on guitar, Mike Egington on bass, and Mario Rubalcala on drums, the band from San Diego has been making music since 2001, and their first record is about to celebrate it’s 20th anniversary. They opened with a song that continually evolved from a song that resembled drone and ambient music, into highly technical guitar jams that had the crowd mesmerized. It was difficult to tell where one song ended and the next one began, as each song shared melodic motifs with the previous ones. Their song ‘Sonic Prayer’ was the highlight of the setlist. The song starts out very brooding and mysterious, matching the aesthetics of the band, but slowly grows more volcanic as it evolves. This song highlighted Mitchell’s skills as a guitarist, as his guitar seemed to fly out of his arms and zip across the room. The various solos in the song were mind-bending, and made for an excellent live experience.

Minami Deutsch and Earthless are continuing their U.S. tour together through April and into May, including a stop at Austin Psych Fest later this month. Be on the lookout for performances and new music from both bands.