Aloha!

This band is 5x better live than on record! Every band should be, but alas, sometimes it's the contrary. If you have the chance to see them, go! I doubt they'll disappoint.

Brock and I traversed to Modified Arts, to gain entry rights, as we've had the previous misfortunes of sellouts. I researched the opening bands, Peachcake, and Foreign Born, beforehand. After determining from their MySpace page that Peachcake's core fanbase consists of 17-year olds who love to bounce to their jumpy, synth-pop, we decided to skip out and patronize Carly's, which resides in the spot previously occupied by The Paisley Violin. There we partook of some tasty, exotic beers.

Feeling a new sense of air, we headed back in time to catch Foreign Born. They were described as having a 70s guitar sound. I only caught a hint of that, but they were pretty fresh and interesting to listen too.

Then, there was Aloha. I already had an expectation of greatness from word of mouth, and their performance on the Michigan Fest DVD that I own. They exceeded that expectation. They're a four-piece and aside from the usual guitar, bass, and drums, they had two keyboards, a vibraphone (the iconic piece of Aloha), and an additional floor tom located near the vibraphonist.

They have a few songs where the drummer becomes the focus, pounding out fast, tight and alternating rhythms. He was often accompanied by a relentless beating of the floor tom with mallets (or whatever you call the drumsticks with big, fuzzy ends). Some songs had no guitar, with both keyboards dueting. The bass was melodic, in synch with some drum highlights. It was contagiously energetic.