Ambulance Ltd. / Autolux (The Independent, 26 March 2005)

While last week was dubbed the "hype week," where the shows I went to (Bloc Party, Kaiser Chiefs, and The Decemberists (to some degree)) were all bands with a lot of hype surrounding their current releases, this week of shows is dubbed "second look week," where I give bands who I didn't particularly like live and give them another chance to shine.

I was about to buy a ticket for the Stars show at Bimbo's because their current release, Set Yourself on Fire, is a great pop album. I have seen Stars 4 times, and all four times they sucked donkey balls. I blame Torquil Campbell's acting like a moron on stage and his rather weak live vocals to be the cause of my disdain. Luckily, I didn't buy tickets for this show and my friend's review of their show in L.A. affirmed my non-purchase.

Instead, I opted to buy a ticket for the Ambulance Ltd. / Autolux gig. Ambulance Ltd.'s self-titled debut was one of my top albums from last year. It's simplicity is sheer genius and the catchy guitar riffs are exactly that - catchy. When I saw them open up for Elefant last year at GAMH, I was thoroughly pleased with their performance. So, this was a no-brainer of a purchase.

However, I didn't buy this ticket once it was released but instead bought it the day of to give another band a chance to shine. I was sort of "so-so" with Autolux's performance opening up for Secret Machines a few months ago. This time, I wanted to give them another shot because their album, Future Perfect, is a great release with solid songs and lots and lots and lots of good noise.

Autolux came on around 10pm before a very full house at the Independent. Despite the show being on sale for months, it didn't sell out until after 7pm that day. The crowd were a weird bunch, some not knowing who's playing at all and some who are true fans. The people in the front were bouncing somewhat when Autolux came on. They played a lot, if not all, of their album. Highlights of their set includes "Turnstile Blues," where Carla Azar, the female drummer of the band, pounding the drums as if the volume of the banging depended on her life. The guitar work of Greg Edwards on this song, mixing influences of shoe gaze from Ride and Lush, was just amazing. Also, Carla's backing vocals added to the allure of this song. Another highlight was "Here Comes Everybody," where Carla's soft backing vocals gave me shivers. Her just saying, "sha-la-la, let's go, let's go" just had this profound effect on me. The harmonizing of Carla, Greg, and bassist Eugene Goreshter was perfect for the most part.

Ambulance Ltd. soon followed at around 11:30pm. They opened up with "Yoga Means Union" which was the same song they opened up with at most of their shows. Once again, Ambulance Ltd. did not disappoint. They played all the songs I wanted to hear, including "Primitive (The Way I Treat You)", "Ophelia", "Heavy Lifting", "Stay Where You Are", and "Anecdote". Marcus Congleton's voice, at times, was a bit scratchy and not in tune. However, he didn't disappoint when his voice needed that extra "umph" in key parts of their songs. I would give you an example, but I don't know how to describe this without you actually hearing it.

Ambulance Ltd.'s main set was short, but they came back for a couple of songs in their encore. The first song in their encore was a song that was not off their album, but the main guitar riff in that song is EXACTLY like The Charlatan's "Here Comes a Soul Saver." I wonder if they know this or not. It would be funny if they didn't. It would be even funnier if they admit to just knicking that riff outright. If anyone knows this song, please leave a comment on what the title is and where I can find it.

Overall, it was a great gig and Autolux definitely redeemed themselves.

Beer Ratings: 2.5 Beers for Autolux, 2 Beers for Ambulance Ltd.