PICS: Persian Excursion and Shopping List headline ‘Art+Flea’
July 25, 2010 by Star-Advertiser Staff
Filed under Music, Picture Blogs, Reviews
Photos by Cindy Ellen Russell / crussell@staradvertiser.com
Persian Excursion lead singer Robert Bidigare performs amongst the crowd at Fresh Cafe’s “Art+Flea” last Thursday.
Review by Gary Chun
gchun@staradvertiser.com
The indie rock scene in Honolulu has never been livelier.
At venues like Fresh Cafe and in the downtown area, there are any number of showcases featuring bands of all kinds. Following the “Art+Flea” market at the Kakaako gathering spot last Thursday, four bands played 20-minute sets until midnight, showing the range of musics that are being played.
After an opening set from post-punkers Narwhal, noise mongers Uvovu + Yeda (Dominic Amorin and Mikey Yeda) reveled in cacophonous play, generating loud volumes of sculpted white noise, distorted sounds using contact mics and the occasional punctuation of trumpet blares and cymbal crashes.
Mikey Yeda of Uvovu + Yeda employs a contact mike to make abstract noise.
Dominic Amorin of Uvovu + Yeda uses a contact mike attached to bicycle wheel to make abstract noise.
Primitivists Persian Excursion followed. The quartet of vocalist Robert Bidigare (channeling Iggy Pop), guitarist David Richardson, bassist Paul Brittain and drummer Pamela Nakayama (channeling Maureen Tucker of Velvet Underground fame), gleefully shambled their way through of a bunch of originals, made more entertaining by Bidigare’s devil-may-care moves amongst the small crowd.
Paul Brittain of Persian Excursion performs.
Persian Excursion’s Pamela Nakayama performs.
The evening ended with a well-received set from Shopping List, one of the more promising and musically adept bands on the local scene. Singer-guitarist Greg Jennings, bassist Toni Woo and drummer Eric Pecoraro have a definite chemistry between them, and the band’s stage presentation — complete with work lamp lighting triggered by switches at Jennings’ feet — made for a starkly lit but engaging visual effect. Their medley opus of “Can’t See It But It’s There” and “Oh, Bright Thief” closed the night on a strong note.
Shopping List Singer-guitarist Greg Jennings belts out a song as bassist Toni Woo performs in the background.
Look out for an upcoming story on Shopping List and information on other interesting local indie bands in the printed version of TGIF next month.
