Ok, first a disclaimer. I’m a sucker for that girl band sound. I quite simply can’t get enough of it. Azure Ray, Mary Lou Lord, Catpower, Opal, The Cocteau Twins, Mazzy Star, The Sundays — I could go on all night if you and I both had the time. It does something to me in ways that are hard to describe. This being said, I have a new band to add to the line up of the greatest girl band sounds that I’ve yet to experience, Minipop.
There are a few moments in every fans life when music creates something powerful. It’s usually emotional and it’s one of those things that for me gets indelibly etched into my mind. It’s like the time back as a freshman in college that Exene Cervenka from X sat on the edge of the stage of the Palace in Hollywood and held my hand while she sang “See How We Are.” It’s like the time that I put on Highway 61 Revisited for the first time or like the different time two years later while laying in Kim’s bed she put on Blood on the Tracks and I got to listen to the entire album in darkness. It’s like the first time I saw Mary Lou Lord at The Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco or the first time I heard Joe Frank’s radio show on college radio deep in the night. Again, I could go on all night.
So as I stumbled into Cafe du Nord last night looking to catch some interesting angle or image with my Canon EOS 10D I heard this lush, wonderful, moving sound coming from the stage by this band called Minipop. And after about five minutes of listening I knew I’d hit on one of those rare music moments in life and god damn it felt good.
Fortunately I had my camera with me and was able to take a few shots. The band didn’t seem to mind — although I was hassled a little bit by the house manager at Cafe du Nord after the show. I’d come with my tripod from shooting shots of the City up on Twin Peaks earlier in the night so I was not exactly the most inconspicuous guest. Fortunately the house manager talked to another guy there and I think they decided to let me off the hook.
So after that long and rambling intro… about the music. As I said before it was lush and wonderful. It had an indie edge with this sort of dreamscape of layers of sounds and noise and distortion and the most lovely and touching vocals from Tricia and Lia.
I’m not sure what the band has by way of release on CD yet. I did buy the 4 song EP that they were selling at the show and hopefully I’ll figure out a way soon to get more of their music.
My favorite song from their EP so far is “Skylike.”
“She got shades of color, skylike full of wonder.”
Indeed.
The band has all four of their EP songs up for listening up on their myspaces website The also have what looks like a more official band website at Minipopmusic.
The band will be playing in Oakland this next Saturday night at imusicast (I think according to their myspaces site, but it wasn’t on the calendar at imusicast) and will be at The Great American Music Hall on August 3rd and 4th.
Update: The band did confirm that they are playing imusicast on July 25th not June 25th. They won’t be there this coming Saturday.