Sometimes the wisest words come from the mouth of the most
incoherent concertgoer. After tipping the bartender, an inebriated
fan lamented, “What happened to acoustic?”
That was the question lingering in the back of many heads at the
Acoustic Live Showcase Series. On Sunday night, a
fire-hazard-worthy crowd packed into the second floor of the
Westwood Brewing Company for the second installment of this monthly
series. Unfortunately, Acoustic Live lived up to half its name.
Only two out of five acts were completely acoustic, but at least
the show was live.
Despite the glaring misnomer, the audience was buzzing with
excitement, especially after witnessing the out-of-this-world
performance by That One Guy and his Magic Pipe. Jaws dropped as Guy
connected the pieces of his Magic Pipe, a tubular contraption
extending high and low with electronic triggers popping everywhere.
The instrument was constructed from normal bathroom pipes, but
appeared to belong on some kind of spaceship.
Guy’s futuristic funk sent a pulsating groove throughout
the room. The audience chuckled as he incorporated Black Sabbath
riffs with drum ‘n’ bass. Incoming fans were dumfounded
as they caught a glimpse of Guy playing a saw with a violin bow. To
go along with his oddball image, Guy’s album is aptly titled
“Songs in the Key of Biotch.”
The almost-acoustic theme continued with local favorite Raining
Jane, who drew a sizable crowd. The quartet performed
straight-ahead rock tunes, singing, “I look better without
you” with the perfect amount of sassiness. The intense
drumming of Mona Tavakoli was just as crowd-pleasing as Guy’s
Magic Pipe.
During Gabriel Mann’s set, the crowd began thinning out.
Though he gave an inspired performance on keyboards, the KCRW 89.9
FM artist hardly clicked with the audience. Mann’s smoky
vocals immediately died upon leaving his lips and simply could not
resonate across the room.
Jared Burton and Alexi Murdoch suffered the same fate. The only
true acoustic artists of the night played to fewer ears than they
had hoped. For Brew Co. fixture Burton, it was merely a shoulder
shrug because he played one song as an impromptu guest performer
helping to segue into Murdoch. However, two straight solo guitar
acts were apparently too much to handle for the chatterboxes
congregating at the end of the room. Murdoch’s attempt to
build a quiet and relaxed mood never materialized.
The acoustic sounds of Burton and Murdoch were the antithesis of
the synth-laden histrionics of headliners A.I. It took several
workers and almost a lifetime for A.I. to assemble all the
machinery. It seemed like a doomsday device was being built on
stage.
The three-piece band attracted a large crowd of people that
hadn’t been present for over an hour. A.I. wowed the audience
with jam sessions that mixed electronica with jazz.