The Virgins

Monday night was an interesting evening of music by some young bands that seemed to embody the spirit of “buzz” bands, although it could be argued that they may have been in that situation more out of their own creation than truly earning the hype. Each band offered a little different take some currently popular genres of music (garage rock, new wave, acoustic balladry) and showed some hints of bigger things to come.

Anya Marina

First up was young singer/songwriter Ayna Marina and her breathy vocals and sugar coated pop songs. Her simple lyrics and standard guitar playing (acoustic most of the time with a few songs on electric) was supplemented by some occasional use of a drum machine. Her songs seemed aimed at (and were well received by) the teen audience who had decided to TiVo Gossip Girl and see some live music on a cold Monday night. One of the stronger songs from the set was a song she co-wrote with Britt Daniel of Spoon (who also produced her album) which sounded like “The Beast and Dragon, Adored” with some sultry female vocals. She did two covers, one of which was of the song “You Can Have Whatever You Like” by T.I. This song, which the crowd seemed to really like, pretty much summed up my general feeling towards her set, which was that she was talented but not doing something that was up my alley.

Anya Marina

Lissy Trullie

Up next was Lissy Trullie, who seemed to embody the style over substance argument I made in the opening paragraph. Doing a little research after the show I found out she started out in modeling and it was her “lo-fi” musical demos that got the attention of record labels. (I am sure her barley existent mini skirt helped too.) The songs were noisy garage rock songs that probably were trying to sound like Blondie, but mostly just sounded tired and derivative. The best song of her set was a cover of Hot Chip’s jam “Ready For the Floor”, which they didn’t play particularly well, but it was at least a good song.

Lissy Trullie

The Virgins

The Virgins

The Virgins

Last up were the band that I was the most familiar with coming into the night and the band that ended up being the biggest surprise. I had given The Virgins debut CD a few spins and it initially seemed overhyped and underwhelming, but they were surprisingly good live. Like the first two artists, they at times seemed to be trying a little too hard to fit into a particular style, but their Strokes covering “Miss You” era Stones sound was fun and engaging live. Their playing was tight and they really got the crowd moving. I will have to go back and check out their CD and see if it sounds better after their impressive live show. Overall, the Virgins showed the most promise out of the three bands, but I would not be surprised to see any (or all) of them on MTV and on top of the pop charts in the very near future.

The Virgins

The Virgins

[review by Josh Keller, photos by Jon Behm]

The Virgins: Official | MySpace | Wikipedia
Lissy Trullie: MySpace
Anya Marina: Official | MySpace

Also: (Anya Marina “Two Left Feet”)