THIS LITTLE UNDERGROUND
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Jen Cray
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Kay Odyssey at Will's Pub
Kay Odyssey (Aug. 6, Will’s Pub) are a locally connected Austin band that does the
psychedelic thing with a little indie
glamour, which is the only thing to call it when your drummer plays in a torn-up Bowie tee with a fan up-blowing her hair in
seeming slo-mo.
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Jen Cray
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Kay Odyssey at Will's Pub
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Jen Cray
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Kay Odyssey at Will's Pub
Yeah, they’ve got style and theater but, luckily, they’re more than just that. With some intent and conviction, they manage to stack psych rock, post-punk and glam into a convincingly lush mountain of sound.
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Jen Cray
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Transcendental Telecom at Will's Pub
The blend gets a little trickier with Orlando band
Transcendental Telecom, however. They’ve got some intriguing elements that, in their best moments, interplay like the wool and shimmer of neo-Teenage Fanclub bands like
Yuck and
Pity Sex.
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Jen Cray
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Transcendental Telecom at Will's Pub
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Jen Cray
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Transcendental Telecom at Will's Pub
But in their dream-pop cloud-hopping, they have some meandering tendencies that sometimes land them on desultory ground where some shoegaze textures make
strange bedfellows with soft rock vibes. A little more decision and incision, perhaps, and they could be on to something. Any band that makes an overt
Lush reference in one of their song titles (“Miki Berenyi,” off their brand-new album
Etherise) is worth holding out hope for.
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Jen Cray
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Harsh Radish at Will's Pub
And finally, there was
Harsh Radish, the curious and unlikely solo act of Russell Parker that mashes together
guitars and
electronics with almost no regard to their tribal lines, which is enough to root for the guy. For this local, there is no line between
producer and
rocker. Nothing’s more modern than that. It’s a tack that turns his sweetly honest songs into little things of
quirk and wonder. And he may be one of the quickest builders in the loop game, erecting full compositions in the time most are still picking out the bones of the skeleton.
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Jen Cray
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Harsh Radish at Will's Pub
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Jen Cray
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Harsh Radish at Will's Pub
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This Little Underground is Orlando Weekly's music column providing perspective, live reviews and news on the city's music scene.
Follow Bao on Twitter (@baolehuu)
Email Bao: baolehuu@orlandoweekly.com