03 Jul 10

"...one thing is sure ...love is universal..." ~ Hypernova


Hey, blogspot readers, plenty of fireworks were happening during this American holiday weekend. At the Elbo Room, it was a star-spangled banner lineup of the red, white and blue stars within the music scene. Tonight, SouthSide was busy dividing her time between up and downstairs lounges for rockin' sets by Brinn Black (Nashville, TN), Kaylin Lee Clinton (NY) and Hypernova (Iran/NY). This reviewer highly recommends checking out all three this summer.

Raising money and awareness about the flood victims in Nashville, this country darlin' impressed SouthSide with her Elbo Room debut. Yes, even this hardcore rock chick like SouthSide found herself enjoying the pop/country music. Singer/songwriter Brinn Black performed an acoustic set full of rich emotion and passion found her vocals. The dynamic power really made the lyrics in her songs pop with life under the vibrant guitar sound. She had the small audience in the lounge rockin' to her hit single, Not That Girl. Though this reviewer was only able to catch part of her performance (before joining the fun downstairs), she encourages fans to check out Brinn which currently on tour. Also support the Nashville flood victims by purchasing a flood relief t-shirt for a mere ten dollars ($10). For more information on tour dates and places, visit www.brinnblack.com or www.myspace.com/brinnblack.

Modern jazz/soul/R&B enthusiasts should check out the music and vocal style of Kaylin Lee Clinton. What made this performance so special was the fact she had the full band backing her up this time. She had everyone in the basement lounge rockin' to wide range of music genres from Latin groove (with a jazz mix - think Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass) to a little Western and even some French chanteuse songbird. Whew ...plus there was more in between during Kaylin's set. And though her soft vocals perfectly fit the mood and tempo of each song, it was (at times) overpowered by the band itself. Still Kaylin's voice had that certain spark to make the lyrics pop with life. This reviewer enjoyed her chocolaty ode to Yoohoo drinks titled Yoohoo (in which she had never tasted one before). She created a hot and steamy atmosphere for the audience with her Latin-sounding song. The highlight of her performance came when she shared an emotional duet with the keyboardist in which her vocals truly shined. After closing with a fun and witty number, one lucky fan treated this artist to her first Yoohoo! SouthSide highly recommends checking out Kaylin Lee Clinton wherever she's rockin' the stage (with full band or not) as well as checking out her The Dustbunny EP on cdbaby.com. For more information, visit www.myspace.com/kaylinleeclinton.

Connecting the best of Middle Eastern and Western influences for their rock sound, Hypernova rocked out the Elbo Room with an energetic performance. It was full of electronic/techno nicely complimenting the sharp guitar rock edge. This reviewer immediately found herself enjoying the club atmosphere of this band's music while liking the deep vocals by Raam (front man/guitar). She felt the emotions behind the simplistic message-like lyrics in which could be forceful at times though making his wants and intentions well-known to the audience dancing to the music. Lyrics, "...I don't have the answers/one thing is sure/love is universal..." or listen carefully to another song in which he states there are no happy endings in fairy tales (Fairy Tales) and in another, he expressed wishing to be a martyr for the cause, tend to be quite serious (and very personal in nature)behind Hypernova's rockin' music. Despite finding this technique slightly odd, she did find it unique as well since this band's take on the Western rock genre went beyond the typical love/relationship lyrical tone. Still Hypernova set poetry into motion with thundering guitars and Euro-sounding keyboard rhythms (that didn't overpower the rock music. Besides listening to Fairy Tales (off their current album Through The Chaos), this reviewer also suggests listening to Viva La Resistance. For more information, visit www.hypernova.com or www.myspace.com/hypernova.


Until next time, support your local scene,
SouthSide