Friday, December 6, 2013

30 Nov 13

It's the most wonderful time of the year, blogspot readers! The holiday season has descended upon us with the rush of Thanksgiving and Black Friday sales ...however during a recent outing around town, it was time to give back and help others so they won't go hungry another night. SouthSide's first stop was to Bucktown's The Mutiny to donate her contribution at Rock In Chicago's Punksgiving show and   canned food drive for The Greater Chicago Food Depository. Featuring live music by The Riot, Sub X, Flagass and Street Fist, fans attending day two of this free show were asked to bring a food donation. The first night at Livewire Lounge featured performances by Blastoff!, The Kreutzer Sonata, Solution Unsatisfactory, This Obsession and The Light Fuse.

After stopping at The Mutiny, it was time to head to Cubby Bear where bands like KF Jacques and Distant BR were rockin' a packed house. SouthSide recommends feeling the alternative rock of Hero Monster Zero as well as the lyrical hip hop sounds of 8090 meshed together on one bill. As Hero Monster Zero,  lead guitarist/vocalist Andy Metz and the band blasted the audience with hard-hitting guitar rock and harmonies thus creating a fun, energetic vibe and momentum. Sometimes, he might even merge both lyrical freestyle rap with the rock during the set as heard before covering an awesome version of Gorillaz's Clint Eastwood. It was the first time this reviewer had seen a local band covering the fictional band and/or any of its songs live on stage ...Hero Monster Zero totally had the audience jamming to their version of this hit song. For more information, visit http://www.facebook.com/HeroMonsterZero.

They rocked the stage with a lively boost of soul/groove rhythms within their rock sound which instantly got this audience moving to the funky beat. Ariada started their Cubby Bear performance with a loud bang, blogspot readers, that this reviewer liked mostly yet there were moments when the loud sound overshadowed not only the band but also female lead Lesliegh (on vocals and keyboard). She enjoyed the energetic momentum Ariada created for their fans judging by the excited reactions heard song after song. Definitely excitement was in the air tonight but on the downside, the boisterous music had a way of being the main focus and not the vocals and/or the actual music. For example, Lesliegh showed some difficulty reaching the high octave vocal range that she seemed to force out of her instead of naturally reaching it. SouthSide also noted that her use of softer side to her dynamic voice would easily get overshadowed by the entire band though able to hit the right notes for that dramatic emphasis. It was moments like this she seemed to be shouting out the words instead of singing, blogspot readers, in which caused her voice to fade in and out by the seventh song. Just to be fair with this review on Ariada, SouthSide conducted a tiny experiment during this performance by standing at different spots around the venue to get a better sense of band and its sound. This reviewer found the sound to be a little fuzzy off the monitors whenever the keys and electric guitar were tuned up high ...thus finding a couple of songs on Ariada's playlist should be a bit quieter to not only highlight the vocals but also the music behind their female vocalist. There should some a little more interaction with the audience since it felt like the band was rushing between songs or Lesliegh's voice was too soft over the mic to hear the song titles where she was standing. SouthSide suggests the band listening to a live recording of their performances and judge for themselves on which songs should be performed under the intense sound and vice versa without losing that excited energy. Though this reviewer has mixed feelings about Ariada, she does see potential from this particular band. With a little more work (i.e. vocal harmonies and music volume perception on certain songs), Ariada will make its mark in the rhythm/soul/rock genre, blogspot readers. They do jam as a band with wild enthusiasm thrilling their hardcore fans down the last note ...they do know how make a show fun for them. For more information about Ariada, visit http://www.araidaband.com.


Until next time, support your local scene,
SouthSide

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