Echoplex: IO Echo and ZaZa

I was out at the Echoplex Tuesday night for Indie 103.1’s Check One Two. (I wonder what will happen to this night with the radio station no longer around.)

I arrived during the middle (perhaps closer to the beginning) of ZaZa’s set. ZaZa is an ethereal rock band. I actually wanted to come and see their whole set, but got held up. I checked out their website beforehand and was stunned by their music. Their vocals just allow you to float out there in space. A number of times, when you see a band live you hardly recognize them because your impression of them was made via manipulated music recordings. As soon as I walked into the Echoplex, I knew that ZaZa was on stage. The only difference between their website recordings and their live show was that perhaps the drums played a more driving force during their live set. Based on my brief read of their website, I guess they’re originally from the West Coast (I don’t know if this means Los Angeles), but are now based out in New York City.

I hung out with a couple friends for awhile and then IO Echo came on stage. I’ll have to admit that I found it hard to get into the set during the first couple songs. I had this slight level of anxiety. I’d convinced my two friends that this was a local band to check out. Also, this was only the second time I’d seen them so honestly I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. I’d built up this band based off of seeing only one previous gig. Sometimes you see a band for the first time and think they’re great, and then the next time you scratch your head and wonder what you were thinking previously. After awhile I stopped thinking about my friends’ potential negative opinions about the band and started getting into the music. It was hard not to get into the music when towards the center of the floor the crowd was jumping to the music. The band ended with a couple songs that they just hit out of the ballpark. And then it was over. Hmm, how long was that set? Where was the encore? Hey, I wanted more.

IO Echo isn’t just a band. To me, it is a mixture of music and performance art. The band is creepy good fun – a horror flick movie with magical vibes. This was a night we all went down the rabbit hole with IO Echo.

Note: A longer version of this may soon appear elsewhere on the web. When it does, I'll link to it in a blog update.