I saw Hecuba a Los Angeles band, play late fall 2008 at Lobot Gallery in West Oakland, Cali opening for Lucky Dragons and Pit er Pat(Thrill Jockey). They are a two piece and truly outrageous.  Their sound is comprised of a guy on a stripped down drum kit, Roland sp-D sampling/midi drum pad, keys,various percussion and an extremely talented lady lead vocalist/performance artist.  Their music reminds me of early IDM, but with less techno influence.  Lots and lots of sine waves played in rhythmic cyclical patterns much like Gamalan music or India Raga.  However, do not let me lead you astray….the music does not sound “world” just the concepts of that music being manipulated and massaged into pop structure.  They also tip there hats towards minimal wave and early hip hop.

The most impressive thing about Hecuba is their infectuous live show.  The music is performed live or partially live.  Either way it is very organic and feels like a performance and not a karaoke event.  This is something I do with MNDR, of course in my long standing band tRIANLGE, and 0th.  It is something I value.  Putting in the time to be a great performing act and to allow the audience to feel and react to something being made infront of their mugs.  Now it is so so so so so so s much easier to add many elements of a studio produced band into a live performing band.

Anyways, the other thing I enjoy about Hecuba is there love for Yoko Ono.  Especially early 80′s to mid 80′s Ono.  They have truly captured the spirit of minimal wave, funk, performance art, disco and zoomed into the future with an amazing modern flare.

Their full length Paradise is totally awesome.  I bought it off of itunes and I encourage everyone on the internet, which is a lot of people and bots, to do the same.  I also encourage people to purchase it and not to download it because bands that work on an independent level…a true independent band, need people to purchase their art in order to continue on.  It is important.

Check out the video they made for their single Suffering.  Haute.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 6th, 2009 at 3:33 pm and is filed under Bands. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.