Divisadero/Marvelous Toy/One Trick Pony

I went out as promised last Friday night and attended a dual CD release party for two local bands, Marvelous Toy and Divisadero, with special guests One Trick Pony. The show was at Pehrspace, a non-profit venue and art space in Historic Filipinotown (just south of Echo Park). It’s BYOB with friendly habitués, the kind of place where the bands sell their music out of suitcases after the show, and it has an awesome artist-friendly policy: with $5 cover, 60% of their proceeds go directly to the musicians that play and the rest goes to pay rent, utilities, etc. The crowd was near capacity all night and the music-loving audience was truly appreciative of all of the performers. The first act One Trick Pony performed as a three-piece, with guitar, violin, percussion and textured vocal harmonies. Randolph Williams III formed the band in 2003 and his former manager Jenny Teixeira joined later as drummer. Williams' voice is soulful and his lead vocal meshes well with Teixeira's soprano backing; violinist Charlene Huang provided haunting strings to the core duo for this show. There is poetry in One Trick Pony's lyrics and a quality of longing that's very touching. They played a short set, intended to end with the one-two gut-punch of "Children I" and "II", but their audience wheedled more, and the band gladly obliged with an encore song (with Huang in an aside to Williams, "I really like this place!).

The second band Marvelous Toy was on board to celebrate the release of their second collection, All Is Quiet. Founder Jordan Hudock fronts the band on vocals, guitar and keys and also writes the songs, flanked by his brother Cody Hudock on keys and sleigh bells, Franck Fiser on drums and percussion and Ny Lee on backing vocals, piano and glockenspiel. Bassist Justin Fields pitched in for the Pehrspace show, with Hudock saying, "He makes us sound like a good band!" They played a mix of music from the new CD and older songs - one highlight was "You Were Brighter," a song from The Disappearing Heart (the group’s first CD) that has a memorable video, viewable on their MySpace page. One Trick Pony played only a handful of songs due to time constraints, but Marvelous Toy delivered a longer set of nine tunes, closing with two great numbers from the new EP: "The City is a Washing Machine," a love-hate song to Los Angeles, and what may be their strongest track to date, "Waiting for the Fire." This song has settled into me for a long run since the show, and I told Jordan that he needs to get it into a movie - it's very dramatic and melodic and would lend itself really well to film. Marvelous Toy manages to combine modern indie pop with a Western sound to make something that is truly unique.

The final band Divisadero opted for a full-on orchestral effect, bringing nine people to the stage for an epic set. They were debuting their new release Lefty, a concept album about the life of a boxer during the Dust Bowl era. With influences ranging from Woody Guthrie to Sonic Youth, the lineup included everything from saw and spoons to churning bass, heavy guitar, a cello and another guest appearance by Charlene Huang on violin. A loop of atmospheric black and white film imagery was projected onto the wall behind them throughout, elevating the show to the level of performance art. I have to say, I was absolutely entranced. The combination of the moving images and the wall of sound created an effect like a cascading waterfall of energy. I sat on the floor right in front and absorbed the spectacle for over an hour, and when I left I still felt tingly from all of the sensory input.

It's easy to see the motivation for each of these groups - these performers threw themselves into their music heart and soul like mad, passionate lovers. It was beautiful to see, and I found it all very inspiring. I also love Pehrspace and plan to go back as soon as possible - it's exactly the kind of place I want to support.

Check out the following MySpace profiles for more info on these bands:

One Trick Pony: http://www.myspace.com/onetrickpony

Marvelous Toy: http://www.myspace.com/marveloustoy

Divisadero: http://www.myspace.com/soundsofdivisadero

And last but not least, Pehrspace: http://www.myspace.com/pehrspace