MUSIC: Ice Balloons Elevate Dusk

Friday, July 12, 2013

Rob Duguay, GoLocalProv Music Critic

 

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Photo: Lisa Gourley

When a side project featuring TV On The Radio's Kyp Malone and Samiam's Sean Kennerly come to down, there is absolutely no excuse to not show up no matter what day of the week it is. These two magnificent musicians are in Ice Balloons and they headlined a show at Dusk this past Tuesday for a night that exhibited all kinds of rock that was a treasure for the ears. Boston post-rockers Moniker, local garage rock fiends Atlantic Thrills and Post-punk blues band Hope Anchor rounded out a stacked bill chock full of incredible musical skill. Yeah, it was on a Tuesday and you probably had to wake up early for your day job the next day, but who cares? What was happening at Dusk on this night was definitely a time you shouldn't have missed.

Moniker

A band that brings a lot to the table when it comes to style and sound, Moniker from Beantown started the show off with a lot of drive and energy. One thing that irked me though was that the guitarist's vocals were muffled but other than that the quality of the instrumentation was pristine accented by thunderous chord progressions. Moniker has an album titled Work In Prague available for download on their BandCamp page, I suggest to give it a listen and see what you think.

Atlantic Thrills

What more can I say about Atlantic Thrills? They're the way rock & roll is supposed to sound with their down & dirty tunes. You can't go wrong with "Booze", "A Day At The Beach", "Drugs In It","Light Shines" and "Lies" to highlight a set that had guitarist Kelly Riley jumping around like a pogo stick and making the stage shake despite a few minor technical difficulties. Atlantic Thrills has a new 7" single coming out for "A Day At The Beach" to celebrate the summer. The artwork looks pretty rad and I'm sure the single will sound the same.

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Hope Anchor

Coming off their blistering performance opening for The Psychedelic Furs at Fete a few weeks ago, Hope Anchor sounded even better. All I gotta hear is that howling harmonica and snarling guitar and I'm hooked, Hope Anchor has that unapologetic rock aesthetic that let's it all hang out. Speaking of letting it all hang out, you should check out Hope Anchor's page on ReverbNation and absorb their fantastic bluesy punk tinged rock & roll.

Ice Balloons

I can't remember the last time I saw a band feature a keytar, a girl dancing on a trampoline and their lead singer wearing an alien insect mask as part of their repertoire but Ice Balloons had all of those unique objects of wonder on stage to finish off the night. A little drone with noise, punk and an echoing mic made things quite interesting and had me captivated along with everybody else. My only problem is that I couldn't differentiate whether the alien insect headed guy was just yelling gibberish or singing actual lyrics, the rhythm section were absolutely on point with every song though. It was weird but I enjoyed it, I look forward to see what Kyp and Sean's side project has in store for the future. Dusk always has something cool going on and it's one of my favorite places to catch live music in Providence, log on to duskprovidence.com to check out what to see next.

 

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