[ATTENDED: September 26, 2021] Mr. Elevator
I had I had never heard of Mr. Elevator and really didn’t know what to expect from them.
It turned out that they are a fun, retro-sounding psychedelic band.
I was immediately blown away by their drummer Jesse Gorman Conlee who was metronomically precise and playing complicated rhythms. Which seemed at odds with, but which worked perfectly with the synthy grooves the rest of the band was making.
It also turned out that the keyboardist and main singer Tomas Dolas is (as of 2018) the keyboardist in Osees. They started out as Mr. Elevator and the Brain Hotel, but droped half of the name after releasing their first album Nico and Her Psychedelic Subconscious.
The show started with them spread across the stage–drums on the left, bass (Jon Tattleman), keys (Dolas) and more keys on the right (Justin Ruiz). They played a series of mellow, but still rocking songs. There were lots of cool trippy synths and some solid basslines. Dolas has some lengthy jamming keyboard solos that were very retro.
Then they played “Sylvia” and the tone changed a bit. This song was a bit more rocking (with co-lead vocals from Tattleman). I enjoyed this one a lot too.
After the song Dolas asked if anyone wanted to hear any old Elevator. This is when I learned that they weren’t a new band at all. And that there was a huge fan base for their first album, which is even more retro and trippy sounding.
The tone was very different with prominent bass lines and old-fashioned keyboard sounds. The crowd went nuts as they played “Nico” and “And Her Psychedelic Subconscious.” They ended with “My Purple I” and I became an instant fan of the band.
Their records are great and I would love to see them again.
- Waiting ⊗
- Alone Together ⊗
- Bamboo Forest ⊗
- Anywhere ⊗
- Down ⊗
- Sylvia ⊗
- Nico ≅
- And Her Psychedelic Subconscious ≅
- My Purple I ≅
⊗ = Goodbye, Blue Sky (2020)
≅ = Nico and Her Psychedelic Subconscious (2013)
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