Beards, Blazers & Belfry’s: Mezzanine Owls and The Mae Shi
Last Thursday night’s Mezzanine Owls Digital EP/7″ release deserves more than than the cursory paragraph summary I’m going to give it. I’m pressed for time on this sunny Sunday and besides Mouse from Classical Geek Theatre has already spent 1000 words documenting the evening, as have several others (also see Jax’s mega-post.) At the risk of redundancy, I’d like to add to the praise. Out of the half dozen or so times I’ve seen the Mezzanine Owls, this was by far their best performance, an observation that Kevin Bronson seconded. Not to say that they hadn’t impressed me before, but they’ve taken that Step to the next level. The jump from good local band to one worthy of breaking out. They’re playing at SXSW next week and you should see them out if you get the chance.
The Mae Shi, who closed out with the evening with an electric, jittery performance will also be playing at SXSW. They are also very good. I’ve never really weighed in on The Smell bands, mainly due to my own preference to mock rap videos from the 90s to dog-piling the indie hype machine. But to get all bandwagony, the lot get the official Passion of the Weiss Seal of Approval (comes with free cassette single of “Motownphilly.”) Live, The Mae Shi are a cross between Health and The Deadly Syndrome, loud, histrionic gestures (Christmas lights, white sheets), endless energy and general awesomeness. Now that I’m using the word “awesomeness” again it’s an obvious sign that I need to get outside and enjoy my Sunday. Olly olly oxen free.
Download: from The Mezzanine Owls Digital EP
MP3: Mezzanine Owls-”Snowglobe”
MP3: The Mae Shi-”Run to Your Grave”
Stumble It!
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:36 pm
i love the mezzanine owls’ sound; i like how they infuse post-punk [which, admittedly is so 2004] with shoegaze [which is probably so 2007, but shoegaze, in my opinion, is one of the few genres that actually deserved a revival]. i agree. these kids deserve to break out.
“the smell scene” gets a thumbs-up from this seattle-ite, as well. the mae shi and mika miko are great, and no age is definitely my favorite LA band since… well, ever.
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:48 am
I didn’t see you there!!! I swear, I looked and looked.
March 6th, 2008 at 1:47 am
Dude I 3rd the statement that it was their best show ever. Theyre usually fantastic but man did they demolish that night.
March 6th, 2008 at 2:00 am
[…] wrote about the Owls recent performance at the Echo here. I’ve been a big fan of them for some time now and they continue to improve every time I see […]
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:56 pm
[…] wrote about the Mezzanine Owls here last month, and my review of their Mezzanine Owls EP appears in this LA Weekly. They’re one of my […]