Levi Fuller is a local singer-songwriter guy who walks that line between solo artist with backing band to fronting a trio called Levi Fuller & the Library. Ah well, either way, Levi is one of my favorite Friendsters, so when I heard I had the chance to catch him opening such a stellar local lineup {with Arkade, At Dusk, and TIG favs In Praise of Folly}, I headed out to the newly revamped Graceland on a Tuesday with my imaginary friend lee..
{imaginary aside: the newly designed Graceland looks really nice. And their was soap in the bathroom — well, at least there was in the girl's bathroom. Whoever though the day would come…?}
The trio was intense and focused, with rock-blues overtones and slide guitar a la the White Stripes, though less sparse; in fact, they were rich-sounding for a three-piece (Levi on vocals and guitar, plus a bass player Charlie Potter and drummer Kasey Alexander). After seeing them perform live, they seemed more like a band than "Levi Fuller and those backup guys" — their sound was cohensive, and Levi wasn't a showy person. He was, as the dayjob likes to say, a "team player," integrating his Son Volt-esque vocal stylings and nice dirty-bluesy guitar with their solid rhythm backline.
It's always nice to meet your friendster friends in non-imaginary reality. I'm thilled that Levi Fuller and co. have a sense of humor. My favorite moment? When Kasey proclaimed, "This is the first song off our new album!" a la Live at Budakon. Preciosa!
Next up we heard Arkade, another interesting local trio, but with a completely different sound; as in, they were way too dark to have white stripes. I admittedly saw only the start of their set, but what I heard was primarily instrumental, and full of dark, sweetly-creepy sounds.
They sounded to me like plodding, delicate spider crawling up its web. Arkade made effective use of artisitc monotony, slow momentum, and gong mallets {on the drumkit} to create an epic sound. I liked their solemnly arty crescendo and insane-sounding keyboards. They were like an artful, clanging cacaphony. I can't find any online info about a CD, which is a pity; I'm intrigued to hear a recording of these guys.
Maybe guitar-playing hot-red-headed front-woman Kelly has a Friendster profile that contains that information…?
