One’s gotta love taking in a Sunday night concert while sipping on draft beer and nibbling on good chicken fingers. Solid Gold was the headliner that evening at Subterranean. Solid Gold is a band that you could accurately deem falls under the umbrella of “glam-rock”, although this author has mixed feelings about that moniker.
They kicked off with two tracks from their album “Bodies of Water”, Calm Down, and Bible Thumper. In both, the beat is unchanging in the slightest, almost unflinching and bordering on sounding quantinized and computer-generated. It’s interesting to take in a band whose appearance is something like 1974, but plays this contemporary electro-rock. It shows you the manner in which the contemporary musical generation has chosen to come full-circle. On both of these tracks the dance sensation their music emitted was palpable, even for those who normally don’t succumb to such sensations, and this is one of their strongest attributes.
Another positive characteristic of their sound was that they seem to understand how one should fit more relaxed, and at times relatively drawn out lyrics, within the pounding or quick beats that lie in the background – it’s that slight sonic juxtaposition which gives them a high level of accessibility.
Another highlight of their set was when they played on of their best songs, Get Over It, but subdued the pace slightly and infused more a rock’ier sound – relative to the album version. It culminated in a great sound, especially as one member had his guitar on his lap infusing a slightly psychedelic slide-guitar sound into the song.
However, the energy and momentum that was established within the first handful of songs did begin to wane as seemingly the tempo and emphasis within the following songs too closely matched those at the beginning. A different track ordering, or some tracks with more noticeable alternating in pace would have been beneficial for them. Also, ending a set with a cover song (Top Gun’s Danger Zone), no matter how well done, was probably a bit kitschy.
That being said, this author still enjoyed taking in Solid Gold’s glam-rock stlyings. They have a grasp of making highly enjoyable electro-rock without it becoming oppressively pop-like. They have an understanding of how to amalgamate yowling, ear-and-mind-catching sounds, with fully danceable percussion. Eventually this band is going to release the right single and their careers will instantly ascend, because they can be extremely catchy while still remaining genuine to this sonic philosophy.
By Sean Brna
seanbrna@gmail.com
You may report this, just leave the authors information and a link back to this site.
