a man and his moog

jimmy lavalle of the album leaf
preparing to change lives through the power of ambient rock.

as foretold in the ancient manuscripts, amanda, jenn, ryan, and i made the sacred journey to denton, tx last night to see a rock show. the venue was called hailey's, and the bands were the album leaf, ester drang, and the roots of orchis. the album leaf was the headliner, and rightly so. they put on quite a production, and virtually all of it was created live. their instruments included: electric piano, various keyboards, a mini-moog (synthesizer), electric violin, drums, bass, and guitar. only one song had vocals, but they were not missed. it was incredible to see them at work. jimmy (pictured above) played several of the 'instruments' all at once and was all over the place twisting knobs, pressing buttons, playing keys, and generally weaving a masterpiece of sound. their cd's are must-haves, and i highly recommend hearing them live.

ester drang had by far the best visual accompaniment to their music that i have ever seen at a live show. there really is no way to describe it, other than to say it was a conglomeration of images fading in and out of one another, and it seemed at points even to be synced up with the music. they included a wide array of recorded sounds (yes, even seagulls) and have quite a bit of their show tracked. even so, it sounded great. they played a lot of new music from an album they just finished recording, and it just keeps getting better and better (i didn't get any pictures of them worth posting).

the roots of orchis opened the evening with an impressive show of talent as each member of the band not only played his primary instrument, but also took turns on the mini-moog playing solos.

all in all, a great night. i give haileys 4 stars only because i really like to be able to sit and absorb the music, but still be able to see. there was ample seating, but it was all floor level, so to sit was to not see. all good (5 star) venues should have a higher tier or balcony of sorts from which one can have a birds eye view and listen in comfort (my opinion).

special thanks to jenn who kept us all alive even though we sold her out and fell asleep on the way home. she brought us safely to our doorsteps at exactly 4:50am.