Candy Bars are darlings of the Tampa indie music scene and things have been, well, a bit sour since they've been on hiatus. Sweetness returned this past Saturday, August 8, at New World Brewery with a New Granada Presents show featuring Candy Bars, Venice is Sinking and The Pauses.
Candy Bars
Frequently, scene darlings don't deliver when push comes to shove. Happily, Candy Bars trashes that stereotype. Both recorded and live, Candy Bars play a beautiful sort of dream pop with a note of something a bit dark resonating in their introspective lyrics and instrumentation. Their record, On Cutting Ti-Gers in Half and Understanding Narravation (New Granada Records) earned positive reviews from lots of national music publications including Pitchfork.com.
Candy Bars do have new material but life events like school and marriages has put recording a new record on the backburner for the time being. Here's hoping that it won't be too long of a sojourn. This evening's performance was hot (literally and figuratively) with full audience participation and front row seating for the three birthday celebrators in the audience.
Candy Bars are Daniel Martinez (voice, guitar), Ryan Hastings (drums, percussion) and Melissa Grady (cello)
Venice is Sinking
Lovers of music that develops slowly and eventually envelopes you will be into Venice is Sinking (VIS). The Athens, Ga. five-piece makes clever orchestral pop with male/female harmonies. They are frequently compared to bands like Low, Yo La Tengo and Mojave 3. Their current record, Azar (One Percent Press), is garnering mixed reviews. Apparently, VIS is one of those bands that you either love and appreciate, or you just don't. If you are in the love category, you should definitely see VIS perform because as much as you like their recordings, they are just as good if not better in a live setting. Even if you don't like slow music, there's a good chance you'll still enjoy VIS live. Why? Because VIS truly excels by effortlessly demonstrating impressive feats of musicianship, like the keyboardist playing his keys and trumpet simultaneously. I was impressed by their ability to draw people in and keep them listening, which can be difficult for a quiet band in a noisy place like New World Brewery.
Venice is Sinking is Daniel Lawson, Karolyn Troupe, Lucas Jensen, James Sewell, and Jeremy Sellers
The Pauses
Orlando is a place where dreams come true all day every day but in a themepark contained sort of way. But sometimes, this magic manages to inspire dreams that can live outside of theme park confines. Orlando's Pauses have big dreams for their music and hope to raise enough money to record with the legendary J. Robbins. To wit, The Pauses are currently raising money creatively — think bake sale and raffles — to fund their dream recording. Unsurprisingly, their music is creative and a bit whimsical with keyboards, a computer, cool bells (sadly I couldn't hear them live) and an animatronic owl. I hope their dreams come true and not just because I won the raffle but because I really want to hear what they sound like recorded by a master (especially the bells).
The Pauses are Tierney Tough (Voxxx, Norda, Bassa Nova), Jason Kupfer (Guitar, Computerboard, Keys, Foot Bells) and Nathan Chase (Drums, Noises, Electronics)
For more photos, please visit the following links:
- Elawgrrl's live music photography collection: Only Music Has The Answer.
