- Joined
- Sep 10, 2014
- Messages
- 35
- Reaction score
- 0
They are called Lucius. I began getting paid to play in the 10 grade and have been doing it pretty much steady since then. There are qualities musicians look for in each other or as they apply to a whole band. Are they technically proficient? Are the melodies and lyrics good, or are they just a rehash of some other melody or song?
That is a very hard one because just about everything's been done already. How do they present the music? What does it look like to hear this music. Does it look like they like being there.? Do they understand theory and harmony? Do they understand how to use music and image to reach people? This involves the drama that can be created in the context of music. Think of Meryl Streep and Redford in the byplane...... that is emotion on 10. Music and images can do that. Music can do that all by itself in the right hands.
OK that's the ground work. Lucius does all this very well, and in the context of a rock band. So the music is coming from the ABCs of music knowledge. Basic and therefore very accessible to the majority. That in itself is a trap!
To make music this basic that goes so far beyond `can you dance to it?' is rare. The Beatles and plenty of others did it. Even their very first stuff really had something. Simple as it was. They had the help of a highly educated [ in music and recording ] mentor in George Martin. Lucius had two conservatory grads who were in the jazz program.
You would never know it from the chords and harmonies they use. But it comes thru in other ways. Here is a huge one for me.... very little two and four from the drums. Can you remember the last time you heard a pop tune without the dogmatic drone of two and four from the drummer. Two of the tunes in the set employ that device.
And it really works because they haven't been hitting your over the head with it all night. And what they play instead is very fresh and interesting.
If you head to youtube add `KEXP full performance after their name.' This performance sounds much better than their album..... because it was recorded before they every toured with their music. Touring is the crucible that melds a band and their songs into something pretty presentable. The camera work is especially good in this set. They made it seem like the camera man knew their music. But they probably used three or four cameras and created that impression with editing.
And remember this is a young band that is evolving as I type. If you like them, get a look at these two performances
One of the first things you notice after music is the motion on stage, in the above performance they have refined and improved that aspect. They are like tyco drums with titties! They have gone subtle step more and moved the drummer just behind and between the two girls. You can see them in a restaurant with almost no instruments and guys playing the seats of the stools along the counter or in an office with maybe one guitar and percussion, it matters not they can sell you the song.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=lucius+honey+I'm+home+Two+of+us+on+the+run
Here is a good example [above] some percussion, voices two guitars. It is the story of Holly and Jess after they got out of music school and moved to Brooklyn. They got pretty arty with the lyrics.... all their lyrics are on line. They are also much like their music slimmed down to the essentials concise and clear, and a good story.
Their education shows in so many ways it takes a while to notice it. If you go in a club and you are not twenty and stoned, if the music is so loud you can't speak you will probably go somewhere else.
Music should mimic life, there vicissitudes that make life interesting. Lucius can get loud, they are a rock band, but they do it and everything else with good taste. Musicians call variations in volume dynamics. Lucius comes off like they invented it. The lyrics are intelligent kind of like Sting's lyrics. Not much `oh baby make you sting' to sell it with sex. It's nearly completely absent from their performance. The two ladies have grace and poise to spare. Not one bump or grind no clegege just class. Can you say tits and class here? They have four of those but they are no part of the show.
Not all of you will agree with my acesment of Lucius, nothing wrong with that. Just wanted you to know why I liked them so much. Soon you won't have to look for them on utube. When I first saw them there it was by accident. I just clicked on a pic of this head with a sort of Egyptian hair cut. I immeadiately saw three things I don't like. Gobs of eye makeup, uniforms, and a chubby girl out front. By the end of the first tune I was a slobbering fan. And no, I'm not infatuated with the ladies or the guys. They push all my music buttons at once. For some who's been making and critiquing music for more than 50 years that seldom happens.
Lastly, Lucius may be old hat to many of you, we live off grid in the boonies and killed our TV in `83. So this is my window on the world and I don't look out this particular window much. I have these other ones my wife and I made full of trees and sky and mountains and nothing else man made. For us it's paradise and I don't mind being under informed by corporate interests, NONE of which are mine. Thank you for listening to my happy rant.
Ron
That is a very hard one because just about everything's been done already. How do they present the music? What does it look like to hear this music. Does it look like they like being there.? Do they understand theory and harmony? Do they understand how to use music and image to reach people? This involves the drama that can be created in the context of music. Think of Meryl Streep and Redford in the byplane...... that is emotion on 10. Music and images can do that. Music can do that all by itself in the right hands.
OK that's the ground work. Lucius does all this very well, and in the context of a rock band. So the music is coming from the ABCs of music knowledge. Basic and therefore very accessible to the majority. That in itself is a trap!
To make music this basic that goes so far beyond `can you dance to it?' is rare. The Beatles and plenty of others did it. Even their very first stuff really had something. Simple as it was. They had the help of a highly educated [ in music and recording ] mentor in George Martin. Lucius had two conservatory grads who were in the jazz program.
You would never know it from the chords and harmonies they use. But it comes thru in other ways. Here is a huge one for me.... very little two and four from the drums. Can you remember the last time you heard a pop tune without the dogmatic drone of two and four from the drummer. Two of the tunes in the set employ that device.
And it really works because they haven't been hitting your over the head with it all night. And what they play instead is very fresh and interesting.
If you head to youtube add `KEXP full performance after their name.' This performance sounds much better than their album..... because it was recorded before they every toured with their music. Touring is the crucible that melds a band and their songs into something pretty presentable. The camera work is especially good in this set. They made it seem like the camera man knew their music. But they probably used three or four cameras and created that impression with editing.
And remember this is a young band that is evolving as I type. If you like them, get a look at these two performances
One of the first things you notice after music is the motion on stage, in the above performance they have refined and improved that aspect. They are like tyco drums with titties! They have gone subtle step more and moved the drummer just behind and between the two girls. You can see them in a restaurant with almost no instruments and guys playing the seats of the stools along the counter or in an office with maybe one guitar and percussion, it matters not they can sell you the song.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=lucius+honey+I'm+home+Two+of+us+on+the+run
Here is a good example [above] some percussion, voices two guitars. It is the story of Holly and Jess after they got out of music school and moved to Brooklyn. They got pretty arty with the lyrics.... all their lyrics are on line. They are also much like their music slimmed down to the essentials concise and clear, and a good story.
Their education shows in so many ways it takes a while to notice it. If you go in a club and you are not twenty and stoned, if the music is so loud you can't speak you will probably go somewhere else.
Music should mimic life, there vicissitudes that make life interesting. Lucius can get loud, they are a rock band, but they do it and everything else with good taste. Musicians call variations in volume dynamics. Lucius comes off like they invented it. The lyrics are intelligent kind of like Sting's lyrics. Not much `oh baby make you sting' to sell it with sex. It's nearly completely absent from their performance. The two ladies have grace and poise to spare. Not one bump or grind no clegege just class. Can you say tits and class here? They have four of those but they are no part of the show.
Not all of you will agree with my acesment of Lucius, nothing wrong with that. Just wanted you to know why I liked them so much. Soon you won't have to look for them on utube. When I first saw them there it was by accident. I just clicked on a pic of this head with a sort of Egyptian hair cut. I immeadiately saw three things I don't like. Gobs of eye makeup, uniforms, and a chubby girl out front. By the end of the first tune I was a slobbering fan. And no, I'm not infatuated with the ladies or the guys. They push all my music buttons at once. For some who's been making and critiquing music for more than 50 years that seldom happens.
Lastly, Lucius may be old hat to many of you, we live off grid in the boonies and killed our TV in `83. So this is my window on the world and I don't look out this particular window much. I have these other ones my wife and I made full of trees and sky and mountains and nothing else man made. For us it's paradise and I don't mind being under informed by corporate interests, NONE of which are mine. Thank you for listening to my happy rant.
Ron
