Tonight in Music: Lena Lou, Big Spiders Back and MORE!!

Clara’s Affair, Lena Lou, Pioneers West @ The High Dive | 04/26 | $6 | 8pm | 21+

Clara’s Affair immediately commands attention via the voice of Aubrey Zoil. Her voice has amazing resonance, adding texture and nuances to every song often impossible for most singers. Like Brandi Carlile mixed with a little Regina Spektor, her backing band adds the perfect melodies to touch up their sound. Being in the room with someone of her caliber performing leaves the listener with a feeling of pride, like you know your supporting something great musically. Absolutely worth checking out for the measly $6 cover.

Lena Lou is all instrumental led by female guitarist Lena Lou, and it’s luster is intoxicating. Super charged shoe-gaze captured with a Jimi Hendrix meets Radiohead melodies, Lena Lou is absolutely in a category by herself. Stepping on all the rules she commands a room with her stark guitar presence and demands you sit up and take notice. Her ability to transcend gender barriers so often placed to male guitar leads is rivaled with her band that charges the stage and leave the audience wanting more. This show is definitely worth checking out.

Tacoma has been turning out a lot of good music in the last year, and Pioneers West (PW) is no exception. PW skirts the lines of shoe-gaze with soul derived indie-esk vocals. Darker texture paints a image of broken overtones, and an almost baritone voice that shifts the demeanor to that of lyrical depth. You might not be dancing to it but you will be mesmerized.

Ready for an ambient-electro shock-wave that will satisfy your palette of Decibel Festival withdrawals? Well here’s a solid lineup of local electro-geeks that will quench that thirst.

Sports, Tumble Dry, Big Spider’s Back @ The Comet Tavern | 04/26 | $5 | 8pm | 21+

Big Spiders Back (BSB) is electro goodness with airy space vocals and accented synth backing—a montage of long reverberation and delays, looped guitars and spaced out sounds. Fairly ambiguous about who they are, they (as in one) usually accompany the show with projected visual effects that add to the musical mystic nostalgia. Check out this video of the song “Warped” for a little taste:

Warped from Karla Santos on Vimeo.

Sports has been playing a lot and also seems to be an ambiguous one-man-band. Less vocals and more electro resonance the sound feels more like the backing track to a drug rehab documentary—very synth driven and loop oriented. There’s only one song posted on Myspace however it’s also available to download at the un-blogged blogspot URL located here.

Finally Tumble Dry is a two-man team of Jonathan Hudak and Preston Hillman who are rumored to prefer the permanent press setting despite the proprietary name. Regardless this team seems to deliver more depth into the classic keyboard synth wisps and tones along with super-ambient/airy vocals. Modular builds, droning tones, and spacey sounds build more toward a dance beat. This is definitely the type of show that you can relax or dance at over a couple beers or cheap drinks. Don’t sit still. Its Monday night and you ain’t got anything else to do!