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Craft Spells Setlist
Tour Dates
09/12 San Francisco, CA Great American*
09/16 Seattle, WA The Showbox* 09/19 Vancouver, BC Rickshaw Theatre* 10/07 Chicago, IL Metro* 10/13 Northampton, MA Pearl St Nightclub* 10/14 New Haven, CT Toad's Place* 10/15 Great Scott Boston, MA 10/20 Harrisburg Midtown Arts Center , PA 10/21 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer* 10/22 Washington DC 9:30 Club* 10/26 Jackpot Music Hall Lawrence, KS 10/27 Hi-Dive Denver, CO 10/28 Kilby Court Salt Lake City, UT 11/22 Bleach Brighton, United Kingdom 11/23 CLWB IFOR BACH Cardiff, United Kingdom 11/26 Headquarters Aarhus C, Denmark 11/28 Kägelbanan Södra Teatern Stockholm * with Julian Casablancas + The Voidz Read More
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We Angelenos don’t really know what to do with ourselves on the days of sweltering, monstrous heat that graces our city a couple weeks out of the year. We tend to stay inside whilst whining and complaining to friends about how unfair life is. Then by the grace of god the sun finally sets, and we wipe the sweat off our brows and venture out into the lesser-hot evening. It’s a lovely time to walk around Sunset and see some amazing bands, and with Craft Spells playing two shows in one evening, it was most certainly a no-brainer to head to the dark and cozy spot that is the Echo.
Opening was the 3-piece band Roses, from Los Angeles. Think ‘modern take of a more subdued and tranquil Talking Heads, without the theatrics’, and you can pretty much sum up their sound. Frontman Marc Steinberg hold down vocals/keys but the guitarist Juan Velasquez does most of the conversing to the crowd. He’s a funny one, Marc, exclaiming to the crowd that he wanted to pull a diva move and have “skinny mirrors” on each side of him. Victor Herrera on bass seemed to be moving around the most, doing a bit of a jig. Their stage presence was pretty tame overall, but the tunes were a nice mix of drone-danceable 80’s and the crowd was into it. They have two EP’s and a full length album that dropped last May, Quiet Time.
The lights of the venue go from dim to lit as Craft Spells takes the stage. Mastermind Justin Vallesteros waves a quick hello to the crowd and goes right into “From The Morning Heat” off his first EP, 2011’s Idle Labor. His performance band is super tight, it’s obvious that they are marching to Justin’s drum beat and enjoy rocking out to his creations. Girls literally swoon over him, like the hipster girls next to me that kept gushing “Oh wow, he’s so dreamy! Look at his glasses! He’s so cute!” I’m sure Justin would be stoked to know this, but with everything I’ve read and seen of him, he’s a super humble and down-to-earth dude. During the second song “Komorebi”, a dreamy number off his sophomore album Nausea (the percussions on this track are DOPE) Justin wipes the sweat coming down his face and exclaims to the crowd “My guitar is falling apart! If you can’t see that.”
As images of the Star of David circle overhead, the band continues with the deep, sensual track and my all-time favorite song by them, “Dwindle.” His heartbreaking lyrics filled the room “Keep it in mind, ourselves will surely die; in the softest leaves we lie, we both saw the end come; Answer no questions this time, until tomorrow.” It’s that lonely winter’s day that grabs you by the hand and doesn’t let go, it’s the love you lost and will never find again. There’s definitely a difference between his first and second album...Nausea was built around Justin’s hopelessness and stagnation of that time in his life and his frustration with social media, while Idle Labor is a bit more straightforward and carefree. He also acquired much more equipment in between. which is apparent with the loss of so much synth and the addition of more complex sounds and intricate melodies.
Next up was a new song that Justin announced was “coming out in a week or so, I’m bad with memory, I don’t know much.” Complete with rosy keyboards and a sick bass line the crowd went a bit nuts, and a tame mosh pit formed at the front of the stage. This is the first time in my life I saw not one but TWO girls crowd surf beneath a sea of adoring fans. Everyone in the venue, especially the band onstage, was dancing through the heat and having a brilliant time. Justin excitedly announced to the crowd “This is great guys. Every song feels a bit more personal.” They ended the show with “Our Park By Night”, a nice happy sign off to a splendid evening.
Craft Spells are currently in the middle of their US/EURO tour. Check them out with Julian Casablancas of The Strokes!
Opening was the 3-piece band Roses, from Los Angeles. Think ‘modern take of a more subdued and tranquil Talking Heads, without the theatrics’, and you can pretty much sum up their sound. Frontman Marc Steinberg hold down vocals/keys but the guitarist Juan Velasquez does most of the conversing to the crowd. He’s a funny one, Marc, exclaiming to the crowd that he wanted to pull a diva move and have “skinny mirrors” on each side of him. Victor Herrera on bass seemed to be moving around the most, doing a bit of a jig. Their stage presence was pretty tame overall, but the tunes were a nice mix of drone-danceable 80’s and the crowd was into it. They have two EP’s and a full length album that dropped last May, Quiet Time.
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Setlist
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As images of the Star of David circle overhead, the band continues with the deep, sensual track and my all-time favorite song by them, “Dwindle.” His heartbreaking lyrics filled the room “Keep it in mind, ourselves will surely die; in the softest leaves we lie, we both saw the end come; Answer no questions this time, until tomorrow.” It’s that lonely winter’s day that grabs you by the hand and doesn’t let go, it’s the love you lost and will never find again. There’s definitely a difference between his first and second album...Nausea was built around Justin’s hopelessness and stagnation of that time in his life and his frustration with social media, while Idle Labor is a bit more straightforward and carefree. He also acquired much more equipment in between. which is apparent with the loss of so much synth and the addition of more complex sounds and intricate melodies.
Next up was a new song that Justin announced was “coming out in a week or so, I’m bad with memory, I don’t know much.” Complete with rosy keyboards and a sick bass line the crowd went a bit nuts, and a tame mosh pit formed at the front of the stage. This is the first time in my life I saw not one but TWO girls crowd surf beneath a sea of adoring fans. Everyone in the venue, especially the band onstage, was dancing through the heat and having a brilliant time. Justin excitedly announced to the crowd “This is great guys. Every song feels a bit more personal.” They ended the show with “Our Park By Night”, a nice happy sign off to a splendid evening.
Craft Spells are currently in the middle of their US/EURO tour. Check them out with Julian Casablancas of The Strokes!
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Craft Spells at the Echo, Los Angeles (09 September 2015) |
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