LOS ANGELES, CA- On January 28th, at Resident DTLA, What The Sound hosted a showcase that caught my eye. The bill was an eclectic one with three different types of artists covering a pretty wide swath of musical styles. There was Nadia Vaeh, an alt-pop singer whose dulcet vocals float over pulsing, sometimes dark, instrumentals. There was Oriah, an alt/indie rock band that I’ve seen non-stop in my social media feeds from friends who vouch for their rock and roll authenticity. And finally, Georgi Kay, a personal favorite of mine, whose atmospheric synthpop is guaranteed to hypnotize you.
I had to go, and I did.
I really enjoyed Nadia’s performance. In my humble opinion, I think she has a voice that is perfectly suited for pop music. It’s dulcet and crystalline and can swell into a belt without being too overpowering. When the instrumental tracks thump, her voice floats over the arrangement giving her pop music a graceful nature.
As she performed to the room, Nadia was all smiles and engaged the audience with her playfulness. Having just returned to the states from a stint in the UK, I could note the ease with which she performed each number. It can be a bit intimidating to perform to a room full of strangers who perhaps haven’t heard of you before, but her nature seemed so warm and welcoming that it was hard not to smile with her throughout the performance.
Nadia has suggested that she’s got plans to release some new music this spring, and I’m keen to hear what she’s got up her sleeves.
Despite having over 4 million people living in Los Angeles, the music community here is actually pretty close-knit. The buzz around town when an exciting new act makes noise spreads pretty quick. That was the case for me and Oriah.
I had no idea who Viktoriya Kosta or Tim Webb was, or how long they had been performing as Oriah, but all of my friends seemed to know. LOL. Sometime in the middle of last year, I started noticing my peers posting some pretty dope shots of the band and raving about how badass they were … umm … I like badasses too!
Oriah’s gig at Resident met all of the hype. As soon as the band started playing, and Viktoriya made her way from the darkness into center stage, I could already feel the adrenaline in my veins start bubbling. When Oriah started getting into their groove, and Viktoriya started wailing, letting the music consume her body, you could feel all of the energy in the room intensify.
Viktoriya performed with so much rock and roll energy and passion, it was irresistible to ignore. After their set, I quickly reviewed my photographs and realized that I hardly took any photos of her bandmates. I think I may have found a new muse.
I’ve seen Georgi Kay perform live 5 times, and her music gets me every time. It’s the kind of stuff that dreams are made of. Seriously. With her soothing alto voice and the smooth production value of her instrumentals, it’s hard not to fall into a dreamy mood while you listen to her perform.
I came into this performance expecting to see her do much of the same as I had seen in the past, but this time around, she added a new and intriguing element. No, it wasn’t the alien-like helmet that she wore to start her set. It was the use of a pre-recorded robotic voice that framed the performance into three sections, each section dealing with a different aspect of heartbreak. That was the first time I had seen her use this tool in her performance, and it caught me off guard. While this was a “concert”, it subtly felt like I was now attending the theatre, and absolutely loved the concept.
In trying to recall other times I’ve experienced this kind of theatrical concert experience, the closet thing I can think of are “storyteller” type events when musicians will tell stories personal between songs. But this was different. This was a concept that used music to elucidate, and I seriously can’t remember the last time I saw anything like it, which made this performance twice as intriguing as any other Georgi Kay performance that I’ve attended. I absolutely loved it, and hope that Georgi can develop this format further as I truly think it enhances the viewing experience.
Follow Georgi Kay on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
*********************
LIVE CLIPS
