Spring Break
Philadelphia's Lotus rocking electronica
LAYTON SMITH
Issue date: 2/1/07 Section: Out & About
Working their way through the South, Philadelphia-based rockers Lotus roll into Athens Saturday for a performance at the Georgia Theatre before continuing on tour to promote the band's most recent album, "Strength of Weak Ties."
With the growing popularity of electronic dance beats in pop music and the explosion of dance punk last year, Lotus' explorative sounds have found an easy niche amongst underground dance circuits. Its style infuses the rhythmic structures of electronica with the spectacular energy of live performance incorporating traditional rock instrumentation.
Playing with The Frequency
When: 10 p.m. Saturday (doors at 9 p.m.)
Where: The Georgia Theater
Cost: $10 at www.georgiatheater.com or at the door"There's a lot of other modern artists where that stuff's coming together - but a lot of times not quite as much on the dance side as Lotus," said bassist Jesse Miller.
"We're working in all kinds of different elements - whether it's keyboards, or samples, or drum machines or whatever - pulling equally from the rock world and the electronic dance world," he said. "So we're trying to bring a lot of dance energy to a show."
In addition to appearances at large music festivals, including Wakarusa, Langerado and Smilefest, Lotus' current tour has carried the band abroad to Japan and to music venues around the country.
The band concluded 2006 with a run of four New Year's Eve performances in three time zones, including four sold-out shows in Denver and Pittsburgh, as well as an appearance with fellow jammers String Cheese Incident in San Francisco.
Released last April, the quintet's third and most recent album demonstrates a closer effort to a pure fusion between rock and electronic sounds than on previous recordings.
"We tended to use more keyboards, more little bits and pieces of sound here and there," he said. "But we've also been doing more straight-up dueling guitar - pretty traditional rock 'n' roll stuff, but giving it a little Lotus twist."
He said the music can change from composition to composition.
"Working it into the live show has been an interesting process," he said.
Opening for Lotus on all current tour dates is Los Angeles-based band The Frequency.
"They definitely have the funk influence, but it's also taking some of that air sound - kind of that soundtrack sound," Miller said.
With the growing popularity of electronic dance beats in pop music and the explosion of dance punk last year, Lotus' explorative sounds have found an easy niche amongst underground dance circuits. Its style infuses the rhythmic structures of electronica with the spectacular energy of live performance incorporating traditional rock instrumentation.
LOTUS
Playing with The Frequency
When: 10 p.m. Saturday (doors at 9 p.m.)
Where: The Georgia Theater
Cost: $10 at www.georgiatheater.com or at the door
"We're working in all kinds of different elements - whether it's keyboards, or samples, or drum machines or whatever - pulling equally from the rock world and the electronic dance world," he said. "So we're trying to bring a lot of dance energy to a show."
In addition to appearances at large music festivals, including Wakarusa, Langerado and Smilefest, Lotus' current tour has carried the band abroad to Japan and to music venues around the country.
The band concluded 2006 with a run of four New Year's Eve performances in three time zones, including four sold-out shows in Denver and Pittsburgh, as well as an appearance with fellow jammers String Cheese Incident in San Francisco.
Released last April, the quintet's third and most recent album demonstrates a closer effort to a pure fusion between rock and electronic sounds than on previous recordings.
"We tended to use more keyboards, more little bits and pieces of sound here and there," he said. "But we've also been doing more straight-up dueling guitar - pretty traditional rock 'n' roll stuff, but giving it a little Lotus twist."
He said the music can change from composition to composition.
"Working it into the live show has been an interesting process," he said.
Opening for Lotus on all current tour dates is Los Angeles-based band The Frequency.
"They definitely have the funk influence, but it's also taking some of that air sound - kind of that soundtrack sound," Miller said.
Be the first to comment on this story