Rx Bandits
|
Tour Dates 07/22/09 Ft Lauderdale, FL @ Culture#
07/23/09 Jacksonville, FL @ Freebird# 07/24/09 St Petersburgh, FL @ Jannus# 07/25/09 Atlanta, GA @ Criminal Records 07/25/09 Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade # 07/26/09 Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle # 07/28/09 Towson, MD @ Recher # 07/29/09 Phila, PA @ Theater of Living # 07/30/09 New York, NY @ Irving Plaza 07/31/09 New York, NY @ Bowery# 08/01/09 Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock 08/02/09 Montreal, QC @ Foufounes 08/04/09 Toronto, ON @ Opera House 08/05/09 Detroit, MI @ St. Andrews Hall 08/06/09 Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge 08/07/09 Sauqet, IL @ Pop’s 08/08/09 Des Moines, IA @ People’s 08/09/09 Saint Paul, MN @ Station 4 08/11/09 Denver, CO @ Gothic Theater 08/12/09 Murray, UT @ Murray Theater 08/14/09 Seattle, WA @ Neumo’s 08/15/09 Portland, OR @ Wonder 08/17/09 Sacramento, CA @ Empire 08/26/09 San Francisco, CA @ Fillmore 08/29/09 Santa Barbara, CA @ Velvet 08/30/09 Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey 08/31/09 Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey * = w/ Good Old War Discography
|
from Southern, California.
Originally playing ska (which actually hit the San Joaquin Valley pretty big in the early 90s) and going by the name, The Pharmaceutical
Bandits. They must’ve have
realized their change in music should reflect the new band name when they outgrew ska, and so
Halfway Between Here and There (the first album going beyond the ska sound) was re-released under their new name: Rx Bandits.
In the year that follows, band members came and went through the ever
revolving Rx Bandits door. I want to think that with new associates
comes different music ideas, which I think lends itself to the
multi-instrumental songs that exists with the band throughout the years.
Amazon Top MP3 Downloads (7/17/09) |
So, yesterday, Tuesday, July 22nd saw the release of their latest album, Mandala on Sargent House Records.
With a special Amazon promotion reducing the price of the album a week
prior to its release, fans came out to support the band by voting with
their wallets. Pretty soon, the album hit the number one selling MP3
album, pushing out popular artists like the Dead Weather and “some guy
named Michael Jackson”.
I have been listening to Mandala on and off, mostly
in 30 minutes segments while driving. The first time I had a chance to
listen to the whole thing, with headphones, was today, and I’ll have to
say there’s a lot of layers in their songs that I miss when I was
driving/distracted.
The lead song that people seem to like is “My Lonesome Only Friend”,
which is a good choice. I also thought the Spanish song, “Mentras La
Veo Sonar”, stood out for me as well.
In my opinion, they are more or less a “jam” band, combining
lots of genre, like funk, blues, and even elements of metal, so it’s
really hard to just classify them under one genre. And in most cases, I
feel this is a band that was meant to be consumed and enjoyed live.
Having said that, this kind of music really doesn’t suit me at all… Still, as
their fans demonstrated, clearly I’m in the wrong.
I will confess that I have a lot of respect for a band that
continues to record music that they believe in (I think they had to
switch labels because their old one wanted a more commercial sound). As
I previously said, they seem like a great live band, so go see them if
they’re coming through your town.
For a promotional limited time, you can get Mandala bundled with their previous album, …And The Battle Begun at participating stores. If you’re lazy, well there’s always Amazon or
iTunes. Oh, also, vinyl fans will be happy to know the 12″ will be out on September 5th.
07/22/2009 01:49:50 ♥ vu (
)
♥ rxbandits.com ♥ myspace.com/rxbandits