Silverlake Lounge: Cuffed Up and Jagged Baptist Club

Cuffed Up hit the stage at the Silverlake Lounge for their first live set since March 2020. Was there any rust that needed to be polished out? Not from what I could tell. They came on stage and just shredded it throughout their set. Sapphire Jewell often played the guitar low to the ground while sliding those fingers. During one song where she took the lead vocals, she stepped out into the audience with power. Ralph Torrefranca was a tornado of energy that sent his glasses constantly sliding down his nose and him having to constantly move it back in place. What a 30 minute thrill.

Cuffed Up

As for Jagged Baptist Club, this was my second time seeing the band over a 4 day period. I'd previous driven down to Long Beach to cover Happy Sundays and got to catch their full set at Alex's Bar. This band is just fun to watch and photograph. Lead singer Blake Stokes does have a revival preacher style, which fits in perfectly with the band name. This style combines dynamic and quirky with a touch of the feeling that you're part of an inside joke. With arms often stretched out towards the audience, this band connects with their fans.    

Jagged Baptist Club

Quarantine Online Sets: Version 15

Friday evening was spent catching the Brave New World Festival. The festival was curated by Alicia Blue and Nicole Kiki Jaffe. The line up featured Hannah Connolly, Chloe Fuller, NEL, Lauren Ruth Ward and Nicole Kiki Jaffe. Alicia Blue wasn't able to play the festival due to illness.

Nicole Kiki Jaffe

I had never come across Hannah Connolly, Chloe Fuller or NEL before and let's just say that I'm a fan of all three now. Along with the fact that I'm a big fan of Nicole Kiki Jaffe and Lauren Ruth Ward, I'll say that this was one online festival that shouldn't have been missed. If I heard correctly, 1,000 individuals tuned in throughout the festival.

Hannah Connolly

Hannah Connolly's music is sincerely thoughtful. The music soothes and the vocals blend in perfectly. Chloe Fuller brought a touch of country and folk with vocals that invoke imagination. NEL brought some soul to the music and a feisty attitude to the festival. Lauren Ruth Ward had the psychedelic lights going on. Nicole Kiki Jaffe had that soft touch.

Chloe Fuller

NEL

On a technology basis, it was an interesting set. They did the festival using Zoom technology that was seen via Facebook. Actually, I can't help but believe that Facebook has noticed this type of use and will attempt to replicate it so that musicians can do this using Facebook technology versus Zoom.

Lauren Ruth Ward

Cuffed Up played a couple songs via Youtube on Saturday. All four members were playing from their own homes. For a few moments, I was wondering if they were playing live. The music sounded so good. Luckily, for their neighbors, they only played a couple songs. They were jamming loud. I'm sure their neighbors were wondering what was going on. Sapphire mentioned that she was sure her playing was causing issues for her neighbor. Two songs is a really short set, but it was great catching up with this band.

Cuffed Up

Quarantine Online Sets: Version 11

Wednesday's work at home got interrupted between 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Moses Sumney popped up on Seattle's KEXP's Live at Home Youtube show. I missed his Bootleg residency due to work, illness and a fear of crowds. His Lo-Fi, minimalist music rang true during his set. He'd record his vocals and then allow those recordings to back up his singing. His set ended with his song "Doomed" that just had these sonic echos. The KEXP host also conducted an interview with Moses. Unfortunately, my laptop computer's speakers couldn't pick up his interview very well.

Moses Sumney

Then up on Buzzbands' Instagram site was Trapdoor Social. Well, it was just Skylar. His set went the full hour with him shifting from guitar to piano to a harp. Yes, a harp. A lot of the back half of the set was with Skylar multitasking. He'd start singing and at the time reading the messages that were being left on Instagram and then mid-song, responding to the messages. It was fun. He ended the set singing his song, "No Regrets." He mentioned that he hadn't sung the song in years and had written it ten years ago and had forgotten how it started. Some fans did Internet searches or something and wrote down the opening lyrics to the song. With the memory help, he started up the song.

Trapdoor Social

Thursday was a similar situation where work got interrupted again. This time between 4 p.m. and 5: 30 p.m. Up on Buzzbands' Instagram site was Sam Marine who played a couple of his country-western tunes in a sideways manner on Instagram. Some folks on Instagram started to message that he was sideways. He sort of chuckled. I'm not sure if he was playing sideways on purpose or thought folks were making a joke. Anyways, his wife came into the room (off screen) and told him to turn his phone 180 degrees.

Sam Marine

Then 30 minutes later, I jumped over to Cuffed Up's interview with Emily Kinney. Actually, I was interested in finding out how the two of them knew each other. They never got to that point, but they have an interesting conversation about music in this time of the pandemic. Emily mentioned that initially she didn't find it all that unusual to be stuck inside her house. Since she's also an actress, she's used to not working for a period of time. Then at the 30 minute mark, the video for Cuffed Up froze up though one could still hear his voice. They decided to end the conversation at that point due to the technical difficulties (which if you read one of my previous posts, you know that Emily is used to suffering through).

Cuffed Up/Emily Kinney

Madame Siam: Kevin, Cuffed Up, Tom Speight and Asa Ey

I went to Madame Siam to catch Kevin and Cuffed Up. Why? I'm pretty sure I'm addicted to Kevin. And one of the members of Cuffed Up is Sapphire Jewell who I first came across in the band Gypsum and I'm addicted to all things Gypsum.

Though those were the bands I went to see, I have to say that I was also blown away by the first artist up, Tom Speight. He was joined on stage by Lydia Clowes. As I was listening to his set, I immediately started to think of the movie Once. The music was just that beautiful. Unlike the movie, Tom mentioned that Lydia and him are not dating.

There were plenty of references to pop culture. He mentioned that his music was featured on Love Island in the UK and the Bachelor in Germany. And when he had some guitar strap issues, he told the crowd, "I wish I had one of those Men in Black zappers so that you could forget the last 3 minutes."

Tom Speight

Cuffed Up hit the stage with some sped up rock sounds. Lyrics are spit out quickly. Music is like being in a car that has the horsepower to push you back into your seat. And then the best moments are when Sapphire takes her fingers and just slides up and down her guitar strings.

Cuffed Up

Kevin plays their sets in different configurations. Sometimes Kimi and Quincy play next to each other and other times they play on different parts of the stage. I think I love them most when they're playing next to each other. There's just a joy with how they play off each other. They both brought out the synths for this set and there were a couple times when they stretched over, playing the other's synth -- with their shoes.

Kevin

Asa Ey had the sex appeal going. Two female friends showed up, dancing away throughout the set.

Asa Ey

Tom Speight, Cuffed Up, and Kevin stepped off the stage for their sets - a nice trend for the night. Tom Speight had the early crowd surround him and turn the lights from their phones on. Cuffed Up and Kevin danced in total abandonment.