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SHOW OF THE MONTH

The Echo Project

Fairburn, GA

October 12-14, 2007

The first Echo Project took place under an unseasonably blazing sun highlighting the beautiful ground on which the festival was set. With ticket sales low to this festival, there was plenty of room to mill around the open fields and various stages.

The Flaming Lips’ sound check notwithstanding, Atlanta’s own Elevado had the singular distinction of being the first band to perform at the inaugural Echo Project Music Festival. Under the shade of the Performer-sponsored Green Garage tent, the band rolled through an energetic set for a growing early bird crowd of no less than 75 festival attendees. The band encountered various technical problems with their monitors throughout their time on stage, prompting front man Justin Sias to jokingly remark that “it’s hard to be a rock diva with second rate shit.”

Elevado did a fairly good job of moving past the sound difficulties to deliver an upbeat, ever-surprising set that displayed their mix of electronic and organic tendencies, with Sias doing everything from running through the crowd playing the trombone to disappearing under the stage for minutes at a time. With seven members in the band, up to four playing various forms of percussion at any given time, there was never a lack of action physically or musically. The band was at their best during beat-driven extended jams with chanted lyrics (such as “Our Turn Came”) that displayed the true party-starting tendencies of Elevado’s music.

 

-Kat Coffin

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CD OF THE MONTH

june 2007

 

Elevado — This World Is On Fire
Recorded and Produced by Elevado at ISP Studios in Atlanta, GA
Mastered by Tom Lewis at Chase Park Transduction in Athens, GA

 

 

In the mythology of Nigerian people there exists a god named Ogun, the god of war. Ogun is a fierce warrior, a deity that is not taken lightly by Yoruban tribes; to cross Ogun results in swift retribution. But the importance of Ogun goes far beyond his war-like tendencies: Ogun is also responsible for connecting the Old World to the New World — to keep the Yoruba people relevant in an ever-changing and advancing world.
Atlanta’s Elevado is the hometown Ogun: the touring juggernaut that can shape and redefine Southern music and simultaneously keep it germane. The band’s latest album, This World Is On Fire, is a beautiful, multi-layered cacophony of live guitars and bass with computer-based percussive loops and effects. “Intervention 1.0” starts off the record, recalling images of a Nintendo game’s opening montage, perhaps everyone’s first encounter with techno-based music. From there, the album launches into the dreamy, electro-pop rock (seemingly displaced from a Kubrick film) for which the band is known. The programmed drums sound clean and crisp and are difficult to distinguish from the real thing.
Highlights of the album include “Indigo Torch Serenade,” where lead singer Justin Sias’ vocals match the fragility of the lyrics, and Cain Wong’s spy-film/R.E.M.-inspired guitar riff on “Our Turn Came Tonight.” “Hypnopaedic Sunshine,” the closing opus of the album, sounds like a drunken Beta Band, tripping and falling over itself until a moment of clarity turns the song into a beautiful denouement.
Elevado stands out above the crowd with this album, pushing Atlanta out of the old and into the new. (Self-released)


www.elevado.com


-Chris Parizo

 

Atlanta Public Relations, Atlanta Entertainment PR, Music Promotions, Industrial Strength Promotions, ISP-Music, Atlanta Event & Music Promotions