In what is turning out to be a banner year for them, Orlando promoter upstarts Ugly Orange – who first distinguished themselves by illuminating worthy young Florida talent and expanding the music venue landscape – just continue to keep upping their booking game. Their latest concert brought noteworthy Burger Records group Death Valley Girls from Los Angeles.
Speedballing the slag of garage, punk and rock & roll into a death-psych drug party, this band does it with danger and style. They’re the pulpy quintessence of vintage West Coast underbelly, evoking black-and-white images of cults, motorcycle gangs and Russ Meyer flicks.
But more than just an act, Death Valley Girls rock with intent and mania. Beyond their noir-glam kitsch, they give a feral performance and have an impressively tall live sound pulsing with nervous organs. Still, as alluring as all that quivering, spooked atmosphere is, the real knives come out when frontwoman Bonnie Bloomgarden picks up a guitar to rip pure black-leather sleaze.
Opening was Soapbox Soliloquy, a pretty stunning discovery from our sister scene over there in the Tampa Bay area. Although the psychedelic songs roam freely on record with an Ariel Pink-like latitude, this vehicle for young frontwoman Jasmine Deja got heavy on stage.
Live, she and her band rolled out big, thick, sweltering psych-rock that played like a billowing dual-guitar vortex. Trading leads liberally and attacking with abandon, Deja and second guitarist Drew Giordano (frontman of also-good St. Pete psych-rock band Sonic Graffiti, who was recognizable even in a floral dress) were an onslaught of diving effects and searing acid burnouts. It’s a hard-rocking trip that’s all dark rapture and night sweats. And they’re one of the best psych bands seen around here in a while.
