L.S. Dunes Make Magick At Music Box With From Indian Lakes And Plague Vendor
On the penultimate date of their North American “Like Magick” tour, post-hardcore supergroup L.S. Dunes took the stage at Music Box in downtown San Diego on May 10th for a 90 minute set infused with so much pure unfiltered energy that it legitimately felt like the roof was going to levitate off of the place.
You already knew you were in for a wild evening when Plague Vendor hit the stage for a positively raucous start to the festivities. Hailing from Whittier, CA and playing a unique sort of jumped-up garage blues inspired post-punk chaos (that the band itself calls “graveyard groove”), they were definitely the biggest left-field surprise of the night. Frontman Brandon Blaine cut quite the striking figure in his leather jacket and slicked back 1950s greaser aesthetic, barely pausing for a single second as he bopped and (quite literally) danced around the stage inbetween the spiky guitar riffs and bouncing bass lines. If anyone in the audience was still mentally trapped in a “work week” mindset, this surely dragged us all into “weekend mode” right quick.
From Indian Lakes were up next, significantly less frenzied but equally as compelling in their lush and almost effortlessly sweeping shoegaze-inspired indie rock. Joey Vannucchi writes/produces/records all of the band’s music himself, which gives From Indian Lakes a singular sort of hyper-focused wide-eyed grandeur. But for this particular tour, he’s fleshed out his project into an excellent four-piece band that soared and thrashed in equal beautiful measure. HEAD VOID (the most recent full-length album) might be the best record he’s made in the 15+ years this project has existed, and hearing these songs soar in a live setting felt like both a treat and a gift.
As headliners L.S. Dunes took the stage around 10pm, there was little doubt that we were all witnessing something beautifully primal as frontman Anthony Green stepped out on stage alone to deliver the haunting solo vocal opening to album standout (and tour namesake) “Like Magick” in near complete darkness. I doubt there was a single person in the house without chills at that moment, especially once the rest of the band came suddenly barrelling into the song with a wonderful sense of controlled chaos, and the tasteful scene-setting restraint quickly gave way to the pit-opening high-octane mania that would propel the raucous crowd on through the entire rest of the setlist. And being as they only have the two full-length albums to pull from (so far), just about every song that you’d want to hear was represented on said setlist; amongst the many highlights include the soul baring, full-throated abandon of “Machines”, “Permanent Rebellion” turning the entire crowd into a explosive whirlwind maelstrom of limbs, the spindly interweaving (and sneakily groovy) guitar and bass lines of early-set livewire jolt “Fatal Deluxe”, and the goosebumps that came about from hearing the muscular majesty of “Violet” (arguably the greatest song in the band’s discography at this point) sung back at a beaming Anthony Green by an entire room full of rapturous fans.
