Musical Adventures: Diamond Rings and Woodhands

Last week I whet my whistle with the coming of the summer music festival by watching Diamond Rings and Woodhands at Mavericks.

When Diamond first came on stage, I was very skeptical. He was wearing zebra leggings tucked into black tube socks, with an oversized leather jacket and more makeup than I've worn in a week. (although, I was impressed, his lines and blending was nice and clean) Once he started playing, I wasn't immediately swayed either. He had his Itunes open to his songs and accomanying it with either a keyboard or guitar. Once in a while he did both.

It threw me off for sure. His outfit was wild and his music was peppy, but his voice was so deep and somber. It was an interesting contrast. Think Magnetic Fields meet the Cure. After a few songs and a LOT of skepticism, he grew on me. This solo artist slowly dragged you into his moody-poppy hipsterlicious music. I even realized that I knew one of his songs as he came up to perform his encore.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6IUKa25e80

I'm still not sure if I'm a fan. This song is alright and seems to be enjoying its 15 minutes of fame, but I'm doubting any staying power. I can't even look at him without giggling at how ridiculous he looks.

My heart and my ears were saved once Woodhands came on. I've been a fan for the past year now and to finally see them in concert was making me do a happy dance to the dance music. And that's a lot of dancin'!

They played the old and even tossed a couple new songs in, including the recent single, "CP24". The audience was feeling all of it, eating up every stroke off the keytar and the beats of the broken snare drum (occupational hazard, I suppose).

I'd have to say the best part was the remixes of old songs like Biz Markies "Just a Friend" and Cory Hart's "I Wear my Sunglasses at Night" in with their own tunes. This created an extra vibe and pour-out of energy from the crowd, singing along to the awesomeness.

I'll try to add my videos later, but my words are failing me at the awesomeness. Obviously I'm not much of a writer, but let's just say it kicked ass and Woodhands and I are getting married. We confirmed it on twitter and everything. So there.

Hoping it just gets better from here.

-janeovision