Bellman Barker @ The Ottobar Happy Party

Aaron from Bellman Barker
Thomas from Bellman Barker

There's something telling about hearing stripped down acoustic/Wurlitzer versions of well written pop songs. You get to hear the soul of the song. That's what I heard last night at the Ottobar's weekly Happy Party. Aaron and Thomas of Bellman Barker commanded the floor(no stage) with their set. The tension was high, but they blazed through two mini sets of songs that impressed me mightily. The thought occured to me while I was listening,"If these guys are sounding this good with just two out of the five members in the band, the full BB must simply be dynamite." I'm going to find that out on December 8th at the Party Pit in DC. You should too.

mp3: Bellman Barker - I Do I Do --> website --> buy

Grogan of Grogan Social Scene

On the flip side of BB's sets, the one man, Grogan Social Scene delighted the audience with deep monotone vocals, honest lyrics, driving acoustic guitars, and occasional Wurlitzer play. I didn't quite expect the sounds I was hearing since the majority of his work on his myspace was experimental-electro-folk-ish. I must say I enjoyed it and GSS was a good compliment to Bellman Barker. So Chris(the bartender of the Ottobar) has this Happy Party thing happening every Friday at around 6pm. It's free local music and definitely worth checking out.