Ken Andrews

Troubadour - April 5, 2007

Live Review by Marcel Feldmar

Y’know, I have to admit, I didn’t catch on to Failure until after the fact - for some reason they were one of those bands that I just had a bad association with based on the people I used to know who were into them. Every time I saw that album cover for Fantastic Planet, I’d just look the other way. Then I heard On’s “Soluble Words” and I was hooked - I tracked down more music by Failure, and then came Year of the Rabbit, and it seemed to me that Ken Andrews just kept on progressing in terms of musical vision and production smoothness. He managed to create for himself and for others an atmosphere that walked the line between finely-tuned recorded sounds and cheesy studio slickness. I couldn’t stop playing the Year of the Rabbit CD for over a year; it was, for me, a sweet overdose of smooth grunge shoegaze melodic noise. Andrews took the perfect combination of both Failure and On and fused the melody and noise into a near perfect rock ‘n’ roll equation that seems to come out even more now with his latest work than it did with the Rabbit band. I managed to see Andrews play a solo show at an in-store in Seattle a few years ago, and even in that small stage indie-record store situation, the sound was impeccable.

So Failure failed, On moved on, Year of the Rabbit got chased away by the year of the dog, and now all we have left are Ken and his secrets...

Secrets of The Lost Satellites is the new album under the Ken Andrews name, and the album he’s been touring behind (or ahead of, I guess). On April 5th, 2007 (Year of the Pig, if anyone’s wondering), Ken brought his show to the Troubadour here in Los Angeles.

On the setlist: “Hunted,” from Year of the Rabbit, “Soluble Words” and “C’mon Collapse” from the days of On (I was grinning big when “Soluble Words” hit), and of course he brought some Failure into the mix with “Sergeant Politeness.” Then there’s the new stuff, and I’ve probably marked myself as a “fan,” but seriously, I can still listen with the integrity of a jaded musical journalist, and I still say that this stuff is good. The Kurt Cobain influence is still there, but when merged with the songs, it comes out like more of an inspiration.

Opening band First Wave Hello played an actually well-matched opening set - bringing to mind bands like Failure, but with a little more emo layered on instead of the grunge, and maybe some more New Wave, like the Cars, or the Pulsars perhaps... and then they came back to serve as the backing band for Andrews. This gave the whole night a cohesive feel, it felt much more like a performance than a rock show, and while the club was crowded, it wasn’t wall to wall hipster packed like some Troubadour shows, so you actually had room to move and breathe and listen in comfort. It was one of those shows that you wish you could have on hand to watch over again, but because of the way Ken Andrews works the sound, you can actually visualize the show every time you listen to the songs on the album, and while sometimes I know that’s not necessarily a good thing, this time - it works.

The songs sort of remind me a little of bands like Hum but more structured. It’s like atmospheric pop, hooks out and catching on psychedelic skin with cleverly crafted white noise layered on as bait. Pretty much opening the set with the opening tracks from his new album, “In Your Way,” “Up or Down,” and “Secret Things,” Andrews and band got us all up and in the mood that carried through all the way to the moody end, with the final song being the spacious melodic farewell of “Without.” I left at the end of the night feeling happy, full, and satisfied, and looking up at the California night sky like I was ready to fly.

Here’s to Ken... thanks for sharing your secrets with us.