There's No Pity in this Party

I can't play keyboard, drums or sing. Heisenflei does all three at once. Did I mention that Maurice-Robert is a one man guitar factory. I'll admit it, I'm a little jealous of these two talented people. However, I'm mostly just excited that they met each other and formed a great rock duo called The Pity Party.

The Pity Party is fairly new to the Silverlake music scene, but has been quickly making up for lost time. One factor fueling their momentum is the duo's unique live experience. While their live setup (described at the beginning of this post) may peg them as a novelty, it only takes a song to realize that The Pity Party aren't some cheap trick. Through a recommendation from a friend (Morgan!) and a thumbs up from Jax, I went to the Silverlake Lounge last month and caught the group's final residency show. Watching The Pity Party destroy every second of their set, I couldn't help but transport myself 40 years and 3000 miles to Exploding Plastic Inevitable. In the confines of my mind, Heisenflei and Maurice-Robert sound like an Andy Warhol garage band - evoking the spirit of Velvet Underground.

The Pity Party's EP sways from raw pop songs, to dark driving repetition. "The War Between Eight and Four" is a good example of the former, while "Dronebots and Peons" shows of the style of the latter. "WMD" finds a middle ground between these two, and is my favorite song on the EP ("Dronebots" being my favorite live song).

Visit their myspace for more info.

[www] The Pity Party - WMD
[www] The Pity Party - The War Between Eight and Four

If The Pity Party are playing in your town - Be There.

3/5 Viper Room (LA)
3/10 Southpaw (NY)
3/11 Maxwell (NJ)
3/12 The Mercury Lounge (NY)
3/14 Johnny Brenda's (Philly)
3/15 T.T. the Bear's (Cambridge)
3/16 The Rock and Roll hotel (DC)