Monday night, LA shoegazers The Bulls returned to their weekly residency at The Satellite, playing to a packed house.
The band — comprised by Anna Bulbrook of the Airborne Toxic Event (sometimes also Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros) and The Duke Spirit’s Marc Sails — played through songs from their debut EP Small Problems, due out on August 28. Their EP features just the two doing all the instrumentation, but in a live format they’ve added a drummer and bassist, both proved to be very talented.
Bulbrook’s vocals are pitch-perfect to the point they almost sound auto-tuned. Bulbrook was a triple threat, alternating from guitar to violin, all while slicing up the crowd with her voice.
One of the highlights of the set was “Small Problems,” where Bulbrook sings “You’ve gotta change your heart / let’s go back to the start” very dreamily. That song, along with “Rumors,” has me really anticipating the upcoming release of the new EP.
One band I’d heard a lot about but never got around to seeing was Gothic Tropic. They’re regulars in the LA music scene and although Grimy Goods has covered them numerous times, I don’t know how I’d missed out on them — until now. Now I’m kicking myself for not getting on this bandwagon sooner. Lead vocalist and guitarist Cecilia Della Peruti had full command over the stage, often erupting in impressive solos to the heavy applause of the crowd.
They delivered an unexpected but awesome cover in the form of Caribou’s “Can’t Do Without You,” where Peruti’s vocals really shined. According to the singer, it was the first time the band had played together in months, but you wouldn’t notice that from their performance.
I was surprised when I spoke to a large group of friends outside The Satellite after their set who told me they came all the way from Palm Springs (on a MONDAY!) to see Gothic Tropic. All of them had jobs in the morning but they had been wanting to see them for awhile. They were not disappointed.
Words: Mark E. Ortega
Photography: Steven Ward
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