{"id":248406,"date":"2015-03-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-03-13T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/opposites-attract-at-the-chateau\/"},"modified":"2015-03-13T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T07:00:00","slug":"opposites-attract-at-the-chateau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/opposites-attract-at-the-chateau\/","title":{"rendered":"Opposites attract at the Chateau"},"content":{"rendered":"

Por Dustin Lothspeich<\/p>\n

We’ve all heard it countless times, mainly because it\u2019s true: opposites attract. \u201cSeinfeld\u201d might\u2019ve proved it best in the episode \u201cThe Invitations,\u201d when Jerry started dating a woman whose personality and mannerisms curiously mirrored his own. At first, it was glorious; he was over the moon. And then, like clockwork, the annoyances started flooding in until he quickly realized the spice of life is, indeed, our differences. Add local electro-pop group Chateau<\/a> as evidence to that universal law as well.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Our influences] are across the board for all of us,\u201d the band’s guitarist\/keyboardist, Frank Green III, explained recently. \u201cWhich is why we think we work so well together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ranging from Wilco and Ryan Adams to My Bloody Valentine and Joanna Newsom, the band rattles off artists from far-reaching corners of the musical universe: Uncle Tupelo-style alt-country, New Wave, experimental chamber pop. As Green tells it, \u201cDifferent influences make for a well-rounded band. You don\u2019t want to listen to the same stuff, or you\u2019d be drawing from the same places and it would get too monotonous.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Chateau<\/a>
Chateau plays The Balboa on Saturday, March 21. (Photo by Shane Wilson)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If there is one thing the members of Chateau can boast (and there\u2019s many), it\u2019s that their debut self-titled EP doesn\u2019t get mired down in the same formula from song to song. The trio (which, along with Green, is rounded out by multi-instrumentalist\/producer Erik Visnyak and vocalist\/producer Laura Levenhagen) veer from broad waves of stark electronica (\u201cthe Bird, the Bee, the Owl\u201d) with the digital pulse of machine-gun beats and glitched-out synths (\u201cBury You\u201d) to shimmering acoustic guitar-dominated pop balladry (\u201cTiger\u201d) and everything in between \u2014 all led by Levenhagen’s impressive vocals that range from soothing coos to gravity-defying heights.<\/p>\n

Understandably, the year-old band (which began with just Green and Visnyak) never found a concrete stylistic direction until they landed a singer \u2014 which came about when they read a review of her solo EP in a local publication.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe messaged [Levenhagen] and ended up sending some tracks over and after a week or two, she had gotten back to them and said she had lyrics for one of the\u00a0songs,\u201d Green said. \u201cShe came over to [Visnyak\u2019s] house in North Park and sang live over the track [the song \u201cFlight\u201d from the EP]. Right then, we all realized we had something that worked and decided to form the group.\u00a0She brought the much-needed\u00a0melody to the songs which allowed [Visnyak] and I to gain\u00a0a\u00a0deeper perspective into what could be accomplished.”<\/p>\n

With a lush sound that is right at home next to Florence & the Machine, Massive Attack, London Grammar and Sigur R\u00f3s, the trio is a breath of fresh air as one of the few groups in San Diego to play the style they do (all four of those aforementioned bands hail from overseas, after all). Sidestepping the bland, bong-water reggae and garage-rock hipster doofusness that plagues America\u2019s Finest City, they\u2019ve all but cornered their market \u2014 and when I asked Green how they felt about it, he was unassumingly modest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe feeling the band shares [about it] is one of excitement and pride. We\u00a0hope we’re\u00a0bringing\u00a0something new and fresh to the scene; that\u2019s important to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to offering up an EP of new sounds to an increasingly predictable scene, they\u2019ll be releasing it on March 21 \u2014 fittingly \u2014at a new(ish) spot as well: The Balboa. Formerly known as The Tin Can (the intimate club that slung brews in cans and hosted its own righteous burger joint called Dood\u2019s Foods), the club has undergone a bit of an overhaul in the past couple months, culminating recently with the return of live music to the fold on March 6.<\/p>\n

Gone is the club\u2019s \u201cbeers in cans\u201d ideology (hence the name change), the nightly music and even the beloved giant octopus mural on the side of the building. With Dood’s Foods thankfully still operating on-site and churning out some of the best grub in town, the owners turned their eye to the stage, and brought in local music stalwart Jackson Milgaten (member of Cuckoo Chaos\/Deadphones, among other bands, and curator of the annual Golden Hill Street Fair) to manage and book their shows.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe look and feel of the place is quite a departure from what it was,\u201d Milgaten said. \u201cThe whole focus has shifted. I think the biggest difference in the event planning is the decision to only have live music on the weekends. It just affords the whole operation a chance to focus on the details of what we are doing over there. We want every show, every drink, and every meal to be presented with care and consideration. So in that respect, less is more \u2026 I\u2019m really excited about what we\u2019ve done with the place and I\u2019m very pleased to bring live music back to the space.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a>Whereas the old Tin Can used to be somewhat of a free-for-all as far as shows went \u2014 you never knew exactly what you were going to get on any given night \u2014 Milgaten promises that since The Balboa will only be hosting shows on Friday and Saturday nights, he\u2019ll be a bit more selective with who actually gets to step onstage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a pretty discerning critic and my interest is more in booking acts of a certain quality than a particular style,\u201d he said. \u201cBut as far as genres go, I think the bands scheduled to play are a fairly eclectic mix.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked why The Balboa is the perfect place to throw a record release party, Milgaten offered up the unmistakable charm of the venue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe intimacy of the room offers a great space for a band to share something it has so lovingly created. I think that closeness of everyone in attendance is a recipe for a meaningful interaction between the performers and the audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019ll be fascinating to hear Chateau\u2019s huge sound in such a small confine, but perhaps that\u2019s exactly how their new EP should be experienced: up close and highly personal. For a trio relatively new in the general scheme of the scene and an EP that may be only the beginning of truly great things \u2014 it\u2019ll be the premier opportunity to witness them at work.<\/p>\n

Opposites and all.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dustin Lothspeich We’ve all heard it countless times, mainly because it\u2019s true: opposites attract. \u201cSeinfeld\u201d might\u2019ve proved it best in the episode \u201cThe Invitations,\u201d when Jerry started dating a woman whose personality and mannerisms curiously mirrored his own. At first, it was glorious; he was over the moon. And then, like clockwork, the annoyances […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":878,"featured_media":248407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Opposites attract at the Chateau","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11547,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-248406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/878"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}