Red Bull Sound Select Presents: Los Angeles with How to Dress Well and SWIMM hosted by Cherry Glazerr

Rachel Zimmerman February 26th, 2015 - 8:31 PM

Wednesday night, Sayers Club in Hollywood housed this month’s rising artists showcase Red Bull Sound Select Presents: Los Angeles. LA’s own indie artist Cherry Glazerr hosted the night, introducing psychedelic rockers SWIMM who opened the night, followed by experimental R&B artist How to Dress Well.

Cherry Glazerr spinning classic tracks between sets

SWIMM’s lead vocalist Chris Hess is quite the quirky fellow. He enters the stage solo, and proceeds to belt out an a capella cover of Divinyls’s “I Tough Myself,” as a happy intro song while the rest of the band to enters the stage. Onlookers cheerily sing along. Hess continues to interpretively dance as he sings and takes pauses from his guitar strumming. Jumps and sways show his passion for making danceable music. The rest of the group plays with equal fervor throughout the entertaining set. They highlight catchy beach-worthy rock songs off their EP and a few new tunes like “Beverly Hills” which will be on their new album due out soon. Echoing vocals and a peppy tambourine steadily add to the magical feel of their live sound. Their great attitude and dreamy songs are purely delightful – a pleasant treat for the crowd who waited quite a long time for the set to start.

SWIMM frontman Chris Hess

After a painstakingly longer space between sets, Tom Krell’s eclectic musical project How to Dress Well finally takes the stage. The audience unfortunately seems bitter and resentful toward the eager group. Frontman Krell further adds to the awkwardness with silly comments between songs are met with irked sighs as several people brush off everything he says. It is a curious approach as to how Krell translates his electronic music to a live setting. He is accompanied by three musicians, including a violinist and cellist. The silver lining is without a doubt his ethereal voice. He asserts that their music is a cross between Coldplay and his bandmate’s side project, which is an appropriate comparison considering their rather drawn out, slowcore-tastic tendencies with songs like “Decisions” and “Suicide Dream 1.” It is easier to appreciate the live approach with the delicate balance of vocal range and melody building. Krell cleverly wins the crowd’s attention back peppering in songs off his latest album What Is This Heart? It is refreshing to hear the full spectrum of his music from the emo to their version of hardcore metal. Here’s hoping next time he will focus more on the playing and less on the talking.