Cincinnati rockers DAAP Girls celebrate the release of their new album, Look Inside Your Love, Saturday at Northside Yacht Club (4227 Spring Grove Ave, Northside, northsideyachtclub.com). Joining the band for the 9 p.m. show are All-Seeing Eyes and DJ Soul Step, who closes out the night, dance-party style. DJ Soul Step is Melvin Dillon, founder of locally based all-vinyl label Soul Step Records (soulsteprecords.com), which is releasing Look Inside Your Love on orange vinyl. Those attending Saturday’s release show will receive access to a free digital download of the album. Admission is $5.
DAAP Girls came out of the gate in 2013 with a full head of steam, releasing the debut album Tape Songs (available here as a free download) and honing what has become one of the best live shows in the area (complete with a horn section and an animated frontman — Stuart MacKenzie — who’s never met a rafter he didn’t want to swing from). The strengthening of the band’s magnetic concoction — lively Garage and Indie Rock squeezed through a classic R&B/Soul filter — is brilliantly displayed on Look Inside Your Love, a relentlessly entertaining album from the first note to the last. The group’s in-concert energy is wholly captured on the recording, which is not an easy feat. DAAP Girls’ sonic charisma is inherent, and it shines in the context of the album’s warm, vintage feel.
Still, the album does allow for a closer look at the group’s musical craftiness, which can sometimes be missed in the frantic blur of its live show. The album kicks off with the powerful one-two punch of “I’m Gone” and “I Love This City,” two blustery Garage Rock barnstormers that feature potent grooves, howling vocals and piercing hooks, but also well-placed horn and organ parts that are foundational to the songs’ rave-up atmosphere. The album also spotlights the swaggering riffs and clever guitar interplay between MacKenzie and Michael Felger. The rhythmic guitar work on “After Midnight” sounds like a duel between Keith Richards and Built to Spill’s Doug Martsch, before it ends with a guitar-harmony face-off that recalls the magic of Television. There’s never a dull moment on Look Inside Your Love , from the chipper, chiming boogie of “All My Fault” to the ominous ambiance of “Stockholm Syndrome” to the shimmying funkiness of the title track. DAAP Girls’ music engagingly balances intense fervency with a supple, sensuous swing, and that multifaceted nature makes for a stimulating listening experience with broad appeal. With Look Inside Your Love , DAAP Girls find the sweet spot between the sweaty grit of a Rock & Roll show and the sweaty grind of an all-night dance party.Click here for more on the band.
DAAP Girls' new live music video for Look Inside Your Love track "I'm Gone":
More Local Notes• After nearly a year in the studio and a successful crowd-funding campaign, unique Northern Kentucky-based seven-piece band Common Center is finally set to issue its debut full-length, Gypsy River, this Saturday in conjunction with a release party at Leapin’ Lizard Lounge (726 Main St., Covington, Ky., leapinlizardeventspace.com). The band’s sound is hard to categorize, a progressive fusion of endless influences played with instrumentation that includes prominent strings and saxophone. Common Center’s Facebook page tags its genre as “Psychedelic Gypsy Rock (Soul-clad) Boogie Funk,” which comes fairly close to describing the quirky vibe conjured on the album.
Along with performances by Common Center, The Turkeys and Saturn Batteries, the Gypsy River release party will feature live art and other surprises. Admission is $10, which includes a download of the album. For more on the band, visit facebook.com/commoncentersounds.
Common Center has made the new album track "People of the Rain" available for free download. Click below to listen/share/keep:
• The 19th-annual Cincinnati Entertainment Awards show (presented by CityBeat) is coming up at the end of January to once again honor the wide range of great, original music creators in Greater Cincinnati. The public is invited to contribute to the CEA nominating process again this year. Open the link to the ballot and write in the local acts you think had a great year and are deserving of a nomination. Deadline for input is Nov. 30.
CONTACT MIKE BREEN: [email protected]
