Ulta Sonic Edukation

By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Jan 29, 2008 5:48PM

Honestly, it should be a recipe for disaster. Put seven guys on stage -- one of whom is only playing a tambourine and running into the rest of the band -- and turn the volume way up. It's the sort of thing that should clear a room.

Only it doesn't.

We've mentioned Ultra Sonic Edukators before, and we've always viewed them as a band with great potential. Last night was the end of their month long Monday residency at Schubas and we are pleased to report that the band has finally hit its stride. Their bombastic brand of Britpop is so freaking fun we even forgive the singer his faux English singing accent. We've grown to love the Bez-like antics of that one dude on stage who -- literally -- does nothing but dance around with a tambourine or maracas. We're told the band is preparing to record their debut (which actually confuses us since we already have what we thought was their full-length debut but must actually be an album's worth of demos) and while we didn't hear and really new material, their current collection of songs is tight as hell.

Maradona opened the show and we also enjoyed their poppier take on the template laid down by Joy Division. We're told the band was actually missing a member last night, so they were forced to play mostly older material due to personnel restrictions, but if what we heard last night was borne from the earlier days of the group, we're awfully curious to hear what sort of progress the newer songs show. Count us in the next time the play.

Photo by Mike Minor