The Features/ Lucky Pineapple/ The Broken Spurs
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Headliner’s Music Hall/ Louisville, KY

Review and photo by Hunter Embry, Indiana University

In support of its latest release, Some Kind of Salvation, The Features, not too far from its hometown of Sparta, TN, dropped into Headliner’s to cap an evening of local-brewed music. The psychadelic, energetic and spastic indie rockers grooved out its easily listenable brand of fresh pop music within the three-band bill.

Uniformed in plaid button-ups and tee shirts, the headliners opened with “Lions,” an upbeat, bouncy dance track. The band’s set also included a vamped up, low-ended version of “BMF,” a gritty, keyed jam that can be downloaded for free on the band’s MySpace page. Singer Matt Pelham’s vocals were controllably swerving and sturdy with every change in tone, keeping the straight legs captivated throughout The Features’ set.

Local openers, Lucky Pineapple and The Broken Spurs kept the buzz rolling, full steamed with widely contrasting sets. Lucky Pineapple, a seven piece progressive rock head-rush, managed to keep its four-part harmonies, two-piece horn section and wide array of percussive additions from muddying, avoiding an audible mess. The well-crafted, agreeably orchestrated songs of Lucky Pineapple from its latest release The Bubble Hast Burst in Sky City (Noise Pollution) sounded even more tangible and eclectic, shifting from wild and happy to dark and peculiar, all the while staying excitedly entertaining.

The Broken Spurs, who were just as pleasurable, served as the unbecoming stepchild of the evening– a backstage brawl between the Rolling Stones and the Stooges. While strongly chewing his gum and wearing a constant smirk, singer Adam Kramer beckoned with the “chick-ies” in the house to come a little closer while the audience stood off as if afraid to get engulfed in the hormone-full rock n’ roll.