The Azoic: Silverlake, CA 5-28-05

Making their Los Angeles debut at new industrial hot spot Club Quarantine, the Azoic delivered an upbeat performance that emphasized all of the band’s strengths but unfortunately didn’t do much to conceal its weaknesses. Lead singer Kristy Venrick’s voice is lovely when she sings soprano, soaring celestially above the trance-inspired synths and EBM beats, but more often she sings alto and seems to have a bit of trouble staying on key. Tonight the band led off with tracks like “Not Justified” and “Going Under,” saving the best vocal work of “Illuminate” and “Lost” for the end of their set. The audience didn’t seem to mind, however, and the bubbly front woman made up for any vocal inconsistencies with inimitable perkiness, thanking the promoters, the audience, and her fellow band members on several occasions and repeatedly expressing her joy and gratitude to finally be playing in Los Angeles. The band’s unbridled enthusiasm for playing live – especially on duets like “The One” between Venrick and programmer Steve Laskarides – was infectious and made them hard not to like. While their performance might’ve fallen a bit short in places by a music critic’s standards, the rows of dancing fans lining the front of the stage told an entirely different story.

Visit www.theazoic.com and https://www.nilaihah.com/shows.htm for upcoming tour dates.