What if the Hippies had evolved?

An interesting question. If you think of hippies, you think of the 60's and early 70's-nothing really modern comes to mind-especially musically. Or so you might think.

So imagine my surprise when I first encountered Ebenezer at a show at Angel's Lounge back in June. Now to see these guys, you'd think they'd just got in from following the Grateful Dead(and I've known people who did that, so I know If what I speak) around. Not exactly what you'd expect at a punk show, by any means.

But I'll check out anything at least once-I try to keep an open mind. When these two guys took the stage, it was anything but what you would expect, given the way they looked. They played thrash, and buy gum, it was good; not only that, they were excellent subjects for photography-Dave Buss, the guitarist moved around a lot: I like action(I think I get that from my cats. They like things that move a lot). Tyler Moyer, the drummer was also a good subject. About halfway through the set, I regretted not bringing my video, since still shots really only captured part of the intensity of the experience(http://www.flickr.com/photos/otto-yamamoto/sets/72157620289918800/ for those interested). By the end of it all, I was pretty impressed, and was keen to get some of their music.

Well, as luck would have it, they have put out a CD-it's available via interpunk.com and is well worth the $8.25 asking price(cheaper than iTunes!). The only problem I have with it is that it's not long enough. The music draws you in, and before you know it, it's over! It's like time doesn't pass at all. Now the original gangsta hippies tried this, but what you ended up with were long, dreadful, plodding and pretentious pieces that could put you to sleep. Ebenezer's stuff is a lot cleaner, and has a nice edge that gets your attention. The CD makes good use of overdubbing(since Dave is the only guitarist), layering variations in the guitar tracks in an interesting way, and contributing to the overall ambiance of the CD.

Yeah, I could listen to this a lot of times over and over, and annoy the bejesus out of people, always a plus in my book. But what I like the most is that Ebenezer takes the concept of the Hippie, and brings it up to date in a very original way-one that gets respect from people who don't particularly care for the original concept(I lived through part of it).