La Rocca @ Pianos [6/17/06]

June seems to be the month that I'm finally getting to see a lot of the great artists and bands I've been discovering over the last few months. In the next week or so, I'll be seeing Devin Davis, Beirut, Birdmonster and the Little Ones for the first time.

Last night was Dublin's La Rocca. I've only heard a handful of songs from them so far, primarily off of their recent Sing Song Sung ep, but have liked pretty much everything I've heard. The band's sound is somewhat all over the place -- at times very poppy and energetic, at times very 60's/70's American rock songwriter-esque (think The Band or Springsteen), and at times very big-sounding Brit rock (think Coldplay or Keane). Nontheless, despite their schizophrenic sound, you get the sense listening to them that this is a band that could be very, very big.

Their live show supports this theory. Even though Pianos is a tiny little club, it was hard not to imagine seeing the band on a much bigger stage. The band sounded great, and really seemed to click together on stage in a way that very few bands -- especially bands without a full-length LP to their name -- do.





La Rocca's debut full-length LP, The Truth, which was recorded with Tony Hoffer (Beck, Air, Supergrass, Belle & Sebastian), comes out on Dangerbird Records on August 8th. Expect to hear a lot more from these guys in the fall.

"Some You Give Away" [from The Truth]

"Built a Gun" [Internet-only single]

You can also hear several other songs at the band's MySpace page.