THE JASCHA EPHRAIM MEMORIAL LIBRARY
Thee Parkside
June 2, 2007

This band completely surprised me when I saw them, especially because I saw them by accident. That night, I was trying to get into The Bottom of the Hill to see Matt and Kim, The Mall, and The Mae Shi (great lineup eh?). But BotH was sold out. So me and a friend ended up going to Thee Parkside to eat our cold leftover vegetable kabobs with coconut rice.

Let’s just call the band we ended up seeing Jascha for short. There were about nine members in Jascha, all of whom dressed like sheep or raggedy Ann. They had three strings players, one keyboardist, a bassist, a drummer, a backup vocalist, and of course frontman Jascha himself onvocals and guitar, standing all of 7 feet tall.

The music was like The Flaming Lips with strings, but that’s a bad comparison. I would also call it psychedelic experimental pop, which sounds better. I’m a sucker for violins and cellos, but the strings weren’t used all the time and hence not overdone. This was my first time at Thee Parkside and it was extremely in-your-face-loud, like a jackhammer pounding away at my eardrums, but Jascha used very good dynamics in their songs and still managed to convey their nuanced sound. I especially liked the way the female singer would sometimes sing by herself while the instruments slowly crept in.

By the end of the show, Jascha was no longer 7 feet tall. He had been standing on a stool wearing long, raggedy clothing that reached all the way to the ground. I talked to him after the show and he told me that, though they don’t play too many shows, they are working on a busier schedule for themselves. So go see them whenever you can find them, whether it’s for the music or their beautiful costumes.

[Alvin Chan]

[STREAM] The Jascha Ephraim Memorial Library: Various Tracks