Review of Lipstick Jodi - Well Worth Your Time, Attention and Ears

I was very pleasantly treated by my first live listen to a great sounding, tight GRapids area band last night. Gotta admit, the main reason I went to their show at Lowell Arts! was to show my support for one Ryne Clarke, the opener for the evening. Ryne is a neighbor and a member of my FAVORITE local band, The Preservers, of whom I have written more than once. He is a tireless musician AND a great promoter of other musical talents through his efforts at Ryneshyne.club.

Two side notes: First, if you have never seen the new home of Lowell Arts!, you need to visit. The gallery space is fantastic and the place was purpose built to host intimate musical events like an evening with Lipstick Jodi. Hearing music created in the midst of kick ass local and regional art is dessert without the calories. 

Secondly, one more contributing factor to Lipstick Jodi fun was the fact that my wife has become friends with Jamie, keyboards and backing vocals, over the last few months because Jamie engineers killer coffee drinks for Julie at her favorite coffee spot; Rowsters located in the Ada Kingma's market. (Julie would walk over broken glass for one of Jamie's Miels.)

Lipstick Jodi - (L to R) Karli, Luke, Jamie, and Devon.

After buying our tickets, I took to the web to sample Lipstick Jodi. I enjoyed what I heard and saw, so my expectations were raised before they hit their first note. The band exceeded my expectations by far. Drums are a passion of mine, so I have to start with Luke:

 Luke making the most with his Cool Rods.

Luke is a brilliant, energized master of the kit. He obviously LOVES what he is doing and puts a shit load of incidental flourishes and atmospheric touches into the art of keeping a beat. His choice of playing with a set of ProMark Cool Rods was perfect for the small, quiet venue. FYI: Cool Rods and Hot Rods are drumsticks made up of a bundle of small dowels which allow a player like Luke to do his thing without overpowering the venue or the other instruments.  

Syncopation is my heatbeat - Luke is all over it. He would augment the beat with trills n thrills from every surface on his kit.

Karli watching the glowing red Exit sign. :-)


Karli is great fun to watch and listen to. She has a great mixture of talent and humility. She is very much at one with her guitar and watching her shake, whammy and coax subtle little goodies from it was almost as enjoyable for me as Luke's drumming. :-) 

She told us she was happy to be singing because she had just gotten over a one two punch of flu and sinus infection. From my seat, I had no clue - her voice was strong and confident ringing out over the band. One of the most enjoyable aspects of Lipstick Jodi was the endings of many of their songs - no big crashing crescendo of hoo-hah, the best of them featured little guitar tones and flourishes on the drum kit as the sustained notes from bassist Devon and Jamie's keys hung in the air.

Speaking of the bottom end, if the band is to be believed, Devon has only been with them for a few weeks. This news came as a surprise because there was no indication of any kind that he was the New Guy in the band. Many of their songs feature complete starts n stops - and such things are hard to pull off if all parties are not in sync - Lipstick Jodi delivered a nice, tight set of music. After a couple of tunes, I turned to Julie and said, "These guys rehearse!" Either they put in a lot of hours since he joined, or Devon is one quick study. Bravo.

Keyboards and vocals from Jamie round out the sound.

One of my favorite aspects of this band is their harmony onstage - no, I am not just referring to the use of support vocals from Luke n Jamie, but their entire vibe. These people love what they are doing and really enjoy the other folks with whom they make music. 

If you like intelligent, well played music performed by a talented band, you owe it to yourself to make an effort to experience this group sometime soon. Here is a link to their web page: Lipstick Jodi.

Their music can be listened to here: Lipstick Jodi on Soundcloud

Here is a video - great song: She Likes Boys