Recap: ON AN ON, Advance Base, Shadows on a River

After only a few short months, The Velvet Elvis has become one of my favorite venues in Champaign-Urbana. Catering to local and sizable touring bands, it provides an atmosphere that combines the professionalism, capacity, and sound of a standard venue with the intimacy, accessibility, and hominess of a house venue.Last night's bill consisted of locals Shadows on a River, Advance Base (formerly Casiotone for the Painfully Alone), and ON AN ON (formerly Scattered Trees). They all performed swimmingly, each lending something wholly impressive to the show:Shadows on a River makes godly use of dynamics, taking emotive indie rock and rendering it into something meaningful again. Advance Base is a helluva story teller, if I've ever heard one.While Owen Ashworth's work with Casiotone and Advance Base sounds good recorded, Ashworth's expressiveness in his multitude of minimalist, distorted keyboard-driven stories becomes infinitely more relatable as you sit cross-legged on the floor, admiring him as you would an all-knowing older brother.Headliners ON AN ON blasted the food-pyramid of sound, incorporating your daily recommended dose of every frequency across the audio spectrum, and then some. Uber levels of energy and an engaged and eager crowd led to one of the best celebrations Champaign-Urbana could've thrown for the birthday-boy bassist.%%wppa%%%%slide=3%%