The Features at Funk n Waffles

Features of the Night

Many audiophiles complain that the modern pop music scene is a euphonic wasteland, and by large, they’re right. And while adjusting your terrestrial radio dial can be unrewarding in a quest for something good to your ear hole, there are some breakthrough bands keeping it real out there, you just have to search around, or await audio happenstance. And by chance, one of the better groups to pop-up in the last few years, The Features, will be performing on Thursday, Oct. 29, 8 p.m., at Funk ‘N Waffles, 727 S. Crouse Ave. The Sparta, Tenn., natives’ brand of off-kilter pop weaves Kinks and/or Beatle-esque pop harmonies into the neo-psychedelia of say, the Flaming Lips on a sugar-cube come-down. But just listening to their sophomore album Some Kind of Salvation—easily one of the best records of 2009—it’s obvious this band’s new, new wave of sound will establish them as the highest of hierarchy currently flowing through the indie-underground. It might not be long before this band, which features Matt Pelham on lead vocals and guitar, Roger Dabbs on bass, drummer Rollum Haas and keyboardist Mark Bond—finds itself down by the old mainstream, and this could be one of those opportunities you’ll be able to tell people about in the near future that you saw them “in a small club back before…” So in the meantime, check them out on the underground, literally, down in the basement soul café that is Funk ‘N Waffles. Tickets cost $5-$7; call 477-9700 for more information.