Ludo preview

Ludo
Metro, Chicago
Thursday, February 28, 2008

Unlike the band’s namesake, Ludo bears no resemblance to the gigantic, dumpy creature with a heart of gold in Jim Henson’s 1986 cult film, Labyrinth. Actually, take that back, the St. Louis-based quintet does embody a sound as enormous as Henson’s creation and flirts with darkly comedic subject matter, but that’s where the similarities end. Following the lead of power pop acts Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance, Ludo unabashedly blurs the line between rock ‘n’ roll and operatic show tunes. Andrew Lloyd Webber eat your heart out.

Lead vocalist Andrew Volpe uses a flair for the dramatic on the band’s second full-length album, You’re Awful, I Love You (Island), to match MCR’s frontman Gerard Way’s hyperactive, over-emotive delivery. The band’s first single, “Love Me Dead,” borrows a swinging tempo suited for Squirrel Nut Zippers and injects a dose of vaudeville into the morbid love song.

The album’s 12 tracks breeze by in three-minute snippets perfect for the attention-deficit listener. “Mutiny Below” veers toward the sweeter side, while “Go-Getter Greg” is to Ludo what “The Bad Touch” was to the Bloodhound Gang, albeit with less electronica.

With Tim Ferrell on guitar, Tim Convy on Moog, Marshall Fanciullo on bass, and Matt Palermo on drums, Ludo takes itself less seriously than Panic At The Disco, but shares the same baroque attitude. If Captain Jack Sparrow sailed the Black Pearl today, this album would be his soundtrack of choice.

State & Madison, Ha Ha Tonka, and Danger Is My Middle Name open.

— Janine Schaults

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly