Pop Music Reviews : Grant Lee Buffalo Stampedes Fans With Passion at Whisky

As self-descriptive album titles go, Grant Lee Buffalo’s “Fuzzy” is right up there with Aerosmith’s “Rocks.” The L.A. trio’s ’93 debut introduced an intriguing if unfocused blend of evocative, hazy poetics and cutting commentary, framed in a sort of folk- and jazz-flavored bohemian swing sound.

At the Whisky on Tuesday, where much of the show was given over to new material (the band’s second album is due this summer), that flavorful approach gave way to a frontal assault, with leader Grant Lee Phillips hell-bent on getting through each song’s preliminaries so he could frantically strum his 12-string to produce blistering, wall-rattling storms of sound.

The pattern repeated too often to stay interesting--Grant Lee Buffalo’s undeniable and admirable intensity would gain dimension if it were balanced by some of the lightness and intimacy the band could obviously command.

Still, their passion has made Phillips, drummer Joey Peters and bassist Paul Kimble local heroes, and the spirit at the Whisky was reminiscent in a way of Counting Crows’ pre-hit appearances, where such drawbacks as derivativeness mattered very little in light of the clear, vital link between band and audience.