Fronted by Dugan Cruz, Los Angeles four-piece MADUS charm with sexy indie-jam lullabies that scratch an unforgotten nostalgic itch. In 2018 they caught the ear of Japanese blog Fancy Melancholic with the release of their first single "Find Another Girl," garnering nearly 100,000 views on Youtube. While Cruz was attending CSU Northridge, MADUS won an "Artist of the Year" competition which led to their further development via a student-run label called VOVE which enabled them to record and perform with the support of a collective of over 60 students now working in the music industry.
Naturally, MADUS’ sound is melody-driven in classic 6-speed manual. Pat Rector (guitar) effortlessly oscillates between lush chords and driving riffs, which perfectly surround Cruz’s dulcet vibrato and sultry tone (think Casablancas meets Buckley). Sweetness and all, MADUS can still flex savory musical muscle and make it clear how boldly tuneful they can be. With Jaime Cano (bass) and Tommy Senter (drums) as the always-complementary & well-postured rhythmic spine, MADUS serenade with warm shots of the early-aughts from a personally-distilled electricity that is clearly not only bottled by -- or for -- the Brits. Lyrically, Cruz’s poeticism paints Turner-esque tableaus of reflection, relationships and night-life romance while walking the tightrope between wanting something to be real and true, but accepting that it’s alright to lean into a lurid salaciousness on occasion.
With influences ranging from Queen to the Cure, Stevie Wonder to Talking Heads, or Spoon to Blondie, MADUS spin a creative matrimony in which they are happy to turn on and let the sonic mating ritual begin. Their elastic sound recalls early Arctic Monkeys and The Strokes while hinting at the boyish earnestness of early Two Door Cinema Club, while weaving between the lines of Broncho and QOTSA. But MADUS’ soul is still seductively their own with inertia worth leaning into.
Their upcoming EP Magna Tristi is due for release in October 2022. “The best part of recording this mini record was having a producer force us to actually understand what the writing process SHOULD be like," Cruz acknowledges. "Instruments in hand, lyric sheets scattered, and probing questions on what the music is about. No effects, no pedals, no nonsense. Just mics, instruments, and the bare power of each song. No hiding behind anything. It was the first time I think we all felt comfortable being that naked together. We had already been literally naked together and that was nowhere near as tough.” Naked or not, this collection of tracks exists in that emotional space under the right light of flashbulb memory night lights where you’re perpetually trying to jumpstart a feeling in your bones.
-- Michelle Shiers, resident photographer of The Greek Theater