Tuesday, June 27, 2006
A friend of a friend recently heard Monsters Are Waiting on a certain popular local radio station recently and asked if we knew who they were to which we replied, "KROQ sucks." Nevertheless, what we do know is that half of adolescent America will be kneedeep in love with Ms. Fery in a matter of seconds.
Playing their 823rd show in June in support of their dandy new record Fascination, MAW finished up their Spaceland residency with some gusto as they prepare for their summer trek. Luckily we happened to stick around after the masterful arena rock showing of Tsar that night because they've gotten even better since our last encounter. Most notable is Fery's freedom around the stage now that she's no longer chained to that Korg that took up half the stage. So much freedom that, at one point, a semi-stagedive turned into a lazy collapse into our arms. Thank you, gravity.
Monsters Are Waiting perform at the Troubadour on 7/10 with The Shys and Van Gunn.
Monsters Are Waiting on Myspace
Tsar on Myspace
Monsters Are Waiting - "Nobody" (MP3)
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Alpha Pup partied it up at the Echo on Friday. Amazing lineup of some of the best mixers and MC's in Los Angeles, beginning with our favorite, Blackbird. This man's performances are always captivating, drawing reluctant back-of-the-room hip-hop heads to the front with his unconventional style and flow. He has one of the most distinct voices we've ever heard. Next up were a slew of laptop/MPC mixers including LA's rising star edIT. The others (Flying Lotus, Labwaste, Poly) were plagued with technical problems but still managed to keep the kids on the floor. Keep an eye out for these boys around town. Alpha Pup is killing it right now.
Blackbird - "Outro" (MP3)
edIT - "Disco Like Its Hot" (MP3)
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Devics' first show in the States after spending a year back in their adopted home country of Italy was in Costa Mesa, a town they had never played before, so of course we had to be there. Not only that, but our current favorite band of the millenium, Sea Wolf, opened.
Sea Wolf sounded great even with the technical problems, but we're so biased that they could probably just take a nap onstage for 45 minutes and we'd still be declaring Alex Church a musical genius. "Middle Distance Runner" is almost too lovely for words... And Devics, who we haven't really seen a full set from since the Fais Do Do residency days in the late 90s sounded as beautifully somber as ever. Can "Song for a Sleeping Girl" be any more perfect?
The Wolf finally finished putting together their long-awaited EP and continue their mini-tour with Devics who also recently released their new album Push the Heart. Buy these records. In numerous quantites.
Devics on Myspace
Sea Wolf on Myspace
Devics - "Song for a Sleeping Girl" (MP3)
Sea Wolf - "Middle Distance Runner" (MP3)
Devics and Sea Wolf perform at the Troubadour on 6/23.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Change of plans last night to help the Hardy/Calabrese Hunger Fund at the Silverlake Lounge, which probably is the club many of us first saw the Drag. There was considerably more space to breakdance to "This Isn't It" back then, but as long as we can get a taste of Hardy's foul mouth, wry wit, and massive riffing it's all good in the 'hood. Everyone go buy their merch and anything else they have lying around so that Micah can have a place to live in and Annie can buy more shares of Google stock before it splits... Foreign Born opened. Played some new songs that sounded sweet. Someone needs to kick them in the ass to get an LP out already. Criminy.
Foreign Born - "Grave Mistakes" (MP3)
Foreign Born - "Holy Splinter" (MP3)
Giant Drag on Myspace
Foreign Born on Myspace
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Ovrcast Collective put on a phenomenal festival last week that we didn't really say much about so we thought we'd reconcile by checking out another great lineup they put together at Mountain. Unfortunately had to miss out on The Cauterized since we had to rush over to Little Radio to see MSTRKRFT, but Holloy, Arches, and our current favorite instrumental duo Bloody Robots did well in causing us permanent hearing loss. Hearing aids are the new black.
The Cauterized - "Suicide 9" (MP3)
Holloy - "LSD" (MP3)
Arches - "Don't Remember" (MP3)
Friday, June 16, 2006
We had been anxiously waiting for Django Night at T's since news of its fantastic lineup started to leak. Leave it to Roderick Cumming of the Cat Hair Ensemble to organize such a special night devoted to the original gipsy king. We couldn't possibly tell you how good this show was. Luckily Mr. Cumming can.
We arrived as Tommy Davy was seemingly yawning through some of the most acrobatic guitar runs of the night with spot-on accuracy. After which we settled in and witnessed some great local talent we've never had the pleasure of seeing before... Erich Von Kneip, Tango Nuevo all were wonderful surprises. And those we had seen before (Jessica Fichot, Killsonic, Cat Hair) were delightful as usual. Added to the excitement was the finale of Jeremy Drake and Nels Cline who reinterpreted Reinhardt into the glorious noise they are known for. If you missed the show, be sure to catch the Ensemble at T's on residency nights or any of the other featured performers around town.
Erich Von Kneip - "Funeral for a Romance" (MP3)
Jessica Fichot - "Le Grenier" (MP3)
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
We were going to cut back on shows since Copa Mundial would be taking up the bulk of our existence for the next month but then we thought, why not rely on the latest time-shifting technology and see a gig for a change? And so we busted out some superfresh VHS (circa 1999) and prepared ourselves for a melodious affair at the Echo for Languis' June residency.
Our two readers know that we have loved Languis for many a decade so anything we could possibly add now would be just kissing their Argentinian asses. And of course we will do that -- although they're lucky Riquelme is one of our favorite players. They're back to a couple these days, which we haven't seen in awhile and it's still a beautiful thing to witness. Be sure to pick up their new EP.
As much as we love Languis, this newish band Mezzanine Owls was the clincher for Monday. We've been sort of obsessing about them for a minute and wanted to see if we were just imagining things. Damn, they're good. I won't spoil they're CD release show in July by making superfluous declarations. Just be there.
Languis performs every Monday at The Echo in June with special guests. Shows are free (21+).
Mezzanine Owls CD release show is 7/20 at the Silverlake Lounge.
Mezzanine Owls - "Lightbulb" (MP3)
Saturday, June 10, 2006
We kind of lost track of Brandi Emma since she split personalities on us and changed her name to Emma Burgess ("Emma" from her Mother, "Burgess" from her Father). Needless to say, we've been wanting to catch up with her for awhile so "by chance", we stumbled into Crane's the other night and "coincidentally" we caught her opening set and "just happened" to have our 20 Delta to shoot some photos.
There's a fine quality to her voice and songwriting that we can't quite describe but we have a feeling that Sam Phillips, Maria McKee, and Rickie Lee Jones records might have been scattered around her bedroom floor at one point. Whatever it is, we love it and will be an emotional wreck the next month as we wait for her new album Swim to hit stores. Be sure to catch any shows she's got lined up. We peeked at some tipsheets and she's on every one of them (what took you so long?). Listen to demo tracks of the album on her MySpace. They're fantastic.
Emma Burgess performs at the Hotel Cafe on 6/24.
Emma Burgess on MySpace
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Gliss is one of many L.A. bands that if they were from London or Stockholm we'd be pissing our pants to have them over here. But since they're from here it's easy to take them for granted. We're guilty of this crime ourselves and are embarrassed and ashamed of it, but made amends (sort of) by checking out their opening residency night.
New songs are excellent and their performance is still utterly sexy as ever -- Klingman and Reiss combine for some downright erotic guitar moans and Ms. Cecilia is an absolute vision on drums, bass, drum sampler... a bench seat selling merch. The last night of this residency will serve as their CD release show for their new album Love the Virgins, but you should prepare for it by attending every Monday before then. Bring condoms.
Gliss perform every Monday at the Silverlake Lounge in June with special guests. Shows are free (21+).
Gliss - "Blue Sky" (MP3)
Gliss - "Kiss the Blvd." (YouTube Video)
Gliss on MySpace
Friday, June 02, 2006
Don't need to whine about how crazy busy this past week was but we will... Wahhh. However, we still managed to stop by the Troubadour for an early show since Bedroom Walls went out of their way to make such a fine new CD and have a nice gathering for its release. Favorite track is "Kathy in Her Bedroom" only because it makes us less sad than the others, but the whole thing is good ol' dreamy Walls. Saw a bunch of fellow writers of blog at the show, which was reassuring that we're not completely uncool. But the show ended way too early, which just meant we were able to attend the after-party in between our pillow and blanket.
Bedroom Walls perform at Amoeba Music on 6/29 and have the Tuesday residency at Tangier in July.
Bedroom Walls - "Kathy in Her Bedroom" (MP3)
Bedroom Walls - "Do the Buildings & Cops Make You Smile?" (MP3)
Bedroom Walls - "Winter, That's All" (MP3)
Bedroom Walls on MySpace
