Monday, April 27, 2009
After a very enjoyable weekend of things to do, we're back to the weekday grind. This week is going to be so good...
Tonight, Monday residencies come to an end. We have never in our all our lives seen the Big 3 (Spaceland, The Echo, and the Silverlake Lounge) so packed every night. It's unprecedented, for sure, and we'd just like to thank The Fold and Spaceland Prod. for booking such strong lineups. This month will be extremely tough to top her on out of 2009. Elsewhere, Marianne Dissard, I See Hawks in L.A., and others at Echo Curio. Jubliee Singers and others at the South Pasadena Music Center. Kid Koala does a DJ set at The Bordello. And of course Carnage Mondays at pehrspace.
Tuesday, Castledoor celebrates the release of their long-awaited, highly-anticipated, and "whatever hyphenated adjective you can think of" record release show for their debut album Shouting at Mountains at Echoplex. Not to be outdone, The Parson Red Heads are also joining them with the release of their new vinyl EP "Orangufang" out on JAXART. This dual release show concludes a gigantic month for local releases with Silversun Pickups, Great Northern, Gliss, Hecuba, Crystal Antlers, Xu Xu Fang, Black Math Horseman, Jeremy Jay, Mississippi Man, Downtown/Union, and Meredith Meyer (among many others) all putting out a little something something.
Also on Tuesday, George Sarah and String Trio opens for The Pinker Tones at the Knitting Factory. Lucky Dragons and others at Echo Curio. Stab City, Kill Kill Kill, and Manhattan Murder Systery at Juanita's. Shirley Rolls, Bastidas, and The Shade at Mr. T's Bowl. And Mike Bloom at the Hotel Cafe.
Wednesday, we say goodbye (for now) to Jesca Hoop who is moving to the UK. She has one more farewell show at the Hotel Cafe that night. We'd be upset about this except that we think that her enchanting voice is probably best suited for the rolling green acreage of England's fanciful countryside. We wish her all the best and we will miss her too much. Elsewhere, Ceci Bastida is at the Silverlake Lounge. Sierra Swan and Carina Round together again at the g'net's Little Room. And Blank Blue and Zechs Marquise at Low End Theory.
A benefit for Dangerbird Records co-founder Jeff Castelaz's son Pablo is being held at the Echoplex with special performances by Silversun Pickups and Eulogies. Xu Xu Fang celebrates the release of their EP "Seven Days Now" with Downtown/Union also celebrating the release of their new Aurora Ahora at The Echo. Greater California celebrates the release of their new record All the Colors at the Art Theater in Long Beach. Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros begins their three-stint at the Regent Theater. Jail Weddings plays their first Long Beach show in a year at The Que Sera. Les Blanks, The World Record, and Jack Wilson, Jr. at Echo Curio. Amber Rubarth celebrates the release of a new record at the Hotel Cafe with Cosio opening.
Full listings here.
Happy Birthdays over the weekend to Heather Waters and Jenny O. Happy Birthdays this week to Samantha Sidley, Peter Stuart, and our old friend out in DC Laura Burhenn.
Castledoor - "Dumpster Diving"
The Parson Red Heads - "Time is Running Out" (Luxury Wafers sessions)
Friday, April 24, 2009
Let's just do this weekend thing and get the heck out of here, shall we?
Tonight, listen up for Moment Trigger on Demolisten. She Wants Revenge, Gran Ronde, and War Tapes at the Globe. Great Northern at Fingerprints. The Jakes open for Ghostland Observatory and LMFAO at USC Sigma Chi. The Living Suns, Dirt Dress, UV Lights, Blood Robots and others at The Blvd. The Press Fire!, VOICEsVOICEs, and others at Bow & Sparrow. Billygoat, Voice on Tape, and others at pehrspace. Future Ghost, NewClearChild, and Victim Vision at Silver Factory. Audacity/Pterodacdudes have a split 7" release show at The Church. Angie Mattson at Home. Lightning Woodcock, Clare Means, and others at Taix. Rocket, Mack Winston and the Reflections, and others at Spaceland. Jon Brion at g'net. And more Ed Banger fun with Feadz at the Avalon.
Saturday, we'll be heading out to Hollywood to see Wait.Think.Fast. open for Ximena Sariñana. It's been a year ago almost to the day that Ximena celebrated the release of her wonderful debut record Mediocre at the 100-capacity sold-out Mint. That was one of the best shows we saw last year. And WTF was playing our pretzel night last April. Now, they're both at the Avalon. What a difference a year makes, eh?
It's also a must on Saturday to stop by the LA Times Festival of Books (even though we don't read as much as we should). Elsewhere, Glen Phillips, AM, Greg Laswell, and others at the Hotel Cafe. The Go-Go's at the House of Blues. Bobb Bruno and others at The Cocaine. You Me & Iowa, Avi Buffalo, The Hectors and others at Spaceland. The Monolators, Tsk Tsk, and The Lynx Technique at HM157. Pinche Way! at Mountain Bar hosts Halloween Swim Team, Conejos, and Michael Nhat. Classical Geek Theatre presents another Fiend Folio at Echo Curio with Meho Plaza, Blue Jungle, Roman Candles, and Alma Mater. Dead Rock West opens for Fastball at The Mint. Carney, Canon, and HAIM at the Troubadour. Jake Newton, Marina V., and Stacy Clark at Viento y Agua. The Ofersures celebrate the release of their debut record New Songs for Old Friends at Saint Rocke. Shiloe, Black Ice, and Haunted Tiger at Silver Factory. Rosemary's Billygoat (the video below makes us miss Al's Bar so much), Frankenstein, Lightnight Woodcock and others at Alex's Bar. Double Naught Spycar and Vermouth at Taix. boxViolet and others at The Panic Room. Mandy Moore at g'net. And Sonos at Home.
Sunday, The Mae Shi and The Widow Babies do PTP. The Ditty Bops at McCabe's. Eulogies and The One AM Radio play for the kids at The Echo. Nite Jewel, Caldera Lakes, and VOICEsVOICEs open for the great Grouper at The Smell. Winfred E. Eye, CB Brand others at Space 15 Twenty. Lanterns, Dirt Dress, and Cossack at $ucka Free $undays. And you might want to stop by Bardot for some surprise guest DJs.
Full calendar listing here.
Pictured above is The Whip at Cinespace who we forgot to mention opened the show on Tuesday. They were pretty good. Love their drummer (not pictured).
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Thanks to all those who came out last night for "Live at Mr. T's Bowl." We had a last-minute band cancellation but still things went smoothly. Thanks to all the bands that played and to Arlo and Gus for helping us with the show. The next one won't be until July. Photos from the show are up and an archive of some of the Stickam videos that were broadcast are also up.
The next show we're presenting is 5/6 at The Smell with Warpaint, EXITMUSIC, VOICEsVOICEs, and Alexandra Hope. And we're thinking about camping outside the venue starting tomorrow to make sure we can actually get into that one.
Speaking of hard-to-get-into shows...
Last Tuesday, we made it a point to stop by the annual post-Coachella Ed Banger party at Cinespace for birthday boy Pedro Winter (aka Busy P) with special guest DJs SebastiAn, DJ Mehdi, Chris Holmes, Kavinsky, So Me, A-Trak, and hiding out until the finale, Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk (Gaspard from Justice was in the house but didn't spin.)
We cannot begin to explain the total chaos of this night. Only the few hundred or so people that were there (and especially those in front of the stage) know that it's a damn-near miracle people were trampled to death. Somehow we were able get some point-and-shoot photos, shoot some video, and Twitter a bit all while being mauled from behind for three straight hours. And, at one point, our pants came off. There we said it. We won't go into detail how it happened and we already edited the videos below and checked the hundreds of other videos of the night on Youtube so don't bother Googling for "Ed Banger" + "Pantless Idiot" because that's not us (probably). But believe us when we say that trying to get your pants back on at the perfect moment in a room full of people with cameras just waiting to Twitpic your naked ass on the Internet is very, very difficult. These are the kind of things you don't think about when you forget to wear a belt with baggy pants.
Pictured above are Kavinsky and DJ Mehdi with Chris Holmes balancing two hearts on his fingertips (those hearts are everywhere!).
Thomas Bangalter - "Rollin' & Scratchin'"/"Signatune" (Mehdi) Live at Cinespace (Part 1)
Busy P. - "Raspberry Beret"/New SebastiAn track Live at Cinespace (Part 2)
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Wednesday, we're celebrating Earth Day by planting a tree, recycling some plastic, and seeing four of L.A.'s finest (and one of San Diego's finest) at Mr. T's Bowl.
With Orange Days On Lemon Street, Lex Land released one of our top ten favorite records of 2008 without any of the hype many of her Hotel Cafe comrades recieved. Her songwriting is impeccable and she has one of the most stunning voices we've ever heard in this scene or any scene. It's a voice that can easily maneuver through sweet folk pop to Jeff Buckley-esque soul rock to renditions of Bizet's "Habanera" to covers of Prince. The lady is a star, but of course you already know that -- her songs have been featured on at least a half a dozen TV shows in the last year and she just performed on "Morning Becomes Eclectic" a few weeks ago.
We're also excited to present the big official debut of familyblankets, the new band from members of Avi Buffalo with the totally rad Rebecca Cole on lead vocals. We've often said that Ms. Cole could very well be the key factor to Avi Buffalo's well-balanced and mature-beyond-their-years songwriting. Her sweet and charming backup vocals and keyboard melodies make all the difference to the band so the fact that she's started her own project is no surprise. Industry kids might want to watch this one closely.
Matt Curreri remains to be one of the best of the San Diego scene. He hasn't been up in Los Angeles for about a year, which is a damn shame. In fact, his brother Paul Curreri and sister-in-law Devon Sproule have even visited us more times than he and they live in Virginia. In any case, Curreri quietly released another beautifully-written record last year entitled Joy of Life (recorded at Red Rockets Glare) although "Willow Tree," "Wife," and "Carrie's Freckles" off previous records are still our long-time favorite songs in the history of long-time favorite songs (all of which he'd better play for us or he's never playing in L.A. again).
Eliza Rickman is a last-minute addition to the lineup simply because we thought her new "Gild the Lily" EP is that good and because she quite randomly wrote us such a nice email recently. Yup, that's pretty much what it takes for us to beg a band to be on a show. Such was the case with Cricket and the 2:19, whose 70's folk rock-inspired tunes will be a good start to the evening.
There you have it. We hope you can make it. But if you can't we'll again be broadcasting live via Stickam and live blogging via Twitter and CoverItLive.com
April 22, 2009
Los Angeles Loves... Live at Mr. T's Bowl
LEX LAND
FAMILYBLANKETS
MATT CURRERI
ELIZA RICKMAN
CRICKET AND THE 2:19
Mr. T's Bowl
5621 1/2 Figueroa
Highland Park, CA 90042 | Map
21+ / 9pm / Free
Broadcasting live via Stickam
Lex Land - "As Much As You Lead" (MP3) Limited time download
familyblankets - "Aliens" (MP3) Limited time download
Matt Curreri - "I'll Be Here" (MP3) Limited time download
Cricket and the 2:19 - "Tell on You" (MP3)
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Due to time constraints, we ended up stopping by only one of the Monday residencies last night and that was Dusty Rhodes and the River Band, which once again was a jam-packed sweaty affair. Opener Audra Mae, however, might have been the real show-stealer of the night. She's got the kind of voice that critics might use 'soul diva' or 'blues mama' to describe, both of which we have never used in our lives until right now (and it feels kind of good). In any case, it was a welcome change of pace for the usual bands that come through the Silverlake Lounge and we figure by the huge response that blues is the new black. The Lounge, by the way, stayed packed until late for the special sort-of-unannounced appearance of Dead Man's Bones. We too caught a glimpse of that beautifully photographed video that's been circulating blogs for the last few months but we were still skeptical of what could just be another bad Hollywood band cleverly veiled by smoke and mirrors. Well, much to our surprise, the band is actually pretty fantastic. They play a kind of dark goth blues rock, perhaps somewhat rooted in Bayou voodoo and such. The music emanates in often soulful chants and pulsing rhythms that momentarily made us believe the band was less about playing indie rock and more about conjuring Haitian spirits. Not exactly what you'd expect coming from the star of that one damn movie that we can't remember anything about other than that we cried like a little bitch watching it. We highly recommend checking out all of the above bands. Pictured above is said movie star's arm next to skull trapped in crystal ball-like cage.
In other news: The Secret 6 released a new track "Breaking Down," available for free download here... The lovely Greater California celebrates the release of their new fantastic record All the Colors (which we picked up at Fingerprints last weekend) at the Art Theater in Long Beach on 4/30 with Free Moral Agents and The Fling. The Fling, incidentally, just released a new 7" EP entitled "Out of My Head" which we forgot to pick up at Fingerprints. Dammit... Portland's Oh Darling plays Spaceland on Thursday opening for Casxio as they kick off their West Coast tour. Their new album Nice Nice, which features the ad hit "Colorful Day," is available to download in its entirety only through the month of April so get on it.
Also, we totally forgot to say warm happy birthdays to Amy Cooper, Jim Smith (The Smell), and Austin Hartley-Leonard over the weekend. Celebrating birthdays this week are Scott McDonald, Jesca Hoop, Eli Monolator, and Carolyn Edwards. We love you all.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Well, we think Los Angeles had quite a lively weekend despite half its occupants being elsewhere. Like, Elaine Layabout's "Hella Hipster Hoedown #2" was very much the place to be on Saturday with rollicking performances by Leslie and the Badgers, Cobra Lilies, Mississippi Man, and Roman Candles. And the Fuck Yeah Fest-sponsored night at Sync on Friday with Japanther, Ninjasonik, The Underground Railroad to Candyland, and Seasick was a complete madhouse (as seen above). So by all accounts it was a pleasant few days (with noticeably less traffic)... For those who watched Coachella through AT&T Blue Room, we were treated to a great performance by The Airborne Toxic Event, a live stream that had the welcome "technical problem" of repeating through the first few songs for about an hour. What we learned from that was that Coachella cameramen have a thing for a certain violinist's gams with more slow tilt-ups of her as shots of the rest of the band -- although at least it wasn't as revealing as Joss Stone's performance. Anyway, Coachella 2009 over. Let Coachella 2010 rumors now begin.
Residencies continue tonight. They have been crazy insane crazy. We're going to try and see a few tonight. Elsewhere, Saint Motel, Oliver Future, Aushua, and The Voyeurs at the Troubadour. The Peculiar Pretzelmen open for Squirrel Nut Zippers. Captain Ahab, I.E., and others open for BITCHES at Carnage's pehrspace. Crocodiles and others at Echo Curio. The lovely and funny Tig Notaro at g'net. Mozella, Terra Naomi and others at the Hotel Cafe. Keith Morris continues as special guest on GTFU. Also, Crystal Antlers tapes an appearance on Carson Daly tonight to air at a later date.
Tuesday, Black Math Horseman celebrates the release of their new Wyllt at the Silverlake Lounge. Slang Chickens opens for Rademacher and The War on Drugs at The Echo.
Wednesday, listen up for Great Northern on "Morning Becomes Eclectic." Later, check out Castledoor at UCLA's Bruin Plaza at noon. Then you can either come to our free show at Mr. T's Bowl with Lex Land, familyblankets, Matt Curreri, Eliza Rickman, and Cricket and the 2:19 or visit The Echo for Hecuba's release show for their new record Paradise. Also, The Moon Upstairs, The Quarter After, and Suki Ewers at Three Clubs. And Odd Modern and boxViolet re-team up duo-style at The Scene.
Thursday, Dawes celebrates the release of their new record North Hills at The Echo. Lenka and Greg Laswell at g'net. Casxio, Oh Darling, and others at Spaceland. Joshua Radin opens for Joss Stone at Club Nokia. Holloys, Random Patterns, and others at Echo Curio. And Years, Kiev, and The Secret 6 at Alex's Bar.
Full calendar listings here.
Black Math Horseman - "Deerslayer" (MP3) Limited time download
Dawes - "Love is All I Am"
Friday, April 17, 2009
Dear abandoned city of Los Angeles, fret not. This town never lets us down...
Tonight, listen up for The Karabal Nightlife on "Demolisten." Check out the new track they posted on their MySpace featuring Ema and the Ghosts on vocals. And then go see them tonight at pehrspace with Kissing Cousins, Nightfur, Fascinoma, and Lucy Langlas. Also, listen up for familyblankets (who will be playing our T's show on 4/22) on KXLU around 5pm. The Underground Railroad to Candyland open for Japanther and Ninjasonik at Sync. Elsewhere, Ramblin' Jack Elliott begins two nights at McCabe's. Foot Village and The Widow Babies open for the UK's BITCHES at The Smell. Pocahaunted and The Finches open for The Cave Singers at Spaceland. Jon Brion at g'net. Ollin at the Redwood. And Haberdashery celebrates the release of their new record at Home.
Saturday, celebrate National Record Store Day with great in-store shows and specials at Amoeba (Wendy & Lisa DJ set, DJ Babu), Headline, Origami (Jail Weddings), Fingerprints, Vacation, and other fine local retailers. Then head out to pehrspace for Elaine Layabout's "Hella Hipster Hoedown #2" with Leslie and the Badgers, Cobra Lilies, Roman Candles, and Mississippi Man. The first hoedown was a hoot as the venue was filled with hay bales, food & drink, good people, and good times... Elsewhere, Abe Vigoda plays Spaceland. Deep Sea Diver, Eugene & the 1914, and The Rosewood Thieves at The Prospector. Okie Dokie, Teen Beer, Knight Rider, and others at Bow & Sparrow. LACO$TE, Vaginals, Moses Campbell, and others at L'KEG. Jamie Stewart at Echo Curio. The Sweet Hurt and The Californian at Home. Sandra Collins at Avalon. And Mark Eitzel at g'net.
Sunday, The Danny Federici Memorial Fundraiser at the Troubadour. Cary Brothers & friends at the Roxy. Bobb Bruno, Voice on Tape, and EXITMUSIC at Mountain Bar. And Lisa Donnelly and others at the Hotel Cafe.
Full calendar here.
The Karabal Nightlife - "Sea Of Sleep" (MP3)
Leslie and the Badgers - "The Torture" (MP3)
Voice on Tape - "Marry You When Yr Sleeping" (MP3)
So a few thousand Angelenos should be headed on their way East on the 10 toward Coachella today. One of us will be covering a bit of the desert fun while the rest will be staying put manning the phones, checking out local shows, and watching some of the festival comfortably in our living room thanks to AT&T Blue Room. Here's our little survivor guide for the weekend's festivities:
1. Coachella isn't a sprint, it's a marathon. Some people have waited their whole lives to see some of these bands so you want to be the fan who will be able to outlast all those kids who wind up passed out in the beer garden at dusk because they expended way too much energy jumping around like idiots for the 2pm band.
a). Drink water (duh)
b). Stretch in between bands (double duh)
c). Bring candy/gum for quick sugar rush
2. Don't give in to the sun. Standing out in the middle of the desert for several hours can lead to psychological impairment of one's senses and moral character. We've all seen people out there become delusional and/or aggressive from a combination of heat, drug use, and general poor human behavior. So when those short teenagers do that thing where they chainlink each other's arms and start shoving to the front of the stage even though you've been standing in that damn spot since effing noon, just smile and say "I never worry about the little things." Thank you, Anne Bancroft.
3. We have no idea why people take off their shirts at festivals. Gosh knows indie kids don't work out enough to be showing off anything to really flaunt. Perhaps watching Woodstock sparked the imagination of our youth to instantly remove clothing the minute they walk through the Coachella gates. Taking off your deep v-neck hipster t-shirt essentially removes a layer of protection from the sun, thus dehydrating your body probably 15-30% faster than keeping it on. I mean, did you ever see Abebe Bikila take off his shirt when running through the deserts of Ethiopia? Never. Plus, the bearded shirtless look only works if you're actually playing Coachella.
4. Don't forget the day parties and after-parties. Most all of them are free with RSVP and have many of the big-name acts performing. Many people go to Coachella just for these events.
5. Twitter. This might be one of the most Twitter'd events in history and we fully expect to see fail whales from server overload all weekend long. And don't worry if you Twitter something you shouldn't have because of some drunken stupor you were in. The post will probably be ghosted because of some worm hack that Twitter is still vulnerable with...
Have fun, kids. And support the local bands playing: Jenny Lewis, Devendra Banhart, Silversun Pickups, Liars, The Airborne Toxic Event, Ariel Pink, Peanut Butter Wolf, Aggrolites, No Age, Christopher Lawrence, The Knux, Shepard Fairey, and all the rest...
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Good times at The Echo on Monday. The pairing of Fool's Gold and Edward Sharpe and the Magnet Zeros is like a moth to a flame for anybody wanting their spirits lifted to the heavens. The club was a jam-packed dance party until 2am (as seen above), which might be a first in the history of Monday residencies. Fool's Gold continues their residency through April and Edward Sharpe begins a residency of their own on 4/30 at the Regent, presented by Little Radio. E. Sharpe also quietly released two 7" singles that you might want to pick up at the next show. They're pretty amazing... We also made it a point to stop by Sean Carnage's Monday at pehrspace for the benefit to get a new PA for the venue. Leave it to Carnage to lead the charge in making pehrspace a better home for all the bands that play there. The Monolators played a few new songs off their upcoming new EP due in May. "Ruby" might be the summer hit you've been waiting for...
On Tuesday and Wednesday, we couldn't help but check out both Simone shows -- that is, Simone White at Crane's Tavern and Nicole Simone at Home, respectively. The former is releasing a new record this summer in Europe/UK and will likely tour in support of it. Most known for her ad hit "The Beep Beep Song," we've always loved her gentle-as-she-goes folk style that will probably remind you of early Mia Doi Todd and Jaymay. Nicole Simone, on the other hand, has not been playing many shows as of late, but she did confide that a new EP will be coming out soon. In the meantime, check out her video for "Melt," easily one of the more seductive works of art we've seen in awhile. And seeing her onstage will make you think you're lounging at the Slow Club, watching Dorothy Vallens singing that one song about lost love.
Tonight, we'll be checking out the L.A. debut of The Naked Hearts at the Silverlake Lounge with friends Obi Best and Correatown. Since moving to NY, Amy Cooper has been getting some attention with her new band Naked Hearts and we're very excited to see her again. Shh, don't say anything but it's her birthday tomorrow too! In any case, we doubt if Amy and Alex Lily (of Obi Best) will even remember playing together at our little show a few years ago, but we're considering this a mini-reunion tonight. Wendy Wang (of The Sweet Hurt) was in attendance that night and, what a coincidence, we do believe she's worked with all three bands. Enough small talk. On to the show...
The Naked Hearts - "Call Me" (MP3)
Monday, April 13, 2009
Congrats to Seasons on the release of their new EP "Spring." Look for it available online at some point but you can also get it at shows now. Their next one is at The Blvd on 4/26. Unfortunately, their performance was unfairly cut short because of time so things got kind of ugly as family and friends had their say and a gang of security had their say. The issue was that James Yuill was added to the lineup last-minute, making a release show that was booked months ago more of a Yuill showcase. Even The Echo must know that this is kind of effed, especially for a band that brought a good crowd to the club. Still, it was a good night of music despite that and The Echo will probably offer Seasons another night to make amends.
Saturday, we stopped by Scion's "Papershapers" installation proving once again why Scion continues to be at the forefront of large-scale exhibitions. Opening night included a rare special appearance from Ryohei Tanaka who performed live paper cutting. We were totally hypnotized by his skill and this exhibit is a total must. Closes 5/2. Pictured above is a piece by the brilliant Polly Verity... Later, we visited the opening reception for Cyril Helwein's new photo exhibit "Downtown" at the Phantom Galleries, featuring B&W nudes lovingly shot around beautiful downtown Los Angeles. The centerpiece was a cleverly-captured mirrored shot called "4th Street Bridge Tug of War". The night was hosted by Danny Masterson with live jazz and lots of famous/beautiful people. We chatted with some old art friends before hopping a few blocks down to the Regent for KXLU's Fundrazor. Loving KXLU with all our heart, we've been going to these for quite a few years. They used to be held at Fais Do Do back in the 90's before moving a few shows to the Knitting Factory and The Echo, but it's a welcome trend if they decide to keep it downtown. Don't know if they even tried to secure a big national headliner for the event (Beck and The Breeders once headlined) but we enjoyed this all-local Smell-slanting lineup. What was probably missing were some hip-hop, metal, and indie folk bands but that's an oversight considering the bands they did get. We should also note that this was probably the best lineup that we've ever seen The Happy Hollows on. Gosh knows they probably should be playing more shows with Mika Miko, No Age, The Mae Shi, Anavan, and Abe Vigoda rather than the same Silver Lake bands they always play with given that they're largely considered to be the best Japanese punk band (that's not Japanese) in town. Hopefully this show changes all that.
On Sunday, we were set to see the wonderful Mere Mortals at Cinespace but, as you are probably aware, the club is notorious for holding lines (not letting people enter the club, thus creating an unnecessary line in front of their club to make it look like it's a hot ticket). So we waited in line for a half-hour, which for us is an effing miracle we lasted that long, and left. We apologize to Mere Mortals and we will see them soon... We ended up at The Scene for the best black/death metal lineup of the week with one of our absolutely favorite bands in Los Angeles, Lightning Swords of Death. We haven't given them enough praise on here so we made it a point to see them on one the holiest days of the year. And we could not think of a better way to spend Easter Sunday than to see these guys rip through some of the best metal we've ever heard. They play at The Black Castle (which was our pick for favorite new venue of 2008) on 5/8.
Since this post is getting way too long, no weekly highlight thing today but check the calendar for cool stuff to go to (it's loaded again this week).
But in other news: LBPD pulled the plug on Summer Darling last Saturday at the "Roll Up Long Beach" show for apparently being too loud (aka being too awesome). Tsk tsk, Long Beach... Xenia from LACO$TE had a house-warming party last Saturday and had her laptop stolen. If you know any details of the perpetrator please let them know... Tickets for Busy P's semi-secret birthday show at Cinespace on 4/21 with most of the Ed Banger crew are on sale now. And, yes, we look forward to waiting in line for two hours to not get into this show.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Well, it's a three day weekend for many, which of course begs the question: Why isn't Coachella on this weekend? You see, that would be too convenient. Coachella is meant to disrupt the entire universe and it is to be treated as it's own three-day holiday. Fair enough.
It's a busy weekend, we'd better get to it...
Tonight, we'll be at The Echo for Seasons EP release but there's quite a few things happening around the 'hood. Mikki and the Mauses and NON+ celebrate the release of their split cassette release at L'KEG. The Mae Shi and Anavan open for Monotonix at Spaceland. Flying Lotus at Echoplex. El Ten Eleven, Firs and others at Home (free show). Marvelous Toy, Amateurs, Correatown, and Jack Wilson, Jr. at pehrspace. The Health Club, Pangea, Watercolor Paintings, and others at Echo Curio. Culver City Dub Collective at Saint Rocke. And Chelsea Girls, Aimee Allen (where have you been?), and others at The Roxy.
Saturday, KXLU Fundrazor at the Regent with The Happy Hollows, Devon Williams, Meho Plaza, VOICEsVOICEs, Kill Kill Kill, and others. Kim Gordon "Mirror/Dash Pop-Up" opening at Space 15 Twenty. Megalosaurus, Spider Problem, Naima Earth and others at L'KEG. Pedestrian at Molly Malone's. Leerone opens for Fionna O'Lachamann at the Troubadour. B-Side Players and Los Pinguos at Saint Rocke. And Mark Olson, Gary Louris, and Teddy Thompson at g'net.
Sunday, hundreds of people will be driving out to the Glass House for the lineup of Silversun Pickups, The Deadly Syndrome, and The Happy Hollows (sold out). Others will be back here checking out Richard Swift opening for Vetiver at the Eagle Rock Center for the Arts. Mere Mortals at Cinespace. Jon Hans Music and After the Fair at Space 15 Twenty. Hello From Reno opening for Headlights and The Love Language. And We Barbarians, The Fling, Writer, and The Knew at Alex's Bar.
Oh, and some dude Cohen Leonard or something like that plays tonight and tomorrow at the Nokia Theatre. Never heard of him.
Huge weekend. Have fun.
Pictured above is The Landing Party Gallery last night for Downtown Artwalk.
In the last year, Highland Park's Seasons has become one of the more ubiquitous bands in the L.A. scene. Their 7-member core group, which in recent months has been occassionally augmented to nine with Don from Don's Music and Matthew Teardrop from Manhattan Murder Mystery, is not only known to be one of the best bands coming out of the HLP, but also one of the most supportive. This band truly loves their fellow musicians in the area and the community of friends they've built rivals any musical collective in Los Angeles.
Seasons celebrates the release of their first official release at The Echo tonight. "Spring" is the first of a presumed four EPs that will be released seasonally this year. They just finished it in the nick of time for this show so we haven't even heard it yet, but we know their music well enough to be first in line at the merch table. Their sound is a pure product of their influences, a fusion of indie rock, 80's synth, folk rock, and garage blues -- so if you're thinking Beck, you're in the right neighborhood.
While we're not officially presenting tonight's show, they kindly asked us to design a poster for them a few months ago and of course we said of course. The night's official presenters are Club Underground and ... Is Good, two of the most powerful musical forces in the L.A. scene so you know it's going to be a big show. Especially since the one and only Kárin Tatoyan (who we think out-lashes Bat for Lashes any day of the week) and The Hectors (one of the most underrated bands in town) are opening the show along with UK indie-poptronica maestro James Yuill.
April 10, 2009
Club Underground and ...Is Good Presents:
SEASONS "Spring" EP release
with special guest
KÁRIN TATOYAN
THE HECTORS
JAMES YUILL
with Club Underground DJs
The Echo
1154 Glendale Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90028
$5 for 21+, 18+ $7
9pm
Seasons - "India" (MP3)
Kárin Tatoyan - "History of Stains" (MP3)
The Hectors - "Cold Star" (MP3)
James Yuill - "No Surprise" (MP3)
Monday, April 06, 2009
Let us give thanks... Thanks to everyone who came out on Saturday. You have some serious mettle sticking it out all through the night and early morning. Thanks to The Meeting Places, EXITMUSIC, boxViolet, and Phoenix and the Turtle for playing such great sets of music. Thanks to DJ Boy Without Orange for spinning all the hit tracks until 4am. Thanks to Silver Factory Studios for having us present a show in their fine establishment. And thanks to L.A. Record, Jeff Koga (LAist.com), BoredLA.com, Classical Geek Theatre, You Set the Scene, Surfing on Steam, Campus Circle, and Weekly LA Scene for featuring/mentioning/Tweeting the show. It's because of you we weren't sitting there by ourselves watching those bands (which is our preference, but more people are cool too). Photos from the show are up... The next show we're helping with is this Friday at The Echo for Seasons' "Spring" EP release show with Kárin Tatoyan and The Hectors. That one starts at the ungodly hour of 8pm (semicolon close parentheses).
In case you were wondering why everyone around you is prancing and skipping along like they're in some fairytale storybook happyland, it's because it's April, silly. April is the happiest month of the year. I mean, did you see the weather we had this past weekend? Even Mother Nature knows not to eff with April. And, oh my, look at the April schedule we have before us...
Weekly residencies include: Jesca Hoop, The Henry Clay People, Fool's Gold, Dusty Rhodes and the River Band, Tristan Prettyman, Jon Brion, Mike Stinson & Dave Gleason, The Ringers, Pink and Noseworthy, The Jake LaBotz Band, David Piltch, Amie Moriello, Karma...
Record release shows include: Silversun Pickups, Great Northern, Castledoor, The Parson Red Heads, Crystal Antlers, Hecuba, Ras G, Meredith Meyer, Seasons, Black Math Horseman, Sam Winch, Gavin Castleton, Jeremy Jay, Mikki and the Mauses/NON+, Mississippi Man, The Monthlies, Amber Rubarth, Freddy and Francine, Tavis, The Hard to Get, Bob Malone, HABERDASHERY, Anglos, Manda Mosher, Pam Shaffer, Rob Michaels...
Festivals and other notables: KXLU Fundraiser, pehrspace fundraiser (for new PA system), Elaine Layabout's "Hella Hipster Hoedown #2," Classical Geek Theatre's "Fiend Folio III," Telekinesis, PaleyFest, Jesca Hoop going away residency, Record Store Day, The Danny Federici Memorial Fundraiser, Stagecoach Festival, Revolver Golden Gods Tour, 14th Annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, and oh yeah this little thing called Coachella.
And along with the show on Friday we're doing another "Live at Mr. T's Bowl" on 4/22 with familyblankets, Matt Curreri, Cricket and the 2:19 and other special guests.
Also, happy belated birthdays to Kelli Anne Noftle (Miniature Soap), Jessie Baylin, and Mariqueen who all celebrated b-days over the weekend.
That's April. Get down on it, Los Angeles.
Friday, April 03, 2009
We're so busy that we really don't even have time to do this weekend thing spiel, but we love you so much that we'll do it anyway.
Tonight, The Hard to Get celebrate the release of their new EP "Looking Good" at pehrspace. Mere Mortals and Eagle Winged Palace go Underground at The Echo. First Fridays at the Natural History Museum with Bus Driver, Tim Fite and special guest DJs. Kevin & Bean 1st Annual April Foolishness at the Gibson. Pedestrian, Andy CLockwise, and others at the Hotel Cafe. Japanese Motors, The Growlers, and others at Saint Rocke. Jail Weddings, Blue Jungle, Audacity, and others at The Smell. Jon Brion at g'net. Alex & Sam at Home. Tony Gilkyson and others at Taix. Moving Picture Show, Stacy Clark and others at Mr. T's Bowl. Blues rockers Dirty Mercy celebrate the release of their new EP "Drown Your Radio" at Molly Malone's with Ainjel Emme and others.
Saturday, we have a show at Silver Factory Studios but some other things that might interest you are... Masquerade Ball Art & Music Festival, USC Springfest, and Bamboozle Left. Elsewhere, Free Moral Agents, Blank Blue, Avi Buffalo, Nocando and others at the Knitting Factory. Rademacher, The Coral Sea, The Monolators, and Marvelous Toy at Dakota. Greg Laswell opens for Rachael Yamagata at the Troubadour. Puscifier at Club Nokia. Elsewhere, Lelia Broussard and others at the Hotel Cafe. Berlin at the House of Blues. Moses Campbell, Watercolor Paintings, Franking Fort Short, and others at The Smell. One Trick Pony, Erinn Williams and others at pehrspace. EXITMUSIC plays and early set at The Cocaine. Ratatat at the Palladium. Pigeon John, Rootbeer, and Sparrow Love Crew down at the Detroit. And Dogweed and Simon Stokes at Taix.
Sunday, Pam Shaffer celebrates the release of her new EP "Hot Star Maps" at Echo Curio with EXITMUSIC and Nathyn Knot. Lisa Donnelly and others at the Hotel Cafe. Puscifier at Club Nokia. ForceField ON, Wet Cassette, By Sunlight, and The Terrapin, at Alex's Bar. Deep Sea Diver and Jay Buchanan at Smooth's. Ratatat DJ set at The Standard. And You Me & Iowa and Amateurs at The Que Sera for $ucka Free $undays.
The Coral Sea - "Cold Eyes Down" (MP3)
Pigeon John - "Money Back Guarantee" (MP3)
Pam Shaffer - "Hot Star Maps" (MP3)
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Silver Factory Studios (@FAC915) is a newish venue downtown that likes to keep things low-key. (Ooh, we love it already). So in keeping things low-key, SFS simply offers one of the most laid-back 21+ establishments that Los Angeles has ever had, making it a haven for those wanting to see good bands, dance, or maybe just chill with friends without the Hollywood/Silver Lake pretense. Anywhere that let's us take photos/video, go in-and-out as we please, has a full bar, a great sound system, projections, couches, and is located in the basement of an industrial building in a remote part of downtown is our kind of hangout. Plus it's open 'til 4am (la-underground hours).
And if that weren't enough, they've been gracious enough to give us a night to present in conjunction with their regular Saturday weekly "Last Standing Discotheque" (LSD). So we've invited some longtime favorite dreampop/shoegazers The Meeting Places, EXITMUSIC, boxViolet, and Phoenix and the Turtle along for the ride. And we hope you can join us.
April 4, 2009
Los Angeles Loves...
THE MEETING PLACES
EXITMUSIC
BOXVIOLET
PHOENIX AND THE TURTLE
with DJ BOY WITHOUT ORANGE
Silver Factory Studios
915 Mateo Street
Los Angeles, CA 90021 | Map
21+ / 9pm / $8 or $5 guestlist (email us or any of the bands to be on the list)
The Meeting Places - "Until It's Gone" (MP3)
EXITMUSIC - "The Decline of the West" (MP3)
boxViolet - "Swallow" (MP3)
Phoenix and the Turtle - "It's Not You It's Me" (MP3)
First of all, congrats are in order to Origami Vinyl for a wonderful March residency at The Echo. Last night's show was the biggest of the month with Summer Darling, Wait.Think.Fast., Kissing Cousins, and Future Ghost drawing a great crowd that stuck around through the whole night. Origami's opening night is this Friday with performances by WTF and Nico Stai. Our goal is to walk in, go straight to the soul section, find both copies of this record, make out with WTF, hi-five Neil, put up our poster for Saturday's show, do the centipede to Nico Stai, solve the cure for Cancer, and then go home. That's how cool this record store is going to be.
Silversun Pickups' long-awaited follow-up to their record is now available for pre-order through Dangerbird Records. There's a limited edition Swoon deluxe package that includes a gatefold double vinyl LP, lyric/photo book (handwritten), t-shirt, Swoon cover art lithograph, digital downloads, and button/sticker pack. All for a measly $100. Based on a few listens, this record has much better songs than Carnavas with "The Royal We," "Substitution," and "Catch & Release" being early favorites. Don't know if the band feels there's any pressure on this record being more successful than the first but we do know that there are those who doubt that it will be. So, when these doubters have their say (we predict Pitchfork gives it a 3.4 based on their hatred for L.A. bands that don't rhyme with Knowage), we hope true SSPU fans prove them wrong (again). Here's a link to download the whole record for free but please be sure to buy the album when it comes out!
Notable local releases this week:
Aceyalone - The Lonely Ones (Decon) [self-released in 2008] Amazon
Honeypie - EP (Honeypie) iTunes
Mia Doi Todd (with Andres Renteria) - Morning Music (City Zen) iTunes
Maria Taylor - LadyLuck (Nettwerk) iTunes
The New Room - Only World We Know (The New Room) iTunes
We haven't done this in awhile. Here are some videos from recent shows around town:
