Sunday, March 27, 2011
If you're old enough to remember a show some fourteen years ago at the Alligator Lounge that may have involved a certain wee (lesser known) Jon Brion opening for a certain Garage Orchestra then you would have some idea of the last time we had any involvement with a show on west westside (west of the 405/north of the 10). It's not for lack of trying as we did dabble with some shows at Dakota Lounge/Temple Bar, before its unfortunate incident last summer but while Angel's, Sanctuary, and Basement are all great new venues, finding another nearby club able to host our favorite indie rock bands has been somewhat challenging. So in comes The Central last year, pitched to be a more hip but still down-to-earth reinvention of its predecessor 14 Below, that has already hosted the likes of Bus Driver, Nite Jewel, El Ten Eleven, TEARIST, Superhumanoids, Sister Crayon, and other friends and suddenly we felt it was time to, well, go west. So not only are we headed west, we're also bringing a truckload of heavy hitters with us along for the ride.
Elizabeth Wight is a Goddess. Those were the words we uttered under our breath that fateful night at The Echo on March 2008 when we saw Ms. Love Grenades seduce a dull, midnight crowd into a late night dance frenzy. A few weeks ago at The Echo, almost three years later to the day, she again enchanted us with that alluring voice of hers. The woman owns any stage she steps on and L.A. anthems like "Shame" and "City Lights" should have Villaraigosa giving her keys to the city. We've all been anxiously waiting for big things to come for this band and with some expected recordings on the way the wait might be finally over. Listen to the new EP here.
We caught Milagres for the first time in Austin last week but before that we do remember listening to and liking them when they were known as The Secret Life of Sofia. Songs are still melodic and lush but have more purpose and distinction then the clutter of bands they were probably being compared to -- which locally would be Great Northern, Foreign Born, and Gliss. They seem to be developing into more dreampop soundscape territory often going into tangential instrumentals which was a nice change of pace. Their new album Glowing Mouth comes out this fall on Kill Rock Stars so you might want to get their autograph now before the fame gets to their heads. Download the single "Glowing Mouth" here.
Perhaps tongue firmly in cheek, the not-so-subtly named New Division just released their new EP "The Rookie" in January. Good New Wave synth pop is hard to find and these guys pull it off with remarkable ease. Songs like "Nocturnal," "Starfield," and "Bucharest" are so drenched in gorgeously melodic synth it's almost like the tracks were directly written for that part of the brain that makes one jump for joy (division). Also, apparently, "Starfield" got a thumbs up from that one site, but don't that let that stop you from coming tonight, semicolon close parenthesis.
Glow Marrow came to our attention after a rather impressive debut at the Silverlake Lounge back in January. Don't know what the kids call this these days, if it's dance-oriented rock or rock-oriented dance, but something tells us more clever writers will be using offspring metaphors like "if Muse and MGMT had a baby" with this band at some point. Like a lot of young new bands these days, their sound is the sum of a seemingly infinite amount of musical influences, a mishmash of Top 40 to Bottom 1000. Perfect for those who hate categorizing music or just have genre A.D.D. altogether. Like us. Download their new EP for free here.
Eastsiders, we hope you can come out west for the show and Westsiders you have no excuse (or other choices for that matter).
March 27, 2011
Los Angeles Loves...
LOVE GRENADES
MILAGRES (Kill Rock Stars)
THE NEW DIVISION
GLOW MARROW
The Central
1348 14th St.
Santa Monica, CA
21+ / $5 / 7pm
FACEBOOK EVENT
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
First of all, we are sooooo glad to be back in Los Angeles after a brief stint in Austin. We were pretty low-key the whole week, opting for panels, meetings, and workshops rather than shows, alcohol, and bbq. Being boring comes with old age. Regardless, we are happy to be back in the true live music capital of the world and presenting a show tomorrow at Lot 1.
This is our third Saint Sea Hat show in as many months and these boys really know how to throw a party. Previous shows at pehrspace and Three Clubs have brought capacity crowds well into the night and we wouldn't be surprised if we'll need our SXSW badge just to get into this one. We're also excited to see that they've invited three band friends we've been wanting to do shows with for awhile with Fort Wife, Hot TV, and Time of Wolves.
This is our first show at the newish Echo Park cafe so we'll all have to be on our very best behavior as to seem like we know what we're doing. We hope that you will join us.
March 24, 2011
Los Angeles Loves...
SAINT SEA HAT
FORT WIFE
HOT TV
TIME OF WOLVES
Lot 1 Cafe
1533 W. Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026
$5 / 9pm / 18+
FACEBOOK EVENT
Saint Sea Hat - "Change Your Mind" (MP3)
Fort Wife - "Golden Girls" (MP3)
Hot TV - "Bad Blues" (MP3)
Time of Wolves - "Kite Flying" (MP3)
