Tuesday, November 01, 2011
For the 4th edition of our "Best of 2011" series of shows, we are presenting a night at pehrspace with PISCES, Missincinatti, Miniature Soap and Bright Beast on Saturday, November 5th. As we all know, pehrspace is one of the most beloved art/performance spaces in the city and we are overjoyed that we've been asked to host a night with such a fine and prestigious lineup of musicians.
Earlier this year, we were gifted what would become one of our favorite records of 2011 from Ms. Sarah Negahdari. It's a collection of songs not far removed from her band Happy Hollows if, say, Negahdari were immersed into the Euphrates (vocal reverb) and then reemerge onto maybe a scallop shell for everyone to adore. And if that bit of fantastical analogia warms your heart then you will undoubtedly feel the love for the otherworldly ethereality of Pisces. The album is simply wonderful with "Being With You" and "Punch Love Drunk" flourishing into what are undoubtedly two of Negahdari's best and most accessible songs (finely guided by producer Joel Morales of Dios). We weren't sure which songs we could leak but, for the record, we love this song -- although supposedly it isn't even recorded yet.
Just the mere mention of Jessica Catron, Jeremy Drake, and Corey Fogel in the same breath should create a bit of a tingle in your nether regions. They are three of LA's most prized possessions, each formidable on their own, performing their respective instruments with a precision and nuance more suited for a cathedral let alone the underground performance spaces in which they regularly inhabit. And when combined they are on a whole other level of brilliance in Missincinatti, a sound collage of shanties and soliloquies of the sea that is performed with about as much adventurous musicality as the imagery the songs manifest themselves. Remove Not the Ancient Landmarks is available here but we promise you will need to see this live to feel the full motion of the ocean.
It needs to be said that we were devastated when Kelli Anne Noftle departed the band Flying Tourbillon Orchestra (now called Walking Sleep). Her charming presence in the band was one of the reasons we saw them so many times in the early days. That charm, as it turns out, was better fit on its own in the form of Miniature Soap. Saturday's show is the pre-release show for her new album split into three parts ("I Don't Like You," "How To Kiss a Ghost," and "Snow Angel"). There's something very familiar with her voice -- lilting between Rickie Lee Jones and Chantal Kreviazuk -- that provides a warm comfortable feeling throughout the recordings, all of which are available on Bandcamp for
We suppose if members of One Trick Pony, Manhattan Murder Mystery, The Transmissions, George Glass, and Lost Libraries all supergroup'd themselves into one band there really would be nothing else to call it but Bright Beast. If you've ever seen any one of these bands around town you probably saw members of the other four in the crowd singing along with them in drunken camaraderie so it isn't a surprise that they finally came together for what will undoubtedly be one of the more riotous debuts of the year. And if the three tracks they've put up on their Bandcamp are any indication of how good it will sound, their midnight slot is going to be all kinds of awesome.
And there you have it. Four great bands on one great night. We've always thought creating year-end superlatives was a bit silly but then you see these bands together and you really have no other choice than to best-of this mother. These are four of LA's best of 2011. And we love them.
November 5, 2011
Los Angeles Loves...
PISCES
MISSINCINATTI
MINIATURE SOAP
BRIGHT BEAST
pehrspace
325 Glendale Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026
$5/All Ages/9pm
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