Tuesday, November 22, 2011
We were just asked to present Saturday's show at The Satellite and so this is the promotional effort we do where you look at the flyer above to see if you recognize any of the bands, scan the write-up for any free mp3's, and if you have time click a link or two to see if anybody in the bands are hot then make a decision mostly based on the last one. We're pretty sure you'll succeed in finding at least one of these three criteria in this post but, to make it easy, those who have been to our shows in the past know we only do shows with bands we want make babies with...
Tennis System and United Ghosts are both celebrating the release of some new records on Saturday. Two new bands releasing two new records should be an instant must-go for anybody who's as scene savvy as you are. Tennis System just moved to Los Angeles a few months ago and have already honored us by playing our show back in August, making an appearance at the famous Culture Collide Festival, and now releasing their fantastic debut record Teenagers (available here). Not bad for a new band to the scene but any talk of new bands should include United Ghosts who are only a few months old after rising from the ashes of Mere Mortals and playing their debut show in September. Their debut release "Holes in the Night" 7" single (available on their website) is stacked with all the luminous rhythms that made Mere Mortals so loved, but the coupled vocals from Sha Sabi and Axel Steuerwald open up the songs to so much more possibilities. We're excited to see where they go from here. We're also excited to see the return of boxViolet to the scene following six months working on a new album in the UK and playing the prestigious Les Inrocks Festival in Paris alongside SebastiAn, Django Django, and Alex Winston. And finishing off this great night will be L.A. Witch who fulfill all of our deep, dark desires of young girls making sessy black magic music.
We would be honored if you can make it out on Saturday to The Satellite so be sure to save a few bucks after Black Friday to see four of L.A.'s best. And be sure to get on the discount list by contacting any of the bands.
November 26, 2011
Los Angeles Loves...
TENNIS SYSTEM 11pm (RECORD RELEASE)
UNITED GHOSTS 10pm (7" RELEASE)
BOXVIOLET 9pm
L.A. WITCH 12am
plus DJ CRQLR spinning in between bands
The Satellite
1717 Silverlake Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026
$8/21+/9pm
ADVANCE TICKETS | FACEBOOK EVENT
Friday, November 11, 2011
Ok, yes, we did stop blogging over a year ago and we never ever do album reviews (because, really, you shouldn't care about what anybody else thinks about music.) But giving some for Victoria Noll is long overdue and actually this isn't really a "review" as much as it is an ode to the future Mother of our children so this is for the kids...
Victoria Noll played our Summer Soiree show awhile back ago after our usual yearlong courting ritual. The Mobile, Alabama native was wandering around Los Angeles playing all the typical singer-songwriter joints not really finding a place for her raw, ethereal song poems. We caught one show at the Knitting Factory and listened straight through her start-and-stops and not-so-technical guitar playing to discover one of the most affecting voices we've ever heard. She brought back fond memories of Sarabeth Tucek's early days quietly emptying her heart to empty Los Angeles bars. Or back in the 90s when L.A. first heard, but yet couldn't fully grasp at the time, the soothing tranquility of Mia Doi Todd. And if you're really old school Los Angeles, Aife Wells, who broke hearts the moment her voice hit the mic. Such is the sentiment we felt for Ms. Noll on that night.
While honing her sound in Los Angeles, she often traveled nomadically to and fro and now is apparently settled back in Austin where she went to college, but not before locally producing her new EP "PORTAL," out today. The four songs show surprising poise and restraint for a lady who changes her Facebook profile every other minute. Collaborator Tom Biller (Fiona Apple, Warpaint) gilds "What You Want" and the title track with near angelic vocal opulence while Josh Gordon does just what he did with so many great Trespassers William recordings on "Full Moon In Daylight," one of the more beautiful tracks we've heard all year. And a pretty version of Feist's "Intuition" is thrown in to probably show that, yeah, she can do that Feist thing you like too.The EP is just a taste of this lady's potential and we look forward to more music and more Summer Soirees in the near future. Until then, we'll hit repeat on this record and ponder just how much Los Angeles loves Victoria Noll.
"PORTAL" EP is available at Bandcamp.
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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