Thursday, December 29, 2011
Los Angeles knows only three seasons: Spring, summer, and the beloved indie rock band out of Highland Park. Six years of seemingly playing second fiddle in the scene, Seasons have finally come into their own as one of the finer melodic rock bands in town (the addition of violinist Kaitlin Wolfberg is an absolute godsend). And with their newest EP "Autumn," the band has matured to a level of surprising sophistication that even longtime fans are listening to with smiles of paternal pride. You see, Seasons isn't one of those bands who come to Los Angeles seeking to be an overnight sensation. They were born and raised on these streets and take pride of every bump and bruise it took just to play music in front of people. One-hit-wonder hype may get you on Saturday Night Live, but it will never get you the respect of this city. And Seasons have earned every ounce of that. If you don't believe us just see who shows up to all the shows in January.
And so on Monday at The Echo, Seasons celebrates "Autumn" in the wintery month of January with friends One Trick Pony, Count Fleet, and Torches (formerly Torches in Trees). It is the fourth and final chapter of the Seasons EP releases ("Spring," "Summer," and "Winter" are all available on their Bandcamp) unless, of course, they get all meta and break down every solar pattern change into calendar units only found on ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, which could result in an infinitesimal amount of Seasons EPs -- which would be awesome. They'll be performing each of those EPs each week with probably many friends joining them so if for some reason you can't make it out on Monday be sure to see them sometime this month.
Seasons "Autumn" EP release is 1/2 at The Echo (Free/21+) followed by four free Mondays through January. EPs available on their Bandcamp.
SEASONS:
Bandcamp
January 2, 2012
Los Angeles Loves...
SEASONS
ONE TRICK PONY
COUNT FLEET
TORCHES
The Echo
1822 W. Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026
21+/FREE/9pm
FACEBOOK EVENT
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
We wrote the following blog draft on May 27, 2007 about Ms. Ema prior to her playing one of our 10th Anniversary shows at Mr. T's Bowl. We never posted it:
We don't know much but we know Ema and the Ghosts is a star in the making.
Our first encounter with this young lady was during her short-lived stint with Artichoke, a band known for its innovative songcraft but maybe not-so-innovative career choices... They kicked her out. We won't get into the unfortunate details of the story, but we will say some things were just meant to be. Especially since Ema is just too talented to be a side player in a band who can't appreciate a good thing when they see it.
And there's just too many good things we see about this girl. She has an undeniable giddy charm about her, something that is as pleasant to behold as it is to hear her sing those Peggy Lee-meets-Regina Spektor quirky songs. Armed with just a ukelele for most of her performance, she owns any spotlight within a 100-mile radius of wherever she takes a stage. Now if we can just convince her to do music full-time we'd love her forever...
Ema and the Ghosts perform at la-underground's 10 year anniversary show on 6/12 at Mr. T's Bowl and at the Silverlake Lounge on 6/14.
It's nice to reread this and see that after four years absolutely nothing has changed in our view of this talented, young lady. In fact, the only thing that has changed is that she's four years older (and wiser) and is looking to give this music stuff a go, upgrading her Ema and the Ghosts one-woman act to the all-girl band Ema and Her Lady Parts (featuring members of The Monolators, Moses Campbell, and C-Horse). And after checking out some early shows and demo recordings, we must say that Her Lady Parts have our full and utmost attention. Songs are all in Ema's trademark style of quirky, whimsical, and just plain cute but our favorite "Seafoam" (as seen below from the band's debut show at The Smell) is going to make Phil Spector wish he never went batshit crazy just so he could behind the console on that gem of a song.
The last time we did a show with Ema was last year's New Year's show when we all thought she was leaving Los Angeles for some other non-significant part of the world. Lucky for us, she stayed and is doing her umpteenth la-underground show on 1/6 at pehrspace -- but first with all Her Lady Parts (ok, no more lady parts puns... for now).
Ema and Her Lady Parts perform 1/6 at pehrspace. New record coming soon. Until then go and download all of Ema and the Ghosts EPs for free.
EMA AND HER LADY PARTS:
Friday, December 23, 2011
By far one of the more glorious creations of the last decade has been the banding together of the L.A. Ladies Choir, a collection of some of the finest ladies Los Angeles has to offer. Coming from various parts of L.A.'s cultural nexus, the group has featured members of Lavender Diamond, Moonrats, Black Black, Warpaint, He's My Brother She's My Sister, The Finches, and Stone Darling along with solo artists Jenny O., Ariana Delawari, and Anna Oxygen, not to mention fashionistas Frankie Rayder, Simone Leblanc, Miss KK, and Shahla Kareen and do-it-all L.A. women Astara Calas, Kitty Jensen, Jenny Park, and Nicole Disson. All these women individually lead amazing careers and personal lives in Los Angeles and so when they came together for this musical endeavor of friendship, love, and -yes- world peace (which comes with the territory with every Becky Stark project), we didn't hesitate to make sure we saw as many performances as possible. While Choir shows have dwindled down (most likely due to the time constraints of so many successful women in the group), we'll remember the special performances we did see, specifically the debut show in Northridge, the Space 15 Twenty shows, and the record release show at Family Books (pictured above). And we'll wait patiently until the next time when we'll be honored with the presence of the L.A. Ladies Choir.
Our videos below includes a performance of "Oh My Beautiful World" from their record release at Family back in September 2010. The other video is yet another performance of "Oh My Beautiful World," this time with just the trio of Becky Stark, Ariana Delawari, and Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs) from one of the best shows we saw in 2010 at Space 15 Twenty where this lineup (plus surprise appearances by The Living Sisters, Patrick Park, and others) was seen in front of roughly 20 people (that's what happens when it rains in Los Angeles). And, for those who read this far, here's a bonus secret video of what might be our favorite Ladies Choir song "Ocean and Ground" that we embarrassingly mistook for "Oh, Shannon Brown" (so we listen to a lot of Irish ballads, sue us.) It's available on their 12" that you have to buy now. And we've included some other must-see videos for your Choir girl collection.
L.A. Ladies Choir's 12" "Sing Joyfully" is available at Teenage Teardrops.
L.A. LADIES CHOIR:
In our ongoing series this month of pulling out videos from oblivion and onto the web, we now come to Daniel Ahearn who probably deserves one of these "Los Angeles Loves..." things more than anybody. In previous accounts of Mr. Ahearn, we described our initial flirtation and then our full-blown love fest, so there really isn't much left to say other than that it's about time people took notice. Earlier this year, Ahearn's lovely ballad "I Will Let You Get Go" floated over the best scene in the movie No Strings Attached, where Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher's characters break up. Sure, they get back together (spoiler alert), but it's so much better (and believable) when Kutcher is nowhere near our future wife. Still, it's a beautiful sync and one that has gotten Ahearn a little more lovin'.
We're hoping it continues with his move from a one-name band to the addition of the utterly gorgeous Mindy Jones in the form of Daniel Ahearn & The Jones. And to finish off the year, they just released the new video for our favorite song on the new album Long Way Home, "Waiting For You To Leave." 368 of the 370 total current views on that video are us so you all need to catch up. There's some serious eye candy in it and, yes, we do mean Ahearn in that snazzy white tux and magician/porn star 'stache (shot in front of
Our video, however, is from 2010 at a show we presented at pehrspace in which Ahearn and Jones sang "Rumors." It's yet another favorite of ours from his repertoire. We understand it's not the best recording (there's some strange flanger effect on the audio) so we've also added the official video below for your viewing pleasure along with all the great videos he's released this year. Enjoy.
Daniel Ahearn's latest release Long Way Home is available on iTunes and Bandcamp. Look for Daniel Ahearn & The Jones' new EP "It's Not You, It's Us" out early next year. See them perform 1/15 at the Bootleg Bar.
DANIEL AHEARN:
Bandcamp
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Here are a couple older videos we've never posted from one our most adored bands The Nocturnes. Two are from that stunner of a show back in 2009 at Synchronicity and one is from the Unknown Theater (also from 2009). The album they released in late 2008, A Year of Spring, completely blew us away and has remained as one of our favorite records of all time, which is why we were terrorizing so many of their shows that year.
We actually haven't seen these videos since we shot them and so it's nice to hear how "London" (now called "London Town" on the new album Aokigahara) has developed over time. Also, the untitled track has never been recorded but the band says they may try playing it at their show later this month. What's also great is that you can see why we totally fell in love with Ms. Rundle back then. Her guitar playing is just perfection and she has one of the most seductive voices in all of Los Angeles. We've been honored to present a few small Nocturnes shows since then but we'd be more pleased if they were playing the arenas their epic rock songs deserve to be heard in. Go see this band live.
Just in time for the holidays, you can download their new album Aokigahara for free for a limited time on their Bandcamp.
The band plays 12/29 at The Satellite with Little Red Lung for only $5.
THE NOCTURNES:
Bandcamp
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Can't remember if this was taken from his first or second show in Los Angeles, but we do remember Bar Lubitsch was packed in 2009 with only the most savvy of music scenesters who knew early on that Active Child was one to watch. It was pretty undeniable. Those celestial beats, the harp interludes, and of course that penetrating falsetto were all something fresh to the scene and L.A. was quick to pounce, especially after those early tracks were leaked online. We actually asked them for a show immediately after seeing them that night but it was already happening so fast for them and before everyone knew it, they were all over the place. In any case, at least we have this video to lament over while we lick our wounds on the band that got away.
Active Child recently finished up a tour with M83 and will embark on a world tour in early 2012. New album You Are All I See available now on iTunes.
ACTIVE CHILD:
YouTube
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
We're hosting a holiday party on Saturday at pehrspace. There will be music. There will be food. And there will be a slumber party where we hangout, watch movies, and do each other's nails until 6am. If you feel like coming, please RSVP on Facebook so we can
Los Angeles Loves... A Very Merry SlumberDance Party
with acoustic sets by:
BOXVIOLET
I HATE YOU JUST KIDDING
pehrspace
325 Glendale Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026
FREE/9pm/All Ages
FACEBOOK EVENT
This video is also from early 2010... While we were paying our monthly visit to our ol' friend Arlo at Mr. T's Bowl one night and were lucky enough to catch most of Stab City's set. Not sure how any Angeleno could miss one of their shows since they play a ton of'em, anywhere and everywhere. We actually just caught them the other night at The Satellite, not even knowing they were on the lineup, and loved every second of it. And if for some reason you haven't seen them you've probably heard that they're badass... fast, aggressive punk rock with a purpose. No wasted notes. The kind of band that will save horrible, sloppy punk nights the second they dive into songs like "Bad Kids" and "Up Shit's Creek." Like those two songs, "The Two Sides of Captain Greycloud" is off their debut self-titled album available here or at most download sites.
See them live at Five Stars Bar 12/21 and 12/29 at the Down and Out for Lightnin' Woodcock's residency.
STAB CITY:
Monday, December 12, 2011
We discovered Black Jesus almost two years ago via that one site no seems to remember anymore, MySpace, and knew right away that we had roughly 6-8 months before L.A. caught wind. So we did what we normally do, quietly stake out shows at small venues (Echo Curio, Dinner House M, and Crane's to name a few), watch them evolve into a great band, and then when the time was right ask them for a show or two. Everything went accordingly to plan and now the band is signed to French Kiss Records gaining new fans with every show under their new name Races.
But we but we still remember the band that we fell in love with at 2HeadedHorse back in February 2010. It's inevitable, but when bands get signed things always change. All of a sudden, band decisions are business decisions and some of that innocence we see at the beginning is lost, which is why we treasure the early days of a band's lifetime. It must be also noted that we sorely miss the presence of Barrie Rose. Sure, she's now in the great band Tes Elations along with doing solo shows and collaborative projects with other beloved friends but we still miss that sweet, "regular" girl who smiled for us in this pic. And while we do mourn the passing of Black Jesus we celebrate the life of Races and wish them all the best on what will likely be a great year for them in 2012.
Lead singer Wade Ryff recently told us that this song "The Next Best Thing" was the first song he ever wrote and apparently they don't play it anymore. They should since, by now, everyone knows the band has a knack for beautiful build-ups to epic choruses (and repeat) and none showcase that better than this song. In any case, along with this video we're posting a few pics that have also been sitting in private mode for a long time. We're missing a few in there but this will do for the purpose of this ode to Black Jesus/Races. We love them.
Races perform 12/31 at The Satellite with The Henry Clay People and LA Font and 1/17 at The Roxy with The Silent Comedy and Taylor Locke and the Roughs before going on tour with El Ten Eleven in January.
"Big Broom" EP available on iTunes. Debut album out March 2012.
RACES:
Bandcamp
Thursday, December 08, 2011
Ok, here's a video that's actually in HD since we know your eyes must be burning from the Standard Definition quality of the past few vids...
This video is from LESANDS' show at Echo Curio we presented back in July 2010. It was an honor having them play one of their first shows with us and now that they've got most everything in order with management and booking we're looking forward to seeing some new music in the coming year. Although they played quite a lot of good local shows in 2011, the only time we've had a chance to see them was in Austin at SXSW back in March (pictured above). We can make up for that tonight, though, when they play their last show of the year at The Standard. It's an acoustic show and it's free. Otherwise catch them in the 1-2 at the Bootleg on 1/2 (yet another free show).
Get their EP "Sweet Skin" at their Bandcamp.
LESANDS:
Monday, December 05, 2011
More videos from the past...
Thee Makeout Party! played probably hundreds of house parties, warehouse parties, and underground club parties before unceremoniously ending their run as The OC's preeminent party band last year. We shall always cherish their first 7", which subsequently was the first release on the now well-known Burger Records (founded by Sean and Lee from TMP!), and the utter joy we all had singing along to songs like "Birthday Suit" and "Pauline."
This video is from their opening slot at the Dusty Rhodes and the River Band residency at the Silverlake Lounge on April 6, 2009. "Run Kitty Run" is off their one and only LP Play Pretend available at most fine record stores.
And here's a bonus video we took at Synchronicity of them doing "Unbubblegum Song" also from 2009.
Sunday, December 04, 2011
While uploading a bunch of old videos, we discovered there's actually a few dozen even older videos in our channel that we never made live perhaps because of their 4:3 quality in a world of HD or maybe because we just forgot, but nevertheless makes for nice a nostalgia posting.
Alexandra Hope came to Los Angeles a few years ago, played a bunch of shows, released a great debut album Invisible Sunday, and then seemingly dropped off the face of the earth, popping up briefly in the short-lived project Wait Until Dark with Eddie Chacon (The Polyamorous Affair) in 2010. Hopefully, she returns soon because we miss her and believe her to be one of the few lady rockers we've come across who could stand toe-to-toe with LA's Sarah Negahdari (they could be sisters).
This video was from the show in 2009 we co-presented at The Smell with Warpaint, EXITMUSIC, and VOICEsVOICEs. You're probably a bit miffed that you missed that Facebook event invite, but at least you got YouTube...
"Invisible Sunday" is off Alexandra Hope's debut album Invisible Sunday available at Manimal Vinyl.
ALEXANDRA HOPE:
WAIT UNTIL DARK:
Friday, December 02, 2011
It's December and maybe we're a bit abuzz with holiday cheer but for some reason we're in a good mood so, what the hey, we'll be kinda sorta blogging whatever this month posting stuff that we probably should have posted a long time ago but didn't because we were busy and now that we have some free time or maybe because we were digging through hard drives looking for porn we came across this stuff and were, like, we should post this because someone might like it so, whatever, Merry Christmas.
This video is of the band Moses Campbell taken from a show we co-presented back in January at The Smell. The band consists of five almost absurdly attractive human beings Sean Solomon, Pauline Lay, Miles Wintner, Pascal Stevenson, Andrew MacKelvie, and on this particular night the return of Daniela Jiminez who for some reason goes to college somewhere outside of Los Angeles just out of dating range. Look for a new digital single in the coming weeks, a new video for "Drop D Not Bombs" in early 2012 along with a new record (finally).
"Dano's the Man" is off their debut album Who Are You? Who Is Anyone? available on olFactory Records.
The band is scheduled to perform 1/1 at The Smell.
MOSES CAMPBELL
Bandcamp
