Monday, January 16, 2012
Last Thursday, we were asked (or was it reminded?) to book a show for this Tuesday at The Satellite. Six days to book a whole night at a 250-capacity club sounded like booker suicide but we love a challenge (know what I'm saying, ladies?). The plan was to ask a bunch of our favorite bands that haven't played the club in awhile then call it a day. Three bands down, we lightly poked and prodded around to find a fourth with one poke leading to Ms. Ida Maria.
If you follow Ms. Ida on Twitter (like you should), you'd know that she's been an L.A. resident for the last several months (as noted by the location "Heaven" in her profile). That was enough on our part to start suggesting that she do a show to make that fact known to the world and after much cyberbegging this will be that show. We don't do high profile shows with internationally known rock goddesses very often but we're willing to take the heat for this one. If you haven't seen this lady live you need to. And if you have seen her, she's been on record-making hiatus for some time so you know she's got some pent up energy to let loose and she'll likely be playing a ton of new songs. Joining her will be a few of L.A.'s finest in El Elle (the stunning new band from The Lovemakers Lisa Light who recently moved to town), Tenlons Fort (featuring members of Avi Buffalo, Seasons, and whoever else joins Jack on stage), and The Health Club (undoubtedly, the most underrated/underappreciated band in Los Angeles that we've been wanting to do another show with for years).
This show is going to be fun. We hope you like fun.
January 17, 2012
Los Angeles Loves...
IDA MARIA - 11pm
EL ELLE - 12am
TENLONS FORT - 10pm
THE HEALTH CLUB - 9pm
The Satellite
1717 Silverlake Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026
$8 or $5 with RSVP/21+/9pm
FACEBOOK EVENT
We set up a coffee date with the sexy duo of Daniel Ahearn & The Jones last week in Echo Park but because Stories closed early we ended up chatting at the world famous Laundromat next door instead. So what was supposed to be a chance to get to first base ended up being a deep discussion about their music, the Los Angeles music scene, and basically how they're surviving in this economy as indie musicians (over the rumble of tumble dryers, heavy wash cycles, and Mexican television in the background). Here's part 1 of our talk... because apparently if there's no video then it didn't happen.
If you missed them last night at the Bootleg Theater it was a huge mistake. It was one of the best shows we've seen in awhile. Luckily, you can see them open for Laura Gibson and Breathe Owl Breathe on 2/8 at The Echo.
Monday, January 09, 2012
On January 27, 2010, the world saw the end to one of the best bands on the planet, Gowns, and we were there to witness it. We do have video of that show (held at McWorld, pictures below) but we won't be posting any of it and if you were there you understand why. Instead, we will post video of EMA performing "California" at Detroit Bar back in June 2011. This is our favorite video we shot in 2011 and one of the best performances we saw all year. Any Gowns fans know that Ms. Erika is a beast on stage. Her very presence demands your attention (at 6", she towers above most everybody in the audience). And with her new band EMA, she has taken that aura to a whole new level.
The most unlikely rap track of the year and perhaps perfect counter to 2Pac's "California Love" was EMA's "California," which begins with the scathing (and much-talked about line) line "Fuck California/You made me boring," a lyric so hurtful we start to bleed even before she sings it. Even so, we almost feel we deserve the jab because as good as EMA is, Gowns was absolutely untouchable. Anderson, Buchla, and Fogel (three of L.A.'s pure geniuses) in the same fucking band? Un-touch-able. So although we do love EMA, we feel partly responsible for the fact that Gowns will be relegated to poorly shot YouTube videos and understated recognition. We just never gave them the love they deserved while they were around. Alas, it is but one regret in a sea of regrets that we aim to recompense with incessant overflowing accolades of EMA (and soon, Ezra Buchla and Corey Fogel's projects as well).
We love you, EMA.
EMA's debut album Past Life Martyred Saints and new 7" "Marked" b/w "Angelo" single are available everywhere. She performs at the Natural History Museum on 3/2 with Zola Jesus.
EMA:
Wednesday, January 04, 2012
Yes, we're still clearing out old videos from days gone by and since The Finches are performing tonight at The Smell, now is as good a time as any to say how much we love them. One video is from The Smell in November of 2009 (pictured above) and the other is from Echo Curio in October of 2009 where they opened for indie pop goddess Rose Melberg. Coincidentally, The Finches open for Key Losers tonight which is the new project of yet another indie pop goddess Katy Davidson from Dear Nora. Both Melberg and Davidson should make room in the goddess pantheon because because Ms. Finches is on her way in.
While taking on several duo/full-band forms since we first saw them in 2006, The Finches is primarily the folk project of Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs who has one of the most mellifluous vocal deliveries since the very term was championed on Vashti Bunyan's Just Another Diamond Day. It's just the perfect storytelling voice for The Finches' songs, which are very much worthy of bedtime storytelling. This combined with her hilariously deadpan sense of humor (as witnessed from most of their shows but specifically at a recent appearance at Upright Citizens Brigade), Riggs could easily get a part-time gig on NPR's Delicious Dish. In any case, if you haven't seen The Finches, you need to, beginning tonight at The Smell. We adore them because they are adorable.
New album On Golden Hill available now on iTunes and Bandcamp. Also, check out some new unreleased covers they recently posted of Bruce Springsteen's "I'm on Fire" and others. They're lovely. See them at The Smell tonight opening for Key Losers.
THE FINCHES:
Bandcamp
So now that we've told you about our 8-year love affair with Kate Earl, our decade-long bro-hug with Patrick Park, and our flirtatious trysts with Ema and Her Lady Parts, that just leaves Tenlons Fort who even though we've already exchanged friendship bracelets quite a few times he still deserves a little bit of lovin'. Mr. T-Fort is in town for the month of January getting the band back together and playing a bunch of shows. Word is that Tenlons Fort 8.0 will consist of members of almost every band in Los Angeles (or at the very least five or six) but we're just happy to see ol' Jack singing songs again in L.A. and you should too. Tenlons Fort will playing the clean up slot on Friday at pehrspace and we hear it's going to be legendary so be sure you stick around or just show up late...
With the coming of b'ak'tun, 2012 supposedly marks the end of the world so there's really nothing we can do other than to go out with a bang. Well, then consider this show bang numero uno. We are officially presenting four of our most favorite artists in the history of la-underground plus some very special guests. We highly recommend you get there early to be able to see some of our longtime friends play at our beloved pehrspace.
January 6, 2012
Los Angeles Loves...
KATE EARL
PATRICK PARK
EMA AND HER LADY PARTS
TENLONS FORT
plus very special guests
pehrspace
325 Glendale Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026
$5/All Ages/9pm
FACEBOOK EVENT
Tuesday, January 03, 2012
The following is a quick synopsis on how we came to love Kate Earl...
With old age comes bad memories but we seem to remember Ms. Kate moved to Los Angeles 8-9 years ago from Chugiak, Alaska. We vaguely recall she was going to college down in Orange County at OCC (with Giant Drag's Annie Hardy) while pursuing music and maybe dabbling with a modeling career and it was around this time we caught her perform at Genghis Cohen Cantina (coincidentally with the aforementioned Patrick Park). In the music biz, they call artists like Kate Earl "the complete package" but we tend to prefer the term "marriage material." She had a sweet fresh-off-the-bus innocence that was refreshing to see and her songs were charming but you could tell right away she was still finding her voice. And, sure, she's beautiful but to rise out of the Hotel Cafe scene you have to be more than just a pretty face. In any case, demos began to surface and within a few weeks we were knocking on her door for a show. She agreed to play in 2004 at Tangier on a residency night that Tom Brosseau asked us to put together (still our favorite lineups we've ever done). Around that time, she signed to local indie label Record Collection (Mt. Egypt, Future Pigeon) and on the strength of a promo EP she released her debut album Fate Is the Hunter on Warner Bros. Records in 2005, followed by her sophomore self-titled record in 2009 on Universal Republic. Both records are very underrated albums that show a growth from pop/folk to pop/r&b -- where she seems to have found her comfort zone. She's toured with everyone from Maroon 5 to Damien Rice and now she's playing our little New Year's show on 1/6 at pehrspace. You probably won't get to see Ms. Kate play too many closet-sized all-ages venues so we highly recommend you come out to this one where we hear she'll be testing out songs for a new album. We're just excited to see her again after so long. It's been awhile and we've missed her too damn much.
Kate Earl performs 1/6 at pehrspace. Get Fate Is the Hunter and Kate Earl on Amazon and iTunes.
KATE EARL:
Kate Earl - "Hero" (MP3) Limited time download
Kate Earl - "Sweet Sixteen" (MP3) Limited time download
Kate Earl - "Melody" (MP3) Limited time download
Kate Earl - "Only in Dreams" (MP3) Limited time download
Six years ago we posted about not seeing Patrick Park perform for six years. And six years later, we still haven't seen him nearly enough times nor given him nearly enough praise. Well, how about we put it in simple resumé bullet form to make it easier for you to understand how much we love this guy...
- Patrick Park is our favorite pure singer-songwriter in Los Angeles
- Come What Will was our favorite album of 2010 and, hence, one of our favorite records of all time
- "Blackbird Through the Dark" was our favorite song of 2010 and, hence, one of our favorite songs of all time
- Patrick Park is one of our favorite guitarists in Los Angeles
- Sea Wolf is at its most brilliant with Patrick Park on guitar (and Tanya Haden on cello)
- We absolutely love Patrick Park
The intricacy of his alternate fingerpicking and strumming technique together with that golden americana voice is the root of the complex simplicity to Park's music that can sound at once familiar and new at the same time. "Blackbird Through the Dark" and "You're Enough" couldn't be more perfectly written and the whole of Come What Will is sheer genius. We've been wanting to do a show with Mr. Park for as long as we've been holding on to those "Basement Tapes" we got over ten years ago but never had the guts to ask him. Well, we finally mustered up the courage and he's been extremely kind enough to agree to play our New Year's show at pehrspace on 1/6. It's a long time coming and we are so honored to be there.
Patrick Park performs 1/6 at pehrspace. Latest release Come What Will and previous records available here. New album out in 2012.
PATRICK PARK:
