Feb 5th - Dirty Projectors @ The Troubadour Feb 8th - Boy @ The Troubadour Feb 9th - Seapony @ Los Globos Feb 24th - Black Marble @ The Echo Mar 1st - Kishi Bashi @ The Troubadour Mar 9th - Efterklang @ The Echo Mar 23rd - Django Django @ The Fonda
I don't know if having my favorite band headline the Detour Festival was a good or bad thing. On paper, it looked like a day full of new bands to check out culminating with the icing on the cake, The Mars Volta. What happened though, was that I was so anxious to see Mars Volta I wasn't really feeling any of the opening bands!
Waiting for the Volta
So, in brief, Datarock were still wearing the same red track suits. If their new song was any indication of the rest of their forthcoming album, I must say "I'm glad to have seen them when...".
Datarock
Bitter:Sweet were pleasingly KCRWish-thanks for the tickets BTW ;)
Bitter:Sweet
Hercules and the Love Affair provided disco beats that bled from one song to the next. They were a great way to warm up our dancing shoes.
Though I've been intending to check out Gogol Bordello for quite some time, when it came down to actually watching them, I just wasn't feeling the gypsy punk amongst the aforementioned disco beats and the anticipation of the Volta.
I'm sorry Teresa, I know they're your new favorite but Cut Copy were passable-at least in the festival setting. They essentially played backup to their CD. What happened to LIVE MUSIC??
Mars Volta. What can I say? I'm partial. They played a beatiful set beginning with a 30 minute Drunkship. The band has been known for providing sub-par performances at festivals but that was not the case here at all. With family and friends-including John Frusciante-watching from the side stage, TMV played as if they're year of constant touring was all practice for this final US performance.
A new song was introduced before Wax Simulacra which wasa along the lines of the mellow Asilos Magdalena. The band were in great spirits with smiles all around. Omar was the maestro of the evening-he apperaed as if he should have had a conductors wand instead of a guitar at times by the way he controlled the direction of the improvisations.
And for those who say they can't ever hear Ikey's keys or Ardrian's horns, they were both given extended guitar-less solos during the closing 30 minutes Goliath jam. Long live the Volta! It wasn't all jams though, "old" favorites Viscera Eyes, Meccaamputechture, and The Widow were played along with Ouroboros and Ilyena
I had gone to watch a co-workers band play and sat down to watch the band before them. They were a nice rock/jazz/singer-songwriter quartet called The Jane Carrey Band. Well, it turns out that it was Jane Carrey's birthday and her dad Jim was sitting at the table next to us!
What was great was that no one bothered him about autographs or pictures. It's very nice to see that in this city people can still go out to enjoy family events despite their recognition (see Flea's attempt to get a beer in my last post).
My improv-jam-god wish list just got shorter Thursday evening when Jon Frusciante and Flea spontaneously announced a secret show at the Troubadour.
The first act of the night, Weave, seemed to be riding on the "So bad we're good" coattails of No Age. I'm not buying it. They belonged in a high-school quad.
The middle-child though, was of another school entirely. Warpaint is one of the freshest acts I've seen in a while. Fronted by three beautiful girls (not that that matters, right?), their music was complex, ethereal, and grooving all in one. I was captivated and can't wait to see them again.
Warpaint
Flea and Frusc were in the house from early in the evening. Between Weave and Warpaint, Flea attempted to get himself a beer walking through the floor and was immediately mobbed by fans looking to update their myspace (facebook) defaults with cell-phone pictures of them and their favorite Chili. Needless to say, Flea went thirsty for a little while.
When the jammers finally took the stage (as if the Troubadour wasn't always on schedule-another reason why I love them), the venue was sold out to it's 300 person capacity. Frusciante was donning a full Jesus beard and grandpa pants hiked up to his belly button. But more importantly, he had his beautiful vintage Strat. He and Flea gave each other a count-off and the jam was on.
The first song lasted nearly 7 minutes and set the tone with a complex rhythm that was trademarkedly groovy at the same time. The amazing Stella Mozgawa of Mink provided the drums alongside Josh Klinghoffer who was primed to give us some spaced out sounds. Sadly, Stella's thumping ruptured her bass drum about 25 minutes into the set. Her tech swapped out her drum with Josh's but that left a noticeable void coming from his kit. Then, sadly, his effects seemed to not work for the rest of the evening either.
Once these technical difficulties presented themselves, John seemed to become a bit distracted but still managed to fill all our heads with his sweet sounds. The entire set was around 50 minutes and like all great bands, no encore was provided-though that could be more to do with half of the musicians performing with broken instruments.
Tickets were readily available at the door thanks to the Troub only allowing fax or cash orders. THAT is how secret shows should be done.
This is what’s wrong with our politics. At the Republican convention, speaker after speaker just flat-out lied, and our news media isn’t calling them on any of it. YOU CAN’T GET THE STORY FROM THE PUNDITS.
They smeared Barack Obama repeatedly and told lies big and small.
Here’s just a few of them:
- Sarah Palin and John McCain claim that Barack Obama wants to raise our taxes, but the vast majority of families are way better off under Barack Obama’s plan. JOHN MCCAIN ACTUALLY WANTS TO TAX OUR HEALTH BENEFITS!!! Barack Obama’s plan only raises taxes on people with individual incomes over a quarter-million dollars.
- Sarah Palin and John McCain lie and claim that their plan is better for people like us. They don’t cut taxes for us hardly at all, and wipe out that cut with their plan to tax our health benefits!!!! Barack Obama actually cuts middle class taxes to try to restore fairness that was lost under Bush.
- Sarah Palin lied when she said Barack Obama had authored “no major law, not even in the state senate.” This is just a bald-faced lie. In fact, just in the US Senate, Barack Obama passed the most sweeping reform package since Watergate, and reached across party lines to pass, with Senator Lugar, legislation to help keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists and, with Senator Coburn, legislation to create a revolutionary database that makes government more transparent and accountable.
- Sarah Palin and John McCain continue to lie about Barack Obama’s energy plans. They keep pushing more drilling as the main answer to our problems, when it won’t do anything to lower the price of gas. And then they claim Barack Obama, in the words of Palin, “is against producing [more energy]. Barack Obama is for producing more clean energy and ending our addiction to oil. He has the most comprehensive energy plan of any Presidential candidate in history.
- The Republicans keep attacking Barack Obama’s plans for Iraq, even though the Iraqi government AND THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION just signed an agreement that follows the plan Barack Obama has been advocating for months.
- It’s the same thing on negotiations and diplomacy. Sarah Palin attacked Barack Obama for holding the position that the Bush Administration has belatedly been forced to adopt: holding direct talks with Iran. We’re too strong a country to be afraid of talking to Iraq.
Let’s pass this along and let everyone know what’s really happening.
It seems like I haven't done anything in the last 2 months. Looking through my camera though, I guess I'm wrong. Here's a recap of what's been going down.
Hooray for free shows. Plans to stay home and catch up on some R&R? Sorry. There is just really no excuse not to go see the free music at the Hammer. This past Thursday Canadians best mis-named band, Tokyo Police Club, played to a packed house in the courtyard for the last of this summer's I Also Like to Rock series hosted by Indie 103.1. People unfortunate to have exercised their "Who goes to shows on time?" philosophy sadly had to wait in line on Wilshire Blvd (and wrapping around the corner) until TPC were halfway through their set.
Openers, Afternoons, were like a bad version of The Arcade Fire and Modest Mouse without any of the quirkiness that make either band enjoyable. Do they really need 2 drums? I guess if you're nly half as good as you're supposed to be...
Tokyo Police Club played all their sprightly, youthful, anthems in pretty much the same manner as their show at the Troubadour a few months back. Nothing new in their set but they were still enjoyable to watch. I still feel as though their songs titles should all be appended with an '(unfinished)'. All in all...well, all in all, it was free. And the John Lautner exhibit is amazing!
Kids from Tokyo
Balcony Seats
July 19th - Glow at the Santa Monica Pier
Complain all you will but I thought it was a good idea. Sure, way too many people showed up, the DJ's stopped playing at 2 (I mean who was really planning on staying till 7 am?), and don't get me started on the traffic. I took the bus and it was still bad. I can't imagine what it must have been like to drive with parking lots charging $25. The interactive art was quite cool in my opinion though. In particular the shadow puppets on the moon and the voice activated visualizer projecting on the fountain were worth getting my shoes sandy on this Saturday. And...it's the first time the SM Pier has ever been allowed to host an event. History people, history. The Dark Knight will still be in theaters.
Dear Drunk Blonde #1 and your friend Drunk Blonde #2, I wanted to apologize on behalf of everyone at the Wiltern Friday night who thought they were there to see Beirut. We didn't realize it was just another bar with a live band and a $30 cover charge. I'm sorry if Zach Condon and the rest of his magnificent Balkan-esque orchestra was preventing you from hearing your own voice. Thankfully you're able to shout loud enough so your friend can hear you! Also, Thank you for helping make our roads safer by completing all of your texting during Beirut before you got in your car and tried to do it while driving home.
Did you happen to meet the guys to my right? They had very loud voices too. It's a good thing because they had a lot to say as well. I think the four of you would have a grand ol' time discussing how many beers you were able to drink and how tubas kind of sound like farts.
Watching the development of this one time bedroom composer was very inspiring. For such a young musician, Condon scraps the rote pop music formula and substitutes the rote guitar and bass, for trumpets, ukuleles, mandolins, and French Horns. His art seems to belong in a waltz ballroom just as much as it does in the Wiltern.
What I could hear from Beirut over my neighbors was wonderful. The pit section was aglow with the displays of digital cameras and cell phones when Beirut took the stage at 11:00. They/He opened with Nantes and followed it not long after with the other single from The Flying Cup Club, A Sunday Smile. The rest of the evening was sprinkled with tunes from both of his albums with Maestro Condon at times merely conducting his talented orchestra. The first of two encores demanded by the raucous crowd began with Postcards From Italy.
I'm glad the two blonds appeared to finish their conversation and I'm glad they were able to share the concert with whomever was on the other end of their Blackberry. Because after all, what other purpose does going to a show have other than being able make your friends who aren't there envious?
I tried. I really tried! I told everyone, "Foals. Troubadour, May 24th, $10! Or, for my more northern comrades, "Foals, Popscene, Thursday!!!" Well, now all I can say is I TOLD YOU SO!!! This band won't be returning to a club that small, for a price cheaper than their cd, ever again. The Troubadour was just 1 day after their appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel Show and they now have a slot at a few of this summers upcoming Download Festivals.
How good are Foals? I actually own the CD. As in "I bought it from Amoeba, burned it, and didn't return it for 75% credit" good. In an attempt to not bore the reader with fawning adjectives, I will just say they were perfect live. They played every song off Antidotes and included grooovy improv jams at the beginning, during a broken string change, and at the intro to the encore. As any good band should, they didnt save their singles Cassius or Balloons for the predictable encore. Bravo, thank you, and see you again.
Set List: French Open Cassius Olympic Airways Balloons Heavy Water Two Steps Twice Hummer Red Socks Pugie Electric Bloom *encore* Mathletics
Ticketweb now says "Jaguar Love featuring members of Pretty Girls Make Graves and Blood Bros." I knew it was too good to be true and now I'm trying to get a refund from them due to the misleading billing. I mean, look at this ticket and tell me if it reads like the two bands below Jaguar Love aren't playing.
don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, I just couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that Pretty Girls Make Graves are opening for their spin-off group Jaguar Love...less than one year after their "Farewell" tour. I guess it just goes to show, you can't keep a good band down.
Remember talent shows in school? There was always the one act that was headed to the neon lights and the rest were destined for business school. That's what the Yeasayer show felt like last Friday at the Ukrainian Cultural Center.
Assembly Anyone?
Despite buying tickets in advance, everyone had to wait in one line to pick them up from Scoops Ice Cream shop around the corner. Something about the U.C.C. being a tax exempt building prevented actual money from being exchanged within its walls. For those of us over 21, we could also buy drink tickets from Scoops! $3 a piece or 5 for $10. Yippee. Of course, at $3 a drink, it wasn't no Stella or Kettle One. Inside the U.C.C. amongst the Cyrillic posters were signs for Vegan hot dogs ($3 too). This show really felt more like a fund raiser too get a new Coke machine than a show by one of the best new bands of the year.
On to the show. The first act. Sucked. I'll skip talking about them. Ok, twist my arm-it was a guy and girl "singing" and "dancing" over cheesy dance beats programmed into a drum machine. I think they wrote the material while in line for Scoops.
The second act, Death Set, was the punk rock band that your friends were in in high school that always played in the quad. "Wake up and let's turn this into a Punk Rock show" yelled the singer. I haven't heard that since the last time I saw Social Distortion. With 2 drum kits set up on the floor and zero lights, it actually was kind of cool...if the music didn't sound like the first sentence of this paragraph.
Death Set
Finally, at 11:30 Yeasayer took the stage. 3 months after the fateful show at the Echoplex where a girl was hit with a maraca (and whose boyfriend was more pissed about it than she was), the band did not seem too happy about playing here. Opening with Worms, they played a 40 minute set with only 1 real break to talk to the crowd. Singer Chris Keating thanked everyone for not going to Coachella although something tells me they planned their tour to land them in LA this weekend in the hopes that a slot would open. There was the scent of bitterness in the air.
No Need To Worry, the song previously involving maracas, was this evening played with a tambourine. Keating through it at the already destroyed cymbal half a dozen times nearly ricocheting it into the face of their drummer.
Yeasayer - No Need To Worry
Thankfully, they were able to close the set with Sunrise this time which was absent from the Echoplex show.
I didn't even bother sticking around for No Age. I'd seen enough mediocre music earlier in the evening to last me through May.
aka Buildings in Echo Park, aka Architecture in Helsinki gave a few of us a sneak preview of their Coachella set Wednesday night at the Echo. Thank openers The Ruby Suns for spilling the beans on their myspace page a few weeks earlier when they toured through with Le Loup.
The scene was surprising unpacked considering the speed at which secret shows travel in LA over the LAist/LastFM/random blogger airwaves. There were only about 20 people in line 20 minutes before the first band, The Happy Hallows, played. Nathalie and I took decided to grab some nive $2.50 margaritas up the street. When we returned, The Happy Hallows had just begun, and the crowd had crawled out of the woodwork.
The female singer/guitarist of The Happy Hallows was sort of a Karen O meets Marnie Stern with her spunky, spastic, finger tapping guitar playing. Ruby Suns came out with a cymbal even more broken than the previous show which ultimately gave lead man Ryan McPhun I nice slice during the set. That may have explained their near complete disregard for the audience. Great music, poor engagement.
AIH was worth the late night. It was past 11:30 by the time they started and as Nathalie noted, I was already getting the yawns. The perfect remedy though was the upbeat dance-inspired tunes of the aussies. The previously mentioned multi-instrumentalist Ryan joined AIH for their entire set and made me wonder how they ever performed without him.
Architecture in Helsinki
Ryan from The Ruby Suns as special guest
Like most indie bands today, AIH went through instrument swaps between nearly every song. Can't the keyboardist who switches with the guitarist just show him the cool riff he wrote? What's with all the change ups??? Well, they were thankfully quick. Despite the time (Je suis un hibou du nuit) , the band's well of exuberance was deep enough for all us 8-5ers to drink out of.
What's any group of young hipsters without some small nod to the 80's? Before they played Heart It Races, AIH gave us an Oz'ed up take of Mathhew Wilder's Break My Stride.
Break My Stride & Heart It Races
Te crowd was great, the company was great and it was a hell of a lot cheaper than paying to see them in the middle of the f'ing desert.
Seriously. For those of you lucky enough to not be attending Coachella this year (sorry Teresa) you'll be in for a cheaper treat this upcoming Friday. Yeasayer are boycotting (or maybe banned is a better word) such blase clubs as The Echo, Spaceland, and even the Silver Lake Lounge to play the Ukranian Culture Center. The downside? They are opening for No Age. Is that the punishment for tossing hitting a girl with a maraca their last time around? Check my archives for that post.
Thank you thank you Filter Magazine. And Nathalie too for turning me on to Eels...aka Mark Everett; aka son of Hugh Everett III. That's right. The renowned physicist who dreamed up the Many-Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics.
Leave it to the son of a physicist to thrown convention out the window. Instead of performing with the usual and bland "opening act", Eels showed a documentary of the life of the Mark Everett (why Mr. Everett the 3rd stopped the naming tradition was not discussed). The primary focus of the documentary was Mark's travels to his fathers former haunts to meet with his old colleagues in an attempt to understand why he hardly spoke a word at home.
The documentary even included a quite fascinating introduction to QM. Fascinating in the sense that it clearly conveyed a complicated concept to a statistically non-science crowd in terms that piqued their interest-I know because Nathalie asked to read my Feynman Lectures books afterwards.
Only one other musician performed with Mark, his faithful sidekick, Chet. Chet was a man of many musical hats. His ability to make a hand saw weep was perhaps the most impressive/unusual talent I've seen in a while. Chet was also required to read excerpts from E's new book.
Another amazing feat occurred when Mark abandoned his piano and took over the drum kit from Chet mid song-one drum stick and kick pedal at a time. The final question I suppose is, "Would you have gone if it weren't free?" Hmmm...tough call.
One things for sure, seeing that Dirac notation again really made me want to crack open those QM books for a look.
I just received an email from Filter Magazine letting me know I've won Eels at the El Rey. I can't count the number of times I've responded to their weekly free ticket emails only to come to conclusion that:
a. They laugh at everyone's stories of why they really deserve to go to the show and hand them out to their friends instead.
b. Don't have any tickets to begin with. I mean, come on, every week? Nearly every show worth seeing?
Kudos and thank you Filter.
P.S. Replace "Filter Magazine" with "Trader Joes use-your-own-bag Giveaway" as well. You can see my extatic face on the wall at the TJ's on Pico with a $25 gift certificate in hand.
Helen Hunt gave a sneak preview of her directorial debut of Then She Found Me last night at the Aero Theater. Afterwards, she came down to the stage for a surprisingly insightful and lengthy interview discussing the difficulties getting the film financed, the shortfalls she dealt with, and her reasons for choosing to both star and direct.
Then, leave it to the Q&A to reaffirm the need for celebrities to be rushed away immediately once the interview is over.
Awkward Question 1: "I, like you, have been trying to direct and star in my own film for 6 months now. Do you have any advice on how I can get my movie picked up by a studio?" Answer (very nicely) "Well, you just have to keep trying." Question asker, she's Helen Hunt. If it was that hard for her to get a movie picked up, you're lucky she didn't tell you to get your own hit TV series, star in an Oscar winning role, and know just about everyone in the business.
Awkward Question 2: "Watching the movie, I was thinking how much the character was reminiscent of my own life. You see, I could not have children either and ultimately adopted two Guatemalan's myself after my husband left...blah blah blah. Why did you choose to go with the adoption story line?". Answer "Oh, that's great. I see them sitting next to you. One is smiling, the other is playing his Nintendo DS." To the lady with crazy life, you related to fictional characters based on a novel that Helen did not write. She does not need to hear your sob story-nor does anyone else in the theater.
and award for Awkward Question goes to: "Is it possible for you to be more sensitive to the worship of our Lord savior Jesus Christ? I pray to Jesus and found it very disrespectful to have his name taken in vain many times during the movie. I love your work by the way." great Answer "Well, the movie's made. That's in there. And that's me." Wow. way to separate the celebrities from the public front-row-religious-psycho-question asker. I would have felt a more appropriate response from Helen to have been an exit, stage left.
Sometimes you're in the mood for a cacophonous, feedbacky, ear-drum splitting show and sometimes you aren't. And when you aren't, it's very hard to stay tuned in to the music when you spend half the show cringing from the pain resonating through your head.
I'm sorry to say Xiu Xiu put on one of those types of shows Friday night at The Echo. Here to perform tracks from their new release Women As Lovers, the overly sold old crowd (with 300 people left outside waiting to get in) shouted out their request for I Love the Valley Oh throughout the entire set.
While the multi-instrumentation use was a spectacle to behold, it's overuse negated it's presence. New Zealanders The Ruby Suns did more with less last weekend on the same stage.
The Ruby Suns
The highlight of the performance was watching drummer Ches Smith and his outstanding use of his oversized, I repeat, OVERSIZED percussion kit (I would hardly compare it to a standard kit). From what I could see, Ches had a smorgasbord of deformed cymbals, mega-bass drum, a ride the size of a small UFO, and various implements sitting on top of his floor tom while he played it. As if that weren't enough, he controlled the drum pad as well.
Due to Xiu Xiu's constant instrument switch-ups, there were many awkward silent moments between songs. Those sorts of moments where a misplaced cricket could feel right at home. There was more banter between singer Jamie Stewart and the sound man than the crowd. From the sounds of it, sound check had magnificently sounding monitors which decided to follow the 300 people who couldn't get in to another Silver Lake bar for the night. Where they, and their hearing were probably better off.
In between live in-studio appearances on KCRW and Seattle's KEXP, The Duke Spirit continued the trend of spectacularly great British bands playing at unbelievably small LA clubs. Beaten to the punch only a week before by British Sea Power, The Duke Spirit played to a packed Echo crowd. Rumored to be in attendance were Noel and Liam Gallagher of Oasis and members of future tour-mates, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. My friend Teresa spotted Brian Aubert from LA's most recent Silver Lake hipsters turned KROQstars, Silversun Pickups.
The Duke Spirit circumvented the round-peg-in-square-hole electrical fiasco BSP experienced the week before by renting all their equipment stateside. Taking the stage at the (surprisingly) decent hour of 10:30, the band seemed to be bursting with energy despite their long flight over.
Although, traveling musicians need to sneak z's in whenever possible. The keyboardist was spied slinking down to the floor during the songs he wasn't needed for a few brief siestas. Singer Liela Moss worked the microphone stand like she was playing a Whiskey a Go-Go show in 1987 ...but in a good way. Her vocals reminded more of Scanners then the oft compared Nico. She also takes the title of first girl to play harmonica which she whipped out between the stick banging pf Dog Roses. That swing of that song invokes images of a midnight saunter down some cobblestoned abbey on the back streets of London. Love it.
Dog Roses
The new track, Neptune Calls (??) was my highlight of the night. It's sexy, driving rhythm has quelled any notion of a sophomore sell-out record with their upcoming Neptune release that I might have had.
Neptune Calls
Like all bands with any iota of buzz these days, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see them return a few months from now at the El Rey...then a few months later at the Wiltern...then on and on until the industry has wrung them dry. See them now before it's too late.
To begin. I just want to say Holy Fuck as many times as I can. Ok. Let me begin.
If you've ever wondered where the final resting place for your childhood Casio Keyboard was, look no further than the rehearsal room of Toronto's masters of Electra-mental sounds, Holy Fuck.
The overflowing crowd stuck around past hammer, stirrup, and anvil (that's of the ear) killers A Place To Bury Strangers to get a taste of what too much time locked in a room with nothing but plethora of keyboards, effects, and a bit rhythmic sense can create.
Through the use of loop pedals, control processors, lap steels, some sort of antique tape device(?!?), and a butter knife (?!?!?!) Holy Fuck magnificently recreated their multi-timbrel sound of their self-titled debut. When Holy Fuck began their uber funk of Royal Gregory, Spaceland's atmosphere got my body to regress to a lump of pulsating flesh and bone.
Holy Fuck - Royal Gregory
Throughout their set, I couldn't shake the thought that they were a less-mathematical yet more-groovy Battles with keyboards for guitars.
With hardly a word between songs the music never ceased and when words did come through, they came via the vocoder attached to ae 1980's sampling device. It sort of give the impression that HAL was somehow conducting the show. The calming, lush, Chariots Of Fire inspried Lovely Allen closed out their mesmerizing set.
Holy Fuck - Lovely Allen
A Place To Bury Strangers were Loud, as in LOUD. They utterly destroyed all unprotected eardrums before Holy Fuck had a chance to pleasure them. Calling for all house lights off during their set, the only way to see the band was through their strobe lighting. They felt a little on the sloppy side of things but maybe that was just because they didn't have their usual audio/video technician in the house this night to keep the seams stitched together.
A Place To Bury Strangers
At one point, I looked beind me and noticed maybe 20-25% of the crowd really getting down. In LA, if more than 10% of the audience shows signs of life it's a good show so by those standards, this was one not to be missed. Holy Fuck
A Place to Bury Strangers Set List: Gimme Acid To Fix The Gash In Your Head Deadbeat I Know I'll See You My Weakness Death Valley I've Lived My Life Ocean
What happens when you mix an overuse of power strips, UK voltage rated rated electronics, and a bit of spilled water? Aside from fried amplifiers, you get British Sea Power playing to a sold out crowd at The Echo last night. Despite every member minus the drummer having either a partial or complete equipment failure, the guys and gal from Brighton improvised enough to keep the tired crowd singing and dancing well after midnight.
What was already a late Wednesday got even later when BSP's sound check reavealed a faulty MIDI device in keyboardist Phil Sumner's rig. tick. tock. 11:45 rolls around and the Modest Mouse'y intro All In It off their recent release Do You Like Rock Music? is played over the house system. The group takes the stage. The violin has no power. tick. Then Noble's guitar has no amplification. tock. tick. tock. Sumner started the arpeggiator on his MicroKORG to make the delay feel less awkward as Hamilton did a somersault into lead singer Yan. Finally, a major piece of Noble's pedal board was found to be the culprit and amputated.
One Potential Problem
After what seemed like a year on the ocean, the band dove into the driving yet lush Lights Out For Darker Skies. One song down, the show had begun! But wait, "We seem to be having a problem with the Marshall's electricity." TICK. TOCK. TICK. TOCK. While the blame was being placed on all unsuspecting Brians in the crowd ("Anyone in here named Brian? you? This is your fault."), BSP's roadie concluded that the amp was dust. In keeping the show moving, a group huddle concluded they could at least play Spirit Of St. Lois with one guitar. In this extended-let's give the tech more time-version, Noble walked to the back of the club a la Tim Harrington while Yan anxiously kept one eye on the red power light of his amp-which never came back on. Another single guitar song followed-the spastically awesome Apologies To Insect Life.
The roadie (why do all British bands regardless of size have roadies??) finally tracked down a puny Epiphone combo and put it in place of the Marshall head. Well, you make do when ya need to make do. Commonly heard between songs: "Pete, this monitor isn't working. I just put the microphone on it and nothing." And so the show went.
It was hard to keep the chi pulsing through the fixated crowd during these extended breaks. At 12:30 in the morning even the most seasoned night owls can only hoot so long. Yan sarcastically remarked under his breath "There's a lot of energy in here". Sorry Yan, we know you tried. Blame the Echo for not catering to British Sea Power's um...power needs.
I didn't get a chnace to see the set list, but if the equipment failure was the only reason BSP played those two songs, it was well worth it. Not to discount Do You Like.. but there is a level of energy associated with their earlier material that the new album doesn't quite reach. Waving Flags was the crowds sing-along-anthem of the night and was placed rather nicely in the middle of the set. I always prefer a surprise closer than the radio single you know they've been saving just so you'll stick around. Though my eyes were heavy I'm glad I stuck around to hear their last song which was the fist pounding No Lucifer.
No doubt, the band made a trip to the hardware store today to pickup up some voltage converters for the Spaceland show. I only wish I wasn't so tired from last night's that I could sail once again.
pre-Marshall Melt Down
The Fab Four
Castledoor was absolutely enchanting as always. Imagine a slightly sprightlier/whimsical Arcade Fire minus the Canadian accent. They are definitely one of the best acts in LA right now. It is literally impossible not to love their song Magnetic Forces.
Shows I went to that I woulda, shoulda, coulda written about had I joined the blog wagon train sooner. Here are some blurbs.
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER aka The Slow Season
2007 Dec 29th - The Mars Volta @ The Echoplex, Los Angeles I'll keep this short and sweet since I've already written so much about them. After waiting outside for nearly 3 hours in a line that stretched for blocks, The Mars Volta debuted material of their forthcoming album Bedlam in Goliath. The band played as well or even better than ever before. Cedric's voclas were spot on, Thomas is an animal on the drums and the new songs were amazing.
Mars Volta @ The Echoplex
The Mars Volta - Metatron
Dec 15th - Les Savy Fav @ The El Rey, Los Angeles Les Savy Fav quickly became one of my new favorite bands after seeing this show. Singer Tim Harrington spent half the show giving their stagehand job security by wading through the crowd. During the encore, the band came out dressed in a Christmas theme with Harrington donning tighty-reddies and a Santa jacket. Te then proceeded to kill several over-sized teddy bears and rain their stuffing over the audience.
Les Savy Fav - The Equestrian
Dec 4th - A Place To Bury Strangers with Xu Xu Fang @ Silver Lake Lounge, Los Angeles My old band Xu Xu Fang opened up for the minimalist psychadelia up-and-comers APTBS. While XXF is still letting the fog out, APTBS opted for a clear viewing so they could have not one but two 35mm cameras projecting trippy visuals behind them. Definitely stoney, definitely loud, definitely worth catching.
Nov 26th - GWAR @ The Catalyst, Santa Cruz No, I'm not 17 and yes, I saw GWAR (again). I had just rolled into my hometown for the Thanksgiving weekend when my friend called saying he had a ticket waiting for me at the box office if I wanted it. Of course! Well, GWAR is GWAR. If you know what their shows are like, I don't need to tell and if you don't, then you don't want to know. This show primarily consisted of new songs and since I stopped buying their albums 13 years ago I was pretty unfamiliar with them all. Standing in a psuedo-VIP section I still managed to get sprayed a little.
GWAR @ The Catalyst
Nov 12th - Feist & Spoon @ The Gibson Ampitheatre, Los Angeles Nestled in the back alley of the gawdy Universal City Walk were two of Indie Rocks heavy hitters performing a double-bill that scalpers drool for. Spoon is not good on a big stage. They are a standard 4-piece band that doesn't need the space. I think that'l be the last time I see them for a while. "New artist" (???) of the year nominee Fiest on the other hand needed all the space the Gibson offered and more. She was much more experimental than I could have possibly imagined- at points looping and overdubbing her voice with the Line 6 Digital Delay modeling pedal. She I most definitely recommend but I hope to never set foot on Universal's City Walk again.
Feist - My Moon, My Man
Nov 7th - Parts and Labor @ Spaceland, Los Angeles Brooklyn, NY's Parts and Labor had been getting some regular airplay for their song Fractured Skies on Seattle's KEXP in recent months and the experimental/noise power trio's sound had really latched on to my audio cortex. Unfortunately, their live set left something to be desired in terms of provided some visual companionship to their audio in my brain. Fractured Skies was played about 20 minutes into the set and was subsequently the last song they played.
Brighton, England's The Kooks swooped into the first of two sold-out LA small club shows at The Troubadour. Still touring for 2006's debut Inside In/Inside Out, the young lads delivered their catchy indie pop songs with plenty of joie de vivre to keep the Thursday crowd tuned in.
It's easy to lump The Kooks in with the countless other British bands to flood the college radio scene in recent years. Not quite as danceable as Franz Ferdinand,as brash and punky as The Arctic Monkeys, or as crass as Jamie T., they sort of fall into the Adult-Alternative genre of fellow Astralwerks labelmates Athlete crossed with this-rocks-i-just-wish-the-rest-of-the-album-did favorites Bloc Party.
Half the band was apparently going for a farmer/serf theme as lead man Luke Pritchard was decked out in his open-cut farmboy shirt. It complemented his bare bones telecaster that looked as though it was parted out, then used as a weather vane for 20 years. Nary a knob or pickup selector existed on it. If Pritchard was the peasant, then lead guitarist Hugh Harris was the estate lord with his wide-brimmed fedora and black vest. Fortunately for the other two members, rookie Don Logan (Bass) and Paul Garred (Drums), they weren't given the memo that the band was playing dress-up tonight.
The hour long set was filled with nearly every track on their only released album plus 3 samplers from their upcoming sophomore release, Konk, due out in April. While the new songs showed promise in the bands inevitable maturity, no one came to see how the band had blossomed over the years. People wanted to hear the singles as evidenced by the shrieking girls at the start of Naive (Which by the way always reminds me of Presidents of the United StatesPeaches). To be fair to the guys in the crowd, nearly as many goateed, early 20-somethings were singing along to every word alongside the teenage girls in the front row. Interjected between the songs were enough "Luke, I love you!"'s to make one think they were at the premiere for season 2 of Beverly Hills 90210.
Perhaps the band needed to kill some time but the set list seemed designed to maximize the number of times Pritchard needed to switch between his electric and acoustic guitars. The one spontaneous moment of the night occurred when Pritchard began strumming the intro to Sofa Song. Within an instant of the crowd recognizing the intro, he broke a string. Fear not though, as a replacement was on his shoulder in T-minus 10 seconds.
Their encore began with thier album's first track Seaside featuring Pritchard a la carte. He played one more sans band then called them back to the stage one last hurrah.
The boys from Brighton infused their songs with as much gusto as they could but I think dragging their their album out from the 2006 archives for a refresher was as much Kooks as I needed. I can't imagine the show the following night at The Echo could have been that different from the Troubadour but splitting the crowds was a good move. A round of applause to their booking agent: When touring on one album, two sold out shows at small clubs is much better than one sold out show at The El Rey (oh hi Vampire Weekend, I didn't see you standing there).
$5 doesn't go very far these days. If you want to see live music in LA for $5 you're either going to see your friends band play at the Good Hurt (re: flyer discount) or you're gonna catch a free night at the Silver Lake Lounge. Or you might get lucky. Real lucky. On Monday, February 4th, $5 was enough to get into the Troubadour to see Pinhead Gunpowder. Who is Pinhead Gunpowder right? They aren't your friends little brothers' band that you begrudgingly go see "to show support". And they aren't a pseudonym for GNR-Axl+Scott Weiland. For those in the know, Pinhead Gunpowder is the perpetual side project the man who walks the Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong.
Billie Joe is a polarizing figure in pop music. He either killed punk rock or saved it. Whatever your take on the man as a musician is, his roots in music by the people, for the people were self-evident Monday night. Scheduled to play at 10pm, the sold-out crowd of yesteryear punks at the Troubadour were tipping their bartender when the entire band walked on-stage to set up their own equipment. Now that's common place at any other $5 show but the Troubadour? wow. By a 3-time Grammy winner??? Double wow. Billie Joe was dressed like he was going out to grab a slice of pizza on Gillman St in 1994-flannel, black Chuck's, and a ratty maroon beanie covering a mop of bleach-blond hair. In between tuning and setting up his amp, he was chatting it up with almost everyone in the front row. Right before the band began playing, Billie Joe shook hands with a fan then pulled him onstage along with about 10 others on each side of the stage.
With nary a 1,2,3,4 they kicked into their first song which was as fast, tight, and (s)punky as any other track you'd find on Dookie. Remember how punk shows were in high school? Everyone here did. Fists pumping, crowds surfing, stages diving. The energy level was as high as I have ever seen it for an LA show save for maybe Datarock, Les Savy Fav and of course my favs who won't be mentioned here.
Fellow guitar player Jason White took the reigns on nearly half the songs allowing Billie to sing back-up and focus on his solid power-chording and the one elusive stage dive-->crowd-surf-while-still-playing trick. With such a notable figure at such a tiny club, it was to be expected that the airspace would be flooded with the pixelated glow of digital cameras and cell phones. At one point between songs Billie said "memories...memories, How many of you have digital cameras or cell phones? How about we put them away? YouTube can't own everything. Memories are here (points to his head) and here (to his heart)" and like Moses handing out his commandments, the crowd followed his request.
About 50 minutes and a college-ruled, single-spaced setlist of songs later, Pinhead was done. The no-frills, Lookout! Records brand of punk songs was over. The house music came on and the satisfied crowd started leaving. But, before too many people could toss their wristbands on the curb though the band returned to play three more songs before disappearing into the curtained Troubadour loft forever.
I can't say I was ever a big Green Day fan, I must admit that in my formative musical years I sort of went backwards after Nirvana to The Dead Kennedys and Social Distortion. That's not to say this enigmatic, charismatic, energetic (Grammy award winning) pop-punker at a somewhat secret show wasn't a blast though. And for $5 how can anyone complain?
If there's really such a notion as "too much of good thing", The Mars Volta surely have never heard of it. Hardly a month after playing a somewhat secret show for their fans at the Echoplex, the gave us Los Angelenos yet another intimate performance albeit amongst camera booms and scripted applause at the Nissan Live Sets Stage for Yahoo! Live Events. The lucky 200 fans were shuttled to the stage at Fox Studios in Century City during the strict time frame of 5-6:15 pm (I ended up on the second to last one thanks to work). After a pat-down and wanding check that would make Homeland Security proud, my roommate and I entered the sound stage to the tune of Muse's Knights Of Cydonia and raucous applause and rocking out. Of course, Yahoo! just needed to make sure they had enough stock footage of Volta fans clapping and grooving but there were more eyes rolling in this room than in Jim Jones' compound.
My jaw dropped when I saw the acoustic guitars brought on stage. This was to be the second time the band had ever performed an acoustic set-the first being New Years Eve. The studio unfortunately chose the most disinterested fan possible to introduce the band. She could barely muster a glint of enthusiasm when the mic was put in her face to say "The Maaaaaars Volta!". She was more like "themarsvolta". Nonetheless, Omar, Pablo, and Cedric the Forehead (that's the sig I've got from him) emerged seconds later.
Again, cue clapping. More clapping. Don't you like themarsvolta? Ok, we've got enough clapping. The band looked a little awkward but proceeded to settle into thier stools. The Acoustic set consisted of Miranda...This Ghost Isn't Holy Anymore, Asilos Magdalena, and Televators. It was absolutely enchanting. Cedric's vocals were spot on. Televators has to have some of my favorite lyrics of any songs ever-"someday this chalk outline will circle this city".
Q&A followed The Mars Volta Unplugged set. A few scripted questions read by nervous fans to an uncomfortable band is always a good time. "How does Latin Music incorporate itself into your music and how do you make it your own?" Come on. the best question was asked by my friend Michelle, "What pop music do you listen to as a guilty pleasure?" Omar joked Coldplay, Cedric defended them as nice guys even though he doesn't like the music. Someone in the audience yelled "Sparta" and Cedric defended them as his brothers. Someone definitely wore their magnanimous pants this evening.
After Q&A, the rest of the band (who were sitting a few feet away from me the entire acoustic set watching) joined the deers in headlights on stage for a fully electrified set. The band began with Roulette Dares, then Viscera Eyes followed by the new single Wax Simulacra. Beyond that song everything they played felt like a bonus after all we had seen already. They continued on with new tracks Goliath and Ouruboros. After they finished Ouruboros, Cedric asked the producer how much time they had left. Apparently they still had about 20 minutes as they proceeded to play the epic Tetragrammaton which clocks in above the 15 minute...and that's if it's played fast.
Then, abruptly upon the end of Tetra, Cedric said "I think we're gonna stop playing now. Thank you." and they all left the stage. And we all woke up from our dream and are still debating whether or not that amazing event was all just in our head.
Check out Yahoo! Live Events on February 15th for the debut of this performance.
I knew what I was going to. It wasn't going to be as nascent as the Echoplex. It wasn't going to be as intimate as the Troubadour last April. It wasn't going to be as exploratory and primal as the Catalyst last March. But it also wasn't going to be like seeing them open at a SOAD or RHCP show (I must confess/toot my horn, in 12 shows, I've never seen them as an opener). It was somewhere in the middle. Like the RIMAC arena. That was my first live experience with them way back in April, 2005. People who were excited-not always for the best reasons-to see the best live band, the best studio band, the best band for your brain today and maybe ever, The Mars Volta.
The Mars Volta played the UC Irvine Bren Center last night. It was broadcast live on Indie 103.1 which, despite being commercial radio was pretty damn cool. I wasn't sure if they'd be subject to censoring due to the live broadcast but Cedric's frequent dropping of the f-bomb between songs assured me there was a slight radio lag and they would be able to perform the show they were meant to perform.
The floor was packed and the security were enforcing the "You gotta be on the blue or get outta here" law. I stood tippy-toed on the blue until the passed then straddled the line separating the floor with the walkway till the show started. They must have been taking some lessons from the El Rey.
Their long-standing intro, "Fistfull of Dollars" (recently given a brief vacation) began around 8:45 pm. The crowd rushed the front as I knew they would. Omar's ring mod kicked in and those who knew, knew what was coming. Roulette Dares opened the show. I think that song has been played at ever Volta show since the Druids built Stonehenge. And Stonehenge is still fucking there too. Drummer Thomas Pridgen (it's been a year and a half now so we should all stop calling him the "new guy") breathes new life into the song particularly at the jam section during the 6/8 second half. And no, he doesn't use a double kick.
I was most pleased to hear that Omar was still taking his sweet time between songs and indulging in his loop pedals with the show being broadcast on the radio. Nearly two minutes passed between the end of Roulette Dares and song number 2.
Viscera Eyes gives me chills during the second half. I can't stop dancing. Watch my videos from the other times I've seen them play that song, they suck! I uncontrollably move too much! PT II from the EchoplexThe Orpheum Theater 4/3/2007
Up next was their new single Wax Simulacra. This song took a while to grow on me. I didn't like it last year when it was played under the moniker Idle Tooth. It felt like an etude then. It's evolved into one short mother though. I was glad to hear Cedric reprimand the crowd between songs about the aggressiveness. "Save that shit for the Warped Tour." As I mentioned earlier, a show like this draws equally from people who wish to experience the cerebral Volta experience and those who hear spastic drums and fast tempos and think it's their golden ticket to take their shirt off and throw their fists around.
Goliath, aka Rapid Fire Tollbooth was the first real new jam highlight of the night. This song just keeps progressively getting better and better (and faster ad faster) every time it's played. New song time! Ouruboros!!! "Don't you evah, evah, evah,..." Oh my god. The "and all you ask is why" section currently boggles my musical clockworks.
The 16 minute suite, Tetragrammaton was next followed by new song Agadez then the only song from 2005's Frances the Mute opus, Cygnus...Vismund Cygnus. For how intense their music is (read: "Intense", not "heavy"), I don't think there is another band out there with as many genuine smiles as this one. It was during the jam section of this song Cedric decided to make some friends in the audience and ran up the bleacher stairs. One fan who had apparently been waiting for this moment all his life ran down the stairs and gave Cedric a bear hug. I don't think Cedric knew he was there. Cedric rocked on the barricade for a few seconds then returned on stage as the safety leader of the Bren center with his emergency exit sign and all. He placed it on top of Omar's amp where it remained the rest of the night (was Thomas tired of losing his cymbals to Cedric the gnome?). Cedric then ran up the other side of the event center and returned sporting a ratty FuBu-esqe sports shell from some generous member of the crowd. That man definitely knows how to work the audience. from where I was, right up front, I was getting more of the bands acoustic/non-house system sound which helped make the show feel like it was at a more intimate setting-with 4,000 people pushing some guys elbow into your back.
The highlight of the night for me was their next song, the second of the new album Bedlam in Goliath, Metatron. The verse kicks into an austere double-time feel that just says dance. And I'm pretty sure that when J.S. Bach was working out counter-point way back in the 1500's, his biggest mistake was not making 5 the the standard for all music time signatures. Listen to the second half of this song and you'll see what I mean. Second guitar man/sound manipulator Pablo Hinojos-Gonzalez brings Cedric's vocals into another dimension on this song.
Back to the classic Drunkship after Metatron. This song, like Roulette Dares is constantly being worked on but I personally think it's time to trade it out for another oldie. But then gain, listen to Adrian's accents on the block. Perhaps this one can stick around for a while longer. The crowd definitely got a little out of hand for this one-mustered up their flagging energy and got a little pushy.
One last new song, Ilyena was next. Reminiscent of...nothing comes to mind it's so good. Baphomets, the closer of all closers ended the night. This final moments of this song, when Omar's brother Marcel begins his bongo run, gives me chills every time I hear it.
The Mars Volta, like no other band today, did all this with smiles across their faces. The dynamics in the band appear to be the best they've ever been as the music pushes new boundaries and the musicians push themselves. The energy of their live shows is something that is hard to find anywhere else and see this band at any/every opportunity possible. But take your dancing shoes, not your steel-toed boots because as Cedric notably said early in the show, "There's too much testosterone here, it smells like balls."
Was it the waiting in the rain? Was it the confusion of the show first being moved from the upstairs Echo to the underworld Echoplex? Or maybe the half-hour-after-you-eat rule was in effect as the show was pushed up an hour from its initial start time (not that shows ever start when they're supposed to at the Echo)?Whatever it was, I am embarrassed on behalf of my fellow Los Angelenos for the reception that was given to Brooklyn, NY's Yeasayer last night.
Co-headlining with fellow East-Coasters MGMT, Yeasayer was poised to play their first Los Angeles show to a sold out crowd. It's evident from the initial billing that the draw of this and was underestimated-tickets were $8 (before fees) and the show was slated to play the tiny upstairs Echo. Over the past two weeks though, tickets had sold out and Spaceland Productions decided to move the show to the much larger Echoplex which also subsequently sold out.
The long line of people waiting in the rain were those who were waiting to buy tickets as I was able to walk right in.
Oakland's Port O'Brien opened the show to a somewhat empty house. I definitely recommend checking them out if you like the idea of Arcade Fire sans strings in place of a banjo. Their song "I Woke Up Today" is great. I'll be seeing them out again when they return to play with Delta Spirit in a few weeks (is it the Troubadour or the Echo?? it's double booked).
Yeasayer took the stage at 9:30 to a nearly full Echoplex and kicked the show off with "Worms". The technical problems of the first song set the tone for their set unfortunately. You see, it wasn't just the audience that tried to bring these New Yorkers down, the sound check apparently didn't occur on bassist Ira Wolf Trotters microphone. Not surprisingly, they work better when they're plugged in. As anyone who has their album All Hour Cymbals knows, this band's usage of vocal harmonies would make John Lennon proud.
After their second song "Waves", keyboardist/singer Chris Keating noted the lethargy in the crowd and mercifully tried to justify it to the weather or the early. Thanks for trying Chris, but the sad fact of the matter is you were right- It seems a lot of Los Angelenos go to shows for the sake of having the "Them? Meh. I saw them last year..." notch on their ticket stub belt. Yeasayer was one of the biggest buzz bands of 2007 thanks to Seattle's KEXP and Pitchfork.
After another commentary on the sluggish state of the audience, the crowd made an overly emoted effort to wake up but the falseness of it was spotted and called out. C'mon LA! Wake up!
2080
Their masterful use of synthesizers and MIDI effects was one of the highlights of their live performance. At times, Ira made his bass sound like a violin with the Electro Harmonix HOG. Even drummer Luke Fasano used a loop and overdub effect for the intro of "No Need To Worry".
No Need To Worry
The end of "No Need to Worry" was the most unfortunate moment of the night. Chris Keaton, blindly tossed his maraca into the crowd at the end of the song. During the intro to the next one, a voice could be heard over the monitor "You hit a girl in the head.." The band stopped and the sound man asked "Who threw the maraca? you hit a girl in the head and it landed on my soundboard." After the band made sure she was alright, ice was thrown on them by most likely her boyfriend. Now, that sucks on all ends. But c'mon Echoplex...what was the point of interrupting the set and ruining Yeasayer's groove to tell them they did that? You could see they felt terrible about it and realized it was a stupid thing to do but the Echoplex should have waited till after their set to reprimand them. The time spent apologizing ate up their setlist and after they finished the song they had to restart (name unknown), they were told rather rudely "1 more, make it count". They finished with "Wait for the Wintertime". They didn't play "Sunrise" which surely would have been their closer.
To the people of Los Angeles, if you go to a show and don't know the band too well or are checking them out for the first time let me offer a word of advice: Please, please, uncross your arms, stop watching the show through your camera, and dance. Or at least bob your heads. Something! Something to let the band feedback a little off the energy. Live music is give and take.
Yeasayer's Setlist: Worms Waves Wait For The Summer Final Path 2080 No Need To Worry (unknown song) Wait For The Wintertime
MGMT was a little lackluster after the uber-eclectic sounds of Yeasayer. I'm glad I saw them now. One more band I don't have to worry about catching at Coachella.
Let's just hope Yeasayer wasn't so deterred by the crowd that they return again. Along with fellow New Yorkers Battles, they are one of those bands that have to be seen live to truly experience.
