THREE FOR THE PRICE OF ONE
I make a point to support bands when they tour. Part of me feels like it’s out of torrential guilt (see what i did there?) and part of me says it’s simply good karma. I have my limits though. I will not drop $60 to go see Tears for Fears at the Wiltern like some people, but if the price is right I’ll go anywhere in LA to see some good young upstarts. I used to panic at the thought of traveling out of the West Side bubble for shows downtown but I’ve learned to put that past me with the help of google maps, my iphone, and my garmin. Yep I roll three deep when I’m behind the wheel. I’d be the worst teammate in the history of the Amazing Race. By the time you read this, I’ll have seen yesterday’s recommendation, Titus Andronicus @ The Bootleg for $10, and tonight I’ll be seeing three more bands which happen to be today’s recommended albums. For a mere $8 so can you. You won’t find a better music deal anywhere….besides on the drops where you get non-stop free stuff…but you know what I mean. Where else can you see three solid bands for roughly the cost of an Apple Pan burger and a coke?
….and this show is upstairs at the Echo…not down in the god forsaken sweat-box that is the Echoplex basement.
Freelance Whales - Weathervanes
I’d suggest listening to the album before you delve into the venomous Pitchfork review by the oft angry Ian Cohen. He manages to compare them to both Owl City (directly) and Nickelback (indirectly). As if that wasn’t bad enough he adds insult to injury by giving their genre of sound the most cutesy and condescending name that one jaded and cynical smug hipster can come up with: “Nick & Norah-core.” All this review made me want to do is get to the Echo on time for their set and hope that they can prove Cohen wrong.
Bear in Heaven – Beast Rest Forth Mouth
These Brooklyn synth rockers somehow manged to succeed where the Freelance Whales failed…at least in the eyes of Pitchfork. Beast Rest Forth Mouth, received the “Best New Music” award from Pitchfork Media, with the reviewer (not Ian Cohen) stating: “Beast Rest Forth Mouth is as familiar-feeling as it is difficult to pinpoint. BRFM is a welcome reminder that an album doesn’t have to be bombastic to feel huge and important. Take out the earbuds and let it fill a space: This is music that’s bigger than your iPod—music you’ll want to feel all around you. Though not quite coming out of nowhere, BRFM seems like a surprise gift—a striking consolidation of the spiky psych-prog tendencies of their debut into a pop framework.” Quite a change in tone from the previous smear job. I think they gave the band some handjobs to go along with that 8.4.
Cymbals Eat Guitars – Why There Are Mountains
Another “Best New Music” winner according to Pitchfork. Maybe they aren’t as jaded and cynical as I previously thought. This album scored an 8.3…and that was coming from Ian Cohen!. An 8.3 from that guy is like a 10 from everyone else. This album is full of whammies, fuzz, and crashing crescendos. For a minute I felt like I was listening to a slightly less haphazard At the Drive In. Who knew Staten Island, or as I like to call it “Shaolin”, could rock so hard.
Go see all three acts together when they hit your neck of the woods
03-24 Los Angeles, CA – The Echo
03-25 San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill
03-27 Portland, OR – Berbati’s Pan
03-29 Vancouver, British Columbia – The Biltmore Cabaret
03-31 Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court
04-01 Denver, CO – Hi Dive
04-02 Lawrence, KS – Replay Lounge
04-03 Saint Paul, MN – Turf Club
04-04 Chicago, IL – Schubas Tavern
04-06 Toronto, Ontario – El Mocambo
04-07 Montreal, Quebec – Il Motore
04-08 Cambridge, MA – Middle East Downstairs
04-09 Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
DELTRON 3030 RECOMMENDED: Titus Andronicus – The Monitor
This May I’ll have been out here in LA for four years. Almost four years and I’d never been to a beach bonfire. I’m guessing watching newcomer Daniel Larusso get his ass handed to him by menacing karate teens on ATVs left quite the impression on me. Why is it that everyone wanted to give Daniel Larusso a beat down the very second he entered a room? I’ll tell you why, because he was a girlfriend stealing interloper! I figured I should finally give the LA bonfire experience a try. As long as I behaved I figured I’d get through the night unscathed. Behaving was easy as it was a rather tame affair. What did I gain from the night?
Let’s make a list:
1. I’m now able to cross off “burn wood at the beach while you drink crappy beer and urinate in sand that someone may or may not have already urinated on ” off of my bucket list
2. I made a sweet light paintings portrait with a Nikon d90 and an iPhone.
3. Everyone looks like Mickey and Mallory when speaking around a bonfire
4. I was witness to this awesome quote about the new Midlake album: “If I were a drummer for the Civil War that had to go out in the front of the line to keep beat for the soldiers marching to their death, this album would be my anthem” (note: the girl I’m quoting wishes to remain anonymous but i can assure you she was quite sober.)
The quote struck me as funny because it was so out of left field (i think the Flaming Lips were playing on the iPod at the time) ..and it’s vivid imagery was heightened by the pit’s fiery glow bouncing around in this person’s eyes. Personally, I think if you were to lead an army into war with “Acts of Man” there would be a whole lot of friendly fire (not to be confused with the awesome Friendly Fires). This is music for war sick deserters. To me this the album sounds like listening to “MASH.” I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or a burn but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Having said that as a history buff I liked the Civil War angle for her descriptive narrative. It’s a rich piece of American history that far too often goes ignored in pop culture. Perhaps that’s why I’ve responded so favorably to Titus Andronicus‘ sophomore effort, The Monitor. I’m guessing the album cover art and title (named after the famous civil war ironclad boat) might have tipped you off that I was setting you up for a smooth segue. If not allow me to continue , Titus Adronicus’ The Monitor is a sprawling 10 song concept album that is loosely centered around, yep, you guessed it, The Civil War. In theory the thought of that should have you all running for the hills but trust me it is an epically awesome album. It is sure to make countless year end top ten lists. For those of you who have never heard the band before think of the Hold Steady’s bar rock attitude w/ a little punk thrown in with the narrative intentions of a less smug Decemberists. The vocals sometimes remind me of Conor Oberst…if Conor Oberst’s vocals had steel balls. I hate to play the comparing game when describing sounds to people but I had to push the comforting embrace of familiarity to guarantee that you’ll check out this album. I want you to love this album as much as I do. I was sold on it by 1:50 of track one. Such a killer Springsteen homage.
You might remember the band’s name from February of 2009 when I labeled them “the future pride and joy of New Jersey.” Barring the love affair everyone had with “Jersey Shore,” it would appear as if I was right on the money with this call. I’d like to pat myself on the back and call myself Nostradamus for this prophecy, but I also thought Deastro would be the next Passion Pit.
It’s a total crap shoot.
Highlights: “A More Perfect Union,” “Four Score And Seven,” “Richard II,” “Theme From Cheers”
LA, they’ll be playing the Bootleg Theater tonight! It is a tiny venue and tickets are $10
DELTRON 3030 RECOMMENDED: David Byrne & Fatboy Slim – ‘Here Lies Love’
I’ve said it in the past and I’ll say it again – I’m a sucker for David Byrne. I fell in love with The Talking Heads way back in high school when an art teacher gave me her beat up old copies of Fear of Music and Remain in Light. I listened to them non stop that night on my crappy stereo (that had a blown out speaker) and thought to myself that this teacher was the hippest woman alive. She turned me onto a cool NY sound that clearly meant she was spending some killer late nights down at CBGBs or The Elbow Room – no doubt searching out some new sounds that she’d surely share with her students the next day. It was the first time I ever thought of a school teacher having an interesting life outside of those cold lead painted walls and their “hang in there” posters. That hip facade soon faded away the next day when she asked for the tapes back. The one night parting clearly triggered some hardcore separation anxiety in her that I’d be foolish to fight. I would pretty much sleep during her class and she never seemed to care. Because of this I figured she had a lot more leverage than me when it came to negotiating for ownership. I needed my sleep. I dubbed them that day and continued sleeping during the rest of the year in her class. It was first period ceramics – we both had low expectations about what we’d be getting out of our time together. She was on the receiving end of some truly shoddy clay molding (“it’s a snake!”) and I took away a love for David Byrne and the Talking Heads.
Advantage: Del.
Since then I’ve been an avid listener of theirs. A few years later I would watch “True Stories” on a loop at the video store I worked at, much to the chagrin of all of my co-workers. I couldn’t help it. I thought (and still think) that the Talking Heads music was something special. After their break up the band toured as “the Heads” sans Byrne while he put out a handful of uneven records. It wasn’t till his last album, a collaboration with Brain Eno, Everything that Happens Will Happen Today that I came back to check out his sound. That album was a warm blend of folksy tracks, gospel tinges, and soaring Byrne vocals. It (along with his collaboration with the Dirty Projectors on Dark Was the Night) was everything I always loved about the Talking Heads..but yet oddly different. Obviously I became pretty giddy when today I realized that he would be releasing a new double disc album this April. I was hoping for more of the same sound from his collaboration with Eno. Big mistake. David Byrne likes to zig when you zag. Eno was gone. In his place was Norman Cook. You might know him better as FatBoy Slim. This didn’t scare me off. I know it’s not cool to say you like Fat Boy Slim…but I refuse to turn my back on the man who brought us “Praise You” and “GangsTa Trippin’.” Fatboy Slim, if anything, was a man of the people. He was just giving us what 1998 was asking for. Flash forward 12 years and ask David Byrne and FatBoy Slim what 2010 is asking for? You might be surprised with what the answer is. I know I was.
Q: What is the year 2010 asking to hear? (more…)
WHERE WE’RE HEADED – SATURDAY 3/20
With Fashion Week in LA upon us once again, it’s another one of those marathon weekends for us! If you are not heading to any of the fashion shows slated for tomorrow night, here are some alternatives. I will be at all three of these events at some point, embarking on one of my infamous “try to make it to everything in one night” evenings.
First Stop: The REVOLUTIONS Art Exhibition is currently underway and will continue to run through March 28th at Crewest Art Gallery (110 Winston St. LA, CA 90013). However, this weekend Crewest steps it up a notch allowing the infamous NY TC-5 crew invade their space during LA Fashion Week with a one-of-a-kind show featuring customized vintage streetwear shown as wearable art: custom painted denim and tees designed specifically for REVOLUTIONS by TC-5 all shown on models throughout the gallery.
“Imagine a Mickey [Mouse] wearing Air Jordans, leaning on a Moët bottle crowned with a dukey rope chain around his neck, dripping in gold and saying your favorite songs hook.” This was t
he beginning. This is the future. This is classic hip-hop style. Welcome to the world of Shirt King Phade, one-third of the unrivaled founding fathers’ of cartoon and graffiti inspired airbrushed clothing, The Shirt Kings and member of the legendary TC-5 crew of NYC. Legendary for one of a kind, of-the-moment wearable works of art that adorned t-shirts, jeans, jackets -whatever you could think of – on the backs of everyone from LL Cool J, to Salt-n-Pepa, to Theo Huxtable in the early 80’s, Phade laid THE foundation for the street inspired urban revolution we now call ‘hip-hop fashion.’”
Also featuring custom clothing by Apliiq, Local Tourist, Puma and Insurgency Inc.
(click on fliers for full details)
Next Stop: IsGoodMusic.com presents Firelight III: Mouth by Mouthwest
Are you in the mood for a party? How about a party featuring over 10 talented LA bands/artists sharing one stage performing 2 songs each, all acoustic? If your answer is yes (I haven’t event gotten to the cheap $3 cover and ch
eap tacos grilled on demand part) then you should head out to this month’s installment of the IsGoodMusic Firelight traveling monthly party. This month’s acoustic explosion is aptly titled “Mouth by Mouthwest” and will take place at 1670 Beverly Blvd. LA, CA 90026. They will also be featuring Art from various artists (including: Rob Tokarz, Sabrina Noel Hill, Novei Beige, Melanie Mabugat, Sam Hart, and Amy Bernays)
Oh and it’s also BYOB!
MUSICAL PERFORMANCES FROM:
Wes O’lee (of The Monthlies)
Kelly Wininger (of Spirit Vine)
Fire Bug
The Rhone Occupation
Tommy Santee Klaws
Bridgework
S.A. Bach (of The Middle Initials)
Jay Matsueda
Dezhope
Threadspinner
Countless Thousands
plus surprise guests!
(see flier for more info)
FINAL STOP: ROB Z PRESENTS: GIRLS ROCK @ FOX AND HOUNDS
SAT. MARCH 20TH @ 10PM
If you like free shows and good drink prices then this is where you should also make a stop Saturday night (this is one of the only places where I get to drink Smithwicks!)
SHOW STARTS @ 10PM
BANDS:
THE HARD TO GET
THE MULHOLLANDS
THE SHAKERS
MC ROB Z.
WHERE:
FOX AND HOUNDS
11100 VENTURA BLVD.
STUDIO CITY, CA 91604
(click on flier for more info)
Re-Discovering the Sunset Strip: Viper Room, Trip Two (Part 2 of 3)
Second trip to the Sunset Strip. Viper Room.
Re-Experience. This is part two of the Sunset Strip re-experience.
Off to See: Tommy Peacock, Automatique, The Mulhollands, The Shakers.
For Super Bowl Sunday I hung out with some friends. Most of us were cheering for the New Orleans Saints. I’m a Pittsburgh Steelers fan so I wasn’t cheering for the Saints because I was all happy to see them win the Super Bowl. Obviously, I’d so much rather see the Steelers winning the Super Bowl. But there is a reason why I decided to cheer for the Saints: Drew Brees. (Yes, it has nothing to do with Hurricane Katrina.) Earlier in the season, the Steelers were playing the Chargers and after the game I noticed all these anti-Steelers comments up on Facebook being made by all my friends who are San Diego fans. Now the Steelers and San Diego have a bit of a rivalry, having met in the play-offs a number of times throughout the years. Drew Brees used to play for San Diego. In his last season there, he got injured during the last drive of the season and soon thereafter San Diego decided to ditch him in favor of Philip Rivers. What can I say; I wanted a knife to go into the backs of all those San Diego fans. Many, I’m sure, had to wonder if San Diego should have stuck with Drew Brees.
Parking. Sunday nights equals free parking on the Sunset Strip – at least until the City of Los Angeles decides they need more money and make the meters 24-7.
Missing Friends. I was talking with one of my friends at the Viper Room. We don’t see each other that often. We lamented the demise of one of our favorite local bands, Automatic Music Explosion. She mentioned how she hadn’t seen some of us for six months. The world of the local music scene: we form friendships with fans of various bands and then a band breaks up and our ties with each other are stretched. I had a similar conversation with someone else while hanging out at Club Moscow. I wouldn’t necessarily call her a friend, more of an acquaintance. I would see her around once a month or so at various Automatic Music Explosion sets. She came over to me during a break at Club Moscow and said, “It’s been so long since I last saw you.”
The Viper Room was rather empty when I first got there. Folks missed a good band called Vas Defrans. I have to admit I only caught their last two songs. I don’t believe they sang during those songs, just went on a long jam session. Next up was Tommy Peacock (pictured left). At this point, the Viper Room started to fill up. (more…)
DELTRON3030 RECOMMENDED: FREE ENERGY – STUCK ON NOTHING
I didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to guess that Free Energy’s “Stuck on Nothing” was going to be a fun time. The cover says it all. It instantly reminded me of the cover to Billy Corgan’s one and done Pumpkins follow up Zwan. I loved that album so I was in an accepting mindset when I gave Stuck On Nothing its first spin. I was welcomed with retro power chords, hook happy choruses and unapologetic anthemic lyrics. As if that wasn’t enough they fed me a steady diet of of hand claps and cowbells. Yes their first track, named after the band, came off a bit like the bastard son of The Darkness and American-HiFi but let’s tear down those guarded hipster walls of yours., OK? Remember how much you loved those care free days of The Darkness and American Hi-Fi? This will bring you right back. Don’t worry I won’t let your PBR drinking, plaid scarf wearing, American Spirit smoking friends find out. This dirty little secret is between you and I. Just because a band makes the conscious effort to be catchy and simple it doesn’t necessarily make them no talent hacks. It could simply mean they just want everyone to have a kick ass time. If you desperately need to keep your hipster cred in check than know this – James Murphy AKA LCD Soundsystem produced this album. He’s a genius who I’d follow into the darkness (word play). Lucky for us he and the band keep it shamelessly cheerful and bright. With the help of LCD’s magical production skills Free Energy move past those comparisons I made earlier and head even further down the musical timeline – taking up residence in a late 70’s retro rock groove that will have you looking to go cruising and hopefully end up at a party at the Moon Tower. This is normally the point in my review where I’d take the opportunity to comment on the 2010 band’s time traveling to 1976’s Thin Lizzy / Petty era sound and compare it to Lost’s time travel from 2004 to 1974 but seriously who wants to hear me ramble on again about that? Show of hands.- I didn’t think so. OK, Instead let me end this rant with this plea -Give this album a full listen before you decide if it is or isn’t your cup of tea. I think you’ll be surprised how much it grows on you. It’s growing on me.
See what I did there?
Look for their network TV debut on Letterman on the 17th of this month and catch them live on the following dates.
Mar 11 20108:00P
Mercury Lounge w/Foreign Born New York, New York
Mar 12 20108:00P
Knitting Factory w/Foreign Born Brooklyn, New York
Mar 13 20108:00P
Marathon Lounge w/Foreign Born Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Mar 14 20108:00P
DC9 w/Foreign Born Washington D.C., Washington DC
Mar 17 20108:00P
SXSW – Paste Party (2PM, )/Fader fort (4PM)Austin, Texas
Mar 17 201011:30P
David Letterman Show New York City, New York
Mar 18 20108:00P
SXSW – Rolling Stones (12pm) / Urban Outfitters (4PM)Austin, Texas
Mar 19 20108:00P
SXSW – Pitchfork-Windish Showcase (1:30pm) / Spin Party (4:30PM)Austin, Texas
Mar 20 20108:00P
SXSW – Mog party (12pm ) / WXPN Presents Coffee No Pants ! (3:30pm) / Rhapsody (8pm)Austin, Texas
Highlights: “Dream City,” “Hope Child,” “Light Love,” “Wild Winds,” “Dark Trance”