[Contributor Todd Martens checks in with tonight's headliners at the Echo:]
It took a concept that was borderline gimmick to inspire Bishop Allen to complete a second album. After selling a few thousand copies of its 2003 debut, "Charm School," the playful New York indie-pop act spent more than a year recording and discarding a follow-up.
It turns out that all the band needed were some deadlines. The five-piece, led by Justin Rice and Christian Rudder, who met while attending Harvard University in the late '90s, opted instead to craft four-track EPs for every month in 2006. The EPs were to be named for the month in which the songs were recorded, and there would be no turning back.
"The hardest months were April and May," says Rice, who starred in the 2005 indie flick "Mutual Appreciation." "It just felt like we still had a ton in front of us. But we believed if we were constantly giving people new music, the EPs would sort of be like a postcard from a friend."
Of the 48 songs recorded, nine were heavily reworked for Tuesday's release of "Bishop Allen & the Broken String." On the 12 finished tracks, Rice's scruffy vocals are softened by buoyantly relaxed guitars and a dash of orchestral trimmings. It's a pleasant-enough frame for lyrics that deal with the twentysomething concerns of middle-class bohemians, such as begging a rich uncle for cash.
"There's truth in that," Rice says. "The kind of music we make is not about virtuosity. It's about sincerity."
||| Bishop Allen performs tonight at the Echo, with Castledoor and Page France opening.
Mercury Music Prize nominee Bat for Lashes headlines Spaceland tonight while a performer with a very different sensibility -- M.I.A. -- holds forth a couple miles away at the Echoplex. ... The Peter Bjorn and John show at the Fonda Theatre is sold out. ... Maxeen closes out its string of Tuesday night performances at the Key Club on a bill that includes Carina Round. ... And a strong bill of power-poppers plays tonight's installment of International Pop Overthrow at Molly Malone's, including Chris von Sneidern, Kenny Howes and the Eugene Edwards Band.
Somehow we didn't get the memo that the Gray Kid was releasing a new album, but there it is, "Vultures," out today on iTunes. The man born Steve Cooper says on his new work's MySpace page that the album was inspired by Sarah Kane's play "Phaedra's Love," and if you're familiar with the Gray Kid's debut "... 5, 6, 7, 8," you know that Cooper never met a naughty nihilist he didn't like.
The Gray Kid joins Austin, Texas, ex-pats Oliver Future for a double-barreled record release show at the Troubadour tonight. Oliver Future is celebrating the proper release of "Pax Futura," the quintet's debut album of glam-inspired agit-pop.
The Music for Robots blog has a download of the new Gray Kid number "Death of a Boy," along with what seems to me to be a very valid reference to Dntel.
Blip, blip.
Photo of the Gray Kid performing at Little Radio in early 2007 by Kevin Bronson / LAT.
Eskimohunter puts its July residency on ice with one final performance tonight at Spaceland, and if you're the kind who likes a bit of cinematic spectacle stirred in with your rock music, this is probably about as good as a club gig can get. The band's carefully crafted stage lighting and projections -- not to mention its straight-outta-the-tundra white "uniforms" -- form a rather devious mind-meld with the distortion- and effects-laden rock.
The quintet is the brainchild of visual artist Jason71, who gets my vote for designer of the coolest gig posters in town (visit his website to see them all). If only Eskimohunter's musical output were so copious -- the band has released two EPs in its nearly five years of existence. In a strange way, it's often occurred to me that Eskimohunter is as much a venue for 71's visual talents (and a badge of distinction in the artistic community) as it is a musical mission. Does that make it somehow less worthy of a star in the L.A. constellation of shoegaze rockers? Not a bit.
If you miss them tonight, Eskimohunter will be playing the Sunset Junction Street Fair on Aug. 19. Presumably, the projections and light show won't work as well for the band's early-afternoon set, but you never know.
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The Spinto Band, in Los Angeles to record its new album with producer Dave Trumfio, has been added to the bill tonight at the Silverlake Lounge. Light FM, playing the final night of its July residency, goes on at 11. The Spinto Band plays at 10. ... Zen Sushi is back in business as a live venue, and the walls will be shaking tonight when the Alchemist Element and Leviathan Brothers play. ... The Stevenson Ranch Davidians, who have a Wednesday night residency this month at the Echo, are among the bands playing Indie 103.1's "Check ... One Two" night at the Viper Room. ... Hello Dragon had to cancel its set tonight at the Echo because singer-guitarist Julie Chadwick cut her hand in a kitchen accident. ... Jesse Harris' new album "Feel" is a feel-gooder; he plays an early set at the Hotel Cafe tonight. ... And the International Pop Overthrow festival continues with an eight-band bill at the Cat Club.
Photos: Jason71 by Kevin Bronson / LAT; the Spinto Band from www.spintoband.co.uk
Eastern Conference Champions have returned to the scene of the crime. Forgive the Philadelphia trio if they are treading lightly on this trip to Los Angeles.
ECC had taken up part-time residence in L.A. last winter, pulling a successful residency at the Silverlake Lounge, only to have their van burglarized and all their gear stolen in late February. They regrouped, replenished (thanks partly to the largesse of some equipment suppliers) and hit the road. "It's funny," singer-guitarist-pianist Josh Ostrander says, "but through our gear getting stolen, our live show actually got better."
Then, two weeks ago, when "Ameritown" was released on Suretone Records, a scheduling snafu forced the band to move a record-release show from CineSpace to Silverlake at the last minute. Suffice to say the mood will be more celebratory when ECC headlines Safari Sam's on Monday.
"Ameritown" may surprise anybody who witnessed those garagey club shows in February. The album, produced by Owen Morris (Oasis, the Verve), is a charmer, with Ostrander's pinched vocals twined with his languid piano lines and the pressing beats of drummer Greg Lyons and bassist Vern Zaborowski.
The album includes material from the band's two well-received EPs, but the rest was a rush job. "When we signed" in late 2005, Ostrander says, "I thought, 'Omigod, I have no songs.' " He took three months off to write, all but sequestering himself to come up with material: "I shut everything off to try to write something original. No cable TV, no radio — maybe a little Marvin Gaye in the morning to get us going."
He's proud of the final product, which he says sounds "really big, without being overproduced or glossy."
International Pop Overthrow turns 10 today. Light some candles; have some cake; bust out that old Raspberries record.
Founded in Los Angeles by promoter David Bash as a way to celebrate and showcase the strains of power pop that trace their lineage to '60s and '70s radio, the festival (two weeks-plus of shows at rotating venues, featuring as many as eight bands a night) once attracted acts to its summertime soirees from all over the globe. Then Bash turned IPO into something of a franchise -- and now you can get your annual dose of power pop in places like New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Nashville and Liverpool. In fact, after the L.A. event ends Aug. 11, IPO moves to San Francisco, then Seattle, then Vancouver, B.C. It's kind of a traveling road show of power chords.
All of that has watered down the Los Angeles event considerably, turning it into a much more locals-only affair. There are 21 shows featuring 162 bands this year, and overall, the venues have gotten smaller (remember when IPO had a night at the El Rey Theatre?). But there is still a strong pop underground here, and still a healthy number of fledgling bands that make this sound their starting point (as well as an equal number of veterans who've made power pop their sonic dwelling).
This year's edition offers a mix of young and old. I'll try to toss out some recommendations as IPO progresses over the next two weeks; catching at least one IPO show is almost mandatory, if only because attendees receive a three-CD compilation that the festival issues every year. Invariably, it contains a handful of gems that'll make you think, "Why ain't that on the radio?"
This weekend at IPO
Friday: Raucous Anglophiles the Procession and clear-eyed power-popper Steve Bertrand are the best picks for tonight's opener at Molly Malone's. The Procession's "Musique Magnifique" is out on Nude/V2 in the U.K. Bertrand, ex-frontman of the beloved Tories who moved on to front a band called Avion for a while, released a solo album, "Pain Is a Megaphone," earlier this year -- a record that again shows his affection for big melodies, soaring choruses and, somewhat regrettably, shiny production. His live show does not disappoint.
Saturday: The matinee show at Fitzgerald's in Huntington Beach features vaudevillian popper Jeffrey Scott, and the evening show boasts tuneful veteran Walter Clevenger playing an early set and newcomers the New Fidelity playing late. Clevenger has been making amiable, flannel-shirt pop-rock for over a decade, and the New Fidelity's "Tiny Slivers" offers a dose of jaunty, faintly retro pop with teeth.
Sunday: Newcomers the Monte Vista, which features Orion Samprini from the Orion Experience, anchors the evening lineup at the Joint on Pico. And we've written about the Letter Openers, who are as sharp as their name.
Full IPO schedule (with addresses, times and cover charges) here.
Elsewhere Friday night
The single "Girls Who Play Guitars" has been rooting around in my head since I got the promo copy of Maximo Park's new album, "Our Earthly Pleasures" -- the U.K. outfit plays the El Rey tonight with the Oohlas and Monsters Are Waiting supporting. ... Steve Barton and the Oblivion Click celebrate the release of their new album, "Flicker of Time," with a show at the Scene in Glendale. [Full disclosure: Casey Dolan, a Times employee and occasional contributor to this blog, is the guitarist for Barton, the former frontman of San Francisco band Translator.]Moris Tepper also performs. ... Vancouver, B.C.'s, the Awkward Stage brings its wry pop to El Cid. ... And the Melvins perform "Lysol and Eggnog" at the Troubadour.
Photo: L.A. Ari Shine performs at this year's International Pop Overthrow festival at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, England.
[Bronson's back from a little time off. Not that he'll get any rest tonight ...]
Tonight might be the busiest show-going night in recent memory. So before I post my piece from today's print edition on a group I consider one of the most underrated bands of the 1990s, Buffalo Tom, here's a rundown on what's going on:
Bodies of Water plays a show celebrating the release of their joyous new album "Ears Will Pop & Eyes Will Blink" at 8 tonight in Pershing Square downtown. It's free. ... The material from Patrick Park's forthcoming album "Everyone's in Everyone" (due Aug. 7) gets a full-band treatment when the singer-songwriter (pictured) finishes up his July residency tonight at Spaceland. ... The aforementioned (two items down on the blog) Service Group show also features the wildly fun Henry Clay People. ... Speaking of fun: Say Hi to Your Mom -- L.A. native Eric Elbogen, et. al. -- has relocated from New York to Seattle, and tonight they are back in Hollywood, playing at the Knitting Factory. ... The Rapture rock the Mayan, with a little help from from local lads Foreign Born. ... Portugal the Man plays the Troubadour. ... Another new L.A. quartet exploring Anglophile rock, Buckfast, hold forth at the gig. ... Chromeo, along with Flosstradamus, plays the Hell Ya! night at the Echo. ... Sea Wolf (8:30 p.m.) and Midnight Movies (9:30) play the free festivities at the Hammer Museum. ... Tegan & Sara harmonize at the Malibu Performing Arts Center. ... Suki Ewers heads the bill at Tangier. ... The By and By play the Silverlake Lounge. ... And Filter is sponsoring something at the Roxy called Revenge of the Sunset Strip headlined by J*DaVeY, and while I'm not sure what about this constitutes revenge I'm sure somebody who goes to the Sunset Strip will write and tell me.
Without a trace of nostalgia, Bill Janovitz is talking about how the passing years have thinned the hair, added lines to faces, changed relationships and rearranged priorities. “All of that hopefully becomes the stuff of songwriting,” the Buffalo Tom singer-guitarist says. “You still want to tap into the same interpersonal and emotional places.”
With the release this month of “Three Easy Pieces,” its first album in nine years, the Boston trio — whose bristling, exuberant guitar pop made them alt-rock favorites in the early- and mid-1990s (think of them as the Shins of their era) — find those places, some 18 years after issuing the first of their six albums.
Janovitz and bandmates Chris Colbourn and Tom Maginnis never broke up after 1998’s “Smitten,” but fatherhood and their professional lives relegated Buffalo Tom to the back burner, except for occasional hometown shows. Old anthems such as “Taillights Fade” and “Soda Jerk” gave those college-rock fans a buzz, but the trio discovered during “very organic” recording sessions that they still had more music in them.
[Correspondent Frank Farrar subjects himself to some of Tokyo Police Club's tactics:]
A couple of years ago, these guys couldn’t get arrested. But on the strength of a couple of EPs and singles, and a slot at Coachella this year, Tokyo Police Club quickly sold out its Wednesday night Troubadour show and had the place abuzz.
Actually, it took awhile for things to catch fire. Going for the obvious with “Cheer It On” as the opener, with its hook based around a “Tokyo Police Club” chant, the Canadian group sounded proficient but somewhat staid for a unit channeling dance punk and nerd rock. Twenty minutes into the set, though, the band tore through its smash-worthy new single “Your English Is Good” -- and Graham Wright’s throbbing keyboard line, Josh Hook’s guitar blasts and bassist-vocalist David Monks’ campaign-ready chorus of “Give us your vote” brought things to a peak, igniting the party for the rest of the night.
Monks is the focal point, with Hook stepping out of the shadows only for an occasional shout vocal -- which, in the best communal moments, is met with a shout right back from the crowd. There’s a Weezer-like winning spirit of high schoolers playing a backyard garage party, but the precise, energetic delivery takes TPC to another level. (Note: For an encore, described by Monks as “the first cover song we’ve ever played,” they chose the Rentals’ “Friends of P.”)
The wrapped it all up in 45 minutes, but that was enough time for plenty of tunes. These guys know the value of brevity and most songs clock in at way under three minutes. (Their first EP, “A Lesson in Crime,” churned out seven songs in about 16 minutes.) Last week, the group signed to Saddle Creek Records, but a full-length CD isn’t expected until February. For fans who can’t wait that long: After spending the next couple of months trekking across the U.S., Canada and England, they’ll be back here at the El Rey on Oct. 23.
Dylan Hay Chapman, lead singer-songwriter for local popsters Service Group, tells me that the origin of the group's name lay in a high school student contingent assigned to work in the cafeteria ("the kids that weren't into athletics"). I wasn't far wrong in guessing that it sounded like a catering firm for high schools; either that or sex trade camp followers for the military (but, no, wait, that was Joy Division).
Chapman is a breezy fellow with a band that has patiently slogged it out in the rock 'n' roll toilets of Los Angeles for the past several years. Now, their brand of altered retro-pop may get a boost from their second album, "Principals of Electronic Circuitry," being released Sept. 25 on their own label, Squid vs. Whale.
"We're all happy with the album," says Chapman. "It's been kicking around for two years, so [we're well practiced]. We know we have a lot of playing and promoting to do. The second album is the same sensibility as the first, only the fast songs are faster, the slow songs are slower. It's a little more refined; the corners are sharpened."
The full press release will go out later this week (and the info will be on the website by Monday), but a sneak peek at F-Yeah-Fest IV reveals a hefty lineup spanning several genres of underground music. The festival, curated by Keith Morris and Sean Carlson, goes off Aug. 25-26 at various venues in Echo Park.
Saturday's lineup includes Boston punk quintet the Explosion's last West Coast show and American Steel's first L.A. show in seven years, as well as performances by: Lavender Diamond, Dillinger Four, Busdriver, Boom Bip, Entrance, the Mae Shi, the Fleshies, Bobby Birdman, Residual Echoes, Imaad Wasif, Times New Viking, Hit Me Back, Thee More Shallows, Greg Ashely of Gris Gris, Partyline (members of Bratmobile), Brother Reade, Wooden Ships, Love or Perish, Devon Williams, Sabertooth Tiger, Sleepover and more.
On Sunday: Deerhunter, Indian Jewelry, No Age, Midnight Movies, Jay Reatard, Foreign Born, Pissed Jeans, xBxRx, Darker My Love, the Nice Boys, Langhorne Slim, Great Northern, Triclops, Red Fang, Best Fwends, Vultures (San Diego), Luke Top, Moonrats, Rumspringa, the Strange Boys, Abe Vigoda, Bad Dudes, Jail Wedding and others.
Carlson says one "special guest" won't be announced until the week of the (all-ages) festival, which also includes comedy acts and an art show. Tickets will be $12 for a single day or $22 for a two-day pass. Stay tuned.
Ah, California. Sometimes it’s best viewed as a mirage. “Darlin’ darlin’, we’re movin’ out to California / where the weather’s warmin’ and there is no attitude,” Josiah Mazzaschi writes in his song, “Save the Drama.” It was a couple of years ago, and the Light FM front man was making a mark in Chicago, where his quartet’s Moog-heavy power pop was earning comparisons to the Cars, Weezer and the Rentals.
“I was definitely wrong about the attitude,” Mazzaschi says now, a bit sheepishly, “especially now that I’ve worked in Hollywood.”
Not that he regrets the good vibrations that induced him to head west. He remembers meeting Earlimart’s Aaron Espinoza in Chicago, “and he was all for me moving out here,” Mazzaschi says. “I ended up working in the studio right next to his studio.”
Mazzaschi spends his days working for producer Dave Trumfio as an engineer at Kingsize Soundlabs (neighbor to Espinoza’s studio the Ship). And he spends some off-hours at Kingsize too, working on the follow-up to Light FM’s unfailingly catchy 2004 album “This Is the Beginning of My Golden Age.”
“Just being around some of the [musicians] I’ve been around is inspiring,” Mazzaschi says. “I’m the kind of guy who tweaks stuff forever; I need to figure out when something is finished.”
For now, the reconstituted (from its Chicago days) Light FM, with Brian Barbier, Kim Haden and Harry Trumfio, is playing the Monday residency this month at the Silverlake Lounge.
||| See Light FM tonight (with the Amateurs, among others, opening) and next Monday at the Silverlake Lounge (no cover charge on Mondays).
Photo of Light FM (from left, Josiah Mazzaschi, Kim Haden, Brian Barbier, and Harry Trumfio) by Drew Reynolds.
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Touts for Monday, July 23
Snow Patrol brings its sweet Britpop to the sylvan Greek Theatre for the second of a two-night stand -- on Sunday night, front man Gary Lightbody was good for some laughs as well some sugary melodies, eulogizing the insect who alighted on the band's setlist and, alas, gave its life for rock 'n' roll. Well, you had to be there. Get there early if you want to see openers Hot Hot Heat play a set that includes material off its forthcoming album "Happiness Ltd." The Canadians were onstage already at the doors time listed on the tickets, 7:30. ... Slint plays "Spiderland" at the Fonda Theatre. ... Division Day heads a strong lineup for the Indie 103.1 night at the Viper Room ... Glacier Hiking plays a no-cover-charge show at the Troubadour. ... Mezzanine Owls join Eskimohunter at the latter's residency at Spaceland. ... Princeton joins 5 O'Clock Somewhere for the latter's residency at the Echo. ... And the exuberant Castledoor opens for Aushua at its residency at the Detroit Bar.
The Cribs aren't exactly the new kids in the post-punk alley. The British trio's new album, "Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever" is its third, and although its release in the U.S. this week comes via major label Warner, the Cribs' spiky music is more spit than shine — impudence with guitar riffs.
You couldn't blame the brothers, who emerged from the U.K. indie scene, if they feel as if they are starting over. "We've been to the U.S. before, but never with a record with proper distribution," says singer-guitarist Ryan Jarman. "We weren't worried about signing to a major label — we're very indie-minded."
The off-the-hook set by the Jarmans (twins Ryan and Gary, and kid brother Ross) at Coachella certainly reinforced that, as does the Cribs' reputation for inflicting damage, especially on themselves.
Ryan dived across a banquet table at last year's NME Awards in collecting the band's trophy, and for a time he had a habit of bloodying himself during shows, the result of a slow-to-heal wound sustained "when I was slapped in the mouth by a microphone," he says.
"We quite like to keep a certain chaos about our live shows," he says. "I've seen a lot of bands where every move is planned."
That would run contrary to the Cribs' beer-soaked music, which is liable to remind old-timers of their collection of 7-inch singles, especially the ones that pushed the era's boundaries. Their current video for "Men's Needs" might even qualify for a shout-along and a raised pint.
The album was produced by Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos — "which worked out really well because it turns out he has a very similar work ethic to ours," Ryan says — and features a spoken-word contribution by Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo on the anthemic "Be Safe."
||| The Cribs play a free show at 6 tonight at Amoeba Music in Hollywood. They also perform Tuesday night at the Troubadour.
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Johnathan Rice, whose new album "Further North" (due in September) is going to surprise some folks, plays tonight at the Echo. ... Sonic Youth plays "Daydream Nation," and some other songs for an encore, at the Greek. ... The Bird and the Bee alight at the El Rey tonight, and Pigeon John drops into the Troubadour. ... And the Dwarves rock Safari Sam's.
Director Mike Mills ("Thumbsucker") has created five new videos for songs off the wonderful Blonde Redhead album "23." There will be a screening of the videos at 8 tonight at the Family bookstore (436 N. Fairfax), and the program is described thusly:
Poses Emotions Disasters at Sea Burning Crosses And Rainbows
Here's the video inspired by the song "The Dress," which I suspect might be the "Emotions" part of the program:
Like a lot of songwriters who spent time in the wings of rock bands, Michael Orendy treaded softly when it came to launching his own music.
“It was just a bedroom recording project and last year when I did my EP it had actually been done for two years,” Orendy says of “Lullaby for the Passersby,” the album he released in June under the name Frankel. “I had a really amazing support system — a number of people just demanded I get it out there.”
“Lullaby” was not only produced by Raymond Richards at Rancho Park’s Red Rockets Glare studio but was issued on Richards’ label by that name. It’s the kind of gently orchestrated pop that will recall a Randy Newman or Harry Nilsson (a contemporary kindred spirit might be Richard Swift) yet harbors the subtle textures and atmospherics you might hear on a Grandaddy or Earlimart record. There are emotional nuances too, as the songwriter balances his melancholic musings with sunnier optimism.
Orendy, who had played in noisy local bands Athalia and Meow Meow, has grown Frankel into a full band to play in clubs — a good thing considering the trepidation he felt as a solo act in the beginning. “I think it was too many piano recitals as a kid,” he says with a laugh. “Now I think I have my confidence up to a reasonable level.”
||| Frankel performs tonight at Tangier at next Thursday as part of the Patrick Park residency at Spaceland.
[Colleague Geoff Boucher files this memo from Tuesday night's show at the Hotel Cafe:]
The barefoot singer with the sunny smile and little black dress took the stage at the Hotel Cafe on Tuesday night, did a little shimmy and then explained that she would be strapless on the night.
"It's my prom, I'm strapless, I hate straps," the willowy London native explained, referring to both her dress and her guitar. It was a cheeky moment, the first of many: The singer said she wouldn't play a note until she got a stool of proper height; she asked an audience member if he was looking up her dress, and then wished him luck; she introduced a song that was about her ex-boyfriend's dead mother and, after a perfectly timed beat, she flashed a sly grin and told the crowd, "As you can see, I'm devastated."
As far as stage charisma, there was probably no better act anyhere in town on Tuesday than one Amelia Fiona J. Driver, whom you may know better by her nickname, Minnie. The Oscar-nominated actress is hardly a dilettante in music -- she was in a band that had a deal with Island Records well before she became familiar to film fans in "Circle of Friends" or "Good Will Hunting." But her movie-star shine was a big part of the show on Tuesday. It was a big night for Driver, too. Her second album, "Seastories," arrived in stores earlier in the day and it was generating considerable positive buzz, and not just for the contributions by Ryan Adams and Liz Phair.
And how was the music? Driver is clearly a confident performer and a songwriter with a style both evocative and economical. Her new songs, especially "Stars and Satellites" and "King Without a Queen," benefitted from a tightly knit band, and their stirring show-closing number, the ominous and electrifed country song "Cold Dark River," suggests that Driver somehow found a bit of Memphis while on the shores of the Thames.
Touts for Wednesday, July 18
The Polyphonic Spree are many. Jesca Hoop is but one. But they are the 1-2 punch tonight at the El Rey Theatre. The Spree's new album "The Fragile Army" did nothing to win me over to the band's army of supporters, all of whom seem to think it's, well, polyphonic. They do have an eight-minute mash-up using using music from all 11 songs available for download on their website. Interesting. Meanwhile, Hoop's album "Kismet" isn't out until Sept. 18 and I've heard some raves already. ... Die! Die! Die! might be one of those annoying bands with punctuation marks in the middle of their name, but they've been rocking it on Wednesdays this month at the Silverlake Lounge. ... Brooklyn punks X27 celebrate the release of "Antilove" tonight at Safari Sam's. ... And Lavender Diamond headlines the Echo.
And for all you hitmakers out there, I leave you with this.
There should be a healthy number of shoegazer fans who will genuflect and show up tonight at the Echo to check out Adam Franklin. He's the former front man of Creation Records staple Swervedriver, and eight years after that band called it quits he has a new album "Bolts of Melody" (released in June) -- which incorporates touches of his band's old noise into a psychedelic and folk-rock stew.
There's new music from locals Mighty Six Ninety (and one song on the MySpace site is free); they're on the bill tonight at the Key Club with this month's residents, the newly reconstituted Maxeen. ... It should be a crowded house for Crowded House at the Troubadour. ... And with Spoon and the Watson Twins scheduled to play Cinespace, there should be a long line of hope-I-get-ins along Hollywood Boulevard. ... The Eastern Conference Champions show [read below] is now at the Silverlake Lounge, with Vampire Weekend also playing. ... And Minnie Driver (yes, she can play and sing as well as act) celebrates the release of "Seastories" with a show at the Hotel Cafe.
Don't believe me about Minnie Driver? Stream the album here.
[One in a series highlighting new music by Los Angeles bands:]
On its first album two years ago, the Prix gave us a collection of two-days-away-from-a-razor power pop that displayed quite a bit of muscle and maybe a little moxie, not to mention a kinship with decades of artists who honed their hooks in a garage. If "Frix the Prix" got only a modest reception, it might have been because the Prix never bothered to slather its retro feel in eight layers of irony.
"St. Domino," the new EP from the quartet, expands its palette considerably, with touches of glam and new wave seeping into six rollicking songs recorded at Red Rockets Glare studio with Raymond Richards and Dan Long. You might even hear a little Smiths along with the quartet's frenetic piano lines and harmonies. The Prix (Cashew Von Harding, Blake Jordan, Zach Ziegler and Stephen Mills) are the resident band this month at club Kiss or Kill (recently moved to Wednesday nights at El Cid). This week, they celebrate the release of "St. Domino" at Kiss or Kill with support from Star No Star, the Power Cords and Service Group.
Spoon's show Monday night at Little Radio's downtown Los Angeles warehouse space was a lot like an exhilarating day at the gym: If you took care of business, it was a good sweat.
With the brick oven that doubles as the Internet radio station's headquarters packed, the Austin quartet bobbed and weaved through 82 sweltering minutes of music, much of it from "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga," the new album that reaffirms Spoon's station at the vanguard of this decade's indie rock. It's music that makes demands -- it's nothing if not insistent -- and refuses to succumb to any excesses.
On Monday night, the warehouse setting made its own demands. Front man Britt Daniel kept the show -- for certain first-day buyers of the album as well as guests of the sponsors and assorted hipsterati -- motoring along banterless for most of the evening. Fans who stationed themselves near the stage early were rewarded; those who stayed near the front of the space chatting up their friends until set time struggled to get a good view. You schmooze, you lose. Or get a ticket to the September gig at the Fonda.
But an hour in, after the heat had thinned the throngs, Spoon came on strongest. When Daniel delivered the chorus to "The Beast and Dragon, Adored," it felt like a moment of truth: "I got a feelin it don't come cheap / I got a feelin oh and then it came to me / It took its time a-working into my soul / I got to believe it come from rock and roll."
Photos of Britt Daniel, top, and the crowd, below, by Timothy Norris. More at Little Radio's website.
L.A. punk trio 400 Blows' recent nationwide tour suffered a setback a couple weeks ago when drummer Ferdie Cuilda was hospitalized in Texas with a case of the chicken pox -- no small matter in adults. He is back in Los Angeles recuperating now, and some in the music community are joining forces to help him with a mountain of hospital bills, which are formidable since, like most musicians, the drummer had no insurance.
So the Locust, the Bronx and Qui with David Yow will perform a benefit for Cuilda on Saturday, Aug. 4, at the Echoplex. Advance tickets for the all-ages show are $15. Word is that a couple headline-quality special guests are also going to play. Show info isn't up yet on the Echo/Echoplex website (newly designed), but stay tuned.
Eastern Conference Champions can't seem to get a break in this town. Back in February, during a stay in L.A. to do a residency at the Silverlake Lounge, their van was burglarized and all their gear stolen. The Philadelphia trio still managed to play South by Southwest a couple weeks later. Today, on the day their debut album "Ameritown" comes out, they were supposed to play a record-release show at Hollywood hotspot Cinespace. But because of what was described to me as a "scheduling snafu," ECC won't be playing there; Spoon will.
Fear not. You can help ECC toast "Ameritown" (which deserves it, by the way). The band will play the late set tonight at the Silverlake Lounge.
Eastern Conference Champions will also be back in L.A. on July 30 for a show at Safari Sam's.
I'll post a piece from my interview with Josh Ostrander that week. For now, here's the band's video for "Nice Clean Shirt."
A couple of commercial heavyweights will round out the lineup for the annual Sunset Junction Street Fair to be held Aug. 18 and 19 on Sunset Boulevard in Silver Lake. She Wants Revenge will follow the Buzzcocks on the Sunday evening roster at the rock-oriented Bates Stage. And prior to the Buzzcocks set? It's another radio-friendly band whose participation cannot be announced yet for contractual reasons
So fight your crowds at the west end of the festival accordingly:
That's a pretty good collection of local talent. I'm not fond of standing around on hot pavement for hours to catch bands whose music works better in darkened clubs, but the back-to-back pairings of the Broken West and Sea Wolf, and then Autolux and Blonde Redhead, will be too good to miss. And if the dirty-reggae dudes in the Aggrolites wear their customary Dickies to perform at 3 in the afternoon? Props.
The lineups on Sunset Junction's other two stage is great too -- Morris Day & the Time and the O'Jays are among the acts on the Hoover Stage; the Breakestra, Jesse de la Pena and Rocky Dawuni are among the acts on the Sanborn Stage.
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Rilo Kiley's "Under the Blacklight" will be out Aug. 21 on Warner Bros., and I haven't heard the new album, which is being described as "showing an eclectic new side" of the band. Maybe somebody will share, eventually.
It's the band's fourth record and first since principals Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett detoured for their respective side projects last year.
I was all set to post an interview with Eastern Conference Champions today, because the Philadelphia trio (who did a residency in Silver Lake in February) was scheduled to play a release party for their debut album "Ameritown" on Tuesday night at Cinespace. Turns out ECC won't be the guests at Steve Aoki's weekly Hollywood party -- Spoon will. The flyer I got this morning says "early arrival recommended" and says to e-mail reservations@dimmak.com to get on the list. The Watson Twins will also perform.
Yes, Spoon is also doing a special performance at the Little Radio warehouse downtown tonight. The Internet radio station will also webcast the show live.
Eastern Conference Champions, meanwhile, are well worth seeing, and they'll be in L.A. to play Safari Sam's on July 30.
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Have no idea what's taking so long to get the album out, but the first single from local quintet Astra Heights has been released on iTunes. It's a nice tune called "Choices." The band plays July 31 at the Troubadour.
The musician's name is Zack Kim, a 24-year-old university student who was born in Seoul, South Korea, reared in Malaysia and is now studying in Australia. There are more examples of his technique on his website, and the young man has his own Wikipedia page.
He tells me via e-mail that he after he completes his studies in two years he hopes to devote all his energies to music, and eventually he "would really love to perform in the States, as it would be a dream come true for me."
Have to think he'd be quite a hit at the premiere party.
Silverchair front man Daniel Johns' bout with laryngitis -- which all but KO'd the band's performance Tuesday night on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" -- has forced the Australian trio to reschedule four West Coast shows, including this weekend's L.A.-area gigs.
The postponements crimp the band's big U.S. tour in support of its first album in five years, "Young Modern." But Silverchair will return for makeup dates, as follows: tonight's show at the House of Blues Anaheim (rescheduled for Nov. 14); Saturday at the House of Blues San Diego (Nov. 16); Sunday at the Independent in San Francisco (Nov. 18); and Tuesday at the Wiltern (Nov. 20).
The band hopes to resume its current tour Thursday in Portland.
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Fans are going ga-ga over "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga," the new album from indie heroes Spoon, and a small number of the faithful will get to see Britt Daniel and crew in lovely downtown Los Angeles. Spoon (with John Vanderslice opening) will perform Monday at the warehouse headquarters of Internet radio outlet Little Radio. A small number of tickets go on sale today; info on the Little Radio website.
Spoon won't play proper shows in L.A. until Sept. 10 and 11 at the Fonda Theatre.
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Interpol's Daniel Kessler and Sam Fogarino will be DJing at a party tonight to mark the release of the band's new album "Our Love to Admire." The shindig is at the Natural History Museum, but sorry, kids, it's invitation-only.
The destructive streak that made the Icarus Line as much a sideshow as musical fascination may have played itself out, if the L.A. quintet’s third album, “Black Lives at the Golden Coast,” is any indication.
“You can just put it on with other records and it stands up,” vocalist Joe Cardamone says. “Some things about our first two records might have been too crazy, too abusive. But this is getting into territory I’m more comfortable with.”
Musically, it’s still the gnarled root of the Rolling Stones’ tree, or one of the Stooges’ severed limbs — it’s noisy and snarling yet seemingly approached with amped-up wonder rather than punk antagonism. Has the band grown up? Fans can decide, Cardamone says: “If you listen to all three of our records and you consider it a progression, then I’d say yes. I know some people who think we’ve grown down. Some people think we should break bottles over our heads.”
Given the band’s history of stage antics, reputation as pranksters and general embrace of chaos, that would not surprise. “We haven’t mellowed. ... There’s still the stress of the hustle that you gotta throw into your music,” Cardamone says, later explaining: “Maybe we’ve reached a time you take the business side as seriously as you take the artistic side, so that eventually you can make more art.”
“Black Lives,” the band’s first output in three years, came out this week in the U.S. on Dim Mak — in the early days, the Icarus Line played shows at label owner Steve Aoki’s apartment in Goleta. On Friday, Cardamone and band mates Alvin DeGuzman, Jeff Watson, Jason Decorse and James Striff celebrate with a record-release show before embarking on an East Coast tour with the Lemonheads.
[This blog has been silent for a couple days, and one e-mailer even suggested I had run off and joined the Warped Tour. Hey, I didn't like Paramorethat much. No, this little digital portal suffered because I was on jury duty, which pushed my day job into a night job and pushed the blogging into ... well, you get the idea. Silly me for thinking I'd have time to squeeze in a blog post, or even get away to see the Klaxons on Tuesday night. The judge was kind of a rock star, even if he threatened anybody who dared to use his iPod in the courtroom. So here's a little song I like, with some more to come:]
Mendocino-based singer-songwriter Chrisopher Blue has gotten his first name, which has no "t," misspelled all over the West Coast. I'm here to apologize for careless typists everywhere, and to tell you that his album "Room Tones" is perfect rainy-day listening. Well, if it ever rained here. Blue -- who used to play in a band with Duff McKagan and actually almost quit music if not for words of encouragement from Mark Lanegan -- is in town for a couple shows this weekend. Maybe it'll cloud up.
||| See Chrisopher Blue performs Saturday at Room 5 on Fairfax and Sunday at Tangier in Los Feliz.
||| Download:"Good Time Baby" as performed live on Seattle's KEXP-FM.
Content here has been holiday-week light, but there's a big weekend ahead. Plus, tomorrow is 07-07-07. Is anyone else going to skip Live Earth?
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Speaking of 777, Stones Throw Records luminary Peanut Butter Wolf has made a special podcast available to commemorate his recent nightclub-hopping 7 Days in L.A. Tour. Between June 10 and 16, Wolf (born Chris Manak) DJ'd seven consecutive nights in seven local nightclubs in seven genres.
So, just in time for 07-07-07, get the free podcast here.
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Friday fun: Plenty of fun stuff on tap this weekend, including a "moustache party" in Silver Lake featuring a band that won my heart and ears when I saw them last week, the Henry Clay People. More on these guys later, but for now see the poster on their MySpace page here.
Elsewhere, singer-songwriter Rocco Deluca plays the Fonda, with songstress (and the pride of UCLA) Sara Bareilles opening. Bareilles has her album-release party for "Little Voice" at the Hotel Cafe on Saturday. ... Bloodcat Love brings the rock to Spaceland. ... And Electromagnetic and the Shore play El Cid.
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Saturday shenanigans: The masses will be flocking to the Hollywood Bowl for the Decemberists and the L.A. Phil (get there early enough to see Band of Horses and Andrew Bird). ... In clubland, the Rentals kick off a their residency at Spaceland. ... In Orange County, Social Distortion headlines this year's edition of Hootenanny. ... And in the world of high art, the Gray Kid will tee it up at the Night Vision: MOCA After Dark.
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And on sunny Sunday: Little Radio continues its afternoon Summer Camp. Great Northern (who got a quite a turnout Thursday night when they played at the Hammer Museum), will perform at the LR warehouse in downtown L.A., 1218 Long Beach Ave. ... And you can chill out later with a nice show at Tangier featuring Summer Darling and Kissing Cousins.
Psychedelic rock and Joshua Tree go together like tie and dye.
So it's no surprise that this weekend's Clean Air, Clear Stars Festival in the High Desert showcases the trippier tip of L.A. bands. The three-day gathering, which, beginning Friday, features more than 20 bands at the legendary Pappy & Harriet's Pioneertown Palace, is a benefit for Global Inheritance, a nonprofit that creates educational programs promoting environmental awareness.
The first-time event, held in the backyard of the increasingly fragile Joshua Tree National Park, is the brainchild of L.A. music scenesters Mary Patton, Tommy Dietrick and Jason Anchondo. Besides the music, there will be the usual desert frolicking, with after-parties, a bowling outing and campground activities.
||| Side note: You'll find some nice downloadable music by clinking on the links above to Gram Rabbit, the Flash Express and the Moon Upstairs.
Photo of Spindrift by Melanie Leigh
Touts for Thursday, July 5
Need a cure for fireworks hangover? Foreign Born and Great Northern play tonight's installment (8:15 and 9:15 set times) of Indie's 103.1's summer concert series at the Hammer Museum. It's free. ... Patrick Park, who has new music coming Aug. 21, kicks off a Thursday residency at Spaceland. ... And Facing New York and the Outline head up a great bill at the Troubadour.
Nearly 12 years after their cheekily titled debut, “The Return of the Rentals” — and eight years after their follow-up album — the Rentals have truly returned. And, my, how things have changed. Right, Matt Sharp?
“Yeah,” the singer-guitarist deadpans, “when we started, we didn’t have a website address on our CDs.”
Now Sharp and gang resurface on a “massively changed” musical landscape with the Internet as marketer, distributor, biographer and critic. “It’s not all negative, it’s not all positive,” Sharp says, “but a lot more people have an equal chance to be heard; it’s a little bit more of a level platform.”
The Rentals become players again with “The Last Little Life” EP (out now on eMusic, with a physical release Aug. 14 on Canadian indie Boompa Records). Three new tracks offer the band’s signature sticky melodies, synthesizer-fueled bounce and boy-girl vocals, and there is a reworking of “Sweetness and Tenderness” off the first album.
[Contributor Casey Dolan continues to indulge his love of all things Kiwi:]
From Dunedin in the south of the blessed South Island of New Zealand comes noisy punk trio Die! Die! Die!, and what a beautiful noise they make. Taking more than a cue from Wire or the early Fall and the braying of Mark E. Smith, this is the kind of music for which severe inebriation is intended, to be followed by cracking the cranium of your neighbor with unrestrained vigor! Maybe Die! Die! Die! should never get to the point of so-called "professionalism" -- tempos are drunkenly inconsistent, waves of unintentional atonality threaten to totally destroy the proceedings, everything sounds like capillaries bursting. Of course, Steve Albini produced the album (As a fun sidebar, read an entertaining Albini screed on the music biz here). In this $5 video of "155," notice drummer Michael Prain's V-necked cardigan, aping the sartorial smartness of the legendary punk band Refused.
||| Die! Die! Die! will play Wednesday (including the Fourth of July) this month at the Silverlake Lounge.
Photo by Conor Clarke.
Touts for Monday, July 2
The no-cover-charge residencies this much have plenty to offer: Dense, dreamy Eskimohunter -- also creators of the best gig posters among L.A. bands -- kick things off at Spaceland; Light FM bring their anything-but-light buzzsaw confections to the Silverlake Lounge (and tonight, impressive Central Californians Rademacher open); up-and-coming O.C. quartet Aushua plays the Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa; and 5 O'Clock Somewhere makes the world safe for country music at the Echo. ... Speaking of O.C., the tuneful Deccatree comes up to West Hollywood for a free show tonight at the Troubadour. ... And Love Lies Sleeping heads up Indie 103.1's "Check One .. Two" night at the Viper Room.
About the Blogger
Kevin Bronson Kevin Bronson has covered emerging and indie music since 2002 in his weekly Buzz Bands column in the Calendar Weekend section of the L.A. Times. He adores caffeine, judicious use of falsetto and the 6-4-3 double play. He abhors exclamation points, modern country and any notion that New York City is the center of the cultural universe. He's older than any music blogger he knows but has been known to pogo. He'll try not to pretend.
Bronson's Buzz Bands show can be heard Wednesdays from 6 to 8 p.m. Pacific time on the Internet radio station LittleRadio.com.
It took a concept that was borderline gimmick to inspire Bishop Allen to complete a second album. After selling a few thousand copies of its 2003 debut, "Charm School," the playful New York indie-pop act spent more than a year recording and discarding a follow-up.
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