Samples from four tracks of the new Spank Rock EP are streaming at the duo's MySpace page. You can get a a taste of that -- the Philadelphia duo's [Naeem Juwan, pictured] "Bangers & Cash" EP is due out this fall on Downtown, with a new album planned for early next year -- to warm up for the electro-party-dudes' set Saturday at the Neighborhood Festival. Or you can just load Nocturnal's website and trance out.
They're a couple of the bazillion music offerings this weekend. I will leave bunches out, but here goes:
Touts for Friday, Sept. 28
Critical faves the National, whose album "Boxer" will get mounds of attention on the best-of-2007 lists, headline the Wiltern. ... Comeback kids Imperial Teen play Spaceland. ... Big night at the Hotel Cafe: Sylvie Lewis has a release show for her new album ""Translations" at 8; Rob Dickinson (ex-Catherine Wheel) has a solo outing at 9; and Jim Bianco continues his string of Friday night parties at 10. ... Low starts a two-night stand at the Troubadour. ... Girl Talk parties at the Echoplex. ... Dirty Harry celebrates the release of her album "Songs From the Edge" with a show at the Knitting Factory. ... And El Ten Eleven celebrates the release of "Every Direction Is North" at El Cid.
Touts for Saturday, Sept. 29
Big doings: Bright Eyes with the L.A. Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl; the indie dance-oriented Neighborhood Festival at Exposition Park; the electronica rave Nocturnal Festival in downtown L.A.; and the music/art/film collision called the Swerve Festival headquartered at Barnsdall Art Park.
The highlights: People will swoon over Bright Eyes at the Bowl; the dance crowd will be nuts for the likes of the Chemical Brothers, Paul Van Dyk and Carl Cox at Nocturnal; and the Faint, Spank Rock and Crystal Castles will offset some of the, ahem, other acts at Neighborhood. On the lawn at Barnsdall in the afternoon, Foreign Born and the Black Angels will play at Swerve; Bonde Do Role leads the Swerve dance party at night at the Echoplex.
If you're still standing after Saturday, DeVotchka leads the afternoon lineup at Swerve, and We Are Scientists play the festival's closing party at the Echoplex.
Tucked away near the bottom of the bill for Saturday's Neighborhood Festival -- the indie dance party at Exposition Park mounted by DJ Steve Aoki and his Dim Mak label -- is Brother Reade, an L.A. duo that makes old-school hip-hop which, at a glance, might seem out of place at an event featuring such electro hotshots as the Faint, Spank Rock and Chromeo.
"We're thrilled that we're attached to the L.A. club scene," says rapper Jamz (born James Joliff), who, with DJ Bobby Evans (born Erin Garcia), released their Brother Reade debut, "Rap Music," this summer. "It's one community that's latched on to our music in a wonderful way. Then again, in the beginning hip-hop was four-on-the-floor disco songs with guys rapping over it."
Jamz and Evans are boyhood pals from Winston-Salem, N.C., who reconnected in L.A. after moving west. Originally drawn to rock, Jamz expanded his diet quickly. "Kids in small towns are kinda music omnivores," he says. "We were into anything that wasn't being sold to us."
In Los Angeles, the pair's skills became quite the attraction at loft parties, and they signed a deal with Record Collection. Unlike a lot of modern hip-hop, the album was made without any guest turns. It's a throwback "to an era when things weren't as industrialized," Jamz says. "Our intention is to take a classicist approach to rap, but not to ignore the last 20 years of the movement."
L.A.'s Dangerbird Records, its thumbs in its suspenders after being nominated for alternative label of the year by trade 'zine Radio and Records, is offering a slew of free downloads. Click here to download Darker My Love's 2006 debut album in its entirety, as well as four tracks from Dappled Cities (a three-song EP and a Loving Hands remix of "Fire Fire Fire.")
Speaking of Darker My Love, the psych-rock quartet is in the studio with producer Dave Cooley working on a follow-up (targeted for release next summer) to that 2006 disc. A tour with the Warlocks is planned -- and maybe a couple dates on a big tour. Stay tuned.
The Mint is marking is 70th year with a special series of shows over the next couple of months. The mid-city venue has had an up-and-down history, with its fortunes (and music bookings) looking brighter since it re-opened in 2005 after a facelift orchestrated by new owner Todd Christensen. It has especially been a haven for the L.A. alt-country scene.
The shows include tonight's performance by Beausoleil featuring Michael Doucet; an Oct. 4 appearance by Country Music Hall of Famer Charlie Louvin; the Hacienda Brothers on Oct. 12; Tim Reynolds on on Nov. 9, Pancho Sanchez on Nov. 23; and two dates by the Charlie Hunter Trio in early December. So here's to the Mint ...
Sam Sparro is a child of the '80s who's lived on three continents, who's partied hearty on each of them and who, musically, had never made it out of his bedroom. Until now.
Last month, the 24-year-old native of Australia released his debut EP, "Black & Gold," and proceeded to wow a crowd at the downtown club Bordello with vintage crooning -- you didn't doubt for a second that he used to do Curtis Mayfield covers -- over sexed-up electro-beats that couldn't hide the fact that, as he says, "Yeah, I grew up as a club kid."
Sparro's DIY recordings came with the help of producer Jesse Rogg of the Modus Vivendi Music imprint, who signed him (and signed on as DJ) after seeing him perform at the What Club. "Even in the final mixes you can hear the air conditioner," Sparro says, noting that Rogg helped him achieve the place where "classic soul and classic funk . . . combine with the music I listen to now.
"It's kind of somewhere between the church and the club."
With his full-length recording in the works -- "It'll have a more futuristic sound," he promises -- the singer hopes to induce his L.A. club crowds to move their bodies. "People here are really jaded," says Sparro. "They stand around most of the time with their hands in their pockets."
||| See Sparro perform tonight as part of the Hell Ya promotion at the Echo. Also: Up-and-coming Orange County quartet Voxhaul Broadcast, among others.
Downstairs at the Echoplex, it should be a fine homecoming show for the Broken West, who've been touring hard most of the year behind their early-'07 release on Merge, "I Can't Go On, I'll Go On." The Parson Redheads and Bodies of Water also join in. ... Hot Hot Heat rock the House of Blues Anaheim ... The Ruse ends its Viper Room residency. ... And Sarabeth Tucek plays at the Hotel Cafe.
Great Northern's blissed-out pop is more appropriate for a sylvan outdoor setting than a shopping mall, but that's where the L.A. quartet will be playing tonight, at the Gap-stained Hollywood & Highland complex. At least it's for a good cause.
The show, which also features Ladytron (alas, they were to be the opening band for Pet Shop Boys at the Hollywood Bowl before PSB canceled), is the second in a series of events called Public Displays of Affection -- designed to encourage use of public transportation. Admission is an incoming subway or bus ticket. It runs from 7 to 10 p.m. and capacity is limited.
[Idle thought, since I just posted on the Monolators' new EP earlier this week -- how about a public transport mix CD? Here's your first track: "You Look Good on the Train."]
Great Northern's "Trading Twilight for Daylight" is one of the loveliest local releases of the year. I don't think I ever got around to posting the video for "Home," so enjoy this while I finish up my list of other great music to see tonight:
The Sex Pistols, marking the 30th anniversary of the release of their only album, "Never Mind the Bollocks ... Here's the Sex Pistols," will play what is being described as a "private club show" on Oct. 25 at the Roxy Theatre on the Sunset Strip. The gig comes in advance of five November shows in the band's native England.
Tickets are being given away during on-air promotion on Indie 103.1 (KDLD-FM), where Steve Jones is a DJ.
Originals John Lydon, Paul Cook, Glen Matlock and Jones last played in L.A. at the Greek in 2003. This reunion comes with the corporate backing of Indie 103.1, the video game Guitar Hero (for whom the band re-recorded "Anarchy in the U.K.") and Helio. Make what you will of that -- they did a tour called "Filthy Lucre," after all -- but this will technically be the Pistols' first club gig in L.A.
Photo of John Lydon at the 2002 KROQ Inland Invasion from Times files.
Don't know about you, but I'll be listening to Indie 103.1 Thursday morning for that big "show announcement" the station has been ballyhooing.
I'm guessing it's a Sex Pistols show in Los Angeles. I have no confirmation, no secret sources, no inside info. But all signs (including the Nov. 8 show that was announced in London) point to a show here.
Obviously, there's Steve Jones' position as DJ and almighty keeper of the jukebox at the station -- not to mention the fact that the word "legends" has been uttered. But also there is this business about the Sex Pistols having reunited to re-record "Anarchy in the U.K." for use in the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. The song, originally on the Pistols' one and only album (which came out 30 years ago this fall), will be reissued on vinyl on Oct. 1. The album will be re-released on vinyl on Oct. 29.
The Sex Pistols in a video game?
Here's Jonesy's quote, from the press release: "It was great for Guitar Hero to, in a way, get us back in the studio. I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out but it actually turned out great and I think everybody held their own. I like [Guitar Hero] because my friends' kids like it. And I like what kids like."
Today's quandary: Which Mercury Prize nominee to see in Los Angeles tonight?
You can't raise a pint without dripping on an important English band, what with the "nu-rave-is-just -something-we-made-up" Klaxons having sold out the Fonda Theatre, home-recording electro-shoegazers Maps playing Club NME at Spaceland and punk-reggae-rap phenom Jamie T roughing up the Troubadour. Of course, the Klaxons took home the big prize and are coming around for, what, the third time this year? Maybe you saw them at Coachella. Maybe you saw them in the '80s.
So what's an Anglophile to do -- which might be my sort of crowd?
I consulted longtime pal and sometimes-blogger the Riverboat Captain, an English expat now ensconced in the southern hemisphere, to try to get a snapshot of the fans.
What of the Klaxons? Writes RC: "The word 'klaxon' is derived from the Greek verb klazo, meaning 'to shriek.' Expect fin haircuts, glow sticks, low-top sneakers, wheat grass juice and bottled water, entheogens (look it up) and plenty of people still hoping for a Stone Roses reunion."
And Jamie T [left]? "Pete Doherty-style trilby and haircut (dilemma: can't wear large headphones at the same time), quite posh, desperately trying to shed public school associations. Daddy is 'something in the city.' Hobbies: anti-capitalist rallies, using public transport. Drinks: Mummy's gin."
And as for Maps: "Wears anything as long as it has no recognisable colour. Can't imagine Maps fans drinking anything, but they might be enthusiastic -- 'I come from Northampton too! I make music in my bedroom as well, that's why I totally relate to what Jimmy is doing! "We Can Create" -- you see! You do call him Jimmy, don't you ... we all do. It's like ... totally ironic how he checks classical composers but he uses synthesisers, which sound really fresh and exciting.' "
Touts for Wednesday, Sept. 26
You need more choices? You can check your punctuation with !!! at the Avalon, mellow out with Sara Lov (supporting Buddy) at Bordello, check out Gliss at Boardner's or hit the Roxy for Hello Stranger.
Foreign Born got a little tube time Tuesday night, and as television cameos go, this one, on the new NBC show "Chuck," was pretty killer. The L.A. quartet, whose album "On the Wing Now" just came out on Dim Mak, is giving away a free download (for today only) to celebrate. (If I'm reading the storyline correctly, the blonde is a CIA agent charged with protecting her nerdy date. Go nerds!)
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.
They're a couple of the bazillion music offerings this weekend. I will leave bunches out, but here goes:
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