Salvador Dice Que?!

Woe Is Me and My Obsession With This CD…

Besides the beach, BBQs, longer days, and beer, summer also means touring bands, and less frequent blogging due to enjoying outdoor activities such as lunch at the beach. Now before writing about the band whose album plays on constant rotation in my iPod, let me cover a few locals first.

In mid June, I went ahead and made the rounds around the local spots to catch Gossip Tree, Goldiggers!, and Ninja Academy.

Gossip Tree opened before Goldiggers at The Smell playing a rather short 5 song set at most, to friends and those just meandering through for other acts, I definitely have “the quiet song” on rotation.

Goldiggers!, from Long Beach, belong to that ever growing circle of LBC/OC acts that not only frequently mix things up with LA bands, but make you think of neverending SoCal summers.

To end things, I ended at Pehrspace for Ninja Academy, one the underground’s instrumental institutions at this point really.

My personal musical highlight for June came when Austin’s The Strange Boys played their first of three shows in LA during the last week of June. I caught them by chance at The Echo either in the fall or winter, now I usually never pick up a band’s disc on the spot until seeing them a few times, but something about the group’s blues swagger led me to buy it since it felt authentic, a good call cause they completly soldout of their discs on hand that night. That purchase didn’t leave my car’s disc player for the remainder of winter/spring, I think I had to stop listening to music cold turkey, just to move onto another band. So of course back in March, I bought their full lenght debut album immediately upon release, and like a relapsing junkie, I listened to it on the drive back home, and subsequently put it away for a month, due to the fact that I knew if I kept listening to it, I would never hear another album for quiet possibly the rest of the year/life, which presently proves true (I think this answers that dumb, “what’s your best album for the first half of 2009 question), now I will stop writing about them or else I will incessantly continue to do so, much like you keep telling yourself, “one more beer” again and again and again in the hot summer sun until you beligerently rant about wait oh oh…

Blip! Braakk! Zppfff!

Summer pretty much arrived, but the economic recession, a full-time job, and a totally tits! camping trip put a hamper on how many $5 shows I could attend so far this month, also a new partner in crime prys me away from attending, luckily, we both like the same music, so we may see some guest posts from her in the near future. With that in mind, we went over to The Smell last week to catch Texas’ Dozal Brothers tour stop in LA. As with any act at The Smell, the duo played a pretty lively set of electro, 8bit infused avant pop.

Locals, TPF! (The Press Fire!), closed out the night with a pretty awesome set of schazzmatic punk with infusions of blip! braakk! zppfff! (yup, in that order) That set marked the beginning of their west coast tour for the next couple of weeks, they return to seriously battle it out with Anavan at The Smell towards the end of the month.

more…

Oi! Skate, Slip n’ Slide!

Oi! Such a blur these past couple of weeks between the Vermont House, Mr. T’s Bowl, Pehrspace, and a 30 pack of bud light somewhere in between.

In the middle of the month the Vermont House shows returned after a brief hiatus do to the tenant’s touring commitments. As always it featured touring bands (Nuclear Animals/Total Bros) and residents from The Smell, No Paws (No Lions), a duo continuing in that aesthetic brought forth by No Age and the ever growing in popularity Waaves, so more lo-fi bedroom organ based indie rock that leaves the kids in a sweaty mess.

A week later stopped by Mr. T’s Bowl in the HLP to check out local synth-pop duo, Odd Modern, a duo with synth melodies in the mold of Metric.

Natural Disasters followed Odd Modern, a blues-rock duo I manged to catch a couple of years ago, they received a very warm welcome from Eli Monolator.

Finished the month at Pehrspace for an absolutely sweaty, slippery, painful, and nude punk show from LA Underground featuring UV Lights, The Monolators, Okie Dokie, Woah Hunx, and Audacity.

Long Beach based UV Lights opened up the great night, this band just proves how the Long Beach scene continues to produce bands appearing all over the LA map, examples include Crystal Antlers, Tijuana Panthers, Japanese Motors.

Okie Dokie started the power violence that resulted in a broken beer bottle across the floor of the mosh pit and everyone to clear the middle of the space.

We managed to just stay through Woah Hunx (previously NON+), which the crowd warmly embraced initially, but we made sure they enthusiastically loved them by the end of the night by of course starting the mosh pit. Of course it did help when the drummer stripped down and played nude, who doesn’t love a nude drummer?! Also, I never realized someone could skateboard through a mosh pit, a circle pit could form around a dancing couple, and that beer cans tend to make a sweaty mosh pit into a slip n’ slide that made several of us fall completely on our asses countless times, skateboarders included.

Sound Checked…

The best residency of the month continued last Thursday at The Regent Theatre with Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros. The venue thankfully addressed the sound issues that plagued the theatre last week, making every band on the bill sound top rate.

I didn’t think it possible for Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros to play a set less than an hour and a half, but last Thursday they finally did. I can’t stress enough how much you should attend one of their shows, eventhough they played a relatively short 45 minute set, it sounded so focused and great, you lose track of time and enwrapped in the moment. They play their last show for May’s residecny tonight, Thursday the 14th, it conicides with the Downtown Art Walk, see you there.

A group gaining alot of momentum and buzz heading into 2009 around the scene played after them, Warpaint, a near all girl group. Their atmospheric songs always leave you hypnotized, breathing and lingering with you.

more here…

One Homecoming and Another Going…

Last Monday, The Echo Curio hosted The Monolators Digital EP Release show for Ruby I’m Changing My Number, a well attended affair with many close friends present, including Mary and Eli’s little one, Ivan, who just couldn’t keep the energy up to stay up for their parent’s set and slept through it, I hold nothing against one of the coolest 4 year olds I know.

Gumshoe played a great set over minimal electronic beats, that at times felt tropical, pulled straight from the book of Madvillian’s “Meat Grinder”, actually someone have her collarborate with Stones Throw now please.

Halloween Swim Team played their homecoming set that night, which judging by their tweets turned into quite the tour.

Wednesday, made my way to The Smell for EXITMUSIC’s farewell show in LA, they decided to move to Brooklyn, alongside them, I also managed to catch VOICEsVOICEs set beforehand.

VOICEsVOICEs made a perfect companion to EXITMUSIC, a great experimental post-punk, noise duo, that pretty much create the soundtrack your dreams would play in the background.

EXITMUSIC played their last and possibly strongest show in LA, that definitely left their move that much more hard to swallow.

For Once, No April Showers…

As always, the month of April never disappoints me for as long as I remember, I sense it coincides with my birthday falling on this month, and somehow the universe or the flying spaghetti monster aligns events to fall right in place, as opposed to July, something bad always happens in that month, usually involving money. Appropriately, I attended the shows that quite possibly showcased some of the most engaging artists this momth.

LA Underground presented some of the area’s singer/songwriters at Mr. T’s Bowl in Highland Park, featuring Cricket and the 2:19, Eliza Rickman, San Diegan, Matt Curreri’s talents, and the very talented Lex Land, whose song appeared on some ABC televison show or the other, I don’t watch television honestly.

On the last day of the month I had to attend the opening of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros Thursday night residency at The Regent Theatre, especially after taking in their exuberant hour and a half set on a Monday night at The Echo for Fool’s Gold residency, quite possibly the only band on a midnight slot during a Monday night residency to pack the venue even more. Opening before them came Rumspringa, a pretty lively blues revival duo.

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros headlined next, now I actually knew about this group at least a year ago, thanks to an encounter I had with Jade (the female vocal lead) at Pehrspace for an Amnion show, where I shared a bottle of communal wine with her and the group, she happened to mention the band, and I always meant to check them out on that recommendation…better late than never. Their set obviously, did not let this great month of music down, I think their set pretty much established the standard for the type of experience a live show should present to its audience until the end of the year at least.

more here…

The Blood, The Beer, and The Sweaty…

…cue Ennio Morricone

I’m going to keep the Coachella blog short cause
1) you knew someone who went already
2) more than enough coverage exists already
3) I should strictly stick to LA bands
4) I refused to carry around a camera in that environment and mosh
(so you get crappy mobile photos at most)
5) twitter more than made up for it…

Friday:

Molotov - Sounded Good Puto!

Airborne Toxic Event - Good for them, great to see a band ascend from an audience of about 15 at a show downtown 3/4 years ago to this

The Hold Steady - Not very much into their records, the live show though, another story, the very best bar band

Crystal Castles: Started off late (i sense pretentiousness), not much depth to their setup or sound live (which resulted in muddiness), and sweaty.

Beirut: Beautiful

Silversun Pickups: See Airborne Toxic Event above

Sir Paul: Opened up with Jet! slowed it down in the middle, made everyone cry at the end…I’m disappointed he didn’t sing Silly Love Songs or Ebony & Ivory

Saturday:

Henry Rollins: “We should bomb both Israel and Palestine…with Ramones Records!”

TV on the Radio: Sounded OK

Fleet Foxes: Very pretty harmonies just right for sunset

Band of Horses: Feeeel It

Turbonegro: Turbojugend sang in unison “Erection!” haha

Mastodon: Got elbowed on the mouth

Sunday:

No Age: When you see a middle-aged latin man, his wife, and their kids (including the one in a stroller) wearing No Age shirts, you know they go beyond indie punk band status, they now lead a movement…

Fucked Up: Comes with blood included, probably played the best set of all

Brian Jonestown Massacre: Good to see them play in peace

PB&J: and I quote, “don’t they only have that one song only”, everyone woke up from their naps and left after it.

Clipse: They fuckin’ cancelled due to slingin’, well most likely…

X: Los Angeles!

Devendra Banhart: Lots of hippie smoke

My Bloody Valentine: LOUD

It whipped out and about…close your eyes!

Well now, don’t we have quite a bit to catch up on…

Now before I move on to a formal Coachella post, an audio post did go up here. Let’s discuss the great shows taking place before it.

Non+ and Mikki and the Mauses teamed up for quite an epic cassette release show at L’Keg on the 10th featuring Showgirls, a nude drummer, and members from No Age, Mika Miko, Har Mar, and Crystal Antlers in attendance.

A relatively new project called Showgirls opened the late night, an experimental, lo-fi synth-punk group, with throbbing beats, a very good abravise sound.

Mikki and The Mauses, one of resulting projects begun by the former vocalist for The Mean Reds (one my personal all time faves, I’ll never forget about the power of the raccoon or using kindergarten backpacks as on stage outfits) in the aftermath of their breakup, played the middle slot of the night, and fuck do these guys pick up right after where The Mean Reds left off, well without the electronic beats, a bit more straightforward hardcore, but they make you think about your dad.

The other half of that fun cassette tape (The cassette features both Mikki and The Mauses/Non+) features nonother than one of my faves, Non+, of course not only awesome music broke out, and possibly fake stories about the drummer jerking off, but said drummer took it to the next level by playing for his audience naked on a dare, umm these guys take dares seriously, I’m starting to think that jerking off anectdote actually happened…

Saturday checked out Abe Vigoda and No Age on the campus of UCSD, I know, San Diego for a couple of bands? Well, I often visit SD at least every 3 weeks, I have a home out there I spend a nice quiet suburban time at, plus you find a lot better waves down there. So, needless to say, since UCSD featured two of LA’s finest bands, kind of a no brainer to go chcek them out. I also appreciated the fact San Diego ends their shows by 11pm, leaving plenty of time to get back home and sleep in peace.

Abe Vigoda opened up before No Age, not much to say that you already should know about…

Headliners, No Age, finished up the night, I found it really funny with one of the kids saying, “They’re too big for something like this”, I think he never caught them at The Smell or Pehrspace. I guess living in LA and seeing any one of these groups on almost any given month, you tend to take them for granted, and only fully comprehend the extent to which their popularity reaches when a gig a mere hour and half away from home puts the audience in utter sweaty awe. I could only imagine what No Age’s Coachella set would inspire…

more photos here…

The Late Night Come Down…

Bloody Robots, an experimental minimal bass and drum duo, played their first show in about 6 months at The Smell last Wednesday. The layoff did not seem to affect them at all, as they picked up right where they left off with their relentless minimal assault of punk-metal goodness on yo senses.

Later that night, Laco$te played a rather experimental and obscure set of electronic beats with lead singer X, sometimes rapping, sometimes singing. I caught this act at least over a year ago, possibly more, when it simply consisted of one man creating beats over a range of pedals and midi sequencers. It seems sensible for this act to morph into something a bit larger, in order to provide a new dynamic to the beats and accentuate the left of center sound, definitely looking forward to their album this summer.

After attending rather loud acts throughout the past couple of weeks, The Hard To Get’s EP record release show last Friday at Pehrspace, provided the perfect come down of indie-pop joy. I say joy, cause a rather delightful crowd attended the release with smiles abound, even when a member of The Breakups had a serious moment with his pursuit of finding the indvidual who parked his/her car in front of the exit at Pehrspace, preventing said boy there from leaving and getting home.

The Breakups provided the ears with some much needed melody.

The night belonged though, to The Hard To Get, with their unbelievably catchy indie-pop, that simply stays with you all through the night, week, year, etc. They absolutely provided the highlight of the night when they featured special guests on trumphets and congas, providing listeners with the chance to hear the songs in full breadth.

Saturday night, L.A. Underground presented their first show at Silver Factory Studios featuring the late night pop sounds of The Meeting Places, boxViolet, Phoenix and the Turtle, and EXITMUSIC, an very appropriate lineup for the afterhours establishment.

Local scene veterans, The Meeting Places, opened the late night with a set of shoegaze rock that falls in line with the likes of Autolux.

boxViolet brought the house lights down, literally, their custom made light setup drained too much juice, I think it went to 11, leading to the power going out, a pretty amazing feat for a duo, maybe their gig at Hot Topic can bring about the demise of that chain.

Phoenix and the Turtle out of Riverside, played quite possibly, their strongest set to date of slow building piano driven pop songs, they now seem on the verge of completely and confidently presenting their sound to any audience, if they only made the move to the eastside, I feel pretty sure about this group developing a strong following.

Coincedently enough with their name, EXITMUSIC, ended the night with their slightly dark dream pop, the kind one ideally listens to in the wee hours of the morning, driving through an empty downtown on the way back home, a trek I undertook at 3am that night when the show ended, though I didn’t listen to their record, their set just stuck in my head on that drive home.

more pics…