What 2 Go 2: April 26 - May 2

Enormous week coming up, the biggest of 2010 so far.

Monday: Last night of Walking Sleep's residency at the Echo, with three exciting supporting acts: Obi Best, Radar Brothers, and, most importantly, The Elk.

• The Elk are an LA band playing a "secret" show. I assume that because I know who The Elk actually are that the secret is out. But here's a big hint: the Elk River flows through Clay County, West Virginia.
  
• As for the other two bands, I've been wanting to see Obi Best for almost a year, and they've got a couple new, interesting demos on their Myspace page. The Radar Brothers are pleasant indie rock on Merge Records.

Tuesday: Two bands worth checking out at two different venues: The Californian is at Spaceland while Chasing Kings are at Silverlake Lounge.

• The Californian is a band to keep your eye on. It's unfortunate that their Myspace page only provides one minute thirty second samples of four songs, but it takes less than 6 minutes to know they're more than worthwhile. Also unfortunate is that they're on at midnight.

Friday: Fantastic lineup at Pehrspace, featuring His Orchestra, Cue the Moon, and I Heart Lung.

• My interest was first piqued about this show because His Orchestra is playing. I saw His Orchestra at Silverlake Lounge in February and each and every band member is incredibly talented. I was truly impressed, and even though they didn't finish their set until after 1am I never considered leaving early.
  
• But even without His Orchestra, Cue the Moon would be worth the trip. Definitely another band to keep your eye on.
  
• I Heart Lung is a two-piece instrumental band. It's good stuff, but I question how it's going to translate at Pehrspace.

Saturday: Avi Buffalo's record release show at the Troubadour. VoicesVoices and The Wailing Wall (a/k/a Jesse Rifkin, who attended Orthodox Jewish Day School for 11 years) open. Because it's a record release show, because I'm looking forward to seeing how much Avi and his band have grown over the past year, and because I'm very curious about The Wailing Wall, it's the CER Show of the Week.

Avi Buffalo Album Stream -- Listen Right Here

The album sounds great. I highly recommend you take a listen or two. Stream it right here with this handy player (available through April 27, when the album is released):



Avi Buffalo's record release show is on Saturday, May 1 at the Troubadour. I've been skeptical of the band's live show in the past, but it's been a year since I last saw them, and I'm looking forward to being impressed by what a year of shows can do to a band.

Tickets to the show are still available, but they're likely to sell out in advance. Here's the ticket link.

What 2 Go 2 Special Alert: Local Natives at the Troubadour on Friday, June 4

Coachella exclusivity doesn't last forever. Local Natives' first LA show since December's uncomfortably sold out show at the Echo will be on June 4 at the Troubadour as part of their tour with labelmates Suckers. Local friends The Union Line will start the night's festivities.

Considering that the Echo show sold out, and especially considering everything thereafter (Pitchfork, Coachella, sold out shows across the country, including two at the Bowery Ballroom, etc.) this show is going to sell out fast once word gets out. As this is the last date of the tour, it's possible that a second date will be added, but there's definitely no guarantees. The next time the Troubadour is free is June 8, and LN is at Bonnaroo on June 10, which probably eliminates that possibility. Perhaps LN will pull a Passion Pit and book the Echoplex for a second show.

While I'm happy that this show is not at a larger venue, I am very surprised, since this show could definitely fill the Echoplex or El Rey. There's going to be a lot of unhappy fans getting shut out.

In December I was wrong when I wrote that the Echo show may be LN's last in a small venue in LA, but I don't see how this won't be it.

Best get your tickets now, which you can do at this link.

(Thanks to The Scenestar for the tip)

UPDATE 4/20: Troubadour show is sold out, but they've added a second show at Bootleg (21+). Tickets on sale now here.

UPDATE 4/21: Bootleg is sold out. No word on whether there will be a third show.

What 2 Go 2: April 19 - 25

Monday: Franklin for Short opens (at 9pm) the third night of Walking Sleep's residency at the Echo. Franklin for Short hails from Ventura, and they're gooood. Folky indie rock. They'll be opening a couple dates for Kings of Convenience in June. Parson Red Heads are also on the bill tonight, following FFS at 10. And, of course, there's Walking Sleep at 11. Unquestionably the CER Show of the Week.

Here's some FFS tunes for your enjoyment:




Tuesday: Assuming you're not going to the 75th anniversary screening of Reefer Madness at the Vine Theatre in Hollywood, then Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders play the Troubadour. You never know, but Dave Grohl could make an appearance. Dios opens up.

Wednesday: Signals (ex-Mae Shi) at Echo Curio.

Friday: I'll be getting my pop-rock fix at the Troubadour, where Tyrone Wells headlines.

Sunday: The Monolators and Sean Bones are at the Echo. It's simply unacceptable that I haven't seen The Monolators yet. Sean Bones is on the roster of the can-do-no-wrong Frenchkiss Records.

Video Encounter: Best Coast's "When I'm With You"

Fun. Fantastic. Best Coast. I like to describe them as surf-punk-love-fuzz, regardless of whether that's a completely accurate description.

Video Encounter: Walking Sleep's "As a Volunteer (acoustic)"

Lots of videos this week. Here's one from Walking Sleep, proud owners of the Echo's April residency. This one particular song reminds me a lot of The Original Brothers and Sisters of Love, a band from Ann Arbor who disbanded in 2003 (and who, it turns out, got a 7.3 from Pitchfork for their album H.O.M.E.S. back in 2001). Many of the members of TOBASOL are now in the Great Lakes Myth Society, who rarely tour, but who I was very happy to catch at SXSW last year.

The video was filmed at the Red Lion Tavern in Silverlake on a rainy Sunday morning.

Walking Sleep - "As a Volunteer" from elliot glass on Vimeo.

Walking Sleep's next show is on Monday at the Echo for night two of their residency. As always, admission is free.

Video Encounter: Family of the Year at SXSW 2010

CER Favorites Family of the Year are back in Los Angeles after their recent tour, which took them all over the country, including to Niagara Falls and SXSW. The band has posted a video documenting their tour, set to the song "Chugjug" off their recently released (and great) EP, which you can stream and purchase here.



FOTY are also offering a free download of their unreleased track "chrissy."

I highly recommend that you catch FOTY live at the Bootleg Theatre this Friday. They take the stage at 10:30pm.

Video Encounter: Letting Up Despite Great Faults' "Our Younger Noise"

CER Favorites Letting Up Despite Great Faults released their video for "Our Younger Noise" today. It's lovely, and features the first recorded paper airplane fight I've ever seen.

Letting Up Despite Great Faults: "Our Younger Noise" from Christopher j Ewing on Vimeo.

Now if they would just turn up the vocals when they perform, nothing could stop them.

What 2 Go 2: April 5 - 11

Foster the People

Monday: Night 1 of Walking Sleep's Echo residency. The only opening band that interests me is Carsick Cars, a Chinese indie rock band on their first US tour.

Wednesday: Foster the People, one of the bands in the growing SUPERGOODMUSIC family, opens up at Spaceland. CER's Show of the Week.

• FTP has only played a handful of shows, but have already made it to SXSW and back, and have been drawing comparisons to MGMT and Peter, Bjorn & John. In short, best get on this train before it speeds away from the station. They don't have a Myspace page, but their homepage has a player in the bottom left corner. Stick around after FTP to check out The Fling.

• Link to download 2010's Song of the Summer: FTP's "Pumped up Kicks" here

• Unofficial video for Pumped Up Kicks:

Thursday: Two good choices:

• Night 2 of 3 of We Are the World's Thursday residency at the Echo, celebrating the release of their record, Clay Stones. If you haven't seen We Are the World, you must. Their performances are visually captivating.

• The Minor Cannon is at the Silverlake Lounge. Minor Cannon is on my long list of bands that I should have been by now.
  

Friday: Family of the Year, one of CER's New Favorites, is at the Bootleg Theatre with The Janks. Thankfully FOTY takes the stage before midnight (10:30 pm), unlike the last time I saw them.

Saturday: Wires in the Walls brings their blend of indie rock and Americana to the Bootleg for its EP Release Show. Olin & The Moon opens at 10:30, Wires is on at 11:30.