Video Encounter: Happy Hollows "We Will Find You" (Acoustic)

The Happy Hollows play every Monday night this month for free at Spaceland. Don't miss it. Here's an acoustic performance recorded when they were in New York for CMJ last month.


Watch the full concert at baeblemusic.com

Residency Preview: Saint Motel's September Spaceland Residency

Saint Motel plays for free at Spaceland every Monday in September. I recommend coming out for their first show this coming Monday so you get to see The Jakes (and because Mondays are at a premium this month considering the dueling Leslie & The Badgers residency at the Echo).

Here are two SM videos to whet your appetite:






And a little promo ad they did for the residency:

Local Natives Spaceland Residency -- The Lineups

Time to plan ahead. Here's the supporting acts for the Local Natives August residency at Spaceland:

August 3: The Union Line, The Outline, We Barbarians.

August 10: Red Cortez, Rademacher, Swim Party. This is the one not to miss.

August 17: Voxhaul Broadcast, Soko, The Lonely H.

August 24: The Parson Redheads, The Cheat.

August 31: Fun, Aushua.

You get a free download of LN's "Sun Hands" when you sign up for their mailing list. For your convenience, you can sign up right here:

The Jakes' Sunday July Residency

Every Sunday this month The Jakes play Cinespace in Hollywood. Free entry and free vodka between 9:30 and 10:30, and $5 admission after that. Last Sunday The Jakes went on at midnight. I've been a fan of The Jakes since I saw them in April '08 at a KROQ Locals Only show at The Roxy, and Cinespace is a nice change of pace from Silverlake/Echo Park. Catch them at least once this month; it's definitely worth your time.

Here's a couple of videos from their performance at Cinespace in November. I was there, but these aren't my videos.

Castledoor, Local Natives @ Spaceland (6/22/2009)

Two of CER's absolute favorites, playing back to back at Spaceland for free on a Monday night. This is why I love LA.

Local Natives were on first, and I don't think I've heard them sound better. They held back a little on the vocals, pursuing harmony over an unneeded vocal assault. And they even sounded great without their violinist. Each of the six previous times I've seen LN their violinist, who the band refers to as "Amanda Violin," played with them. When I noticed she was not with the band this time, I thought I was in for a poorer set, like when Princeton plays without their string section. But surprisingly I didn't miss her presence.

The band played their typical, albeit great, set list. If I had any criticism, it's that they need to add some new songs to their live show, although I doubt many people have seen them enough to consider this critique. I'm sure they'll add something to the mix for their August Spaceland residency. In all, if LN were the only band playing that night I would have left happy.

Here's a video of them playing "Cards & Quarters," which is the b-side to their soon-to-be-released single for "Sun Hands." Notice Kelcey playing the keyboard with his right hand and the drum his left at the same time; I don't know how he does that.



Then up comes Castledoor. They played well and it was a fun set, but it didn't match the experience I had seeing them at tiny Temporary Spaces back in May: Spaceland was too packed and too warm to repeat that.

Here's a clip of their cover of "It Ain't Me," which they burned onto 100 CDs and handed out for free.



Pictures (EDIT: deleted because, as an anonymous commenter noted, they came out very poorly)

Castledoor AND Local Natives at Spaceland TONIGHT

Two CER favorites on the bill tonight at Spaceland for the perfect price of FREE. A CER dream show? Signs point to yes.

Local Natives open up for Castledoor's fourth residency show tonight. Local Natives should be on at 10 with Castledoor at 11. Don't miss it.

More info if you need it.

Video Encounter: Castledoor's cover of "It's a Man's Man's Man's World"

Can't wait to finally make it to their residency next week.

Avi Buffalo at the Echo (5/19/2009)

In April I mentioned that when I saw Avi Buffalo in early March at 3 Clubs it didn't seem they enjoyed playing. Sadly I was disappointed with their set this night as well. The songs are pretty good, Avi is definitely talented, and I know they're young and playing to an audience that's older than they are, but the band's stage presence is lacking.

One issue is that Avi doesn't typically take center stage; instead, he stands stage right and the keyboard player, Rebecca Coleman, is placed in the center. She's got a great voice, and is more than capable, but I don't think she smiled once during the set and she was usually looking down at the keyboard or to her right at Avi; practically no eye contact with the audience. Same with the bass player; he stood angled towards Avi most of the time and rarely looked out into the audience. And no fault of their own, but it was so dark on stage that I could barely even see the drummer.

Gangi at Spaceland (5/11/2009)

The second of Gangi's May residency at Spaceland. I went to this show expecting good things from Saint Motel and to be mildly fascinated by Gangi. My experience was almost exactly the opposite.

I was unimpressed with Saint Motel. I like their recorded output, but their live show didn't bring anything to the table. After their set I expected to stay for a couple Gangi songs and leave early.

Gangi, though, was a delight to see. They're simply a "cool" band. I really liked how they began most of their songs with various samples and then dove into more traditional indie rock territory, while the samples continued to loop. They played new tracks and old tracks, and I'm looking forward to hearing the new songs and seeing them perform again in the future.

My only regret: that I didn't see Gangi the Monday before, when Head Like a Kite opened.

Henry Clay People, Residency Show #4 (4/27/2009)

Photo by Scott Schultz

When will they be back?

A lot of Henry Clay People news was made over the last two weeks, and Monday night was no exception. THCP are really going to make a run, and I don't see how it won't be successful. They signed with a new management company and are going to be playing Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits later this year. And supposedly there were "a lot of important people" at the show to check them out. On top of that, Joey and Andy quit their jobs on Monday and said they are starting a tour in Washington, D.C. this coming Monday without giving any more details. It turns out this tour is opening for Ben Harper and the Relentless 7. Great news.

Onto the show . . .

I was pleasantly surprised by Young Love's dance-rock. It's odd, though, that this is a band from the former frontman for Recover. But I suppose if Gabe Saporta can do it, so can Dan Reyes.

I was also surprised by The Flying Tourbillon Orchestra, who are now female-less. I thought they had replaced their departing female with another. I didn't stay long or pay close enough attention, but it sounded like their musical style had also changed towards more energetic, straight ahead indie rock.

As for The Henry Clay People, their set was a barnburner. I haven't been so entertained in a long time. It was the "covers" show that was supposed to happen last week, but I didn't bring my camera because I didn't know. I've learned my lesson. For photos taken by others, see here and here.

I knew something was up before their set when I saw extra mics on stage and Ross from The Broken West tuning a guitar. But I had no idea what was about to happen. THCP came on in full costume: hats, feather boas, velvet frocks, sunglasses. It was quite a spectacle. The Damselles, a local female doo-wop group, joined the band on stage for a most of the set and added a new dimension to both the originals and the covers. Adam from Fol Chen and Hunter from Flying Tourbillon also made appearances.

Covers included "Roll Away the Stone" "Proud Mary," and to close, of course, was "Honky Tonk Women." The band was very well prepared -- the covers sounded great; no sloppiness.

As for original Henry Clay songs, they played three brand new ones that they had only played during the residency, as well as the new classic "Working Part Time," which they played after announcing that they had quit their jobs.

In all, it's the end of the era of THCP as a "local band" (even if they were the best local band in LA), an era that I had the privilege of being part of for the past few months. Now the rest of the country will have the opportunity LA has enjoyed. They will be missed, of course.

Here's a video towards the beginning of that era: THCP playing "Fine Print" three years ago at the Echo.

Henry Clay People, Residency Show #3 (4/20/2009)

Another Monday night trip to Spaceland. By the third show I thought I'd have have Henry Clay fatigue. I didn't. Maybe it was because I hadn't been to a show in a week, but I was still looking forward to it. At the end of the day, knowing that once a week you can drive over to Spaceland and see The Henry Clay People for free is something to be thankful for, and it's something that may never happen again.

Supposedly this was going to be their covers show. Nope. They only played one cover, Tom Petty's Mary Jane's Last Dance, in honor of 4/20 (video clip below). But the music still wasn't stale, and I'm not sure it could ever be. It helped that they played three brand new songs, but "Working Part Time" was still great to hear. And the band seemed the happiest it had been during the residencies. Joey walked off the stage into the crowd and there was a lot of smiling and finger pointing, which is to be expected when you're playing amongst friends.

The Whip played right before HCP with their brand of disco rock. There's not much distinguishable about their brand. Their drummer, though, is one of the best female drummers I've seen. They started off with a couple of unimpressive instrumental songs. About 15 minutes into their set they left the stage claiming technical difficulties, but returned 10 minutes later. To make up for it they said that if anyone tweeted them they would put them on the list for their show the next night at Cinespace. By the end of their set I had warmed to them, but only slightly.

Adeline & The Philistines closed the show at midnight. I enjoyed the 5 or 6 songs I heard (especially "where the bees don't bite"); it's pleasant, toe-tapping, girl-fronted indie pop. Adeline kept on thanking people for staying, and after each song smiled and giggled a bit, as though she was impressed or surprised that they sounded so good and that people were applauding. It was endearing.

Looking forward to next Monday.

Here's two videos from the show, courtesy of my new camera (you may notice an extreme quality improvement, especially in HD).






And some pictures.

You Must See The Henry Clay People This Month

Don't ask questions. Just go. You're going to hate yourself one day if you miss this.

• New songs ("Taste of the Tasteless" tonight and I'm sure "End of the Empire" will make an appearance next week) and newer songs (one brand new song each night)
• Covers. The third show (April 20) is devoted to covers.
  
• "Old" favorites ("Working Part Time," "This Ain't a Scene," "Andy Sings")
  
• Destroying equipment by accident. Joey knocked over Jordan's (of Marvelous Toy) keyboard not once, but twice. The first fall killed it, the second time was just hilarious. Joey appeared to trip in the middle of the stage and tumble over, and then the keyboard fell over in almost slow motion.
  
• Special Guests. Tonight Airborne Toxic Event joined HCP for "Honky Tonk Women."
• They'll soon be too big for Spaceland, if they aren't already.
  

Waited on line 30 minutes for a 40 minute set and it was still worth it. Looking forward to getting there next week a little earlier. For some mediocre quality videos from the show, check out CER's YouTube page.