CER Favorites Casxio are looking for fans to help fund the printing and marketing of their first album, which will be released in September. Those who donate will be rewarded, handsomely.
From the band:
Hello fans and friends!
The money you donate here will go towards printing the first Casxio album! Those of you who have been following us for a couple years know what a special occasion this is. We've been slaving over this album for quite a while and want nothing more than to share it with you... in fact, that's why we slave in the first place! We are slaves for you! And we love it! The first $3000 will go towards the printing of the album including album artwork. Any amount after that will be used to promote the album, which is quite important as well. So let your heart be your guide and give whatever you can and reap the benefits. That's right! benefits! We have rewards for donations $10, $20, $30, and $50 and up.
This is a day late (and the font is a little off), but for those of you lucky enough to be in Austin and looking for the best LA has to offer, here's CER's SXSW recommendations: Family of the Year
I thought this was a joke when I first saw it on Casxio's myspace page last month, but when you think about it, who else but Casxio would or should play at a strip club in Hollywood.
Now it's official. It's real and I'm sure it will be spectacular. We are playing a show at Crazy Girls in Hollywood Dec 9th. Be sure to bring protection.
Dec 9 - Hollywood Crazy Girls - Hell Yeah! Party w/ Iglu & Hartly and The Dance Party 1433 N La Brea Ave Doors @ 8:30 / $5 This show is not yet rated.
Want to check out three of LA's finest as they descend on New York for this week's CMJ Music Marathon? I've got everything you need to know right here.
This year Casxio, Local Natives, and The Happy Hollows will be playing all over the city. Here's their schedules, listed by date. (There's also a little cheat sheet, listed by band, at the bottom.)
Tuesday October 20
Casxio: Piano's (158 Ludlow St.) for The Music Slut CMJ Party. Casxio is on at 6pm. Great lineup. Other bands you should check out at this party are The Love Language, Fanfarlo, Sean Bones and Calypso.
The Happy Hollows have their CMJ showcase at 11:30pm at the Lit Lounge (93 2nd Ave.)
Wendesday October 21
Casxio is at Southpaw in Brooklyn (125 5th Ave.) for one of their two official showcases. They go on at 9:15pm.
The Happy Hollows are at Coco 66 in Brooklyn (66 Greenpoint Ave.) at around 10pm.
Thursday October 22
Aquarium Drunkard & Intelligent Noise party at Fontana's (105 Eldridge St.). This is the daytime party to attend at CMJ: Happy Hollows (3:30pm), Local Natives (3pm), Roadside Graves, and The Love Language are all performing.
Casxio will be at The Canal Room (285 West Broadway) for the ASCAP showcase. 9:15pm set time once again.
Local Natives: In typical fashion, LN plays a second show on the same day, this time their CMJ showcase at The Mercury Lounge (217 E. Houston) at midnight. Hockey plays right before them at 11 and Sean Bones follows them at 1am. Complete details.
Friday October 23
Casxio is at Norwood (241 W. 14th St.) for The:Hours Records Meet & Greet party. Time TBA.
Local Natives once again play two shows in one day:
First they're at Santos Party House (96 Lafayette) at 8pm.
Then they're at BrooklynVegan's party at a Williamsburg loft in a secret location at 11:55pm. To RSVP and get on the list (which does not guarantee admission) you have to email loft.rsvp@gmail.com with your name. Here's more details on that show.
Saturday October 24
Local Natives again play two events in one day.
First, they're at the Brooklyn Vegan party at 2pm at Piano's (158 Ludlow St.) (Note: I'm a bit skeptical about this in light of the BV loft show they're playing the night before)
Then, they're at Delancy (168 Delancy) for the Deli Magazine showcase at 4:15pm.
List by Band
Local Natives
Thursday October 22: 1) Fontana's at 3pm, 2) Mercury Lounge at midnight
Friday October 23: 1) Santos Party House at 8pm, 2) Williamsburg loft at 11:55pm
Saturday October 24: 1) Piano's at 2pm, 2) Delancy at 4pm
CER Favorites Casxio have a new video, this time for their fan favorite "Seventeen." Featuring Lucas in drag and lots of neon. Check it out:
And mark your calendars: Casxio's "Seventeen" EP release party is Sunday night at Cinespace. It's their last show before they head over to New York for this year's CMJ Music Marathon.
I walked in during the second half of Wallpaper's set, as they were covering Bel Biv DeVoe's (That Girl is) Poison. It seemed fun, and they had autotune going. Wallpaper's gotten a bunch of hype from their remix of "Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell,"(download) and, more recently, for their response to Jay-Z's new single "Death of Autotune," which features the line "I've got 99 problems but my pitch ain't one." After Poison, though, I wasn't particularly impressed with their set. They've got a great sense of humor but there's nothing particularly noteworthy about them live.
Casxio was up next. A couple minutes before Casxio started I made my way towards the front of the Key Club, and then right as they took the stage a tall guy with a girl walk stand right in front of me. Usually that would not be ok, but this tall guy was Joshua Jackson, so I let it slide. (But I did take a picture of the top of his head with Casxio, included below.)
As you'd expect, I thoroughly enjoyed Casxio's set, although I not as much as their Spaceland show. This was mostly due to the layout of the Key Club, which puts the stage pretty high above the floor, so there's simply more distance between the band and the crowd.
Datarock headlined. I was relatively excited to see them, but I couldn't make it through their set. It felt very oppressive: the music was very loud, there was almost too much energy, and I don't know who thought flashing bright white lights at the crowd was a good idea, but there were bright white lights consistently flashing the crowd. It was unpleasant, but plenty of people seemed very pleased. I left about 20 minutes in.
Over a week since my last post and over a week since my last LA show. Strange. This week makes up for it with two stellar, absolutely must-see shows at the end of the week.
[UPDATE: The Mae Shi dropped off the Taco Zone benefit. New lineup has Red Cortez instead]
Tuesday: The Lemonheads at Spaceland. These guys were a bit before my time, but it should be interesting to see them.
Thursday: Handsome Furs play the Echoplex. The Monolators open at 8:30pm. I'm not too impressed with the Furs, but I keep on missing The Monolators, and that needs to stop.
There's a discount list for this show (either $7 or $8). Email mail@themonolators.com by Thursday at Noon with your name.
Friday: Red Cortez, Kenan Bell, Robert Francis, and Special Guests at Spaceland. This is a special benefit show for Taco Zone, the Echo Park taco truck that was set on fire on Friday. This show has something for everyone.
One listen to Wallpaper's "Combination Pizza Hut Taco Bell" lets you know that you should be at The Roxy when this show starts. Pitchfork review (with track) here.
And Datarock is Datarock. They released their new album today, and it sounds good on Myspace (a lot better than their previous album, which seemed hit or miss).
Sunday: If I have any energy left, I'll be expending it seeing Anavan at The Smell. Math The Band (best band name ever?) open with their hyperactive and ridiculously fun moog-rock.
What you need to know about in advance this month:
Datarock is at the Key Club on Saturday, June 13. And who might be opening? None other than Casxio.
Art Brut plays four shows in LA the third week of June. June 16-18 at Spaceland and June 19 at the Echoplex. "I know I shouldn't, is it so wrong, to break from your kiss, to turn up a pop song?"
Residencies: Castledoor has the Monday residency at Spaceland, while over at the Echo Oliver Future has their Monday residency. Both are worth checking out.
This isn't a residency per se, and it's not free, but Halloween Jack, a glam rock group comprised of Gilby Clarke (former member of Guns 'n Roses), Muck (Buckcherry), Eric Dover (Slash's Snakepit, Jellyfish), and Daniel Shulman (Garbage) play at Spaceland every Saturday night in June. If anything, it should be entertaining. I plan to be at their June 20th show.
Finally, Olin & The Moon's new album is available tomorrow. I'm not sure why it's being released on a Friday. They'll be touring with Leslie & the Badgers in June.
I had pretty high expectations for this show, but didn't know exactly what to expect. Casxio exceeded all of my expectations.
I walked in at the middle of The Nights' set. They sounded pretty good, but had a bit of a strange style to them. Oh Darling was up next, and they had the crowd up close and in front before they played a single note. I'm not sure if their live sets add much to their recorded output, but it was enjoyable enough.
The night, of course, belonged to Casxio. This band is an absolute treasure (especially singer/bassist Lucas Guerin). They painted a permanent smile on my face for the duration of their set. Whether it was the choreographed head moves, the seriously done (but utterly ridiculous) covers, or Guerin, bearded and obviously not a teenager, singing in falsetto "Only seventeen / but my love is for real," this is a band to watch, and to watch live. And that's not even mentioning their music, appropriately self-described as "religious funk." Add that to the list, too.
Casxio has won me over for good, and I won't be missing another show of theirs. How can you explain, in words, a band come out for an encore (an encore at Spaceland?) with the singer proclaiming in a deep, serious voice "Now you're going to get it, [fuckers or bitches--I can't recall which]," proceed to play a cover (and not a funk-ified cover) of Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares," and walk off the stage to nothing but applause? Incredible.
Videos (I'll be going back to HD quality; just wanted to try out HQ)
Video clip of Casxio covering Britney Spears' "Gimme More:"
Went to the Silverlake Lounge to see the Local Natives on December 8, 2008 and fell into the local LA scene. Started my blog on February 21, 2009 to keep track of it all.
ChanceEncounterRecords@gmail.com
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