Nico Stai is/are shooting a video for "Dead Pony" on Friday at Ghettogloss Gallery (6109 Melrose). This is unquestionably worth your time (and it's free). Nico Stai is a rarity: a fully formed, mature band with great stage presence and a 110% bonafide rock star as their frontman. They were so good at the Eagle Rock Music Festival. I don't understand how they aren't more popular.
As you can see from the flyer, here are the details:
8:30: Drinks and music begin ($3 drinks and $1 beers) 9:00: Video shoot 10:00: Live set by the full band
It's almost mind-boggling to think about Thursday as a live act. I've been seeing Thursday at least once a year since 2001, and often two or three times a year. And no matter when or where I've seen them they always leave it all out on the stage, each and every time. Whether it's inside or outside, in New York, New Jersey, or LA, at high noon or late at night, playing in front of 200 or 2,000, or playing a 30 minute Warped Tour set or an almost two hour set at their holiday shows at the Starland Ballroom in Jersey, it doesn't matter: they put all their energy into their show each and every time. I just can't understand how a band can do that day after day for so many years. And the crowds are always excited and love every second of it. I've never been to a Thursday show and walked away disappointed. Never. They are simply the best live act I know. It never gets old and I don't think it ever will.
On this night things were no different, although the Knit was one of the smaller venues Thursday has played recently. The band performed War all the Time front to back, and then came out for a four song encore which included "Autobiography of a Nation" and ended with "Jet Black New Year."
Thank you, Thursday, for making an old guy from Jersey feel like he's 20 and back home again, at least for one night.
First, it's not physically possible to be at all of these sets, and second, nothing's going to run on time. But if I had a teleporter or if the stages are a lot closer than I think they will be, here's my plans for later today:
[Note: This site has myspace links for all the Eagle Rock bands.]
6:00
6:00- 6:35 Leslie and the Badgers (Emerging) OR 6:00-6:25 Alaskan Summer (American Tire Depo/Kingsize).
I'm heavily leaning towards Alaskan Summer.
6:30
6:30-7:00 Free the Robots (Panang) (unlikely because the Panang stage is too far away) OR 6:30-6:55 Ovideo (American Tire Depo/Ship Stage) (more likely, but not as good)
7:00
7:00- 7:25 The Pulsars (American Tire Depo/Kingsize)
7:30
7:30-7:55 The French Semester (American Tire Depo/The Ship Stage)
8:00
8:00 -8:35 Free Moral Agents (Emerging)
8:30
8:30-9:00 Monolators Collaboration (Swork)
9:00
9:00-9:40 Jail Weddings (Emerging) OR 9:00-9:25 Blank Blue (American Tire Depo/Kingsize). Probably Jail Weddings.
9:30
9:30-10:00 Underground Railroad to Candyland (Bateman)
Here's everything you need to know. First, it's free, and there's free parking at Eagle Rock Plaza (2700 Colorado Blvd). The festival takes place on Colorado Boulevard between Eagle Rock Boulevard and Argus.
Below is a map with the set times. Click on it for the larger version.
(I've bolded the sets I'm most interested in; apologies for the formatting issues)
Emerging Stage FYF Fest/LA Record
Shearin Ave. and Colorado Blvd.
4:00-5:00pm- Chris and Charlie DJ Set (LA Record)
5:00-5:35pm- Faraway Places
6:00-6:35pm -Leslie and the Badgers
7:00-7:35pm- Fol Chen
8:00-8:35pm- Free Moral Agents
9:00-9:40pm- Jail Weddings
10:15-11:00pm- No Age Global Stage Dublab Future Roots Stage
Between Eagle Rock Blvd. and Caspar Ave. on Colorado Blvd.
4:00-4:45pm -Julia Holter
4:45-5:45pm-Nanny Cantaloupe
5:45-6:15pm- Bali and Beyond Gamelan Ensemble
6:15-7:15pm- The Gaslamp Killer
7:15-8:00pm- Michael White Quintet Featuring Vocalist Leisei Chen
8:00-9:00pm- Mas Exitos
9:00-9:45pm- Buyepongo
10:00-11:00pm- Dub Club "Echodelic Sound System” with special guest vocalists
American Legion Hall 2109 Merton Ave.
4:00-4:35pm- Shakey Graves
5:00-5:35pm- Random Patterns
6:00-6:35pm- Bobb Bruno
7:00-7:35pm- Wounded Lion
8:00-8:20pm- Robedoor
8:30-9:00pm- Pocahaunted
9:30-10:00pm- The Street and Babe Shadow
10:30-11:30pm- SASSAS soundShoppe
American Tire Depot Kingsize Soundlabs Stage / The Ship Stage
1924 Colorado Blvd.
Kingsize Soundlabs Stage 4:00-4:25pm- Linus of Hollywood
5:00- 5:25pm- Andrew Lynch
6:00- 6:25pm- Alaskan Summer
7:00-7:25pm- The Pulsars
8:00-8:25pm- Patrick Park
9:00- 9:25pm- Blank Blue 10:00-10:25pm- Dusty Rhodes and the River Band
The Ship Stage 4:30-4:55pm- Wonderground
5:30- 5:55pm- Amateurs
6:30- 6:55pm- Ovideo
7:30-7:55pm- The French Semester
8:30- 8:55pm- Nico Stai
9:30- 9:55pm- The Pity Party
10:30- 11:00pm- The Happy Hollows Bateman Water and Heating Razorcake/Zocaloc Stage
1801 W. Colorado Blvd.
4:00-4:30pm- The Ignorant
4:55-5:25pm- Carnage Asada
5:50-6:20pm- That’s Incredible
6:45- 7:15pm- Apples and Onions
7:40-8:10pm- The Woolly Bandits
8:35-9:05pm- The Curs
9:30-10:00pm- Underground Railroad to Candyland 10:30-11:30pm- The Gears
Camilo’s 2128 Colorado Blvd.
6:30-7:30pm- Juan Vega Trio
8:00-10:00pm- Juan Vega Trio
Eagle Rock City Hall Kids' Stage
2035 Colorado Blvd.
4:30-5:15pm- Oh So Silly Animal Stories
6:00-6:45pm- Sandra Sandia
7:30- 8:15pm- The Tracs
8:45- 9:30pm- Artichoke
10:00- 11:00pm- March Fourth Marching Band
Colombo's Italian Steakhouse & Jazz Club 1833 Colorado Blvd.
INSIDE 5:30-6:15pm- Tim Yalda and Friends 7:00-7:45pm - Sam Mellon and The Skylarks
8:15-9:00pm - Mumpo
9:30-11:30pm- Stephan Oberhoff Jazz Trio
OUTSIDE 5:30-8:00pm - The Joe Johnston Band
8:30-11:00pm - Morning Glory
Women's 20th Century Club 5105 Hermosa Ave.
5:00 pm -10:00 pm - The AM/FM Band
Welcome Inn 1840 W. Colorado Blvd.
7:00-7:35pm- Bonne Musique Zydeco
8:00-10:00pm- Bonne Musique Zydeco
Rantz Automotive 1914 W. Colorado Blvd.
6:00-6:45pm – Eagle Rock High School Latin Band
7:15-8:00- Trova
8:30-9:15pm- Ollin
9:45-11:00pm- Kotolan
Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock 2225 Colorado Blvd.
5:30-6:30pm- Santa Cecilia Orchestra
Panang Soul in the Park/ Future Music Stage
1801 W. Colorado Blvd.
4:00-4:30pm-Rani D.
4:30-5:00pm- Grainshifter
5:00-5:30pm- Alter
5:30-6:00pm- Kutmah
6:00-6:30pm- Computer Jay
6:30-7:00pm- Free the Robots
7:00-7:30pm- DJ Nobody
7:30-8:00pm- Sa Ra Creative Partners DJ set
8:00-9:00pm- Coleman and B + Mochilla mix
9:00-9:30pm- Jeremy Sole
9:30-10:00pm- Peanut Butter Wolf
10:00-10:30pm- DJ Suckapunch
10:30-11:00pm- Black Dynamite band
Swork PEHRSPACE "Pehriscope" COLLABORATIVE
2160 Colorado Blvd.
6:00-6:30pm- Tag Team Hungry Beat DJ Set*
6:30-7:00pm- Collaboration #1 -Matt Eckel (Jack Wilson, Jr) & Meredith Meyer
7:00-7:30pm- Tag Team Hungry Beat DJ Set*
7:30-8:00pm- Collaboration #2 - Christian (The Transmissions) & Champ (Magick Orchids)
8:30p-9:00pm- Collaboration #3 t-The Monolators [Skiffle Disco] 9:00-9:20pm- Tag Team Hungry Beat DJ Set*
9:20-10:00pm- Film by Sublamp with live soundtracking by Timonium & Divisadero
* Hungry Beat DJs
Marion (KCRW), Michael (Part Time Punks), B-Rok (Substance) , Goodwill (Substance), YY (dublab)
Plus: INI Reggae Sound Truck, Street Performances by Leaps N' Bounds Dance, L.A. Groove Styles , Yard Sale Crew, L@s Cafeter@s.
Video Projections from Chris Peters, Julie Orser, Eric Siu , Nate Garcia, Michiko Yao, Karl Montevirgen, Lakshmi Luthra, Christopher Carlton
with projectors provided by Side Street Projects.
A very sad goodbye to the Harlem Shakes, one of my favorite non-local bands of 2009. They first came to my attention when I was looking up bands that were playing at SXSW this year. Kevin Bronson's Buzzbands.la party was all local bands with the Harlem Shakes as the one exception. I fired up their myspace page and after hearing less than 30 seconds of "Niagara Falls" I was hooked. "Technicolor Health" is unquestionably one of my favorite albums of the year.
I heard the news Friday night but couldn't find confirmation so I ignored it. But it's true, and very disappointing. I sincerely enjoyed seeing them twice at SXSW and for both of their LA dates opening for Passion Pit. After their Passion Pit tour I kept waiting for an announcement of their next LA date -- I was preemptively excited for them to headline The Echo or Spaceland, but it wasn't meant to be.
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).
True, it's purely a coincidence that my birthday is the same day as this spectacular show, but when you can see both Local Natives and The Henry Clay People at Spaceland on your birthday (and for free) the stars have truly aligned.
And that doesn't even include Fun., which features Nate Ruess of The Format and Jack from Steel Train. They've sold out the Mercury Lounge (NYC) and Schuba's (Chicago) dates on their current tour. And Aushua is supposed to be great also. I am very excited.
Local Natives on at 11, Henry Clay at 10. Fun and Aushua keep the candle burning on both ends (9pm and Midnight, not necessarily respectively). You best get there early.
On Sunday at the Silent Movie Theatre on Melrose and Fairfax is screening the movie The Bear. No Age will be performing a live, original score over the "near-wordless" movie. It should be quite an experience, and the Theatre knows it has something big on its hands -- there's both an 8pm and 10:30pm screening.
L.A.-based, world-renowned experimental noise pop duo No Age will appear live at the Cinefamily to perform their brand-new score for Jean-Jacques Annaud's majestic 1988 film The Bear, a near-wordless cinematic expedition deep into the savagery and tenderness of the animal kingdom. Told from the titular species' point of view, The Bear chronicles the journey of an orphan bear cub and a lone adult bear banding together to avoid two human hunters. Along the way, director Annaud has great fun with the storytelling possibilities from a non-human perspective, including dream sequences and an unforgettable psychdelic mushroom bear trip! With nearly no (human) dialogue, the film easily lends itself to live scoring, and No Age drummer Dean Spunt and guitarist Randy Randall have crafted a shimmering 90-minute set of sonic blasts and delicate textures that perfectly complement the peculiar, touching and altogether unique experience that is The Bear.
See you Sunday at 8. Here's the trailer for "The Bear:"
A big congratulations (and good luck) to The Jakes, who have signed with Roadrunner Records, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. The band has long been represented by Serling Rooks & Ferrara, a very experienced music law firm located in Union Square in Manhattan.
Signing with a major is not always the best step a band can take (there's no need to recount the numerous tales of successful indie bands who fall on their faces once they jump to a major, or the tales of those who join a major and are then forgotten) and the move is especially interesting in today's climate, where the importance of record labels is fading fast. Nonetheless, hopefully these words from The Jakes regarding their signing turn out to be accurate: After six months of deliberation and lawyer babble (respectfully, Reid, Mike and David) we have finally signed a record deal with Roadrunner Records, a branch of the Warner tree. To those of you acquainted with Roadrunner’s illustrious past, our signing might come as a bit of a surprise. After decades of multi-platinum success with Music’s rough heavy metal greats such as Megadeth, Dream Theatre, and most recently, Slipknot, Killswitch Engage, and radio titan Nickelback, one may beg the question; why The Jakes? What do we have that likens us to such metal-mongers? The answer is—nothing! A new approach from within Roadrunner A&R department has quelled the steep desire to tread a new musical path in the road of modern “indie” rock, and although such a classification is always ambiguous, it is clear that Roadrunner has no intentions of likening us to their heavy-metal, or contemporary greats. On the contrary, Roadrunner will provide us with a unique blend of artistic license and indie label coziness with Major-label professionalism and distribution, and is unafraid to take the path of innovation. Most importantly, Roadrunner is very passionate about us, and has accepted us into their tight knit family. We are excited to see the products of our pairing, and are looking forward to see our relationship grow.
The band also announced that keyboardist Ehson Hashemian is no longer with the band. I really enjoyed his live energy.
The Jakes are currently writing their new album. Their next show is at Spaceland on September 7, where they open the first night of Saint Motel's residency. To my knowledge, it's the band's first ever show at Spaceland (and perhaps their first ever in Silverlake/Echo Park). I will undoubtedly be in attendance.
Skeeball Balloon Animals Face Painting Mimes Free Cotton Candy Free Sno-cones Free mix CD of all the bands if you come wearing a mustache, wear a clown costume or show up in other circus attire (for the first 100 people) Only $10to get in
My First Earthquake hails from San Francisco. They're a female-fronted band that Allmusic.com describes as "bold, synth-riddled indie pop." Think an Americanized version of The Sounds. Or don't think and just listen:
Future Sounds Records released Fitz & The Tantrums' EP, "Songs For a Breakup, Vol. 1" today (although it's been available on Rhapsody for months). As part of the release, FS created an embeddable player that streams the entire five song EP. Here it is:
Fitz's next show is next Wednesday, August 19 at the Troubadour with Kenan Bell, U-N-I, and more. At $5 a ticket there's no reason to miss it. I'm looking forward to finally seeing these guys.
W2G2 is back, at least for this week. If this is not the week I get my going-to-too-many-shows momentum back, then nothing will. There's at least one show worth attending every day.
Monday: Local Natives, Red Cortez, and Rademacher @ Spaceland. Get there early; this one is going to be packed, and waiting on line in front of Spaceland is no fun.
Tuesday: Tic Tic Boom! @ Spaceland. Very promising band.
Reasonable alternative #1: The Voyeurs video release show at the Echo. I've never heard of a video release show, but the trailer for the Voyeurs' video is impressive, and the Voyeurs are great live. Here's the trailer:
Guilty pleasure alternative: Cobra Starship at the Troubadour. Sold out, but if you got tickets you're going to have a lot of fun.
Wednesday: Olin & The Moon at Pershing Square. Free outdoor concert in the middle of downtown.
I don't get the "DJ sets" thing. So someone puts a bunch of songs on an iPod, plugs it into the venue's soundsystem, and presses play? Sounds awesome. Is anyone even listening?
Friday: Rock 'N Roll Circus! Finally a Henry Clay People show at a reasonable venue (the Wiltern is not a reasonable venue), and I finally get to see Fol Chen, The Flying Tourbillon Orchestra's new lineup, and Downtown/Union. There's going to be Skeeball, Sno-cones and Cotton Candy, too.
Saturday: Tough choice tonight
Option 1: Nico Stai plays with a full band at the opening of the new Ghettogloss Gallery. Full details have not been announced yet.
So, what's been going on with CER Favorites Olin & The Moon? Glad you asked.
First, the band has a free EP for you to download when you sign up for their mailing list. The track listing:
1. Terrible Town 2. Wagon Wheel 3. Drivin' West 4. Friend of Feeling Good 5. Footsteps (unreleased)
You can sign up for their mailing list and grab the songs right here. I highly recommend you do so.
Also, about a month ago the band released a video for "Terrible Town" which features footage from their West Coast tour with fellow local alt-country band Leslie & The Badgers.
Finally, Olin & The Moon is playing at Pershing Square in downtown LA next Wednesday. It's hard to imagine a more pleasant summer evening.
And while it's not confirmed yet, I'm sure they'll be playing at the Echo one Monday in September in support of Leslie & The Badgers' September residency. That's a one-two punch that should not be missed.
Fanfarlo has announced the dates for its first, but very short, U.S. tour in September. Don't miss them. Seriously. If you're in LA or New York you've got two chances each, so there's no excuse.
September 14 - Chop Suey, Seattle
September 15 -- Troubadour, West Hollywood, CA
September 16 -- The Echo, Los Angeles
September 17 -- Popscene, San Francisco
September 20 -- Kungfu Necktie, Philadelphia
September 21 -- Bowery Ballroom, New York
September 22 -- The Bell House, Brooklyn, New York
August is going to be a spectacular month. Let me count the ways . . .
#1) Sunset Junction: August 22 and 23. Seeing Arrested Development will be worth the price of admission ($15/day in advance), but then there's also Local Natives, Nico Vega, The Submarines, Conor Oberst, Nico Stai, and Fool's Gold, among others.
#2) Local Natives Residency (especially the August 10 date). It's Local Natives' month; we're just living in it. They've got six LA shows this month: 5 Mondays at Spaceland and the first day of Sunset Junction.
#3) Rock 'N Roll Summer Circus at the Echoplex. This is going to be great. To start, it's Henry Clay's first "small" LA show since their April residency, but there's so much more. From THCP's myspace description:
w/ FOL CHEN, FLYING TOURBILLON ORCHESTRA, MARVELOUS TOY --- "Side Show Acoustic Performers": Damselles/TC4, Balloon Bass, Roadside Graves, Les Blanks, Downtown/Union, Oof Tarted, Banjo-vi, and Eli Monolator. Cotton Candy, Games (Skeeball!), Balloon Animals, Face Painting, Moustaches, Mimes, and 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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