Sunday 01.10.10: THE TERRAPIN / THE HECTORS / SEASONS / DIVISADERO

The Terrapin || Watch

“Heavy ethereal pop.” – LA Underground

“BEAUTIFUL, EPIC, POWERFUL…SPINE TINGLING. In the extremely flooded market, this is the type of music that reminds me of how much I love music.” -SayCheeseAndDie.com

with:
The Hectors || Listen
Seasons
Divisadero || Listen

8:30pm / $5 / 21+

Tuesday 01.05.10: WHISPERING PINES / OLD TOY TRAINS / SPACE WAVES

Whispering Pines || Listen

“It’s rare these days for me to set foot in a rock club, but I’d heard so much about Los Angeles psych-cowboy rock band Spindrift that on my recent visit to LA I decided to have a listen. Lucky for me on this pleasant Southern California evening I arrived on time to catch the opening act Whispering Pines, perhaps named after the consummate Richard Manuel track off the second Band record. I was taken by surprise right from the start when they kicked off their set with what sounded to me like a missing track from Honky Tonk Heroes. A great mix of rock culture’s pleasures – loud music, wreckless demeanor – and country’s more precise discipline and tradition. Their poise and swagger was like that of a cross country touring band just back from 2 months on the road – effortless, awe-inspiring, and tight as nails. Song after song I was pleasantly surprised by their exceptional musical abilities from breezy west coast harmonies to blistering southern rock guitar licks, to hip shaking drum and bass grooves to blazing harp solos. A really nice blend of tunes with 4 out of the 5 members sharing vocal duties. The final kicker was a barn burning version of JJ Cale’s classic tune Crazy Mama. If my eyes were shut I’d think I was at the Fillmore East listening to the Allman Brothers. These guys are definitely blazing their own trail, keeping roots rock alive and well, and leaving behind a cloud of desperado dust for those who dare to follow.” N. Taylor

with:
Old Toy Trains
Space Waves

8:30pm / $5 / 21+

Saturday 01.02.10: DEVOTIONALS (Featuring Tyson from Two Gallants) / HONEYCOMB / MYSTERY LIGHTS / COBALT CRANES

Devotionals (Featuring Tyson from Two Gallants)

with:
Honeycomb
Mystery Lights
Cobalt Cranes

8:30pm / $5 / 21+

Wednesday 03.24.10: GAROTAS SUECAS / THINK ABOUT LIFE / BULLIED BY STRINGS / NEVEREVER

Garotas Suecas || Watch

Influenced by the soul and R&B masters of the sixties such as Otis Redding and Sly & the Family Stone, the band cannot deny their garage and psychedelic origins shown by the fuzz guitar sounds and crazy organ riffs,. Burning the dance floors throughout the country with their unique brand of rock, the Garotas Suecas are also true heirs of the unique tropical rock sounds created by the brazilian Tropicalia and Jovem Guarda movements of the sixties and early seventies. The untamed sounds of the Garotas Suecas can be heard in their first album “Dificil de Domar”, featuring nine explosive songs. Listen to the Garotas Suecas, they’ll make you dance.

with:
Think About Life || Listen
Bullied By Strings || Listen
Neverever

8:30pm / $8 advance, $10 day of show / 21+

Tuesday 03.23.10: ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE AND THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O / OVER-GAIN OPTIMAL DEATH / KILL KILL KILL / NICE NICE

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. || Listen

The abridged version of the history of rock ‘n’ roll: America invented it, the British perfected it, the Japanese made it totally insane. Acid Mothers Temple, the Kawabata Makoto-helmed mountain of aural annihilation with the ever-changing lineup and name, is prepping a no-time-to-rest whirlwind tour of the United States. Gongs, long beards, skull foraging, and screeching shamanistic jams are the least of what you can expect from psych rock’s most immovable object. We’re all in big trouble. – Tiny Mix Tapes

with:
Over-Gain Optimal Death
Kill Kill Kill
Nice Nice || Listen || Watch || MP3

8:30pm / $10 advance, $12 day of show / 21+

Saturday 02.27.10: SCOUT NIBLETT / DIRT DRESS / THOUSAND DOZEN GLOVES / FOOT FOOT

Scout Niblett || Listen || Watch || MP3

Like heat rushing in the door, Scout Niblett is suddenly in the room again. Her familiar keening moan opines, “It’s time I danced again,” and the pressure intensifies. “It’s Time” unfolds slowly, doing the grind, working her body and yours. It’s better than Bikram yoga, and twice as hot. Flip the platter and you get “My Beloved,” a grooving, stop-start hip-bumper, with the drums break-beating forward in sway with Scout’s wall of burning guitars. As always, Scout’s the player behind all the sounds on the record. This one was done at home while a foot of snow crept around outside her front door, providing the isolation required to do all the playing and recording and not go completely mad. Just slightly mad will get the job done every time.

with:
Dirt Dress
Thousand Dozen Gloves
Foot Foot

8:30pm / $8 advance, $10 day of show / 21+

Friday 02.19.10: ANCESTORS / BLACK MATH HORSEMAN / INTRONAUT / MOUNTAINS OF CALIFORNIA

Ancestors || Listen

Ancestors’ second full-length Of Sound Mind isn’t out until October, but the Los Angeles quintet’s packed these eight new songs with enough layers of progressive doom expansiveness that you should start listening now. The group name checks Neurosis, King Crimson, Eric Dolphy, Miles Davis, and Peter Brotzmann, which is all fairly lofty, but Of Sound, a triumphant prog-metal ride, breaks the one-hour mark and doesn’t drag, so no worries. The almost 14-minute “Bounty Of Age,” which cycles through heavy drums, airy organs/synths, King Crimson curve balls, and finally some crunching and crusty metal, is a good place to start. (It will take a number of listens.) In addition to the core group, the new album also features contributions from David Scott Stone, Sera Timms, and cellist Ramiro Zapata. As far as the words, we’re told:

Lyrically and thematically, Of Sound Mind contemplates the quandaries of human psychology and its effect on and within the development of modern society. Although essentially conceptual in nature, the record is a blatant transition from the allegorical and mythological framework of their debut Neptune With Fire. [It] lends meaning, while actively seeking answers, much like the work of Camus or Thoreau.

But if Thoreau was into Floyd and Camus decided to write like Proust. Start thinking on that after you’ve absorbed everything else… like a song that may/may not reference Kafka. Either way, it definitely goes with the psychology/modern society thing. – Stereogum

with:
Black Math Horseman || Listen
Intronaut
Mountains Of California

8:30pm / $8 / 21+

Saturday 01.09.10: 60 WATT KID / GLASSER / WHITE LEOPARDS / PETER KOLOVOS

60 Watt Kid || Listen || Watch

60 Watt Kid started their set beautifully and sweetly, samples of a woman “intrigued by the idea of virtual plastic surgery” lending themselves somehow to the build-up of a wondrous tune. Then they got into a second tune, Dylan Wood looping some “Wipeout” style drums into beautiful, fragile song structures. I realized that I was the only one sitting down. The rousing crescendos that suddenly dissipated into atmospheric delicacy, and the punctuation by guitarist Derek Thomas of what sounded like a child’s xylophone all kept the audience on their toes and quiet as sweaty church mice, even when front-man Kevin Litrow ended a song with “God Bless Patrick Swayze!”

Cutting the set much too short, they wrapped up with their Willy Alexander-esque “American Standard,” an against-type rockabilly tune, wherein Litrow meandered through the audience shouting things at people. They plunked the last few echoey notes, and sadly, the hip-hop CD started its thing once more. As the audience made its way to the lawn, I caught one young man with a Misfits tattoo on his neck tell his girlfriend “These guys were siiiiick!” – LA Record

with:
Glasser || Listen
White Leopards
Peter Kolovos

8:30pm / $7 / 21+

Wednesday 01.13.10: CLUB NME with THE MEETING PLACES / WRONG WAY DRIVER / THE ROBOTANISTS / OVIDEO

The Meeting Places || Listen || Watch || MP3

In a way, the Meeting Places’ name is perfect. Like the best of their shoegazing forebears, the L.A. quartet’s music glistens in the place where fuzz-filled soundscapes meet memorable melodies. The quartet of Scott McDonald, Chase Harris, Dean Yoshihara and Arthur Chan has been an on-again, off-again proposition since early in the decade, taking a break after their promising 2006 album, “Numbered Days,” but recently scored some song placements on “Gossip Girl” and set to work on new material. The surging “Millions” marries emotional atmospherics to layered swell of melody in a way that would make fans of the likes of Chapterhouse and Slowdive woozy with bliss. – Buzz Bands

with:
Wrong Way Driver
Robotanists || Listen
OVIDEO

8:30pm / $7 / 21+

Sunday 01.24.10: THE MINOR CANON / RADEMACHER / ANDREW LYNCH / QUIET AMERICANS

The Minor Canon || Watch

If you’re a fan of emotional, lyrically direct songs, this will be right up your alley. The record hits an early peak during “If Wishes Were Horses” when the furious guitar merges with screaming horns and a growing urgency in singer Paul Larson’s voice. Later in the record, the ferocity has faded away. In “Not There” Larson has given up hope on his lost love, but the pain’s clearly not going away any time soon. The most overlooked record of the year. – You Set The Scene

with:
Rademacher
Andrew Lynch
Quiet Americans

8:30pm / $7 / 21+

Wednesday 01.06.10: CLUB NME with WET AND RECKLESS / BUTTERFLY CHILD / TIGERS CAN BITE YOU / RHONE OCCUPATION

Wet & Reckless || Watch

Singer-guitarist Emily Wilder fronts this new trio, whose edgy girl-group stylings lean toward the punk and pointed rather than the pretty and predictable. Wilder is joined by Deanne DeVries on drums and Gelt on bass. Listen closely before you swoon, boys. – Buzz Bands

with:
Butterfly Child
Tigers Can Bite You
The Rhone Occupation

8:30pm / $7 / 21+

Tuesday 01.12.10: OBI BEST / THE MONTHLIES / QUEEN KWONG / MEREDITH MEYER / MR SHOVEL

Obi Best || Listen || Watch

You’d think pop writers would be out of new hooks and topics to write about by now. Mostly you’d be right, but Alex Lilly will have none of that. As the brains behind the Los Angeles-based ensemble Obi Best, Lilly tends to a pop topiary garden, pruning melodies, watering the arrangements and planting new lyrical ideas ‘til each song radiates its own particular quirkiness.

Obi Best shares an affection for analog synths and ’60s chanteusery with the Bird and the Bee, with whom Lilly tours as a backup singer, and yet the band’s digital release, Capades, brings its Bacharach-isms and girl-groupiness past the sugary homage stage. The album is clever without resorting to irony, smart without a hint of pretension, and swooningly pretty in the least obvious of ways. – Prefix Mag

with:
The Monthlies || Listen
Queen Kwong
Meredith Meyer || Listen

Plus DJ:
Mr. Shovel

8:30pm / $7 / 21+

Saturday 03.06.10: THE CLIENTELE / THE WOODEN BIRDS / DEVON WILLIAMS

The Clientele || Listen || Watch || MP3

The best of the Bonfires extends the Clientele’s great project: building, through hyper-evocative descriptive fragments and music to match, one of the great imaginary places in pop. The Clientele’s suburb is obviously the product of an English coming of age, but it’s also just dreamily vague enough to mirror the lives of listeners almost anywhere. (Unless you happen to live in one of those William Gibsonish fourth-world megalopolises with no green spaces.) The vibe of Bonfires is strong enough to almost feel the leaves crunching underfoot and smell the smoke cutting through the growing chill in the air, an indie-pop equivalent to Brian Eno’s windswept and stone-solid world-building circa On Land. It’s not an album you can dance to, but it’s one you can live in and with, alone, which is rare enough to be applauded. The band’s steadily curated one of the decade’s great bodies of mood music. In an odd way, it strikes me as almost cousin to Sufjan Stevens’ quixotic attempt to bring each state in the union to life: The Clientele seem to be trying to capture the light and air and meteorological conditions and attendant emotional baggage of each season, with a disarmingly straight-faced grace and wonder that makes it one of pop’s more laudable long-term career moves. – Pitchfork

with:
The Wooden Birds || Listen
Devon Williams

8:30pm / $12 advance, $14 day of show / 21+

Friday 03.05.10: THE CLIENTELE / THE WOODEN BIRDS / SPAIN

The Clientele || Listen || Watch || MP3

The best of the Bonfires extends the Clientele’s great project: building, through hyper-evocative descriptive fragments and music to match, one of the great imaginary places in pop. The Clientele’s suburb is obviously the product of an English coming of age, but it’s also just dreamily vague enough to mirror the lives of listeners almost anywhere. (Unless you happen to live in one of those William Gibsonish fourth-world megalopolises with no green spaces.) The vibe of Bonfires is strong enough to almost feel the leaves crunching underfoot and smell the smoke cutting through the growing chill in the air, an indie-pop equivalent to Brian Eno’s windswept and stone-solid world-building circa On Land. It’s not an album you can dance to, but it’s one you can live in and with, alone, which is rare enough to be applauded. The band’s steadily curated one of the decade’s great bodies of mood music. In an odd way, it strikes me as almost cousin to Sufjan Stevens’ quixotic attempt to bring each state in the union to life: The Clientele seem to be trying to capture the light and air and meteorological conditions and attendant emotional baggage of each season, with a disarmingly straight-faced grace and wonder that makes it one of pop’s more laudable long-term career moves. – Pitchfork

with:
The Wooden Birds || Listen
Spain || Listen

8:30pm / $12 advance, $14 day of show / 21+

Tuesday 12.29.09: SHIRLEY ROLLS / DHARMA BUMS / THE CHOKE / DEATH HOUSE CHAPLAIN

Shirley Rolls || Listen

with:
The Dharma Bums
The Choke || Listen
Death House Chaplain

8:30pm / $5 / 21+

01.08.10: FIRST FRIDAYS with ATLAS SOUND / TUNE YARDS @ natural history museum

with:
Atlas Sound
Tune-Yards

plus:
DJ Spider

And resident DJ:
Them Jeans

@ Natural History Museum
900 Exposition Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90007

FMI: Natural History Museum

5:30pm / $9 / All Ages

Thursday 01.21.10: IDAHO FALLS / RED CORTEZ / OLD CALIFORNIO

Idaho Falls

“Featuring a line-up that includes former side-men for Black Eyed Peas, Mojave 3, Hope Sandoval, Cake and the Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Idaho Falls seamlessly mix the sound of California country pop with psychedelia and spaced out noise.” – The Los Angeles Times

“8 out of 10 stars. God, I love this record in so many ways. That a band have managed to independently release an album that’s so beautiful to look at and hold is a feat in itself… It’s an album that screams out to be listened to, and fortunately, this time around at least, you really can judge the book by its cover.” – Americana U.K.

“4 out of 5 stars. Setting a standard for today’s country-fied indie bands.” – All Music Guide

with:
Red Cortez
Old Californio

8:30pm / $7 / 21+

Sunday 01.31.10: NEIL HAMBURGER / JP INCORPORATED / BRENDON WALSH / NICK FLANAGAN / BARBARA BUTTERFIELD

Neil Hamburger

If Neil Hamburger wasn’t the Funniest Man in America, why would the record company keep letting him make so many albums? Can’t answer that question, can you? No, it’s beyond dispute, he is the funniest. End of debate. Don’t even mention Jack Kevorkian, Neil is waaaaay, waaaaaaaay more side-splittingly hilarious, and he’s a much bigger bummer. And he’s got a million of ‘em – why, if one of his jokes falls flat or makes you groan or feel like gagging, or say the next 80 or 90 “gags” don’t exactly make you howl with uproarious laughter, just wait, because Neil will pounce with just a killer, killer line that will make you pee in your pants and nudge the guy next to you so he spills his drink (and when he hits you, that’ll be funny too). You’ll be glad you shelled out your money and chose to spend your time, on a Sunday night, no less, with America’s funny man, Neil Hamburger. – LA Weekly

with:
J.P. Incorporated (formerly Pleaseeasaur) || Listen
Brendon Walsh
Nick Flanagan
Barbara Butterfield

8:30pm / $8 / 21+

Friday 01.08.10: COBALT CRANES / ALLAH LAS / KINCH / JEFFERTITI’S NILE

Cobalt Cranes

with:
Allah Las
Kinch || Listen
Jeffertiti’s Nile

8:30pm / $7 /21+

Friday 01.22.10: MOVITS / THE BLASTING COMPANY

Movits || Watch

MOVITS! hail from Sweden (as though you couldn’t tell from the video), where they’ve recently made their mark with their innovative style. Combining elements of big band swing, jazz and layering hip-hop vocals over it, they’ve come up with something refreshing in a landscape oversaturated with thumping techno beats, teen starlets and emotional manboys with shaggy hair. Their debut album Äppelknyckarjazz opens with a swing track reminiscent of every upbeat big band track of the thirties and forties you can think of. Even as the second song’s beats leans more toward the hip-hop end of the spectrum, it all blends seamlessly as the album goes on. – Pop Culture Reference

with:
The Blasting Company || Listen

8:30pm / $8 advance, $10 day of show / 21+

Friday 03.12.10: QUASI / EXPLODE INTO COLORS / THE FRENCH SEMESTER

Quasi || Listen

Quasi was formed in Portland OR in ’93 by Sam Coomes & Janet Weiss. Their first album was self released in ’95. They released three albums between ’97 & ’99 on Up Records. They moved to Touch & Go Records in ’01 & released three albums with them, & additionally T&G reissued the first album. The band moved over to the Kill Rock Stars label in ’09. Quasi albums are licensed by Domino Records in Europe & PVine Records in Japan. Throughout this time they have also toured &/or recorded either individually or collectively with SleaterKinney, Elliott Smith, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, Built to Spill, Bright Eyes, Heatmiser, the Go Betweens, Pink Mountain, Blues Goblins, The Takeovers, Jandek, numerous other less recognizable names. Prior to Quasi, SC was in the San Francisco band Donner Party (c.’83’88) & both SC & JW were in the Portland power trio Motorgoat (c.’90’92). Joanna Bolme (Jicks, The Minders, Calamity Jane) joined the band in c.’06. JW & JB are still members of Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks. SC runs the online branch of Exiled Records.

with:
Explode Into Colors
The French Semester || Listen

8:30pm / $12 advance, $14 day of show / 21+

Sunday 01.17.10: HELL YA! presents ADAM FRANKLIN AND THE BOLTS OF MELODY / RABBITS / THE ARMS

Adam Franklin and The Bolts of Melody || Listen

It’s not like Adam Franklin sat idle from 1999 to mid-2008, when his band Swervedriver was on an extended hiatus (the boys got back together to play some gigs and a little festival called Coachella). He had his Toshack Highway folky/electronic/what-the-hell hybrid in the interim, and lately he’s been hanging out with Interpol’s Sam Fogarino recording as Magnetic Morning. Oh, and he’s got his Bolts of Melody backing band fleshing out his numbers under his very own given name. And it is this incarnation that brings us Spent Bullets, his second “solo” full-length record.

Franklin has always had a near supernatural grace with melody, and this record is no exception. Sure, it has Swervedriver fuzzed-out crushing wall of sound rock ‘n’ roll moments, opening with the quick slap of “Surge” and cropping up again in the noisy stack at the end of “Autumn Leaf.” But if you are looking for SWD, just pick up the re-releases of Mezcal Head and Raise. The lure of Spent Bullets is that Franklin manages to create walls of lush texture, not noise, and spins melodies that wrap like satin ribbons around your body. The languid and languorous guitars and rhythms are liquid and seductive. – Prefix Mag

with:
Rabbits
The Arms

8:30pm / $10 advance, $12 Day of Show / 21+

Tuesday 03.09.10: KCRW presents LAURA VEIRS (10PM SET TIME) / OLD BELIEVERS / CATALDO

Laura Veirs || Listen || Watch || MP3

This Portland singer-songwriter’s 7th album could very well be the finest record she’s made to date. Produced by Tucker Martine (who’s produced all but one of her albums), July Flame features a beautifully arranged, acoustic-oriented sound, with Veirs’ gentle guitar (and occasional banjo) picking accompanied by an impressive supporting cast using a diverse range of instrumentation, including longtime collaborators Karl Blau and Steve Moore along with Eyvind Kang on viola, the Decemberists’ Chris Funk on various instruments and Austin’s Tosca String Quartet is even featured on a few songs. My Morning Jacket’s Jim James also contributes some heavenly harmony vocals, but it’s Veirs’ own impressive vocals, masterful lyrical imagery and gorgeous melodies that stand out the most on these magical songs of summer’s fleeting days. – KEXP

with:
Old Believers
Cataldo || Listen

8:30pm / $10 advance, $12 day of show / 21+

Tuesday 01.26.10: SUMMER DARLING / BY SUNLIGHT / VANAPRASTA / SHILOE

Summer Darling || Listen || Watch

I went back inside and was simply floored by what I heard. Summer Darling were catching full steam and plowing through a hyper tense set of amazing music full of tension and emotion. To say I am not easily impressed would be an understatement, but I was enthralled with what I heard coming off the stage.

The double Fender guitar attack really let the intricate guitar interplay shine over a thumping but precise rhythm section. At times they conjured up images of early Fugazi. Maybe not so much in the actual songwriting style, but in the tome of the music. They were above all earnest in they intentions.

When next they play do yourself a favor and catch Summer Darling. I think you will pleased. – Radio Free Silver Lake

with:
By Sunlight || Listen
Vanaprasta
Shiloe || Listen

8:30pm / $7 /21+

Monday 01.25.10: YEAR LONG DISASTER / DIRTY SWEET / KARMA TO BURN / DEAD MEAT

Year Long Disaster || Listen || Watch || Mp3

Los Angeles Rock n’ Roll power trio, Year Long Disaster, have begun recording their second full-length album with Grammy award winning producer Nick Raskulinecz in Los Angeles at Sound City Studios. The new album–a follow up to their self-titled 2007 debut that served as a mainspring for Rolling Stone featuring the band in their “10 Artists to Watch in 2008” article–will be titled, Black Magic: All Mysteries Revealed, and is set for release in early 2010.

“With Black Magic there is a thread that runs through it that is quite strong, but is not necessarily a theme or concept” says Year Long Disaster’s Daniel Davies, who goes on to describe his lyrics for the new songs as “traversing schizophrenia interspersed with graveyard seductions, Pontius Pilate, girl-on-girl grinding, six foot tall cats with pistols, at least four songs about the sensuality of blood, two songs concern turning over a car and riddling it with bullet holes while screaming random obscenities at the top of my lungs to every passing motorist, allusions to 24 hour breakfasts, ancient sexual rites of the Celtic goddess Agrona, the lust of Count Drakul, sausage, egg, and cheese sandwiches, observations of a bloated man standing before a jukebox and of course, a song just about wondering how my clothes got soaking wet, covered in kerosene and why I was in a storeroom behind a riverfront Waffle House in Mississippi with a broken lock on the back door, desperate to find a hacksaw to free my shackled legs.” – Altsounds

with:
Dirty Sweet || Listen
Karma To Burn
Dead Meat

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Monday 01.18.10: YEAR LONG DISASTER / IMAAD WASIF / GASOLINE ANGELS / THE KRIS SPECIAL

Year Long Disaster || Listen || Watch || Mp3

Los Angeles Rock n’ Roll power trio, Year Long Disaster, have begun recording their second full-length album with Grammy award winning producer Nick Raskulinecz in Los Angeles at Sound City Studios. The new album–a follow up to their self-titled 2007 debut that served as a mainspring for Rolling Stone featuring the band in their “10 Artists to Watch in 2008” article–will be titled, Black Magic: All Mysteries Revealed, and is set for release in early 2010.

“With Black Magic there is a thread that runs through it that is quite strong, but is not necessarily a theme or concept” says Year Long Disaster’s Daniel Davies, who goes on to describe his lyrics for the new songs as “traversing schizophrenia interspersed with graveyard seductions, Pontius Pilate, girl-on-girl grinding, six foot tall cats with pistols, at least four songs about the sensuality of blood, two songs concern turning over a car and riddling it with bullet holes while screaming random obscenities at the top of my lungs to every passing motorist, allusions to 24 hour breakfasts, ancient sexual rites of the Celtic goddess Agrona, the lust of Count Drakul, sausage, egg, and cheese sandwiches, observations of a bloated man standing before a jukebox and of course, a song just about wondering how my clothes got soaking wet, covered in kerosene and why I was in a storeroom behind a riverfront Waffle House in Mississippi with a broken lock on the back door, desperate to find a hacksaw to free my shackled legs.” – Altsounds

with:
Imaad Wasif || Listen
Gasoline Angels || Listen
The Kris Special

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Monday 01.11.10: YEAR LONG DISASTER / HYDROVIBE / IT’S CASUAL / FATSO JETSON

Year Long Disaster || Listen || Watch

Los Angeles Rock n’ Roll power trio, Year Long Disaster, have begun recording their second full-length album with Grammy award winning producer Nick Raskulinecz in Los Angeles at Sound City Studios. The new album–a follow up to their self-titled 2007 debut that served as a mainspring for Rolling Stone featuring the band in their “10 Artists to Watch in 2008” article–will be titled, Black Magic: All Mysteries Revealed, and is set for release in early 2010.

“With Black Magic there is a thread that runs through it that is quite strong, but is not necessarily a theme or concept” says Year Long Disaster’s Daniel Davies, who goes on to describe his lyrics for the new songs as “traversing schizophrenia interspersed with graveyard seductions, Pontius Pilate, girl-on-girl grinding, six foot tall cats with pistols, at least four songs about the sensuality of blood, two songs concern turning over a car and riddling it with bullet holes while screaming random obscenities at the top of my lungs to every passing motorist, allusions to 24 hour breakfasts, ancient sexual rites of the Celtic goddess Agrona, the lust of Count Drakul, sausage, egg, and cheese sandwiches, observations of a bloated man standing before a jukebox and of course, a song just about wondering how my clothes got soaking wet, covered in kerosene and why I was in a storeroom behind a riverfront Waffle House in Mississippi with a broken lock on the back door, desperate to find a hacksaw to free my shackled legs.” – Altsounds

with:
Hydrovibe || Listen
It’s Casual || Listen
Fatso Jetson

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Monday 01.04.10: YEAR LONG DISASTER / OPEN HAND / TOTIMOSHI / BARRIO TIGER

Year Long Disaster || Listen || Watch || Mp3

Los Angeles Rock n’ Roll power trio, Year Long Disaster, have begun recording their second full-length album with Grammy award winning producer Nick Raskulinecz in Los Angeles at Sound City Studios. The new album–a follow up to their self-titled 2007 debut that served as a mainspring for Rolling Stone featuring the band in their “10 Artists to Watch in 2008” article–will be titled, Black Magic: All Mysteries Revealed, and is set for release in early 2010.

“With Black Magic there is a thread that runs through it that is quite strong, but is not necessarily a theme or concept” says Year Long Disaster’s Daniel Davies, who goes on to describe his lyrics for the new songs as “traversing schizophrenia interspersed with graveyard seductions, Pontius Pilate, girl-on-girl grinding, six foot tall cats with pistols, at least four songs about the sensuality of blood, two songs concern turning over a car and riddling it with bullet holes while screaming random obscenities at the top of my lungs to every passing motorist, allusions to 24 hour breakfasts, ancient sexual rites of the Celtic goddess Agrona, the lust of Count Drakul, sausage, egg, and cheese sandwiches, observations of a bloated man standing before a jukebox and of course, a song just about wondering how my clothes got soaking wet, covered in kerosene and why I was in a storeroom behind a riverfront Waffle House in Mississippi with a broken lock on the back door, desperate to find a hacksaw to free my shackled legs.” – Altsounds

with:
Open Hand
Totimoshi || Listen || Mp3
Barrio Tiger

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Wednesday 02.03.10: CLUB NME with NOMO / ORGONE

NOMO || Listen || Watch || MP3

On last year’s Ghost Rock, NOMO established their own brand of future funk, built on hypnotic grooves comprised of drums and a huge collection of electrified, homemade likembes and scrap metal. The horn section, once the thundering heart of the band, took on a different role, settling into spaced-out dialogue with the rhythms– leader Elliot Bergman’s more conversational horn charts recalled Charles Mingus and Sun Ra in their perfectly pitched balance between structure and disorder. Invisible Cities serves as something of a breath-catching moment for a band that’s taken a giant leap on each of its albums, bringing some of the thunder back while further elaborating on the progress made on Ghost Rock.

Invisible Cities is the exact record NOMO needed to make at the point in their evolution. It consolidates all their gains and nicely sums up their output to this point, and as much as you can point to influences and basic kinship with other artists, the music NOMO are now making is very much their own thing. NOMO’s facility with both rhythm and tunefulness also makes it easy to follow them as they head down their own path. If you’ve come this far with the group, Invisible Cities won’t disappoint, and it’s also a pretty great place to start. – LA Record

with:
Orgone || Listen

8:30pm / $10 advance, $12 day of show / 21+

Thursday 01.07.10: THE STEVENSON RANCH DAVIDIANS / THE QUARTER AFTER / MIRANDA LEE RICHARDS / KATHLEEN BALLOON WITH CROOKED COWBOY

The Stevenson Ranch Davidians || Listen

I will state right up front that I’m a big fan of The Stevenson Ranch Davidians, ever since the first time I saw them at The Echo on July 3, 2008. Stopping me dead in my tracks, I was overwhelmed by the shimmering beauty of their music as it enveloped me. I believe I wrote at the time that they reminded me of The Brian Jonestown Massacre but without the tantrums and chair throwing.

I picked up their 2006 album, Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs, was thrilled to hear how close it was to their live sound, and listened to it nonstop. Many bands recreate the surfy, jangly, psychedelia of the sixties, and many do it extremely well, but few match it up with such skillful song craft. The music has a natural progressive pull and the lyrics are direct, honest and unexpectedly profound. The sound is both retro and contemporary, and it’s in a style I just never tire of.

Over the years, the first album kept on revealing new facets and different songs would come to the forefront and command my attention. I think the new CD will play the same tricks, so I’ll focus on a few cuts that immediately jumped out at me.

In the first ten seconds I knew that, despite three years between them, The Stevenson Ranch Davidians had recaptured the sound and atmosphere of that first record. There’s a certain inevitability to Dwayne’s writing which make the songs seem as if they’ve always been a part of your subconscious. Even on first hearing, they remind you of music locked deep within. – Radio Free Silverlake

with:
The Quarter After || Listen
Miranda Lee Richards || Listen
Kathleen Balloon with Crooked Cowboy

8:30pm / $5 / 21+

Saturday 02.06.10: SCOTT H BIRAM / THE DIRT DAUBERS / 1921A

Scott H Biram || Listen || Watch || MP3

Amped sounds of a mad trucker crab broke open Scott H. Biram’s Bloodshot Records’ sophomore sticker, Graveyard Shift (see “Texas Platters,” July 21, 2006), but the bruised heart of “Lost Case of Being Found” and “Santa Fe” uncovered disarming vulnerability. Something’s Wrong/Lost Forever, platter six for the local one-man wrecker, opens on the institutional dementia of “Hospital Escape,” which sets up the Fat Possum transistor blues of “Time Flies” (“when you’re going down slow”). Yet it’s the organ-lacquered strum of “Sinkin’ Down” that records Biram’s secret specialty: down-on-your-luck rubberneck-ability. “Still Drunk, Still Crazy, Still Blue,” organ-coated as well, constitutes authentic outlaw melancholy from George Jones to Merle Haggard. “Draggin’ Down the Line” leaves a trail equally obvious, and electric-hewn solo “Wildside” could dominate the quartet. Biram’s lonesome soul approaches the authenticity of the Black Keys/Dan Auerbach, not forgetting harp carburetors (“Ain’t It a Shame”), foot-stomps (“Hard Time”), or field-holler closer “Go Down Ol’ Hannah.” Graveyard Shift brought annunciation; Something’s Wrong/Lost Forever responds with coalescence. – Austin Chronicle

with:
The Dirt Daubers
1921A

8:30pm / $8 advance, $10 day of show / 21+

Saturday 01.16.10: HOCKEY / ASA RANSOM / EASTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS

Hockey || Listen || Watch

Hockey’s another band being chased hither and yon by thin young boys and girls wielding fat wads of cash in a bid to get them to sign to their label. It’s not surprising. Talk about ticking various demographic boxes and appealing to distinctive niche markets. This Portland four-piece, who describe themselves as “new wave/soul” on their MySpace and have been bigged-up of late by Dave (Gang of Four) Allen on his Pampelmoose website, are wordy yet funky, the gritty vocals and chunky beats equally clear and upfront in the mix. Hockey could easily be enjoyed by Dylan, Springsteen and Hold Steady fans as much as they could by devotees of LCD Soundsystem and their ilk. In fact, if James Murphy ever decides to produce the Strokes then this is roughly how it might turn out. It’s been treated by the same sort of FX used to make Julian Casablancas sound as though he’s singing through a megaphone in a wind tunnel. Witty, literate songs you can dance to – they don’t quite give Dylanesque narratives a dubstep undercarriage, but they do effect a collision of opposites that is quite unprecedented. – The Guardian UK

with:
Asa Ransom
Eastern Conference Champions

8:30pm / $8 advance, $10 day of show / 21+

Wednesday 12.16.09: KROQ Locals Only & CLUB NME present SAINT MOTEL / RUMSPRINGA / OLIVER FUTURE / EARLY DOLPHIN

Saint Motel || Listen || Watch

With white flowers attached to their microphone stands and dressed in their best black and white variations, they launched into things with a contagious energy that would spread to the outermost corners of the venue. Unique to the performance wasn’t just the visuals projected as their onstage backdrop – we’re talking alternating cuts/edits of live visuals of the audience, close-ups of the band members, clips from music videos and film in (what else) black and white.

What was more so unique was how difficult it was to discern who in attendance was a virgin to the Saint Motel experience or well-versed in their rhymes and lyrical reasonings. The majority of the crowd, if not clapping, whooping, or smiling in sheer interest, was singing along and dancing almost inherently. “Feel Our Wrath”, making their way to particular favorites “Butch”, “Do Everything Now”, “To My Enemies”, and “Show Me Where You Want It”. You name it, it was a fan favorite.

With slight revision, we should have instead said that if you haven’t yet been to a Saint Motel show and you currently live in the Los Angeles area, there’s really no excuse. You’ve no idea what you’re missing. – BeatCrave

Rumspringa || Listen
Oliver Future
Early Dolphin || Watch

8:30pm / $5 / 21+

Tuesday 12.15.09: KENAN BELL / RES / GAVIN / GLASSELL PARK 3 / THE POCKET ROCKETS

Kenan Bell

He’s a teacher by day and Karl Malone’s cousin, that in itself should merit a listen to Kenan Bell. But the La Crescenta, CA hip-hop artist has recently dropped his “remix collective project” –- entitled Good News: The Mix-Tape — and with remixes of songs by artists as wide-ranging as Pink Floyd, Lily Allen, Gang Gang Dance, Jose Gonzalez, Peter, Bjorn & John, Duran Duran and Neil Diamond, how couldn’t you want to listen?

Backed by a full indie-band, the idea was originally conceived when a Smiths remix Kenan did for fun managed to find its way onto a Morrissey fan site, and then to Morrissey himself. For his part, Bell says, “I wanted to rap over The Smiths because people said it couldn’t be done.” For Good News, Bell and his production team reworked songs of Bell’s choosing: gathering the songs, pulling samples and writing the lyrics all in a matter of a few days — some of the songs written and tracked on the spot, in one take. – Tripwire

with:
Res
Gavin
Glassell Park 3 || Listen
The Pocket Rockets

8pm / $7 / 21+

Sunday 12.13.09: Buzz Bands LA Holiday Party with LETTING UP DESPITE GREAT FAULTS / DEATH KIT / SPIRIT ANIMAL / WET AND RECKLESS

Letting up Despite Great Faults || Listen

Letting Up Despite Great Faults, a Los Angeles-based band, effectively capture an overcast mood with “In Steps”, the opening track from their forthcoming self-titled album. Layering lush synth and a shimmering New Order guitar tone, “Steps” prettily evokes the tipping point from full bloom to slow decay, as the warm summer days give way to a wet, windy fall. While the shoegaze-y indie pop of M83 probably represents the closest contemporary reference point, Letting Up’s melodic sensibility is distinguished by careful and decisive plotting– save for the muted, billowing vocals. Overall, “Steps”‘ subtle shading suggests maybe there really is no such thing as an endless summer, even in Southern California. – Pitchfork

with:
Death Kit
Spirit Animal || Listen
Wet & Reckless

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Wednesday 12.09.09: Club NME with ZAZA / IN WAVES / IO ECHO (DJ set)

ZAZA || Listen

This gem of a band sparkles just as much as their name does as they distract you into another hazy realm with their haunting vocals and eerie melodies. It’s a shocking surprise to know that they haven’t been involved in every other indie film, or placed into the final scene of an HBO episode which would probably involve some kind of epiphany, scandal, or glamorous shot of drug consumption. ZAZA brings the ethereal aspect of most shoegaze bands but stand apart because of their ability to skillfully slide moments of suspense, pleasure, and even danger into their sound.

ZAZA is definitely a band to keep your eye on. It could just take a few months for artists like this to come out of nowhere to others. However, if you’re smart and you trust our gut instinct, you’ll be ahead of the game when ZAZA is the only band anyone can talk about. “Have you heard of this band named ZAZA?” Your answer: “Yeah, man. Haven’t you?” – BeatCrave

with:
In Waves || Listen
Io Echo (DJ set)

8:30pm / $8 / 21+

Friday 01.15.10: NIGHT HORSE / DUSTED ANGEL / NORMANDIE

Night Horse || Listen || Watch

Bassist Nick D’Itri leans on his amp near a broken-looking organ crouched in the corner. Guitarist Greg Buensuceso runs through a lick in front of his Orange amplifier. At the center of the room, Justin Pierce sits behind his drum set and trash-talks Maranga as we walk in. Maranga wastes no time getting started. He strokes his long, reddish beard once, straps on his guitar and rips into the strings. What comes out is the Southern rock–brushed “Come Down Halo,” from the band’s recently released split 7-inch single with Sea of Air. Singer Sam James Velde, former member of rock outfit Bluebird, shakes his hair and lifts one hand to the rafters while the other clutches the mic stand. Here, in the privacy of their practice space, they rip through the Allman Brothers–tinged dual guitar lines and growling bass of “Choose Your Side,” and the rowdy, roadhouse blues of “Good Bye Gone.” “We sped up too much on that one,” Maranga tells the other guys, most of whom were friends from their high school days in Thousand Oaks.

Night Horse’s style is familiar but indiscernible; their cocksure barroom vocals and guitar-solo tradeoffs would be at home at CBGB (R.I.P.). “We’re first and foremost a rock & roll band, but we try not to be too derivative,” says Velde. If Night Horse has any derivations, they come from their label, Tee Pee Records, the New York–based outfit that curates the finest in no-gimmick, back-to-basics rock bands. – LA Weekly

with:
Dusted Angel
Normandie

8:30pm / $8 / 21+

Thursday 12.10.09: LEMON SUN / DIRTY SWEET / THE SILENT COMEDY / SPIRIT VINE

Lemon Sun || Watch || MP3

“…Packed with hard driving drumbeats and accompanied with Rob’s strong voice… the listener is then rocketed into the abyss of their own imaginations. Not to mention the heavy guitar riffs that seems to resonate and awaken anyone’s soul.” – Deli Magazine

“…Lemon Sun are a versatile local pop outfit with a sound that employs all your fave 60′s-jangle-harmony-beat conventions without the tired retro smarm…charasmatic guitar-pop without pretense. Refreshing.Keep it simple, silly!”
Amoeba Records

Dirty Sweet || Listen || Watch

At a time when the music industry is folding in upon itself—labels are disappearing, sales are plummeting, and even one of the biggest bands on the planet (Radiohead) is going it alone—San Diego’s Dirty Sweet are aiming for the stars. Well, maybe not the stars, but they definitely have their sights on the arena. They are, in the very purest form of the words, an “arena rock band,” one that is not soiled by the excess and attitude of the genre. Nope, the Dirty Sweet, much like their name implies, are a gritty rock band, one that solos, stomps, and hollers with the best of them. Granted, they look like they stumbled out of a time machine that was set to “Woodstock, 1969,” but their blistering guitar chops and howling vocals never come across as revisionist. The selling point might be how they can rock the bushy-mustache look without a shred of irony, in addition to getting away with wearing a leather vest (frills or no frills, it matters not) without a shirt underneath. Jealous? Yeah, me too. – Portland Mercury

With
The Silent Comedy || Listen
Spirit Vine || Listen

8:30pm / $8 advance, $10 day of show / 21+

Tuesday 12.08.09: Buzzbands LA & Onitsuka Tiger present PARADE OF LIGHTS (EP release party) / ARMY NAVY / EVAN VOYTAS / WHITE ARROWS

Parade of Lights || Watch

Long Beach quartet Parade of Lights — featuring former members of Polus (before drummer Anthony Improgo departed to play with Metro Station) — is readying its debut five-song EP. This early taste from Ryan Daly, Matt Frey, Randy Schulte and Mike Nielsen features a heartsick anthem, sweetly melodic and deftly arranged, the kind of pop-rock for the night after date night. – Buzz Bands LA

with:
Army Navy
Evan Voytas || Listen
White Arrows

Plus special guest DJ Ana Calderon

8:30pm / $5 / 21+

Sunday 12.20.09: HELL YA! Holiday Party with COBALT CRANES / 60 WATT KID / MOSES CAMPBELL / THE ARMS

Live performances from:
Moses Campbell – 9pm
60 Watt Kid – 10pm
Cobalt Cranes – 11pm
The Arms – 12 AM

8:30pm / FREE with Formal wear / 21+

Wednesday 12.02.09: KROQ Locals Only present Club NME with USELESS KEYS / SAMUEL STEWART / TWINFIGHT / WRONG WAY DRIVER

Useless Keys || Listen || Watch

Everyone’s got useless keys. Nobody knows where they come from, but you don’t dare throw them away in case they turn out to be important. Much like the new L.A. band Useless Keys. They feature former members of the Front, Molecules and the Green & Yellow TV, but they don’t really sound like any of those bands. Hazy, weary vocals sing druggy lyrics like “Arizona state highway/don’t let it define you” and “More valium, please/It helps me fall asleep,” as post-punk guitars spiral toward the clouds. There’s a celestial, Pink Floyd spaciness to songs like “It’s All Made Up,” from the Keys’ upcoming debut album. Psychedelic flourishes and a shoegazer storminess creep between the beats, which are mostly midtempo or slower, leaving plenty of room for head-nodding and trying to decipher such lyrics as “My baby’s got a shotgun … You never hide your hat the way I want you to.” – LA Weekly

with:
Samuel Stewart || Listen
Twinfight
Wrong Way Driver

8:30pm / $8 / 21+

Wednesday 12.30.09: Club NME with MINIATURE TIGERS / ALL WRONG AND THE PLANS CHANGE / A B AND THE SEA

Miniature Tigers

Like the product of an upbringing heavy on TV dinners and Saturday morning cartoons, creative force Charlie Brand — with help from Rick Schaier (drums/vocals) and Eli Brandom (guitar) — exudes a uncanny knack for playful jingle-like melodies just hinting at an under-the-surface melodrama. And with debut Tell it to the Volcano, which follows a pair of EPs dropped this spring, Brand expands the walls of his intimate bedroom ditties to full fledged indie-pop mini-epics, steeped in melodious hooks — both instrumental and vocal — and an array of lyrical topics as eclectic as the Tube’s frequencies themselves. – Spin

with:
All Wrong and The Plans Change
A B and The Sea

8:30pm / $8 / 21+

Thursday 12.31.09: Aquarium Drunkard & Web In Front present THE HENRY CLAY PEOPLE / LE SWITCH / THE MONOLATORS / AUSHUA / BALLOON BASS / TOM BOWIE AND THE HEARTBREAKERS FROM MARS

The Henry Clay People || Listen || Watch

With it’s footstomping gee-tar anthems and wistful golden streaks of pedal steel throughout, the Henry Clay People’s second LP, For Cheap or for Free, is an alternately witty and ferocious, touching and rebellious record, a song-cycle of twenty-something ennui set to crackling and electric music just as likely to encourage surging blood-alcohol limits as the lyrics do a smirking introspection that never takes itself too seriously. Unlike their solidly catchy and thoroughly indie’s debut, Blacklist the Kid with the Red Moustache, the People’s new record jumbles, blurs and builds upon its influences—a vivid cross-section that acknowledges a mindset where Tonight’s the Night, The River, GP and Grievous Angel, Tim, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, or any record produced by Glynn or Andy Johns all share shelf space—so much so that while the styles may sound/feel familiar, the results they produce add up to one of 2008’s most enjoyable (and simply fun) late night rock ‘n roll records. You might be able to hear where the Henry Clay People are coming from, but the viscerally freewheeling music forces you to be more compelled by where they’re going—they haven’t reinvented the wheel, they’ve just started rolling it in a new and exciting direction. – Web In Front

with:
Le Switch || Listen
The Monolators || Listen
Aushua || Listen
Balloon Bass
Tom Bowie and the Heartbreakers from Mars

8:30pm / $10 advance, $12 day of show / 21+

Saturday 12.12.09: PRINCETON / THE PARSON RED HEADS / THE COALS

Princeton || Listen || Watch

But Princeton — Jesse and Matt Kivel, soft-cheeked identical twins who trade off guitar and bass, as well as lead vocals; the keyboardist Ben Usen; and the drummer David Kitz — isn’t nearly as uppity as its reference points, or its colleagues. The band’s debut album, “Cocoon of Love” (Kanine), which will be released this month, is charming and frisky, with touches of the Cure and Leonard Cohen, and even some shoegaze pop. And onstage, the band was improbably tender, even a bit naïve, undercutting its lyrical hauteur at almost every turn. – NY Times

with:
The Parson Red Heads || Listen
The Coals

8:30pm / $8 / 21+

Sunday 12.06.09: A Benefit for Against The Stream / Dharma Punx with SHARON TEMPLE / SIVA NOIR / JULIE THE BAND / PUPPIES AND KITTENS

A quartet of Los Angeles-based bands will perform in support of Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society’s mission of making the teachings of the Buddha available to all who are interested, regardless of their ability to pay.

Siva Noir will headline the evening. Inspired by acts as varied as Garbage, Muse, Blondie and Concrete Blonde, the band combines a classical melodic sensibility with the dirty, raw textures of alternative rock. The bill is rounded out by college favorites Julie the Band, Sharon Temple, and Puppies and Kittens.

Julie the Band’s fervent indie rock is performed with depth, whimsy and a post-punk edge. Their live show is not to be missed, and features belly dancers, live strings and horns. Sharon Temple’s electronica pulls no punches, with unabashed lyrics and sexual dynamism reminiscent of Debbie Harry. Jeff Levitz, formerly of the Warlocks and the Brian Jonestown Massacre, formed Puppies and Kittens with songwriter Lauryn Tyrell and drummer Dave Krusen. The band’s charming, psychedelic-tinged songs create a unique sonic canvas for their tales of love and loss.

Against the Stream was founded by teacher Noah Levine, author of Dharma Punx and Against the Stream. The center strives to create and sustain communities of healthy, accountable, wise and compassionate people from every walk of life, welcoming people from all racial, economic, sexual, social, political and religious backgrounds and preferences.

Furthering their belief that the path of awakening is attainable by all and should be available to all, Against the Stream offers weekly classes, daylong and yearlong programs, class series and special events. No one is ever turned away for lack of funds. Goals for 2010 include projects to feed the homeless, work with gang and prison populations, and those in recovery centers.

with:
Sharon Temple || Watch
Siva Noir
Julie The Band || Listen
Puppies and Kittens

8:30pm / $10 / 21+

Thursday 12.03.09: ANDY CLOCKWISE / TRIXIE WHITLEY / MARVELOUS TOY / GLOBES ON REMOTE

Andy Clockwise || Listen || Watch

Andy Clockwise might not be a household name where you live, but for me, he might as well be Bruce Springsteen. I’ve seen many incarnations of the Andy Band, as we call it, but his newest, tightest and most mature version is the finest. Andy is hard to describe. He’s a singer-songwriter from Australia with the musical ear and skill of Jeff Lynne and the heart and soul of the Boss himself. He’s a soft-spoken intellectual that puts everything he has into his music and his performance. The audience gets it, feels it and always responds.

There is nothing manufactured about Andy. You never ask yourself if you buy it because there’s nothing to buy; he’s not selling. He’s giving himself to the audience and the rest of his band mates. Local “hired-gun” and guitar maven Joshua Norton backs him well on the bass and keys while also serving as the glue that holds the many pieces together. – Lumino Magazine

Trixie Whitley || Listen || Watch

Trixie Whitley belted out songs as if that’s what she was born to do. She picked up the guitar and played as if that’s what she was born to do. Then, mid-song, she’d move to the drums and play as if that’s what she was born to do. Next thing you know, Whitley is hammering away on the keyboard as if that’s what she was born to do. Whitley IS music – no matter what she’s doing, playing, or singing – and her stage presence exemplifies passion. – Rock Is A Girl’s Best Friend

with:
Marvelous Toy
Globes on Remote

8pm / $8 / 21+

Tuesday 12.22.09: LEOPOLD AND HIS FICTION / MAGIC MIRROR / OJOS ROJOS

Leopold and his Fiction || Listen || Watch

Storytelling is an essential piece of Leopold and His Fiction’s sound. According to guitarist and vocalist Daniel James, the San Francisco-based band got its name from a short story he wrote about “a minstrel of sorts with a gift to elaborate on life with word and gesture.” Leopold and His Fiction’s latest album, Ain’t No Surprise, draws on everything from lost loves to “hollow street lights that still call your name.”

With its fuzzy guitar riffs, gruff but compelling vocals, and narrative lyrics, Ain’t No Surprise sounds a bit like The White Stripes or Jet, with traces of The Who or The Stooges. While the sound is certainly expansive, Leopold and His Fiction also manages to exude a certain kind of folk-tinged, backwoods charm that makes them much more than just a straight up rock-and-roll band. - NPR

with:
Magic Mirror
Ojos Rojos

8:30pm / $8 / 21+

Monday 12.28.09: MERE MORTALS / THE 88 / VESUVIASONIC / SHIELD

Mere Mortals || Watch

Since the end of 2008, the reformatted Mere Mortals have continued to spread their esound across the cosmos, thanks to a busy schedule of touring and recording. The Band has recently competed a 2 week tour of Japan and on these shores shared the stage with Black Francis, BRMC, A Place To Bury Strangers, West Indian Girl, Spindrift and The Warlocks. Additionally, Mere Mortals were tapped to play at Joshua Tree’s ‘Clean Air Clean Stars’ and Las Vegas’ ‘Neon Reverb’ festivals.

Continuous touring aside, the band has regularly received rave reviews from the likes of LA Times, LA Record, Las Vegas Weekly, Las Vegas Citylife, LAist.com, LA Underground, The Onion and NME, who donned them, “…the best unsigned band.” Former Sex Pistol, Steve Jones, also championed the band on his INDIE 103.1 show and went on to say “Get your checkbooks out, record labels, and give this mob a deal… you’re so slow, some of you!”

Well, someone did notice. Early 2009 saw the band land a deal with the Japanese label, Zeami Stars, who just released (November 4th) a re-packaged ‘Rebel Radio’, the 2007 EP that will now boast 3 new tracks. ‘Rebel Radio’ was Mere Mortals breakout EP that garnered the band over 15 song placements in TV (network and cable).

with:
The 88
Vesuviasonic
Shield

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Monday 12.21.09: MERE MORTALS / HELEN STELLAR / HEALAMONSTER AND TARSIER / SILVERPHIAL

Mere Mortals || Watch

Since the end of 2008, the reformatted Mere Mortals have continued to spread their esound across the cosmos, thanks to a busy schedule of touring and recording. The Band has recently competed a 2 week tour of Japan and on these shores shared the stage with Black Francis, BRMC, A Place To Bury Strangers, West Indian Girl, Spindrift and The Warlocks. Additionally, Mere Mortals were tapped to play at Joshua Tree’s ‘Clean Air Clean Stars’ and Las Vegas’ ‘Neon Reverb’ festivals.

Continuous touring aside, the band has regularly received rave reviews from the likes of LA Times, LA Record, Las Vegas Weekly, Las Vegas Citylife, LAist.com, LA Underground, The Onion and NME, who donned them, “…the best unsigned band.” Former Sex Pistol, Steve Jones, also championed the band on his INDIE 103.1 show and went on to say “Get your checkbooks out, record labels, and give this mob a deal… you’re so slow, some of you!”

Well, someone did notice. Early 2009 saw the band land a deal with the Japanese label, Zeami Stars, who just released (November 4th) a re-packaged ‘Rebel Radio’, the 2007 EP that will now boast 3 new tracks. ‘Rebel Radio’ was Mere Mortals breakout EP that garnered the band over 15 song placements in TV (network and cable).

with:
Helen Stellar
Healamonster & Tarsier
Silverphial

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Monday 12.14.09: MERE MORTALS / THE MEETING PLACES / THE BLACK APPLES / THE SECRET 6

Mere Mortals || Watch

Since the end of 2008, the reformatted Mere Mortals have continued to spread their esound across the cosmos, thanks to a busy schedule of touring and recording. The Band has recently competed a 2 week tour of Japan and on these shores shared the stage with Black Francis, BRMC, A Place To Bury Strangers, West Indian Girl, Spindrift and The Warlocks. Additionally, Mere Mortals were tapped to play at Joshua Tree’s ‘Clean Air Clean Stars’ and Las Vegas’ ‘Neon Reverb’ festivals.

Continuous touring aside, the band has regularly received rave reviews from the likes of LA Times, LA Record, Las Vegas Weekly, Las Vegas Citylife, LAist.com, LA Underground, The Onion and NME, who donned them, “…the best unsigned band.” Former Sex Pistol, Steve Jones, also championed the band on his INDIE 103.1 show and went on to say “Get your checkbooks out, record labels, and give this mob a deal… you’re so slow, some of you!”

Well, someone did notice. Early 2009 saw the band land a deal with the Japanese label, Zeami Stars, who just released (November 4th) a re-packaged ‘Rebel Radio’, the 2007 EP that will now boast 3 new tracks. ‘Rebel Radio’ was Mere Mortals breakout EP that garnered the band over 15 song placements in TV (network and cable).

with:
The Meeting Places
The Black Apples
The Secret 6

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Thursday 12.17.09: AGAINST ME! / ROLL THE TANKS / O PIONEERS

Against Me! || Listen

Against Me! have finished recording their new album with producer Butch Vig in Los Angeles — and it’s got a title: White Crosses.

The successor to New Wave, their Vig-produced 2007 record, which earned Album of the Year honors from this very magazine, is set for release in 2010 on Sire Records.

“White Crosses” is also the title of one of the band’s new songs, which Gabel wrote during a recent stay in St. Augustine, Florida.
The album will be the band’s first with new drummer George Rebelo after longtime sticksman Warren Oakes left the fold earlier this year to open a burrito shop.

“I feel like we are constantly pushing ourselves to better what we did on the previous record,” Gabel said in September, while the band was still in the studio. “New Wave was a great album to make, and now we want to show another side of the band. The new songs feel like a natural progression of where we should be at.” – Spin

with:
Roll The Tanks || Listen
O Pioneers || Listen

8:30pm / $10 advance, $12 day of show / 21+

Friday 12.18.09: Aquarium Drunkard presents FOREIGN BORN / BEST COAST / EL SPORTIVO AND THE BLUES

Foreign Born || Listen || Watch

Foreign Born are an L.A. indie rock outfit that exist further west and outside of the Smell or Silver Lake, a band that seems to have germinated over the years outside all semblances of scene in a city whose guitar music rarely sounds genuinely Californian. I’m writing from the opposite coast, but Foreign Born have made a record that feels like a conversation with the Pacific coastline and sounds like endless summer. – Pitchfork

with:
Best Coast || Listen
El Sportivo and The Blues

8:30pm / $10 advance, $12 day of show / 21+

Friday 12.04.09: KCRW presents FINK / FAMILY OF THE YEAR / THE SWEET HURT (Acoustic)

Fink || Listen || Watch

Every track on Sort of Revolution would feel at home in a warm, European coffeehouse — you can practically smell the clove smoke and darjeeling aromas wafting through the speakers. The album’s opening title track is clearly its strongest and best exemplifies Greenall’s ability to turn a deceivingly simple guitar riff into a beautiful, haunting experience. Clocking at over six and a half minutes, Greenall patiently utilizes all of his musical space and allows his smooth voice to gently carry the listener. “Let me know when we get there/ If we get there” he pleads over a softly tapping bass and sporadic drum clacks, setting a dim lyrical precedent that’s developed throughout the album. Perhaps to repay Greenall for collaborating on his Evolver album, R&B sensation John Legend co-writes and plays piano on the next track “Move On Me,” a placid study in tension-and-release. Meanwhile, “Q & A” is a spaced-out, sexy joint that cleverly eludes over-repetition by playing around with various filters and studio effects, effortlessly conjuring lonely city streets on cold, existential nights. – Tiny Mix Tapes

with:
Family of The Year || Listen
The Sweet Hurt (Acoustic)

8:30pm / $8 advance, $10 day of show / 21+

Monday 12.07.09: MERE MORTALS / SKY PARADE / THREES AND NINES / SPECIAL GUEST

Mere Mortals || Watch

Since the end of 2008, the reformatted Mere Mortals have continued to spread their esound across the cosmos, thanks to a busy schedule of touring and recording. The Band has recently competed a 2 week tour of Japan and on these shores shared the stage with Black Francis, BRMC, A Place To Bury Strangers, West Indian Girl, Spindrift and The Warlocks. Additionally, Mere Mortals were tapped to play at Joshua Tree’s ‘Clean Air Clean Stars’ and Las Vegas’ ‘Neon Reverb’ festivals.

Continuous touring aside, the band has regularly received rave reviews from the likes of LA Times, LA Record, Las Vegas Weekly, Las Vegas Citylife, LAist.com, LA Underground, The Onion and NME, who donned them, “…the best unsigned band.” Former Sex Pistol, Steve Jones, also championed the band on his INDIE 103.1 show and went on to say “Get your checkbooks out, record labels, and give this mob a deal… you’re so slow, some of you!”

Well, someone did notice. Early 2009 saw the band land a deal with the Japanese label, Zeami Stars, who just released (November 4th) a re-packaged ‘Rebel Radio’, the 2007 EP that will now boast 3 new tracks. ‘Rebel Radio’ was Mere Mortals breakout EP that garnered the band over 15 song placements in TV (network and cable).

with:
Sky Parade
Threes and Nines
And a Very Special Guest

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Saturday 12.05.09: STELLASTARR* / TRANSFER / WHITE ARROWS

Stellastarr* || Listen || Watch

New York rock outfit Stellastarr* takes many musical cues from its new wave forbearers, ranging from the Cure-influenced chord structures to a post-punk potpourri of guitar effects. But the band’s third studio album demonstrates its unique strengths. A summer party album at its core, “Civilized” reflects its title as a model of admirably focused moderation. Delightfully restrained production gives plenty of breathing room for a full, resonant rhythm section, where similar dance rock might give more bandwidth to a hotter, shriller high end. Stellastarr* singer/guitarist Shawn Christensen’s voice varies between an ethereal, high register and a darker, more affected Ric Ocasek croon. But both blend richly with bassist Amanda Tannen’s airy backing vocals, which are rightfully given co-lead on upbeat jams such as “Prom Zombie” and let-me-down-easy tunes like “Move On.” Closer “Sonja Cries” brings the album’s high points to the fore, floating a ringing guitar line and lovely vocal harmonies over spacious drums and bass. – Billboard

with:
Transfer || Listen
White Arrows

8:30pm / $15 / 21+

Sunday 12.27.09: NEIL HAMBURGER / DAVID LIEBE HART / IMAGINE THE BAND

Neil Hamburger

If Neil Hamburger wasn’t the Funniest Man in America, why would the record company keep letting him make so many albums? Can’t answer that question, can you? No, it’s beyond dispute, he is the funniest. End of debate. Don’t even mention Jack Kevorkian, Neil is waaaaay, waaaaaaaay more side-splittingly hilarious, and he’s a much bigger bummer. And he’s got a million of ‘em – why, if one of his jokes falls flat or makes you groan or feel like gagging, or say the next 80 or 90 “gags” don’t exactly make you howl with uproarious laughter, just wait, because Neil will pounce with just a killer, killer line that will make you pee in your pants and nudge the guy next to you so he spills his drink (and when he hits you, that’ll be funny too). You’ll be glad you shelled out your money and chose to spend your time, on a Sunday night, no less, with America’s funny man, Neil Hamburger. – LA Weekly

with:
David Liebe Hart
Imagine the Band

8:30pm / $8 / 21+

Saturday 12.19.09: SPAIN (7″ single release party) / B.R.A.M / MAD GREGS

Spain || Listen || Watch

The Blue Moods Of Spain demonstrated what happened when the son of a jazzbo set forth to create a downcast, West Coast take on pure atmosphere. The cover art’s Blue Note quotation and Spain bandleader/bassist Josh Haden’s kinship to Ornette Coleman bassist Charlie Haden put the preconception of “jazz” on the tip of many listeners’ tongues. But Blue Moods was less about improvisational flair than it was about evoking a smoky, confessional vibe. Thankfully, all that ambience was backed up by considerable chops and Haden’s bottom-of-the-bottle baritone. Despite its immersion in the hipster Silverlake scene of the early ’90s (which included That Dog, featuring Haden’s sisters, Petra and Rachel), Spain had little patience for indie-rock preciousness.

Catching Up: Spain released two more albums before disbanding in 2001. In addition to various solo projects, Haden has collaborated with the Blue Man Group, Handsome Boy Modeling School, Donovan and others. Guitarist Merlo Podlewski has appeared on albums by Jack Johnson and Handsome Boy Modeling School. Haden has resurrected the Spain moniker and has plans for a new album and tour. – Magnet Magazine

with:
B.R.A.M
Mad Gregs

8:30pm / $8 advance, $10 day of show / 21+

Friday 12.11.09: TRISTEZA / LOWER HEAVEN / DREW ANDREWS (from Album Leaf)

Tristeza || Listen || Watch || MP3

As circles tighten, pop music tends to repeat itself unable to see beyond horizons of more than a decade in time, and this band, Tristeza, and this new album, Fate Unfolds, continues widening their cycles, past but not post, past a simple generational genre, part and parcel with music from around the world, from their homes and homelands in Tijuana, B.C., Oakland, CA or Michigan, from Afro funk and jazz, Spanish flamenco, tropicalia, Indian raga, to krautrock, and psyche to punk. From the records start with its title “Ava”, this is a thoughtful, spiritual flight. The time-space continuum crushed into itself and pulled out from itself, a shed snake skin.

Luis, Christopher, and Jimmy are Tristeza. They’re all fathers now, getting wiser as they get older. “Castellón” reflects this with a graceful, yet shadowy noír tone combined with the band’s classic circular sonic yearning suggesting some mystery at the beginning of a quest. And though separated geographically in their day-to-day, they make sure that when they’re together the music locks in tight as ever, so there’s a driving force here that seems downright celebratory.

with:
Lower Heaven || Listen
Drew Andrews || Listen (from Album Leaf)

8:30pm / $10 advance, $12 day of show / 21+