Wednesday 08.11.10: Twilight of the Gods presents BANDITO ROYALE/ JACK FRIS RADIO CHOIR/ MOAN RED LAND / THE MASHTIS

Bandito Royale || Watch

With:
Moan Red Land || Listen
Jack Fris Radio Choir
The Mashtis

8:30pm / $5 / 21+

Saturday 09.11.10: REALrocknroll.com presents REAL RocknRoll LIVE featuring QUEEN CAVEAT/ TARANTULA/ SUPER BLACK MARKET/ INTRICATE MACHINES/ COLIN TYLER

Queen Caveat || Watch

With:
Tarantula
Super Black Market || Listen
Intricate Machines || Listen
Colin Tyler

8:30pm / $10 / 21+

Friday 09.24.10: EARTHLESS / CROM / BASTARD / LSDJ’s

Earthless || Watch

Hailing from San Diego, Earthless comprises the talents of Mario Rubalcaba, Mike Eginton and Isaiah Mitchell. Rubalcaba has banged on the cans for a host of left coast icons including Rocket from the Crypt, Hot Snakes, and the criminally undersung ’90s artcore pinups remembered as Clikitat Ikatowi. With such strong and lasting ties to the Gravity Records phenom, it’s interesting to consider how the fabulous sloppiness that gave that label’s roster a large part of its appeal has now given way to the kind of technical precision needed to pull off the hammer-pulsed fury of Earthless.

Rhythms from a Cosmic Sky sticks to (by the band’s own admission) the same formula of their previous outings – Japanese psychedelic guitar heroics crossed with Krautrock’s experimental underpinnings. The first part of that equation is most evident in the album’s three tracks, with a heavy debt paid to Japan’s High Rise in “Godspeed.” (Which features five individual “movements,” though at the end of the day really just bashes skulls in glorious repetition for slightly south of half an hour.) Nearly identical turf is danced mightily upon in “Sonic Prayer,” which bruises limbs and bloodies eardrums for a similar duration. “Cherry Red,” by comparison a hastily delivered Groundhogs cover, makes no less of a statement. – Dusted Reviews

With:
Crom || Listen
Bastard
LSDJ’s

8:30pm / $10 / 21+

Friday 09.03.10: THE DELTA MIRROR / AFGHAN RAIDERS / HEALAMONSTER & TARSIER

The Delta Mirror || Listen || Watch

Los Angeles trio the Delta Mirror say they’re of a mind with bands like the Big Pink and Fuck Buttons, acts bent simultaneously toward shoegaze and electronics. But the DM is less expansive and less noisy, respectively, than those acts: Their debut LP Machines That Listen is downcast and down-tempo, heartfelt and brooding, immersive and swirling. It’s also gorgeous and incredibly repeatable. The beats are savvy. They glitch and break unpredictably, tricks the trio’s Craig Gordon and David Bolt no doubt picked up while working in their hip-hop project prior to this one. Lyrically, each song takes place in a different room of a hospital; it’s an emotional and conceptual palette that mirrors the Antlers’ Hospice. There are three voices at play, including bassist Karrie K’s, but it’s a gothy baritone that pushes most of the songs, registering like Interpol’s Paul Banks discovering IDM and M83. You should hear the whole record, but start with the gem “He Was Worse Than The Needle He Gave You.” You can grab it below, along with the premiere of its beat-flipped, upticked remix which, true to the band’s hip-hop roots, is filed by anticon dude Alias. And cap it all with a listen of “A Room For Waiting,” patiently post-rock in its piano-tinkling, exquisitely textured, a good example of the Delta Mirror’s ability to blend beats to phrases that become scenery-setting mantras: “You tell me to be patient because I’m not the only one but tell me how many were before me / how many were before me tell me how many were before me…” Great stuff. – Stereogum

With:
Afghan Raiders || Listen
Healamonster & Tarsier || Listen

8:30pm / $8 / 21+

Thursday 09.16.10: City Of Devils Presents RADIO MOSCOW / NIGHT HORSE / THE SHRINE/ MAKE UP SEX

Radio Moscow || Listen || Watch

When we first discovered Radio Moscow, we were all immediately floored by the guitar playing of Parker Griggs. For those unfamiliar with the story, Parker went to a Black Keys show and handed a demo to Dan Auerbach. Auerbach loved it and subsequently produced the Radio Moscow debut.

While their eponymous debut is excellent (#29 in the HearYa top 50 of 2007), it has a rough feel to it. Parker played most of the parts on the album himself and it came across as a one man project. In contrast, on Brain Cycles, Radio Moscow is a much more cohesive band. After listening to the album a few times, there are three things that really make this a more complete and balanced effort:

1. Parker’s vocals. On the first album, the vocals sometimes seemed as if they were just filling room between blistering guitar solos. Griggs is a guitar prodigy so it works, but on Brain Cycles, Parker is more confident as a front man and has some swagger.
2. The rhythm section is staggering. They move in lockstep with Parker while pulling off some of their own crazy shit. As I mentioned in my SXSW recap, Zach Anderson on bass has made tremendous strides and is every bit the equal to Parker.
3. On the debut, the songwriting was about showcasing Parker’s guitar work, which was fine by me. But Brain Cycles shows a more mature effort in his songwriting.

A couple of my favorites include “Broke Down” that has a Sabbath inspired riff and “No Good Woman,” complete with 90 second drum solo by Parker (it actually kind of works).

Radio Moscow is growing up, but they don’t abandon their blues-psychedelic sound that is sure to fuel bong circles in smoky dorm rooms all over college campuses. – HearYa

with:
Night Horse || Listen
The Shrine

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

Friday 11.05.10: TRANS AM/ NICE NICE/ JONAS REINHARDT

Trans Am || Listen || Watch

Better still, and undoubtedly Thing’s main highlights, are the record’s two main focal points ‘Heaven’s Gate’ and ‘Apparent Horizon’. Where the latter takes on a more acrobatic looped workout like early Kraftwerk or Daft Punk at their most experimental, the former erupts amidst a heavy melange of noisy guitars and squalid breaks that is totally off kilter with anything else on the record, therefore fully cementing Trans Am’s reputation as one of the most unique outfits of their generation.

Ultimately Thing is an album that exceeds expectations, not to mention revealing new trajectories with every subsequent listen. Whether a heavy indulger or casual fan of electronically based music, it’s hard to envisage a better record than Thing emerging from any of its sub-genres this year. A bold statement for sure, but one that will ring true when December 31st’s bells bring 2010 to a close. – Drowned in Sound

With:
Nice Nice || Listen
Jonas Reinhardt || Listen

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

Thursday 09.30.10: MUCCA PAZZA / COBRA LILLIES / FISH CIRCUS

MUCCA PAZZA || Listen || Watch

These days we’re more interested in fluidity, individuality … surprise. And that’s what Mucca Pazza offers: an entire program of tunes–some original, others plucked from far and wide across the canon–that express playfulness and joy, that embrace the unexpected. Their influences run riot from middle-eastern rhythms to alt-rock headbanging. (The Chicago Reader calls them a “gypsy punk-rock marching band,” which is as on the money as anything else I’ve heard.)

The paradox, of course, is that this seeming chaos is achieved only through backbreaking discipline; there’s improvisation here, sure, but at times the dizzying meticulousness of these musicians can’t help bursting through, as in a dizzyingly long fermata just before the concluding measure of Shostakovitch’s Trio in E-flat, during which each player remained poised for the next note, which, tantalizingly, just kept … on … not … coming. Soon the audience was roaring and clapping and happily hooting (recalling Oscar Wilde: “The suspense is terrible; I hope it will last”)–till after more than two minutes (I was timing it with my iPhone stopwatch) they suddenly they plunged back in with absolutely military precision, and ended the piece. – The Huffington Post

With:
Cobra Lillies || Listen
Fish Circus

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

Wednesday 09.29.10: SARAH HARMER / BAHAMAS / OLD CALIFORNIO

Sara Harmer || Listen || Watch

Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah Harmer’s Oh Little Fire is a collection of poppy tracks that earns its title—failing to ignite any blazing passions, these songs instead evoke the familiar warmth of a smoldering campfire. Harmer’s alt-country gets a radio-friendly make-over here at the hands of Metric producer Gavin Brown, who bolsters the singer’s unembellished vocals with a swell of blustery horns here (“I Think I Will Sail”), a little lap steel guitar there (“Silverado”). Little Fire‘s lead single, “Captive,” is perhaps Harmer’s greatest misstep, a blandly shimmering sugar-pill-of-a-song in which the singer’s delivery sounds more like producer Brown’s other leading lady, Emily Haines, than Harmer herself. In fact, one of the prevailing characteristics of these eleven songs is that they mostly lack a distinctive style, erring instead toward the kind of spiceless pleasantness that would make Harmer’s music easy to slip into pop-country radio rotation. The real treasures here are her lyrics, in which she confronts such themes as regret and self-absorption with a maturity that sets her apart from the rest of the “accessible” crowd. “I’ve left it so long / Coasting along / But I know I was wrong,” she sings on “Careless.” Oh Little Fire won’t top any year-end lists, but its thoughtfulness, packaged in these worn-in and unfussy arrangements, would make any of this album’s tracks a welcome respite from the puerile sentiments and diva posturing of Harmer’s pop-country contemporaries. – Paste Magazine

With:
Bahamas
Old Californio

8:30pm / $15 / 21+

Saturday 08.07.10: DOLPHIN CITY/ KIEV/ STARVING DAUGHTERS/ PARKER MACY BLUES

Dolphin City || Listen
Kiev
Starving Daughters || Listen
Parker Macy Blues || Listen

8:30pm / $7 / 21+

Wednesday 09.08.10: MODERN TIME MACHINES / HEXHAM HEADS / THE MEETING PLACES / SEASONS

Modern Time Machines || Listen || Watch

Ben Golomb is a familiar figure on the Silver Lake scene and an ardent supporter of his fellow L.A. musicians. He’s also the first guy to tell you that a prime inspiration for his continuing to make music has been the Silversun Pickups — if not artistically, then the local heroes’ personality and sticktoitiveness. As Modern Time Machines, Golomb, along with Chanda Dancy, Dean Estrella and Nicole Smith, is working toward carving out his own sonic space. Fans of Swervedriver, Medicine and that other band with the initials SP should take note. – Buzzbands LA

With:
Hexham Heads || Listen
The Meeting Places || Listen
Seasons || Listen

8:30pm / $5 / 21+

Saturday 09.18.10: CASXIO / SEANSHAN

Casxio || Watch

There’s a surge of artists trying bring back the sounds of the past but they rarely all succeed. Unless you’re a band like Los Angeles’ Casxio, putting the funk back into the disco but still maintaining a modern rock vibe and look is pretty difficult to do. Casxio’s lyrics may be simple and easy to remember but it’s the melodies that are attached to phrases such as “I just wanna have sex with you” that save them from coming off as retro-wannabes.

This quartet of talented musicians have found a way to highlight naughty urges in a refreshing and infectious light. Those who usually don’t step out of the boundaries in regards to the tapping their feet or bopping their heads at shows suddenly find themselves in a groove that takes them so deep into the beats, they realize they’ve become one of those spastic, writhing bodies out on the dance floor. – Beat Crave

With:
SeanShan

8:30pm / $8 / 21+

Friday 09.17.10: THE PARSON RED HEADS

The Parson Red Heads || Listen || Watch

If you’ve spent any time in the Silver Lake/Echo Park axis over the last half decade, chances are you’ve seen the Parson Red Heads. They’re hard to miss, an all-white-costumed crew who have, over the years, swelled to as many as eight people, looking like a cross between Danielson Famile and the Partridge Family, and playing sun-soaked and serene tunes that touched on the Beachwood Sparks and the usual Laurel Canyon suspects (The Byrds, Fleetwood Mac, CSNY).

Their live shows ran the gamut between drowsy folk-tinged acoustic sets and unruly psychedelic guitar workouts. The band played early, often and everywhere, with residencies at Spaceland, the Echo, and Silverlake Lounge that evidenced a visible joy that distinguished them from the often ultra-serious swarm of indie bands. Lamentably, the jubilation and jams will be far less frequent in these parts, with the band’s core trio of Evan Way (guitars, vocals), his wife, Brett Marie Way (drums, vocals), and Sam Fowles (guitar, vocals) announcing that they will be relocating back to their native Oregon. – LA Times

8:30pm / $7 / 21+

Monday 09.27.10: Monday Night Residency: EASTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS / JOEL MICHALAK / MOVING PICTURE SHOW

Eastern Conference Champions || Listen || Watch

True, unapologetic modern rock and roll with folk influences, Eastern Conference Champions is a bit unique in their approach, tweaking their style from track to track. At times they highlight the “let the choir sing” angle (if only with their instruments), while at other times they work the subtle backbone component that is percussion. Smart music for a generation that’s been ready for it. – Beat Crave

ECC are set to make a comeback, as we highlight the strength of this 5 song EP and their recent inclusion on the Twilight: Eclipse soundtrack. The group beat out over 400 bands for that gig! What you will find on Santa Fe is that the trio has definitely grown in sound, as they have a much more focused and complete rock foundation that ebbs, flows and builds larger sound structures. This is all good news, as we anticipate their new full length Speak-Ahh slated for release this fall. Santa Fe is merely a good catch up of where they have been and won’t disappoint! – The Fire Note

Moving Picture Show
Joel Michalak

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Monday 09.20.10: Monday Night Residency: EASTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS / COME ON GO WITH US / THE PITY PARTY

Eastern Conference Champions || Listen || Watch

True, unapologetic modern rock and roll with folk influences, Eastern Conference Champions is a bit unique in their approach, tweaking their style from track to track. At times they highlight the “let the choir sing” angle (if only with their instruments), while at other times they work the subtle backbone component that is percussion. Smart music for a generation that’s been ready for it. – Beat Crave

ECC are set to make a comeback, as we highlight the strength of this 5 song EP and their recent inclusion on the Twilight: Eclipse soundtrack. The group beat out over 400 bands for that gig! What you will find on Santa Fe is that the trio has definitely grown in sound, as they have a much more focused and complete rock foundation that ebbs, flows and builds larger sound structures. This is all good news, as we anticipate their new full length Speak-Ahh slated for release this fall. Santa Fe is merely a good catch up of where they have been and won’t disappoint! – The Fire Note

With:
Come On Go With Us || Listen
The Pity Party || Listen

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Monday 09.13.10: Monday Night Residency: EASTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS / ARIA PULLMAN BAND / THE COLOR TURNING / DEATH KIT

Eastern Conference Champions || Listen || Watch

True, unapologetic modern rock and roll with folk influences, Eastern Conference Champions is a bit unique in their approach, tweaking their style from track to track. At times they highlight the “let the choir sing” angle (if only with their instruments), while at other times they work the subtle backbone component that is percussion. Smart music for a generation that’s been ready for it. – Beat Crave

ECC are set to make a comeback, as we highlight the strength of this 5 song EP and their recent inclusion on the Twilight: Eclipse soundtrack. The group beat out over 400 bands for that gig! What you will find on Santa Fe is that the trio has definitely grown in sound, as they have a much more focused and complete rock foundation that ebbs, flows and builds larger sound structures. This is all good news, as we anticipate their new full length Speak-Ahh slated for release this fall. Santa Fe is merely a good catch up of where they have been and won’t disappoint! – The Fire Note

With:
Aria Pullman Band
The Color Turning || Listen
Death Kit || Listen

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Monday 09.06.10: Monday Night Residency : EASTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS / TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST / THE NEW LIMB / THE SHIVAS

Eastern Conference Champions || Listen || Watch

True, unapologetic modern rock and roll with folk influences, Eastern Conference Champions is a bit unique in their approach, tweaking their style from track to track. At times they highlight the “let the choir sing” angle (if only with their instruments), while at other times they work the subtle backbone component that is percussion. Smart music for a generation that’s been ready for it. – Beat Crave

ECC are set to make a comeback, as we highlight the strength of this 5 song EP and their recent inclusion on the Twilight: Eclipse soundtrack. The group beat out over 400 bands for that gig! What you will find on Santa Fe is that the trio has definitely grown in sound, as they have a much more focused and complete rock foundation that ebbs, flows and builds larger sound structures. This is all good news, as we anticipate their new full length Speak-Ahh slated for release this fall. Santa Fe is merely a good catch up of where they have been and won’t disappoint! – The Fire Note

With:
Two Years Before The Mast || Listen
The New Limb
The Shivas || Listen

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Tuesday 08.03.10: RADEMACHER/ HEXHAM HEADS/ NAME OF STARS/ WRONG WAY DRIVER

Rademacher || Watch

Produced after a tumultuous year of lineup shifts (and a resultant stripped-down sound) and touring, Rademacher’s newest EP may have been painful to craft, but it isn’t quite a flop–though it may lack the far-reaching sonic weirdness and sheer adventure of the band’s last full-length, Stunts, the Bellyflop EP carries with it the sharp and nuanced songwriting of Sosa’s sideways rock and pop, from the noisy, wild-eyed buzz of opener “Champion in the Pool” to the Television-styled angularity and throbs of closer “Car Wash Donations.” Also present are live highlights like the slowly building swagger and stomp of the Panty Lions cover, “Herndon and 99,” and the spidery guitars and howls of “Charles,” two songs that showcase the Rademacher’s harder-edged sound without losing the band’s penchant for oddball sonic details. If anything, Bellyflop feels more like a cannonball dive: it’s hard and fast and it splashes and crashes through its fifteen minutes with a survivalist determination–not quite as painful, but still pretty spectacular. – Web In Front

With:
Hexham Heads || Listen
Names of Stars
Wrong Way Driver

8:30pm / $5 / 21+

Sunday 08.01.10: YELLOW ALEX/ FUTURE GHOST/ JACQUES BARABAN

Yellow Alex || Watch

With:
Future Ghost
Jacques Baraban

8:30pm / $5 / 21+

Tuesday 08.10.10: THE BLACK WATCH/ CMG & WE ARE THE NIGHT/ MOLECULES INTERNATIONAL/ DON MCGLASHAN

The Black Watch || Listen

“the black watch have in frontman John Andrew Fredrick an artist capable of both My Bloody Valentine miasma AND Nick Drake quietness. Shame that this highly literate LA indiepop band has to rely on a tiny label out of Dorset UK to get its wonderful melodies heard–on their 15th CD no less. Steven Schayer, ex of The Chills (NZ) lends even more clout and terrifyingly Velvety-beautiful guitar and otherworldly harmonies to Fredrick’s ability to find chaos in the calm, melody in the dissonance”–Andy Gill of Gang of Four in The Independent UK

With:
CMG & We Are The Night || Listen
Molecules International
Don McGlashan || Listen

8:30pm / $5 / 21+

Friday 08.06.10: EVAN VOYTAS / ALL WRONG & THE PLANS CHANGED / THE SEA OF CORTEZ / THE COOLING TIME

Evan Voytas || Listen || Watch

The sonically inventive Evan Voytas tentatively dips his toe into the unforgiving metropolis of synth-pop on his latest EP which has been previewed on the vowel-phobic/music-philic RCRD LBL for your pleasure. It’s pretty difficult to stop being swept out to the saccharine sea by the quirky technicolor tide of “Getting Higher.” Forget glossy production, the retro summer has got its groove on. – Transparent Blog

With:
All Wrong and Plans Change || Listen
The Sea Of Cortez || Listen
The Cooling Time || Listen

8:30pm / $7 / 21+

Saturday 08.14.10: PUFFY AREOLAS / ZIG ZAGS / KILL KILL KILL / EXPLODING FLOWERS

Puffy Areolas || Watch

Shipped in from somewhere in the Midwest is Puffy Areolas, playing long weird fuzzed out guitar jams. The band’s site has a quote explaining it as Black Flag covering Hawkwind. Sounds about right. – NY Press

With:
Zig Zags
Kill Kill Kill || Listen
Exploding Flowers

8:30pm / $7 / 21+

Sunday 08.15.10: Buddyhead presents BIG MUFF NIGHT featuring THE SPITS / PERSONAL & THE PIZZAS / SLAB CITY / THE ANOMALYS

The Spits || Listen || Watch

The Spits build their two-minutes-or-less tunes out of some pretty grimy spare parts—lurching puck-rock progressions, barking staccato vocals, and tinny guitar and keyboard sounds that trap a lot of white noise—and the Seattle band’s been known to wear such accessories as ski masks and flowing white robes onstage. The resulting bursts of static are full of hyper hooks, and the lo-fi finish actually helps to conduct the catchiness rather than smother it. The Spits have channeled this pleasingly raw collision of new-wave and punk-pop into a run of self-titled albums, the fourth of which was released earlier this year. – The AV Club

With:
Personal and the Pizzas
Slab City || Listen
The Anomalys || Listen

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

Thursday 07.22.10: SPACELAND UNDER THE STARS with TEEN INC / PEANUT BUTTER WOLF (DJ Set) @ Pershing Square

Teen Inc – 9pm

Walking into Eagle Rock’s Showcave recently to see the first-ever performance of Teen Inc. was a little like being in the audience during that scene in Back to the Future when Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly riffs on Chuck Berry’s guitar stylings. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was hearing: There were hints of something familiar, plaintive vocals reminiscent of Prince, with traces of pop, funk, R&B and club-esque Balearic beats layered with the production styles of a D’Angelo or Dam-Funk. But one thing was clear: The heartfelt, complex sound is completely cutting edge. To date, the still unsigned quartet—fronted by brothers Andrew and Daniel Aged, both former studio musicians for Raphael Saadiq, Steve Miller, Cee-Lo and Pharrell Williams—has only a two-song EP, Fountains/Friend of the Night, which they produced, mixed and recorded themselves. With a full-length album in the works, it’s a lock that their current limited output is a temporary condition. – LA Times Magazine

with:
Peanut Butter Wolf (DJ set) || Listen – 8pm

@ Pershing Square
532 South Olive St
Los Angeles, CA 90013

FMI: Spaceland Under The Stars

7pm / FREE / all ages

Wednesday 08.04.10: ANDY CLOCKWISE / SWEATERS / THE MOOR / BOYZ SKOULE

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

With:
Sweaters
The Moor
Boyz Skule || Listen

8:30pm / $5 / 21+

Tuesday 08.24.10: DJ BOOTH.NET presents TANYA MORGAN / TIRON / AFRO CLASSIC/ AHMAD

Tanya Morgan || Listen || Watch

Though there may be a fair share of airing out on the album, there’s an equal amount of self-aggrandizement that remains seemingly deserved. On “We Be”, the emcees introduce themselves as the “almighty” Tanya Morgan over a chopped organ snip laced with the dusky interjection of a soul-filled vocal sample. Von Pea delivers a smoldering head-spin of a verse that perfectly exemplifies their capabilities: “From exploring the seven seas, to the shores of emcees’ minds/ I climb beneath the sublime/ Trying to remind them of what it needs to be in times of turmoil/ So my blood boils till it surface on the earth’s soil/ I’m a volcano!”

With lines to make you hit rewind, Tanya Morgan brings a refreshing and focused effort to the hip-hop game, despite their unfortunate individual facelessness throughout the album. Moonlighting shows that hip-hop is teeming with fresh blood, as shown on “Hahaha” that rips a Greek march and “We BAD!” which reigns as a big band epic. By the end of the album, Tanya Morgan fully infuses an enjoyable glory into a listener, who is ultimately left fiending for more. – Pop Matters

With:
TiRon
Afro Classic
Ahmad

Presented by: DJ Booth.Net

8:30pm / $10 adv, $12 dos / 21+

Tuesday 08.17.10: ADAM HAWORTH STEPHENS (of Two Gallants) / PAPA / THE HOLLOYS

Adam Haworth Stephens || Listen || Watch

As lead singer and songwriter of San Francisco duo Two Gallants, Adam Stephens (with band mate Tyson Vogel) released four critically acclaimed albums and toured incessantly over the past five years. A well-deserved break was finally taken providing Adam with a chance to write material for a new project. After forming a band and playing various west coast shows over the past year, Adam went into Sunset Sound and Kingsize Soundlabs in Los Angeles and recorded his debut solo record with producer Joe Chiccarelli (My Morning Jacket, The Shins, White Stripes).

The result is his debut solo album WE LIVE ON CLIFFS. Set for a September 28th release on Saddle Creek, WE LIVE ON CLIFFS features Adam on vocals, guitar and piano and a list of guest musicians including Patrick Hallahan and Bo Koster (My Morning Jacket), Justin Meldal-Johnsen, Joey Waronker, Cody Votolato (Blood Brothers / Jaguar Love), Mike Daly, Petra Haden, Andy Cabic (Vetiver) and current band members Jen Grady, Matt Montgomery and Omar Cuellar.

Beginning August 7th in Salt Lake City, UT, Adam will head out as a four-piece band for a 9-date club tour to premiere these new songs to fans.

With:
Papa
The Holloys || Listen

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

Wednesday 08.25.10: JASON FALKNER / THE SPIRES / THREES AND NINES

Jason Falkner || Listen || Watch

Self-produced, self-composed, and mostly played by Falkner himself, Presents Author Unknown is a culmination of the lessons learned in his particular school of melodic, crunchy rock. His one-man-with-a-multi-track approach doesn’t impede the album in the slightest; in fact, his singularity of vision resulted in a mammoth work that, despite being highly entertaining, doesn’t seem to care much what you think about it.

The record enjoyed good reviews at the time of its release, and today the power-pop underground considers it a classic, but how many civilians actually know about it? Perhaps Falkner, like XTC, built his soapbox too big, packing too much information into it and alienating a broader audience as a result. His next outing, Can You Still Feel?, was a little less complex but similarly failed to catch fire. It’s not like he hasn’t been busy—his I’m OK You’re OK came out in 2007, he’s been working again with Jellyfish’s Manning, and he’s been an in-demand sideman to Beck and Air, co-writer to Brendan Benson, and the producer of a popular children’s instrumental record, Bedtime With the Beatles.

I’ve always thought Jason Falkner should be a bigger star than he is. Criminally, though, the author of Presents Author Unknown remains relatively unknown, and while this record was not able to change the world, back in 1996, at least it rocked my world. – Crawdaddy!

With:
The Spires || Listen
Threes and Nines || Listen

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

Wednesday 10.27.10: REIGNING SOUND

Reigning Sound || Listen || Watch

The Reigning Sound was born in Memphis, TN. Its daddy was a Flash & The Memphis Casuals 45 and its mother a Barbara Pittman single. Life was not easy for this musical what-not. Kids shunned it for its rock`n’roll sensibility and obvious lack of polished shtick. In true stepchild fashion though, the band continued to develop a unique sound all it’s own that didn’t really focus on any of the preconceived genres. Within weeks they found their audience and were shakin’ down the house at clubs all over town. “Hail, Hail Rock ‘n’ Roll and fuck your prefab garage” appears to be some sort of battle cry for them. This from their leader Greg Cartwright whose previous bands The Oblivians & Compulsive Gamblers were so closely linked to the “Garage Punk” stereotype of ten years ago. “We were never really like most of the other bands” says Greg.” I covered R&B, gospel or country songs with absolutely no regard for any 60′s aesthetic or sound, I just enjoyed finding an obscure song and breathing some new life into it.” This same instinct for a truly inspired cover or a genius original can be found in the Reigning Sound. Greg is aided by bass player Jeremy Scott, organist/guitarist Alex Greene and drummer Greg Roberson.

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

Saturday 10.16.10: VALIENT THORR / RED FANG

Valient Thorr || Listen || Watch

Valient Thorr seem to be angling for a position at the head of a marching mob; their combination of punk-rock speed, crushing riffs, screaming solos and anti-The Man lyrical sloganeering is a compelling and forceful one. The MC5 did this pretty well back in 1970, but Valient Thorr do it just as strong. They’re smarter than they pretend to be, synthesizing obvious influences (everyone from Bon Scott-era AC/DC to Turbonegro) into a pummeling roar, over which frontman Valient Himself rants about the cops and the conspiracy that keeps us all slaves. Their MySpace page lists David Icke, Alex Jones, Wilhelm Reich and Nikola Tesla as influences. Google those names while you rock out to this killer slab of plastic. Valient Thorr won’t save the world, but they’ll shake your candyass loose for you. – Alternative Press

With:
Red Fang || Listen

8:30pm / $10 advance, $12 doors / 21+

Sunday 09.05.10: Aquarium Drunkard Presents THE GORIES / HAUNTED GEORGE / NICE SMILE

The Gories || Watch

Formed in January of 1986 over a six pack of Budweiser and “Scum of the Earth” on the record player. Played dives around Detroit for six and a half years with a couple of trips to New York City and Chicago. Released three LPs and a handful of singles. Toured Europe in the Spring of ‘92. Broke up.

With:
Haunted George || Listen
Nice Smile

8:30pm / $20 advance, $22 day of show / 21+

Wednesday 09.22.10: TOMMY KEENE performing “Songs From The Film” / THREES AND NINES / CHECK OUT GIRLS

Tommy Keene || Listen || Watch

In what seemed like an attempt by Geffen to make a “big” pop record and endear Keene to an audience wider than critics and a small cult of discerning record buyers, renowned producer Geoff Emerick (Elvis Costello, Beatles) only succeeded at rounding the edges, thus stealing the spark from Keene’s performance. The drums are buried in the mix and Keene’s distinctive vocals obscured behind a wash of studio processing, but fortunately, Keene’s talent shines through in memorable songwriting and biting guitar solos. “In Our Lives” and “Goldtown” are classic Tommy Keene melodic power rockers, while “The Story Ends” stands among his best Beatlesque ballads. But the infectious “Places That Are Gone,” which opens side one, sounds awkwardly sped up and doesn’t come close to matching the quiet intensity of the version that appeared as the title track of the 1984 Dolphin EP. The story has it that Geffen rejected the original Songs From the Film sessions, produced by T-Bone Burnett and Don Dixon, to make this record, although the label at least momentarily came to their senses and released tracks from those sessions later that year on the excellent Run Now EP. [Geffen's 1998 CD reissue of Songs from the Film includes the Run Now EP, plus four previously unreleased songs: "Take Back Your Letters," "We're Two," an alternate full-band take of "Faith in Love" and a live cover of the Flamin' Groovies' "Teenage Head."] – All Music review of “Songs From The Film”

With:
Threes and Nines || Listen
Check Out Girls

8pm / $8 adv, $10 dos / 21+

Tuesday 09.14.10: SHONEN KNIFE / NEVEREVER

Shonen Knife || Listen || Watch

There’s a certain novelty in hearing a petite Japanese girl state her admiration for British 1970s heavy metallers Richie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio, and then watching her demure band grind through a loud, sludgy pastiche of that genre. J-Pop trio Shonen Knife aren’t some kind of novelty act though, they’re a first-rate pop group in their own right. For nearly 30 years, this band have been mashing Western rock, punk and girl group styles together with their own Osakan aesthetic. Introduced to a transatlantic audience by the patronage of hipster outfits like Nirvana and Sonic Youth, the Knife’s approach has remained fresh over the band’s career – as has their last remaining founder member, singer and guitarist Naoko Yamano, who will be 50 this year but could easily pass for half that.

Showcasing songs from their last but one album Super Group (the last, Free Time, hasn’t yet been released in the UK) and wearing the colourful tunic-and-trousers uniforms from its cover, the band played a set characterised by manic, gleeful energy. Bassist Ritsuko Taneda grinningly devil-horned every other song, recently-drafted drummer Emi Morimoto leaped on to her seat to top off a human pyramid shape during the rumbling Pyramid Power, and Yamano introduced an encore cover of Wings’ Jet as being “by one of my favourite artists”. It was both loveable and glorious, much like her band. – Scotsman

With:
Neverever

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

Thursday 08.05.10: MANIMAL VINYL presents MIA DOI TODD/ ASKA / SIDDHARTHA / ST. CLAIR BOARD

Aska || Watch

Aska is a classically trained pianist with a disarmingly ethereal voice, her cosmic presence spanning the Los Angeles art music scene through an eclectic range of projects. Before embarking on her own as a solo artist, Aska played with several bands, as well as writing and playing in the conceptual art band The Sads. As a live gallery installation, The Sads have performed throughout Europe and the US, at Art Basel in Miami, Palais de Tokyo Museum in Paris, and The Journal Gallery in New York. Alongside Becky Stark (Lavender Diamond, The Decemberists), Aska composes, arranges and performs in the 30 member, all-girl LA Ladies Choir, whose debut album comes out this July (Teenage Teardrops). Aska’s first EP will be released from Manimal Records this September with a single, “There Are Many of Us”.

With:
Siddhartha
St. Clair Board

8:30pm / $5 advance, $7 day of show / 21+

Saturday 07.31.10: City Of Devils presents BLACK MATH HORSEMAN / CROOKED COWBOY / GIANT SQUID / BROTHERS COLLATERAL

Black Math Horseman || Listen

Wyllt, Black Math Horseman’s debut, is a fascinating compendium of the last 30 years of rock. Many bands are retro-aware– see Bigelf, as well as most of Black Math Horseman’s labelmates on Tee Pee– but few embody the past yet avoid merely wearing its clothes. Retro awareness usually involves blinders to the present, which Black Math Horseman do not wear. One school of thought says that everything that can be done has been done. If so, Black Math Horseman have sharp filters. They’ve funneled the best parts of rock’s giants into a richly idiosyncratic entity.

Black Math Horseman = Led Zeppelin’s bombast + Black Sabbath’s rhythm section + 1970s psych rock dilation + Isis’ minimal-maximal dynamics. This is a horrible description, I know. But when listening to Wyllt, it’s impossible not to hear decades of record collecting riffling by. Parts of “Deerslayer”, for example, could have been on Badmotorfinger (Soundgarden chaneling Sabbath), Ritual de lo Habitual (Jane’s Addiction channeling Zeppelin), and, of all things, She Hangs Brightly. Sera Timms’ mostly cool-tempered voice suggests Nico on 4AD, complete with ghostly reverb. The gauzy “Torment of the Metals” recasts the Doors’ “The End” as Krautrock. – Pitchfork

With:
Crooked Cowboy
Giant Squid || Listen
Brothers Collateral

8:30pm / $8 / 21+

TUESDAY 10.12.10: REMY ZERO / SANDERS BOHLKE

Remy Zero || Listen || Watch

With very little fanfare, Alabama-bred Remy Zero have done the near impossible–they’ve squeezed some originality and drop-dead beauty out of the standard guitar band format. Of course, Radiohead excels at precisely the same thing, so it’s no wonder they are big fans of Remy Zero themselves. But Remy Zero are no mere Radiohead copyists. Villa Elaine their second release is both strikingly original and thoroughly compelling in vision–an album in the old sense of the word, not merely a collection of songs.

“Hollow” combines pure Queen pomp with shades of end of the millennium anxiety. “Life In The Rain” is the most subtle and affecting rock song I’ve heard this year–mixing complex dynamics and layering ala OK Computer with an impassioned vulnerability. The music is carefully composed, stunning artrock that ranks alongside Radiohead and The Verve in its quality and Cinjun Tate’s strong emotive voice is rather akin to Thom Yorke crossed with Freddie Mercury–both outstanding singers in a genre that doesn’t boast many great singers. It’s a shame that Villa Elaine has been so roundly ignored because Remy Zero have proven here that they most assuredly belong in the big leagues. – Pop Matters

With:
Sanders Bohlke || Listen

Click to buy tickets

8pm / $13adv; $15dos / 21+

WEDNESDAY 07.14.10: THE CALIFORNIAN / JUDSON AND MARY / BILLY HARVEY / CHARLIE WADHAM

The Californian || Listen

The Californian (Los Angeles, CA) have termed themselves both post-surf rock and alt-surf rock, and with good reason: their four-song Sea of Love EP contains just as much Radiohead in its DNA as it does The Surfaris or The Beach Boys. It’s a recording that doesn’t rehash a proven formula that works, but makes a daring effort to create something new from what’s come before. (Something “new” that doesn’t rely on an Afro-beat, I might add.) Remember when bands did that? 20 years ago? Well, The Californian have encrusted a 21st century crown with the sonic gems of surf rock, displaying expert craftsmanship and impeccable taste.

Where lo-fi acts like Wavves feature bedroom-quality recordings composed with sloppy faux indifference, The Californian is staffed with devoted musicians and professional recording engineers. Where acts like Dum Dum Girls go to great lengths to replicate the sounds of 60′s pop, The Californian prays before the altar of the same era but then builds an addition onto the church. And where today’s trendy indie music features droning under-mixed vocals, The Californian’s John Graney sings beautifully, loud-and-clear, at the forefront of the mix. – Classical Geek Theatre

With:
Judson and Mary
Billy Harvey || Listen
Charlie Wadham || Listen
8:30pm / $5 / 21+

Tuesday 07.13.10: ELISA RANDAZZO / MIRANDA LEE RICHARDS / BRIDGETT ST JOHN / NEAL CASAL

Elisa Randazzo || Listen || Watch

If anyone has pop music in her blood, it’s Elisa Randazzo. The child of professional songwriters Teddy Randazzo, whose hits include Little Anthony & The Imperials’ “Goin’ Out Of My Head,” and Virginia Pike, who wrote the Third Bardo’s “Five Years Ahead of my Time,” she’s gone on to live the life herself. A fashion designer, she’s named her line after singer Dusty Springfield. She’s also sung and played violin with Fairechild, a combo she co-lead with ex-husband Josh Schwartz, and the Red Krayola, but she didn’t step out on her own until well into her 30s.

So even though Bruises & Butterflies is her first solo recording, there’s nothing tentative about it; it’s the work of someone entirely in control of her medium and quite clear on what she wants to do with it.

Randazzo started writing Bruises & Butterflies’ songs after her marriage tanked, and it takes you through the phases of break-up, bum-out and recovery. But despite the personal subject matter, it’s no wallow. Some of the songs are longer on vibe than specifics, evoking regret and hope without overburdening you with details. But even when she’s singing in the first person about dividing belongings or the aftermath of a wasted night out, Randazzo’s cool delivery lends a measure of distance. She’s not one to serve her bitters straight. She knows the worth of a good tune, and she doesn’t hold back; this is the sort of record that hits you with one catchy melody after another, each willing to take over from its predecessor the duty of being your favorite song for a day. – Dusted Reviews

With:
Miranda Lee Richards || Listen
Bridget St. John
Neal Casal || Listen

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

Friday 07.30.10: PEPPER RABBIT / CANDY CLAWS / LONELY TREES

Pepper Rabbit || Watch

Pepper Rabbit is a trio from Silver Lake, Los Angeles, and they remind me of the Shaky Hands, holding onto the same clackety, psych-pop aesthetic, but less precious and wheedling and more exploratory and somber. The singer plays guitar and keyboard and has a really incredible voice, while the drummer and bass player hold down the rhythm section, which gets up-tempo and bouncy but just as quickly turns on its heel to become more saturated, irregular, and sonically dense. For three guys to manage such a dynamic sound is no easy feat. And somehow, in the dark, back corner of Milk, they orchestrated a sense of unexpected sunshine to ward off the chill coming in from the west, keeping the ocean breeze and fog at bay, at least for the moment. But maybe that’s the optimism in me talking: Pepper Rabbits are going to going to find some coveted musical mileage this year, mark my words. – Crawdaddy

With:
Candy Claws || Listen || MP3
Lonely Trees

8:30pm / $8 / 21+

Sunday 07.18.10: Hell Ya! presents DRINK UP BUTTERCUP/ RABBITS RUNNING/ OH MY STARS

Drink Up Buttercup || Listen || Watch

“…Songwriting that distills the golden pop sounds of England and America between approximately 1964 and 1975 into a dizzying, heady brew. The arrangements are uniformly inventive, splicing together bits and pieces of everything that’s been waxed since the mid-’60s with a gleefully scatter shot approach. The melodies are uniformly catchy; the vocals are marked by harmonies so sweet they could give you diabetes; and James Harvey’s lead vocals are always surprising, full of unexpected starts and stops, one minute sweet and folky, the next an uncontained shriek of outrageous psychedelic delight. The same juxtapositions abound in the arrangements… their penchant for rhythmic noise and oddball vocals suggests a rock suite as much as a random collection of songs.” – All Music Guide

With:
Rabbits Running || Listen
Oh My Stars || Listen

8:30pm / $5/ 21+

Thursday 07.22.10: OTIK RECORDS presents SARA RADLE with THE DAMSELLES / DEEPAKALYPSE / LAST LEGS / CITY CITY

Sara Radle || Listen

With all the skills Sara Radle has acquired from playing with so many different types of musicians, in 2010, she now has a new arsenal of talent to work with. Four contains a bountiful of beautiful and darling pop songs that tug at the heart (and sometimes punch) with strings and lush layers of vocal harmonies. On Four, Radle reels in her arrangement proficiency all the while with a humble, yet eloquent voice sounding like a member of a ‘60s girl group covering Jenny Lewis.

Working at her home studio (Good Kitty Studios), as well as with Grammy-winning engineer, Dennis Moody, Radle was able to work with her songs whenever she liked; trying out new sounds and styles. “The whole recording process was a perfect mix for me – a little Los Angeles, a little Texas, a little studio, and a little home studio,” muses the singer/songwriter.

Every song on Four is like a peek into her personal diary; however Radle does not fit into the simple category of girl and her guitar. Radle is a well-versed musician who knows how to work with Americana or folk and meld them into one another with pop magic and wonderment.

with:

The Damselles

plus:
Deepakalypse
Last Legs
City City

Presented by: OTIK RECORDS

8:30pm / $5 / 21+

Saturday 07.17.10: City of Devils presents DEAD MEADOW / FEATHERBEARD / MOAB

Dead Meadow || Listen || Watch

Stoner-rock avatars Dead Meadow have slimmed down to a power trio, but their fat, rubbery sound hasn’t lost any of its bluesy bombast in the process. They seem oblivious to the passage of time, still riding the heavy train that Iron Butterfly, Cream, Sir Lord Baltimore, and Hawkwind set in motion. That doesn’t mean they’re oblivious for the need for new product, though—their most recent studio album is still last year’s Old Growth, but they’re working on an old-fashioned feature-length concert film called Three Kings. (They’ve moved from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles, so maybe they think they have to make a movie now.) There’s a trailer up on their MySpace page, and I’m getting a distinct Song Remains the Same vibe, probably mostly from the footage of the band wandering around in hooded druid robes. Despite all the vintage-­colored self-indulgence and the whiffs of 70s hippie neopagan cheesiness, Dead Meadow’s hazy, smoky, languidly violent music can achieve an eerie beauty that transcends era, and onstage they’re a fiercely disciplined rock machine—in other words, don’t hold your breath for a dwarf trampling a miniature Stonehenge. – Chicago Reader

with:
Featherbeard
Moab

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

Tuesday 07.06.10: THE DELTA MIRROR / JESUS MAKES THE SHOTGUN SOUND / HALLOWEEN SWIM TEAM / WET AND RECKLESS

The Delta Mirror || Listen || Watch || MP3

A certain strain of recent indie rock seems to be taking an unusual interest in illness and death. You could blame Arcade Fire, the sad loss of whose family members only happened to lead to one of the most universally acclaimed independent releases of the past decade. Last year, the Antlers’ Hospice focused an entire album on the subject of a man with terminal bone cancer. Now L.A. trio the Delta Mirror’s upcoming Lefse debut, Machines That Listen, sets each of its nine songs in a different room of the hospital.
This slow, layered ballad “He Was Worse Than the Needle He Gave You” stands out not for its pathos-ridden subject matter– I’m still not sure I know exactly what it’s about– but rather its restrained emotional gutpunch, which it achieves with a simple but catchy tune and dramatically expansive production. Imagine the Big Pink’s electro-shoegaze explosions sounding vulnerable. “I’ve got too much time on my hands,” goes a gothy male vocal, and before long we find out the reason why– and the guy responsible won’t fucking be held responsible. The next time the Delta Mirror sing those words, at the end of the song, their meaning has changed. Damage done. – Pitchfork

with:
Jesus Makes the Shotgun Sound
Halloween Swim Team || Listen
Wet & Reckless

8:30pm / $5 / 21+

Wednesday 07.07.10: CROOKED COWBOY / JEFFERTITTIS NILE / LANTVRN / JOHN CARPENTER

Crooked Cowboy || Watch

The group rides the out-of-the-mainstream wave of what you could call cowboy psychedelia. A quick listen to a couple of the band’s tunes quickly makes clear that this isn’t your dad’s cowboy music. Theirs is an almost ambient sound from a darker, edgier, at times foreboding place. It’s inspired by the musical soundtracks of those action-packed spaghetti Westerns of the 1960s and ’70s, with elements of modern rock and all its contemporary sonic weaponry. This isn’t foot-stomping music, but it deserves a good listen. – Pasadena Weekly

With:
Jeffertitti’s Nile || Listen
Lantvrn || Listen
John Carpenter

8:30pm / $7 / 21+

Thursday 07.15.10: DUSTY RHODES AND THE RIVER BAND / SATELLITE CRUSH / THE RAMBLES

Dusty Rhodes and The River Band || Listen || Watch

Dusty Rhodes and the River Band’s 30 (or so) minute performance teemed with verve and the kind of welcoming warmth that makes attendees become instant fans. Singer Dustin Apodaca’s sells each lyric with a winning exuberance while playing keyboard parts that often resemble those of a churchy organ. He even managed to work his accordion into the mix without it ever smacking of gimmickry.

The six-piece delivered a near-perfectly paced set of richly textured rockers and subdued ballads marked by detailed lyrics that avoid annoyingly trendy cleverness and greeting card cloyingness–even if they do smell of patchouli on occasion. The sextet’s secret weapon remains violinist Andrea Babinski. Her stirring string work slides in and out at just the right moments, recalling the spot-on augmentation provided by Scarlet Rivera on Bob Dylan’s 1976 Desire album and Rolling Thunder Revue of the same period. – OC Weekly

With:
Satellite Crush || Listen
The Rambles
DJ A/J Jackson

8:30pm / $7 / 21+

Sunday 07.04.10: CLOSED

Thursday 07.01.10: YEAR LONG DISASTER / WAXY / OPEN HAND / SOLARE

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:
Waxy
Open Hand
Solare

Click to buy tickets

8:30pm / $8 / 21+

Sunday 07.11.10: DM STITH/ INLETS/ SILJE NES / BEN AND BRUNO

DM Stith || Listen || Watch

Of all the happy musical accidents that have occurred over the past couple years—Bon Iver’s fantastic For Emma included—DM Stith’s arrival may turn out to be the biggest “eureka” moment of them all. Stith is a shy guy of conflicted Christian stock, a graphic designer by trade whose previous claim to music fame was owning the computer on which My Brightest Diamond recorded its debut. Yet Heavy Ghost, Stith’s debut, is nothing short of a masterpiece of mood and texture, an album that sounds as if it was devised in equal parts by a seasoned composer and an inspired amateur. – The A.V Club

With:
Inlets || Listen
Silje Nes
Ben and Bruno || Listen

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

Friday 07.02.10: WALLPAPER. / ROB ROY / WHITE APPLE TREE / LITTLE RED RADIO

Wallpaper. || Listen || Watch

Partway through recording his debut LP as Wallpaper., Eric Frederic lost his shit. The Oakland artist was neck-deep in a series of isolated studio all-nighters to put him in the mood, when the song “Doodoo Face” pushed him into the beyond. Boxed in by layers of percussive funk, dark synthesizer blurt and crushing bass, Frederic lost himself inside of Ricky Reed, the character he’d long ago conceived as Wallpaper.’s frontman. He gave in to Ricky’s rampant narcissism, love for party and supreme indifference, and as a result, discovered the guiding duality behind Doodoo Face, the album: There’s sadness inside all that celebration. A little madness too.

At a certain point in the making of Doodoo Face, Frederic regained some sanity. He stopped trying to figure Ricky out, and focused his mental efforts on production. The music of Doodoo Face is a significant step forward for Wallpaper. As established by his recent “live-band remixes” for Passion Pit and Das Racist, Frederic’s become ace at merging the organic into the electronic. This time, the drums are live courtesy of band member Arjun Singh, Darondo sideman Brian Switzer plays trumpet, and Frederic’s own guitar graces many tracks. These are huge beats with infinite intricacy — the perfect tribute to Frederic’s oldest influences: P-Funk, Afrobeat, and the panoply of Bay Area rap. You’ll hear strains of Justice too, in the seething bass of “Celebrity,” and even Eno in the minimalist pop of “Fine GF.” Furthermore, “Frk Scn” not only features female vocals, but a distinct live Ghanaian rhythm known as “Ewe,” while on “Gettin’ Drip,” Frederic handcrafts his own “chipmunk soul” sample to accompany the chorus.

with:
Rob Roy
White Apple Tree
Little Red Radio

Click to buy tickets online

8:30pm / $8 / 21+

Monday 07.26.10: Monday Night Residency – SUMMER DARLING / KISSING COUSINS / VANAPRASTA / TS AND THE PAST HAUNTS

Summer Darling || Listen || MP3

Summer Darling’s songs often start out as simple, jangling folk pop, but by the end they’re usually transformed into powerful, heavy-dreamin’ rock opuses. The new track “This Would Be the Time” (from the local quartet’s upcoming self-titled album on Origami Music) opens with Ben Heywood’s and Dan Rossiter’s majestic interlocking guitars, as the former intones in a hazy, haunted voice. Even as the guitars ratchet up the chaos, Heywood remains coolly somber underneath it all. Like his bassist-wife Heather Bray Heywood, the singer-guitarist is the child of ministers, and many of his lyrics reflect the contradictions of “his dissolving faith and darkening worldview.” Nonetheless, that worldview is often illuminated with witty insights and intriguing lines like “We eat our young to keep you guessing” (from the euphoric early tune “Ride This Wave of Good Feelings”) and “I’ve got cancers to reward for sticking with me” (from “The Zealot”). At their best, Summer Darling evoke the emotional storminess of Neil Young’s old work with Crazy Horse. – LA Weekly

with:
Kissing Cousins
Vanaprasta
TS and The Past Haunts

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Monday 07.19.10: Monday Night Residency – SUMMER DARLING / THE MONOLATORS / THE FRANKS / STARVING DAUGHTERS

Summer Darling || Listen || MP3

Summer Darling’s songs often start out as simple, jangling folk pop, but by the end they’re usually transformed into powerful, heavy-dreamin’ rock opuses. The new track “This Would Be the Time” (from the local quartet’s upcoming self-titled album on Origami Music) opens with Ben Heywood’s and Dan Rossiter’s majestic interlocking guitars, as the former intones in a hazy, haunted voice. Even as the guitars ratchet up the chaos, Heywood remains coolly somber underneath it all. Like his bassist-wife Heather Bray Heywood, the singer-guitarist is the child of ministers, and many of his lyrics reflect the contradictions of “his dissolving faith and darkening worldview.” Nonetheless, that worldview is often illuminated with witty insights and intriguing lines like “We eat our young to keep you guessing” (from the euphoric early tune “Ride This Wave of Good Feelings”) and “I’ve got cancers to reward for sticking with me” (from “The Zealot”). At their best, Summer Darling evoke the emotional storminess of Neil Young’s old work with Crazy Horse. – LA Weekly

with:
The Monolators || Listen
The Franks || Listen
Starving Daughters

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Monday 07.12.10: Monday Night Residency – SUMMER DARLING / WAIT.THINK.FAST / CUE THE MOON

Summer Darling || Listen || MP3

Summer Darling’s songs often start out as simple, jangling folk pop, but by the end they’re usually transformed into powerful, heavy-dreamin’ rock opuses. The new track “This Would Be the Time” (from the local quartet’s upcoming self-titled album on Origami Music) opens with Ben Heywood’s and Dan Rossiter’s majestic interlocking guitars, as the former intones in a hazy, haunted voice. Even as the guitars ratchet up the chaos, Heywood remains coolly somber underneath it all. Like his bassist-wife Heather Bray Heywood, the singer-guitarist is the child of ministers, and many of his lyrics reflect the contradictions of “his dissolving faith and darkening worldview.” Nonetheless, that worldview is often illuminated with witty insights and intriguing lines like “We eat our young to keep you guessing” (from the euphoric early tune “Ride This Wave of Good Feelings”) and “I’ve got cancers to reward for sticking with me” (from “The Zealot”). At their best, Summer Darling evoke the emotional storminess of Neil Young’s old work with Crazy Horse. – LA Weekly

with:
Wait.Think.Fast
Cue the Moon || Listen

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Monday 07.05.10: Monday Night Residency – SUMMER DARLING / TWILIGHT SLEEP / FUTURE GHOST / CA CONDORS

Summer Darling || Listen || MP3

Summer Darling’s songs often start out as simple, jangling folk pop, but by the end they’re usually transformed into powerful, heavy-dreamin’ rock opuses. The new track “This Would Be the Time” (from the local quartet’s upcoming self-titled album on Origami Music) opens with Ben Heywood’s and Dan Rossiter’s majestic interlocking guitars, as the former intones in a hazy, haunted voice. Even as the guitars ratchet up the chaos, Heywood remains coolly somber underneath it all. Like his bassist-wife Heather Bray Heywood, the singer-guitarist is the child of ministers, and many of his lyrics reflect the contradictions of “his dissolving faith and darkening worldview.” Nonetheless, that worldview is often illuminated with witty insights and intriguing lines like “We eat our young to keep you guessing” (from the euphoric early tune “Ride This Wave of Good Feelings”) and “I’ve got cancers to reward for sticking with me” (from “The Zealot”). At their best, Summer Darling evoke the emotional storminess of Neil Young’s old work with Crazy Horse. – LA Weekly

with:
Twilight Sleep
Future Ghost
CA Condors

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Thursday 07.29.10: IPO (International Pop Overthrow) presents THE NEW FIDELITY/EUGENE & THE 1914 / EVIL MARIA / KING WASHINGTON / PAULA KELLEY ORCHESTRA/ HEAVY YOUNG HEATHENS/ SUSAN HEDGES

The New Fidelity || Listen || Watch

“Aside from their masterful harmonies, the New Fidelity sound nothing like the Beach Boys and everything like the soundtrack to an 80s movie that was never made. Take the wistfully danceable ‘Casa Grande’ for instance, about a ‘sunny winters day bike ride through Long Beach.’ John Cusack should be on that bike! Or ‘First Day,’ about doing dishes in your apartment and reflecting on the way that love sometimes walks into your life . . . and fucks it up! Molly Ringwald is doing those dishes right now! Seriously!”
– OC Weekly

With:
Eugene & The 1914
King Washington
Evil Maria
Paula Kelley Orchestra || Listen
Heavy Young Heathens || Listen
Susan Hedges || Listen

7:30pm / $8 / 21+

Wednesday 07.28.10: FADED PAPER FIGURES / THE COLORIST / NORA KEYS / JUSTICE YELDHAM / KEVIN BLECHDOM

Faded Paper Pictures || Listen || Watch

Comparisons to The Postal Service are unavoidable, but Faded Paper Figures’ second full-length album finds the band really coming into their own. The band recognizes the inherent characteristics of the two genres they blend on ‘New Medium’ and for this reason, the album is both somewhat conflicted and also enjoyable on two levels. The songs take on the unconcerned, understated qualities of indie-pop, but also play with the fun-loving, youthful characteristics of electronica. At times, it’s confusing to hear an electronic track without the same big-production pay off of the lately popular Owl City and the album waffles between success and inner-conflict as it attempts to reconcile two very different forms of music, but the enjoyment provided by ‘New Medium’ is not to be ignored. – The Album Project

with:
Nora Keys
Justice Yeldham
Kevin Blechdom
The Colourist

8:30pm / $7 / 21+

Tuesday 07.27.10: IPO (International Pop Overthrow) presents THE MONTHLIES/ LIGHT FM/ GARLAND/ GOLDEN YEARS/ ONE SILVER ASTRONAUT/ GREG HAPTOR/ JOHNNY O’ DONNELL

The Monthlies || Listen || Watch

“…a smart, snappy take on ’60s and ’70s pop, worth investigating just for “Hip Girl” and “Lucky Ones.”” – Buzzbands LA

With:
Light FM
Garland || Listen
Golden Years
One Silver Astronaut || Listen
Greg Haptor
Johnny O’Donnell

7:30pm / $8 / 21+

Wednesday 07.21.10: JESSE WOODS / TRADITIONIST / STILL WATTERS

Jesse Woods || Listen || Watch

“New to the Austin music scene, singer/songwriter Jesse Woods is set to get noticed quickly with the upcoming release of his debute EP. Woods Americana credentials are likewise accentuated by his voice, a rich twang that alternates between carefree and desperate.” – The Austin American Statesman

with:
Traditionist
Still Watters

8:30pm / $7 / 21+

Tuesday 07.20.10: Sargent House & Rodriguez Lopez presents LE BUTCHERETTES / BICERATOPS / VATO NEGRO

Le Butcherettes (Los Angeles Debut!) || Listen || Watch

What’s the matter with kids these days? Not content with just making an ungodly noise, they also model themselves on Sylvia Plath, formulating ideas of female identity that are equal parts fun and bloodthirsty. We’re not talking about NYC (where shadows of Lydia Lunch and Patti Smith still linger), but the back roads of Guadalajara, Mexico, where Teri Gender Bender conceived Le Butcherettes. She’s played with just about every Mexican band worth mentioning, while Jack White’s The Dead Weather and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs invited her to open their Mexican shows, and Omar Lopez Rodriguez of The Mars Volta agreed to produce the first album.

With:
Biceratops || Watch
Vato Negro || Listen

Click to buy tickets online

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

Saturday 07.03.10: LOVE REVISITED / HOT AS BALLS / QUINCY BLAQUE TRIO

LOVE Revisited

Fans of the legendary LA band Love will be gobsmacked to learn that the music lives on in Love Revisited.

The band, which may be coming to a town near you this Summer, consists of original Love guitarist Johnny Echols plus Baby Lemonade members Mike Randle, Dave Chapple and David Green, with occasional special guest (Forever Changes/ Da Capo era drummer), Michael Stuart.

In the 1960′s Love, fronted by charismatic singer Arthur Lee had a minor hit in 1966 with their cover of Burt Bacharach’s ‘My Little Red Book’. Their third album 1967′s ‘Forever Changes’ is regarded by artists and critics alike as one of the greatest records ever recorded.

Love never achieved the widespread commercial success of their Elektra Records label-mates The Doors, even though the Doors opened for Love frequently. Part of the reason was that Lee stayed close to the band’s home turf refusing to tour internationally or even nationally. Despite that the band had a large cult following in the UK and Europe. ‘Forever Changes’ cracked the top 30 in Britain but only reached #154 in the US.

As well as playing lead guitar on the first three Love albums, Johnny Echols has worked with Jimi Hendrix, Little Richard and Billy Preston as well as recorded with Miles Davis.

with:
Hot As Balls || Listen
Quincy Blaque Trio || Listen

Click to buy tickets online!


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

Sunday 07.25.10: NEIL HAMBURGER / TJ MILLER / LITTLE DOG ON TOP OF A BIG DOG / KELLI SPERLING

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:
TJ Miller
Little Dog On Top Of A Big Dog
Kelli Sperling

click to buy tickets online

8:30pm / $8 / 21+

Friday 07.16.10: Buddyhead Presents HAPPY BIRTHDAY / RESIDUAL ECHOS / DIRT DRESS / MY PET SADDLE / DJ TRAVIS KELLER

Happy Birthday || Watch

But the songs that bulldoze you grant all of their moving parts a similar amount of space. “2 Shy” is a clinic in vocal harmonizing, and “Pink Strawberry Shake” is the kind of AM gold David Vandervelde’s been going in circles searching for recently. Lyrically, however, Thomas spends a lot of time indoors, framing himself as an acne-splotched teen who enjoys no successes communicating with or courting the opposite sex. And without question, the sly romance of “Subliminal Message” is the crown jam here: four minutes of sugar featuring a behemoth, synth-hinged chorus that he should share with that girl ASAP.

Happy Birthday falter only when Thomas chooses to burp all over a song when he should just let breathe. On “Perverted Girl”, he forgoes a bridge by wrenching some sore-throated wails and racket in there instead. Or maybe it’s a bridge. That short blast of scuzz and scream works perfectly within the bratty punk of “Zit”, Thomas’ refrain, “Now I wanna break shit/ Don’t want to make shit/ Just want to waste it”– a pretty funny line coming from a dude who’s rumored to have stockpiled huge numbers of songs in his room. He should definitely keep them coming. – Pitchfork

With:
Residual Echoes || Listen
Dirt Dress || Listen
My Pet Saddle || Listen
DJ Travis Keller

click to buy tickets online

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

Thursday 07.08.10: Beatcrave presents WIRES IN THE WALLS / THE STEELWELLS / OH DARLING / WAKE UP LUCID

Wires in The Walls || Watch

“Wires in the Walls plant their flag on the same solitary stretch of Americana as bands such as Okkervil River and Magnolia Electric Co., coloring their winsome tunes with horns, accordion and euphonium.”
- Buzzbands LA

“Wires in the Walls put(s) strong melodies and anthemic lyrics over an Americana rock backdrop…In a Los Angeles music scene so frequently enamored with angular guitars, harsh synths, and fuzzbox noise, here is a band that simply reaches out and touches the listener… Strong, distinct, beautiful, and moving…it’s easily the most interesting thing I’ve heard in 2010 thus far.”
- Classical Geek Theatre

“Americana with a modern twist, try. (Wires in the Walls) lyrics are tongue in cheek and unabashedly honest; their sound is mellow, poignant, but far from intrusive. ”
-BeatCrave.com

with:
The Steelwells
Oh Darling || Listen
Wake Up Lucid || Listen

8:30pm / $7 / 21+

Saturday 07.10.10: EL GUINCHO / HOLLOYS / MEXICAN DUBWISER / DJ HOSEH

El Guincho

El Guincho’s second album Pop Negro is out this fall. As an ongoing bonus, he’s releasing Piratas de Sudamérica, a series of limited-edition five-song EPs that are set to “run concurrently to [his] main albums.” Each features rearranged and reinterpreted South American standards and “lost classics” and includes guest collaborators. The highly enjoyable first volume, out 7/13 via Young Turks, finds Julieta Venegas and Adrián de Alfonso assisting El G in a laid-back tropical set. It’s more straightforward/less looped than usual El Guincho. In July you could own it on a 12″. – Stereogum

with:
Holloys || Listen
Mexican Dubwiser || Listen
DJ Hoseh (DubLab, Headspace/KXLU)

Click to buy tickets

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

Friday 07.23.10: SLEEPY SUN / ASSEMBLE HEAD IN SUNBURST SOUND / MIRANDA LEE RICHARDS

Sleepy Sun || Listen || Watch

Their long hair, nature-kid press photos and onstage face paint seemingly align Sleepy Sun with San Fran’s tie-dyed tradition, but the band’s palette is actually smeared with a whole lotta Blacks: Sabbath, Mountain (whose producer, Colin Stewart, works the boards here), Angels and– when singer Bret Constantino busts out a boogie-summoning wail on “Snow Goddess”– even the Crowes. But if the opening “New Age” establishes Sleepy Sun as archetypal stoner-rockers– with Constantino’s vaporous vocals floating atop a subterranean fuzz bassline, molten guitar leads, and drum fills that roll right off of Bill Ward’s tom-tom rack– the song’s follow-up, the surprisingly affecting piano-based spiritual “Lord”, shows the group has designs on writing songs that still move you after the drugs wear off, and that Constantino can be the sort of emotionally assertive vocalist who doesn’t always have to hide behind the haze. – Pitchfork

with:
Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound
Miranda Lee Richards || Listen

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

Friday 07.09.10: THE DONKEYS / BIG SEARCH / CHAPEL OF THIEVES / THE BUMPERS

The Donkeys || Listen

A classic stoicness is what the four men in San Diego band The Donkeys have in spades. It’s a sleepy-eyed understanding that disturbing the waters and ruffling any feathers is just going to make them hotter – break out into a needless sweat – and it’s not going to do anyone any goddamn good in changing anything for the better, from the worst. It’s a functionality, a survival technique that lets everything rolls comfortably off of their backs and back down to the floor, like an impenetrable force field that refuses to ever let them down. They can just sit back, recline as steeply or mildly as they feel is necessary, throw their sunglasses over their eyes, pop a cowboy hat over their heads of moppy hair and just forget that there is anything that needs to be done or taken care of that day – or any other day for that matter. The spots that they point out to us on their brilliant sophomore full-length release, “Living On The Other Side,” are the ones that don’t need much fuss or care. They are the moments that just give us the color in our skin and the cool breeze upon the backs of our necks. – Daytrotter

with:
Big Search
Chapel of Thieves
The Bumpers

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

Saturday 07.24.10: MINIATURE TIGERS / SPINTO BAND / SUPERHUMANOIDS

Miniature Tigers || MP3

The Brooklyn-via-Phoenix band has been around since 2006, picking up spots on many festival to-watch lists along the way to recording their upcoming album Fortress. And morning bender Chris Chu produced Fortress, communing with the band for a three-week recording session at Dreamland Studios in Woodstock, NY earlier this year. Miniature Tigers then spent the spring opening for the morning benders on tour.

Chu isn’t behind every track, though. First single “Gold Skull” was produced by Neon Indian’s Alan Palomo. Says lead singer Charlie Brand: “We reached out to Alan to produce that track and ended up recording that song with him in a crazy all-nighter session until the sun came up.” The result of that all night recording session is this dreamily layered track, where the band’s vocals fold over twinkling synths. It’s the kind of thing big warm track inspired by (or that inspires) summer day naps, though the edges of the verses get swallowed up by a blown out guitar in a way that snaps your attention back. – Stereogum

with:
Spinto Band || Listen
Superhumanoids

>

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