news Archives
This Weekend in LA: Foghat, AMC, Naked on the Vague, Robyn, Dirtbombs, Noisy People
by Randall Roberts
May 16, 2008 11:54 AM
Remember, it’s still technically bike to work week, so if you’re working the clubs this weekend and feel like saving the earth, maybe you should two-wheel it. In LA. At night. Or skateboard maybe. Or okay how about you just bum a ride from your ex?
Friday:
So this week Michael Stipe revealed some of his roots, and confessed that when he bought that Patti Smith album as a teen that changed his life, he also bought a Foghat record. Which is awesome, and we couldn’t be happier about it. Stipe was living in Collinsville, Illinois then (I grew up in Edwardsville, Illinois, which was Collinsville’s archenemy), and Foghat was everywhere. Well, if you’d like to visit the road that Stipe ended up not traveling (think about consequences had he been floored not by the Patti Smith album but by Foghat Live), Foghat’s playing at the Canyon tonight.
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
American Music Club, circa 2008
American Music Club’s new album, The Golden Age (Merge), begins with what seems to me two perfect Southern California couplets that capture a particular feeling and a particular breeze: "I wish that we were always high/I wish that we could swim in the sky/If we believe, we won’t fall/We’ll leave our lives and rise above it all.” It’s a hopeful introduction, a leap off a springboard and the consequent float, one that Eitzel and his band, guitarist Vudi, bassist Sean Hoffman and drummer Steve Didelot, manage to maintain throughout The Golden Age’s thirteen songs. Eitzel founded American Music Club in San Francisco nearly 25 years ago, returned in 2004 after a decade long hiatus to record their eighth album, Love Songs for Patriots. Last summer the band convened in Echo Park to record the follow-up, The Golden Age with producer Dave Trumfio. Eitzel recently spoke over the phone during the Arlington, Virginia stop on their four month European and American tour. The band will close the journey at the Echo this Friday, May 16.
LA Weekly:You were living in LA for a while this summer while you were working on The Golden Age, and I’m wondering whether any of that LA stuff made it onto the record.
Mark Eitzel: I think so. I mean, I was writing a lot in August in LA. Getting home late and having the door open all night long. My view was this parking lot [and] of this recording studio called The Ship.
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
No, really, you should listen to Neil Hamburger's guest DJ slot at Dublab right now.
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
KCRW Launches New Guest DJ Sessions featuring Conan O'Brien, Jason Reitman and others
by Randall Roberts
May 14, 2008 6:43 AM
Everybody has an opinion about music, especially celebrities, and KCRW is harnessing this intrinsic reality with a new online series which launches today called the Guest DJ Project. Each week, a member of KCRW's on-air staff interviews a person of note, and broadcasts the results, which so far has already yielded a number of phenomenal sessions, including John Cusack, Garth Jennings, Conan O'Brien and Saffron Burroughs. Below is Jason Reitman (pictured with host Jason Bentley), who gets big bonus points for recommending Penguin Cafe Orchestra.
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Hot Week at Dublab: Live Neil Hamburger, Peanut Butter Wolf, Anticon, Lucky Dragons and others
by Randall Roberts
May 13, 2008 2:49 PM
Our favorite local music collective/studio/radio station/creative non-profit/record label/DJ team/inspiration to us all, Dublab, is offering an amazing schedule of talent and mixes this week. Mindblowing, actually, and we've a mind to tune in, turn on and drop out for the next few days and simply appreciate the glory that is Dublab radio. The collective, which recently switched to non-profit status, is in the middle of their bi-annual Proton Drive, a fund-raising effort dedicated to keep the Dublab functioning.
The inimitable Neil Hamburger
Sadly, you already missed Jimmy Tamborello, but check the schedule out. We're pumped to hear what Neil Hamburger has in store for us tomorrow from noon to 2 p.m., given his recent Neil Hamburger Sings Country Winners release. Ditto the rest of tomorrow, actually, with Peanut Butter Wolf segueing into Anticon's Telephone Jim Jesus and directly into the remarkable Mia Doi Todd. Thursday's Lucky Dragons set should be interesting, as well.
And there's no way we're missing the final session: Tuesday, May 20th through Wednesday, May 21st: A 24-hour no-sleep session from 10am - 10am featuring Ale & frosty.
The complete schedule follows.
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Stew's Passing Strange Receives Seven Tony Award Nominations
by Randall Roberts
May 13, 2008 8:27 AM
From Spaceland to Broadway: Stew
Passing Strange, the Broadway musical created by longtime fixture on the LA music scene Stew, received seven Tony Award nominations this morning. The show, which started Off Broadway but moved to the Big Dance in the spring, has gone on to become one of the most critically acclaimed and successful musicals of the season.
The nominations for the former leader of the Negro Problem are some of the biggies, too. Stew himself is nominated for Best Performance by a Lead Actor in a Musical, and Passing Strange is nominated for Best Musical, Best Book and Best Original Score, among others. (The entire list of nominees can be found here.)
Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
Tonight in LA: Le Switch at the Echo, Harvey Sid Fisher at Pehrspace and Mezzanine Owls at Spaceland
by Randall Roberts
May 12, 2008 3:37 PM
Big ass night for Los Angeles music. If you're in from out of town, you picked a good frickin' Monday to be here. Fortify with a big dinner cuz there's no cover and you can whoop it up tonight and spend all your money on booze and cigarettes.
Le Switch
Top on the list is the great quadruple bill at the Echo, during week two of Le Switch's residency. The band is on everybody's lips right now, and reports on week one were uniformly positive. Next week will apparently be acoustic based, so if you want to get a major dose of the band doing it the way they do it, tonight's the night. To boot, a few other LA buzz bands will be filling out the bill. The much lauded Division Day; the Henry Clay People of Jax Art records; and the totally impressive pop band Princeton.
At Pehrspace, joy of joys, will be Harvey Sid Fisher. Yes. Oh yes. Here:
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
The Weekend in Music: Quiet Storm Action with Keith Sweat, Abe Vigoda, Punky Reggae and The Parson Redheads
by Randall Roberts
May 9, 2008 3:42 PM
If you're looking for some nookie this weekend, as in: your special one has been hesitatin', and you've been motivatin' but there is no reciprocatin', well, maybe you need to butter up with some Keith Sweat. For example:
Tonight you can check out Hot Buttered Sweat at the Greek Theatre on a bill with the Gap Band, the Emotions and One Way.
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Madonna to Lead Large Pilates Session at Dodger Stadium on Nov. 6
by Randall Roberts
May 8, 2008 11:09 AM
Well, at least that's what her performances of the last few years have seemed like: big muscle-flexing sessions, with music. Where's the bouncing? The joy? Still: I'll be there front and center.
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Well, in case you were wavering on whether to vote for McCain or Obama, this should help you decide.
Sa-Ra's front man Taz Arnold (TI$A) wanders through L.A. dancing to a great rhythm by Daedalus.
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
That would be Wednesday and Thursday, October 1 and 2 at the Santa Monica Civic Center.
My Bloody Valentine's high-water mark: "Soon."
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Marfa Film Fest Dispatch: World Premiere of Heath Ledger-directed music video
by Randall Roberts
May 5, 2008 10:28 AM
(photo by Randall Roberts)
Today's a travel day for me, having just experienced the best little festival I've ever attended, the first annual Marfa Film Festival, in Marfa, Texas. The second annual one is already on my calendar for next year (and in the interim I'll be trying to convince my bosses that we need to throw a party down here). Part of my excitement is circumstantial. I've been surrounded by musicians and artists for the past five days non-stop, have been awash with the music of Mia Doi Todd, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes , and Victoria (the blossoming product of former Spacehog singer Antony Langdon), have been roaming the streets of Marfa and meeting, ironically (or not), lots of Los Angelenos.
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Final Check Yo Ponytail tonight starring Dan Deacon and Erol Alkan
by Randall Roberts
April 29, 2008 6:25 PM
I Heart Comix's long-running Check Yo Ponytail series comes to a close tonight at the Echoplex. The legendary party ends its run with a doozy: Dan Deacon and Erol Alkan.
Here's what you might see if you decide to hit it:
Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
Death Cab for Cutie to play secret show at Spaceland at 5 p.m. today
by Randall Roberts
April 29, 2008 4:17 PM
It's a KROQ show, so there's no chance of getting in at this point. But you never know. I'm on my way over there now, though with LA Weekly's recent move to the West Side, I'm hoping to get there by midnight. If the traffic gods are with me, I'll be there by 5:15.
Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
Let the Grieving Process Begin: Pink Floyd's Inflatable Pig Found Dead
by Randall Roberts
April 29, 2008 3:19 PM
It's a hard time for everyone, I know. But we have to get through this together.
The LA Weekly would like to open the comments section so you, the reader, can share your thoughts and remembrances on Roger Waters' and Pink Floyd's inflatable pig, dead, we're assuming, as a result of exploding.
The pig, in happier times, floating above the Hollywood Bowl
The Zapruder Film of Coachella 2008: last known image of The Pig before it blowed up.
But it's time to start asking some hard questions. In whose charge was the pig? Had Waters and his production team ever combined the inflatable pig with a big explosion before? Was the Coachella crowd in any danger? What if the fire had burned through the vinyl pig? Could it have exploded above the crowd, sending searing hot vinyl pig carcass onto the fans below??? WTF???
Any theories? Have you seen a Roger Waters or Pink Floyd show where they did both pig and fire simultaneously? How did it make you feel? Should there be an investigation? Or should we just be thankful that we lived in the same moment in history as the pig?
Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
There are very few breaking news stories in the music biz, and Pink Floyd's escaped flying pig ranks pretty high up there. Sources tell us that there are now two reports of pig -recovery operations currently underway in nearby La Quinta, California.
Imagine this pig exploding high up in the atmosphere, and floating down onto the village of La Quinta. Somebody should write a boring rock opera about it.
LA Weekly will be offering round-the-clock reportage on what is perhaps the most tragic event in Coachella history. We dedicate this post to the pig. It was a great run, and you almost made it.
Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
I wish I could say that this was a joke, but I saw the damned pig float away myself Sunday night during Roger Waters' set at Coachella. As it drifted up, I contemplated why Waters would release the pig, endanger the airplane circling the field advertising something or other, and litter the earth not only with his pomposity but with the symbol of that pomposity. But, no.
The pig in question, before sprouting wings. Will its arrival in the the jungles of South America be greeted by believers as a sign from God? (Photo by Timothy Norris)
Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
At last night's cool Filter party at the Corona Yacht Club, I ran into sculptor Christopher Janney, whose Sonic Forest installation will once again appear as part of Coachella's art offerings. Janney has been working for the past week to install his work at the Empire Polo Field, where the 2008 Coachella Valley Music and Arts festival began today. One of the perks of being on site early are the sound checks, and Janney told a funny story from yesterday. While on site, music was carrying across the valley, which is nothing unusual this week. This was some nice sounding funk, a little unexpected considering the festival's rock bent. And then the singer stepped in, and immediately Janney realized that Prince was in the house, here two days early to work out his show. Of course Janney made a beeline to see the sound check.
Christopher Janney's Sonic Forest
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
On the Coachella Express, there are a few distinct types of people: the media, which was invited to document the maiden voyage of the Amtrak line that departed LA's Union Station Thursday afternoon, and who wouldn't leave the kids alone. Local LA news crews were doing their two-minute Coachella stories for the ten o'clock news. A TV cameraman shot a group of hipsters while a square news reporter poked a mike in their faces and asked silly questions like, "Why are you going to Coachella? What are you hoping to find?" Answer, from an obviously disinterested dude: "Uh, music?" She was looking for something profound, but the dude wasn't budging. He was looking forward to Justice, as was everyone on board. They can't stop talking about Justice.
The media search for the meaning of Coachella on the train.
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
These days there’s every reason to be skeptical of a reunion concert. After the breakup we watch our heroes get older, buy their post-Great-Band solo projects with worried hearts and minds, certain that they have peaked and that nothing they do could capture the magic of the Grand Statement of Purpose they delivered when we were all young and in love.
photo courtesy of NME
And we’re usually right because that thing that was special about the band, say, for example, Jane’s Addiction, mostly exists in our head, in our memory of when they, like us, were younger, more beautiful and in better shape. They gave us their music, and we accepted it. It’s a memory of energy transfer, of constructing a conduit between musician and listener, and pouring music, beautiful music, through it.
Like the aging process itself, that conduit tends to shrink over time, and during reunion concerts only a smidgen of the former energy is able to squeeze through (okay, this metaphor is getting gross). It’s not the same. But last night at the El Rey, Jane’s Addiction totally tapped into whatever that was they once had, and shut us snobby-ass skeptics the hell up. Boom, like they’d been rehearsing for years, they kicked into “Stop” and the four original members, for the first time in 17 years, played their music together, and it was really great.
Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
You can complain all you want about Coachella 2008's roster, but the reality that I'll be seeing Kraftwerk followed by Portishead followed by Prince on Saturday night is pretty frickin' exciting.
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Go out and visit your local independent record store today, if there is still one within 100 miles or so.
You know your business model is in trouble when you get a "day" devoted to it. Why, I remember celebrating "Floppy Disc Day" and "Blacksmith Appreciation Day" as if they were yesterday.
There are some really cool things going on at stores around town, though.
Amoeba Records in Hollywood has a DJ set by Daniel Ash and David J (And Love & Rockets are playing a pre-Coachella show at the Glasshouse on Tuesday by the way, if you can get in), and also sets by Peanutbutter Wolf, the Donnas and giveaways for $50 gift certificates and other goodies.
Hip-hop store Fat Beats has discounts on everything all day long, and free shipping online.
Fingerprints in Long Beach doesn't have info posted that I can see, but they're still cool as hell, and you should go support them.
Freakbeat Records in Sherman Oaks: If you haven't been there. It's run by Bob Say who ran the Moby Disc chain, and there is probably not a more knowledgeable record store guy alive. Tell Bob hi, and take advantage of cheap LPs (99 cent ones are marked down toa quarter for pete's sake) and other discounts.
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
For the first time since the band originally split seventeen years ago, the four original members of Jane's Addiction will play in L.A. as part of the NME Awards on April 23.
Dave Navarro posted this note on his blog about the reunion.
So, yes... As I posted a few days ago, Jane's has been honored by NME this year and we will be accepting a lifetime achievement-like honor — at the NME Awards at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles on April 23. Perry, Stephen and I will attend the show as a band. Before the press and a few blog commenters start digging up old quotes, stories and opinions, let me tell you that the three of us have been speaking regularly have decided to focus on what's most important... The music. So, all the "But I thought you said", "But so and so said", "What about... blah, blah, blah..." is irrelevant at this point. Trust me... There is nothing anyone is going to remind us of that we don't already know. Everybody in the world has said something over the top due to an emotional charge. The bottom line is that we have been getting along great and are moving forward with our personal and musical relationships. These days, the press loves to take something great and find reason to fuck it up. That's the only way they think a story can sell. They think, "Hmmmm... This is great news and all, but it's all nice and drama free. Lemme dig up a bunch of old baggage from years ago so my editor will feature my work!" The same thinking that the news networks have had for years has found it's way into entertainment. Just watch the top stories on any channel. Anyway, we know... We lived it... No need to remind us! As it stands, we are planning on attending the awards as a unit and I really don't have anything else that is concrete to report at the moment. As soon as I do, you will be among the first ones I share it with. We are all very happy with how things are evolving!
This news has been floating around for a few days, I realize, but ot was only yesterday that Eric Avery said that he' join the group on stage.
Reuters quotes Avery: "I have always considered reunions to be a way to make a quick buck, and it sells short my own experience of it the first time around...
"The reason I started to even consider this is because it's honoring the past instead of trying to recreate it."
It's also still worth noting if only for a chance to watch a clip or two of the band in it's prime.
Here they are at the Roxy in 1986 playing "Ocean Size":
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
L.A. Weekly blogger and former staff writer Daniel Hernandez uncovered a wild story about attacks on "emo" youths in Mexico City on LA Daily and his own blog Intersections.
Besides getting linked on Andrew Sullivan's blog at The Atlantic and Canada's Exclaim, there were plenty of other places who took his reporting and didn't even give him credit, like NME (I"ll reciprocate by not linking to them) and Time.
The story is now largely being told through YouTube clips:
Our sister paper the Houston Press checks in with their own take as well.
Social commentators are likening this to the Nazi persecution of the Jews in the late 1930s. Is that seriously the best metaphor they could dig up? Seriously, comparing the Nazi Party to a rag-tag group of Sepultura geeks and dudes in oversized Dickies beating up pansexual mall nymphs?
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
The Daily Swarm collects an argument currently consuming the web regarding the relative merits of L.A.'s reigning superstar DJ, Steve Aoki. A few days back Pitchfork (predictably) slammed Aoki's new mix, Pillowface and His Airplane Chronicles. Reviewer David Raposa gave it a 2.5, writing: "After 50 minutes of this tired nonsense, with the highlights (like the bloops and bleeps of Yelle’s thankfully untouched “Je Veux Te Voir”, or the bits of Datarock’s strummy “Fa-Fa-Fa” that aren’t beset by hot hot air) sorely outnumbered by the lowlights, the mix ends with another turgid rock-meets-dance-with-guest remix, this time a track by Dim Mak group (and post-punk aficionados) Scanners with additional words of wisdom offered by Justice labelmate Uffie."
Urb editor-in-chief (and occasional L.A. Weekly contributor) Joshua Glazer had no patience for the indie-centric Pitchfork's tirade, and shot back a defense. "Pitchfork may suckle at the teat of Justice and Daft Punk," he writes, "but you know at their fundamental core, they'd rather be giving Arcade Fire the obligatory handjob while posted up in their Chicago digs (Chicago indie rock, btw, is the most pretentious smarter-than-thou scene in the entire country). So that leaves poor Aoki, alone with his mix-CD on Thrive (a quintessential old-school electronica label) to pummel mercilessly as the once mighty Pitchfork lashes out against a section of the music industry that doesn't need their approval to survive. And it stinks."
Whether you agree or not on the merits of Aoki's mix debut (I'd give it a 5.264826547, - and deduct at least .7854126 points for the appearance of the world's worst rapper, Uffie ) it deserves mention that reviewer David Raposa doesn't seem to follow current dance music all that closely, and seems ill-prepared to weigh in; in his long list of reviews for Pitchfork, the writer appraises mainly (surprise surprise) rock and indie rock (Mary Timony, Bottomless Pit, Tara Jane O'Neil, Queens of the Stone Age). The closest thing he comes to writing about dance music is New Order (Waiting for the Sirens' Call, which Pitchfork gave an astounding 7.9).
UPDATE: Aw, shit, now Time Out Chicago's gotten into this mess: Taking umbrage at Josh Glazer's characterizaton of Chicago as "the most pretentious smarter-than-thou scene in the entire country," Time Out's Scott Smith fires back that "Urb’s got to be a little touchy. If I lived in the metro area of Los Angeles/Beverly Hills and the most buzzworthy band my city had right now was Film School, I might start tossing around insults, too."
It's a shame that Smith doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about, but a bigger shame that I'm wasting precious time reporting this crap. Jeezy creezy, man, can't we all just take a jumbo bong hit, pop on a Tortoise album, listen to some tasty jerk-off-jazz-rock licks and take a little nappy-nap? Maybe we'll all wake up feeling chill, man.
Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
The headline, if you can't read it, is: "Topanga's Hippest Hippie Devendra Banhart Plus More Cali Madness." I mean, come on.
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Radiohead not playing L.A. until late summer at the earliest
by Randall Roberts
February 12, 2008 9:22 AM
The bad news: we're gonna have to wait until the fall. The good news: we've got frequent flier miles.
RADIOHEAD CONFIRMS MAY 2008 U.S. DATES & VENUES
RADIOHEAD has confirmed the dates and venues to be visited on the first segment of its upcoming North American tour. They are:
May 5 - Cruzan Amphitheatre - West Palm Beach, Florida
May 6 - Ford Amphitheatre - Tampa, Florida
May 8 - Lakewood Amphitheatre - Atlanta, Georgia
May 9 - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre - Charlotte, North Carolina
May 11 - Nissan Pavilion at Stone Ridge - Bristow, Virginia
May 14 - Verizon Wireless Amphitheater - St Louis, Missouri
May 17 - Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion - Houston, Texas
May 18 - Superpages.com Center - Dallas, Texas
Pre-sale for the above dates will begin February 14 via W.A.S.T.E. with general on-sales following on February 16.
The second half of the North American tour will follow the band's summer tour of the UK and Europe.
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
The best view of the Grammy Awards from where I sat.
The coolest thing I learned last night in the media room at the 50th anniversary Grammy celebration had to do with a Woody Guthrie performance. Recorded on a spool of wire, The Live Wire – Woody Guthrie in Performance 1949 was found by an old Rutgers University alum in his Florida closet, explained producer Steve Rosenthal. To transfer the music from brittle copper thread – a mile and a half of it, a mere 1/3000 of an inch thick – to computer required the patience and precision of a watchmaker; the engineers had to move through the recording millisecond by millisecond and even out the sonic warbles, wows and flutters due to bends in the wire. But it was worth it. They unearthed one of America’s most articulate voices performing live. It was fascinating to hear about the process of pulling a voice, and music, off a wire found in a closet.
The second coolest thing that happened in the room, which held about fifty print reporters and had no view of the ceremony itself save a half dozen little TV monitors, was when Zachary Nipper, a shy thirty-something with mussed up hair, stood in front of the assembled press as designer for Saddle Creek Records out of Omaha. He had won the Best Recording Package for his work Bright Eyes’ Casadega, and he told us, all clicking away on laptops as he spoke, that this was his first time to Los Angeles, the first Grammy for Saddle Creek. The look of pride and wonder on his face – the dude from the great Saddle Creek label can add Grammy winner to his resume – was thrilling.
The press room at the Grammys. Feel the passion.
Not that you could tell by looking at the press people. We all sat at our computers, lined in rows like citizens at a council meeting (or worshippers at a church?), watched monitors and every so often looked away to interview a winner. None of us is very rock and roll. There’s not much conversation in the room. No music, no sense that what’s happening here has anything at all to do with that secret place in your head where melody demolishes thought in a rush of jiggling neurons. In fact, this is perhaps the least musical place in Los Angeles right now – except for when Morris Day walks in.
Day was wearing a gold tuxedo and stood next to hitmaker Jimmy Jam, a long-ago member of The Time. While The Time spent the 1990s playing the fair circuit, Jam was making hits for Janet Jackson. A few moments earlier, Jam had reunited with his former bandmates by strapping on his keytar and banging through “Jungle Love” and "Umbrella" with Rihanna. Day, of course, consumed the stage. Looking fit, nipped and tucked, the Man in Charge explained his regimen. “The reason I’m still healthy is a good healthy sex life. We think young.”
More to come…
Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
Peanut Butter Wolf to spin at Obama's California party tonight
by Randall Roberts
February 5, 2008 2:51 PM
This just in, offering further proof that Obama's down with the scene.
PEANUT BUTTER WOLF SPINS TONIGHT AT CALIFORNIA FOR OBAMA PARTY AT THE AVALON
Also on the bill are Dam-Funk, James Rockwell and DJ Skeet Skeet.
8:30-11:30
February, 5 2008 at Avalon Hollywood
1735 Vine Street, Hollywood, California 90028
Cost : free w/ RSVP
rsvp@obamaca.com
18 years +
More details here.
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Bummer to start Monday off with bad news, but, alas, this news from Hot Chip's people: "Hot Chip have been forced to cancel tonight's show at the El Rey Theatre in L.A. due to illness. The band apologize to fans." They're working on rescheduling the show, but for now your best bet is to catch them on Jimmy Kimmel on Wednesday night. Read why Hot Chip is the most entertaining band in the world right now here, and therefore why we're so disappointed.
Here's their new video for the "Ready for the Floor," from their great new Made in the Dark, which comes out tomorrow.
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Hot on the heels of LA Weekly's map of Tom Petty's Los Angeles, and a few days prior to their appearance at the Super Bowl, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers today announced two summer shows in the L.A. area. The first will be on Wednesday, June 25 at the Hollywood Bowl; the second will be a month later at the Verizon Amphitheater on Friday, August 22. Tix on sale this Saturday.
In honor of the event, we offer you this great TP moment. Don't sit too close to your screen, lest you get a contact high.
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Great news from the L.A. Phil just arrived. Anyone who was at the recent Songs of the City series at Walt Disney Concert Hall and heard Daniel Rossen's voice echo through the room will understand: Don't miss this show.
LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC AND INDIE ROCK BAND GRIZZLY BEAR CO-HEADLINE FOR ONE-NIGHT-ONLY PROGRAM SPANNING CLASSICAL TO CONTEMPORARY REPERTOIRE
SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 2008, AT 9PM
Media support provided by 89.9 KCRW
Brooklyn-based indie rock band Grizzly Bear debuts at Walt Disney Concert Hall on Saturday, March 1, at 9 p.m. The Los Angeles Philharmonic and Grizzly Bear perform for this co-headlining concert that pairs orchestral and experimental-rock repertoire for a cohesive program that aims to break boundaries between genres and generations. The orchestra does not perform together with Grizzly Bear.
The first half of the program features the Los Angeles Philharmonic performing orchestral pieces specifically chosen to reflect the music that inspired Grizzly Bear to pursue their own musical endeavors. The second half of the program features Grizzly Bear performing a full set that includes songs from their most recent release Yellow Road, hailed as one of 2007’s best records by Pitchfork Media, calling it “an impeccably crafted psychedelic folk record…its delicate instrumentation is otherworldly…” The Guardian states “It's like wandering through Brian Wilson's mind on a clear day in 1967. . . [it’s not] to dip into; instead you dive in and sink to the bottom, at once drenched in emotion and uplifted.”
Grizzly Bear members Daniel Rossen (songwriting/guitar), Ed Droste (songwriting/guitar), Chris Taylor (clarinet/production) and Christopher Bear (drums), employ traditional and electronic instruments, including piano, bass, whistles, banjo and laptops. Their musical explorations traverse a landscape of lush instrumentation, haunting melodies, and lo-fi authenticity. Stereogum named Grizzly Bear’s Wordless Music Concert at the New York Society for Ethical Culture its favorite show of 2007.
GRIZZLY BEAR have approached song writing as a craft to master. Over the course of three releases, Horn of Plenty and Yellow House, and their recently released Friend EP, they’ve achieved mastery. Grizzly Bear is remarkable not just for their attention to detail but for their concern for how a song feels: flush with heart and melancholy, their music is seductive and intimate. This is experimental mood music with love for classics and standards. Its unique sound has resonated with critics and fans across the globe. Their sophomore effort, Yellow House received “Top 10 Album Of the Year” honors from respected media outlets such as the New York Times, New Yorker and Pitchforkmedia in 2006. From its original incarnation as a one man band of acoustic guitar, field tapes and drum machine; to it’s current state as a full band complete with drums, two guitars, bass, woodwinds, effects pedals, cradled by four part harmonies, Grizzly Bear’s music has made the leap from charming lo-fi folk rock to breathtaking, experimental cinematic pop. The talent between the four members of Grizzly Bear is evident from their deft playing, which also makes for a brilliant and engrossing live act.
Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
Coachella line-up: Lots of Everything (and Danny Tenaglia and Roger Waters, too)
by Randall Roberts
January 21, 2008 5:32 PM
Questions to ponder:
Will they give Tenaglia his own stage to do a ten hour set, and if that's the case why didn't they book Villalobos?
How the hell did Linton Kwesi Johnson get on the bill - and holy crap, Linton Kwesi Johnson's on the bill!
Will Modeselektor finally and once and for all kick Justice's ass? And Busy P's, too?
Isn't it a little early for a Fatboy Slim renaissance, or a few years too late to toss him on the bill and expect us to care?
Sasha & Digweed but no Carl Craig? Is it too late to swap out?
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Urb magazine's website is reporting that Portishead will be one of Coachella's 2008 headliners. Read the full story (reported by occasional LA Weekly freelancer Josh Glazer) here. Full schedule to be released on Monday.
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
From the New York Times:
"When news surfaced over the weekend that 50 Cent, Wyclef Jean, Timbaland and other rap stars had been implicated in a steroids investigation, some hip-hop fans were shocked, but to many in the industry the accusations seemed inevitable."
Oh, how our collective pride in these role models has been crushed! We expect such antics from baseball players and speed skaters, but rappers?! The shame...
Here then, for the guardians of culture amongst us, is a short list of musicians that we believe to be free from human-growth hormones. You can program your iPods accordingly.
10. Thom Yorke
Epilepsy medication seems a more likely drug of choice than steroids for the poor lad.
9. Amy Winehouse
Clean as a whistle. No problems here.
8. Ruben Suddard
If there was a 20 pound pork chop made out of steroids, then we might suspect the jolly Idol-beast. As it is, he's probably safe. Though I wouldn't leave any small children around him, particularly if they're covered in gravy.
7. Henry Rollins
Mr. Clean. Rollins doesn't drink, doesn't smoke, definitely isn't popping X or making a bong out of a Pepsi can. But he's not young anymore either, and it'll get tougher and tougher to keep those guns loaded. For now, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, but if he still looks like he could bend steel beams five years from now, then he'd better piss in the cup for lab boys.
6. Britney Spears
Yeah, yeah, it's all a horror show, and Dr. Drew says we're watching her die before our glazed-over eyes, but let's not think about that. The new Esquire cover - a tribute to an Angie Dickinson photo from the mag in '66 - is just the kind of thing to get the bad taste out of our mouths, and replace it with the ideal kind of virgin/whore paradox that's gone so dreadfully wrong in her life. Anyway, whatever the hell Britney's putting in her body - Ho-Ho's, bottles of gin, Popeye's 12 Piece Family Meals, it's not steroids. She may have packed on some pounds (praise the airbrushers), but she's not gonna lift K-Fed up over her head and body slam him on to the judge's bench.
Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
Panic at the Disco loses their exclamation point, help sell a Honda
by Randall Roberts
January 14, 2008 9:49 AM
Panic at the Disco at Studio 540 of the Honda Corporation's headquarters, Torrence, January 10.
By Julie Seabaugh
Around 250 VIPs, suits and press members -- and a few lucky teenagers -- gathered Thursday afternoon inside Studio 540 of the Honda Corporation's Torrence headquarters for a media event featuring an acoustic set by Panic at the Disco, who are headlining the 2008 Honda Civic Tour.
Currently sans the exclamation point that punctuated the band name since its 2005 inception, singer Brendon Urie, guitarist/lyricst Ryan Ross, drummer Spencer Smith and bassist Jon Walker were introduced by tour veteran Mark Hoppus (blink-182, +44). Sporting a black Atticus tee and sky-high hair, Hoppus described the Decaydance recording artists’ look as “kind of like Oliver Twist and kind of like pirates,” gleefully kicked over microphone stands, then poked fun at the “lime-green, fairy-painted” Civic that Panic designed and will give away to a contest winner upon the tour’s completion.
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
It seems that just about everybody, at one time or another, hated Ike Turner (hell, even the Black Panthers once beat his ass onstage at the Oakland Civic Auditorium). Now dead at age 76, it seems pretty unlikely that the pop revisionists are gonna pull their heads out of their asses and set the record straight on who Ike Turner really was: an unparalleled, creative giant who elevated early 50s R&B primitivism to a sophisticated, soulful altitude few others could reach. Sure, he was a hot head, a hard head, a coke head, but Turner was also one of the key historic figures in American music, one whose achievements, both on the bandstand and in the recording studio, were quite unfairly diminished by a certain shrieking sister's pointed--and shrewdly self-serving -- character assassination.
From his start as a talent scout for Memphis tastemaker Sam Phillips' soon-to-be-Sun Phillips Recording Service, Turner was responsible for a string of killer-diller blues disks by the likes of Howlin' Wolf and Junior Parker and when he planted himself on the piano bench at those sessions, the results assumed a luminous, driving quality that always characterized the Turner musicality. There's also the little matter of the Ike-A&R'd Jackie Brenston "Rocket 88" and it's nominal designation as the first ever rock & roll record -- Turner had established himself as One for the Ages before anyone really knew who the hell he was.
Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)
If you are the kind of person that actually pays attention to this kind of thing, then
here's a full list of this year's Grammy nominees .
Yes, Amy Winehouse got a ton of nominations, if she can hold it together until the awards area announced. Kanye West got eight, and we can only hope he gets shut out just to watch him freak. Feist got some too, and if she wins, she'd better thank Apple.
The always daring and edgy "Best Alternative Album" field included Arcade Fire, Lily Allen, Bjork, The Shins and The White Stripes
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
According to this TMZ report, Pimp C was found dead in his bed in a Sunset Strip hotel room this morning.
The rapper, born Chad Butler, had just performed with Too Short at the LA House of Blues last Saturday.
Houston's music blog, Houstoned Rocks is following the story. Click here to check out the latest.
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
If you're going to listen to any aging punk rocker wax nostalgic for a cult-band like Flipper - and we've all probably heard more than we need to - is there anyone you'd rather give the benefit of the doubt to than Nirvana's bassist / Northwest political gadfly?
You're in luck. Krist Novoselic is now a regular blogger for our friends up the coast at Seattle Weekly. So in addition to his Flipper-love (Not to be confused with Mr. Splashy Pants), you can also hear Krist talking about the release of Nirvana's Unplugged DVD, FCC hearings and fun stuff like that.
It's also painfully obvious that LA Weekly needs its own punk icon blogger...
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
By Brick Wahl
Ya gotta love my buddy Dean, he's a nut. And inspired, brilliant, funny, knows everything and everybody Sicilian motormouth of a musician from New York City with a heart the size of Indiana. A place he probably hates. So Dean begins emailing and calling me at work on Monday morning (no kidding...it was a Monday morning) and starts in at turbospeed about some guy whose name I never did get except I think it sounded Slavic or Balkan, something central European and points east who’s a saxophone player from Cleveland and he's the best and yadda yadda freaking yadda. And something about a neighbor who gets his Sicilian heart and points south a-stirring, and they are new best buddies, and she's a sweetheart, and I'll love her, and she's an ex-dancer or something, and she comes from Cleveland, and she's a publicist now and has this new client who’s this saxophonist from Cleveland, and she's got him a gig or showcase at Catalina and you have to be there because I told her (in a drunken moment I am sure) that you are a "jazz journalist" for that weekly whatever it is you write for and I promised you'd be there.
OK....when is this?
Wednesday.
But I can't be there...I have passes for Caetano Veloso. And I really really wanna see Caetano.
But this guy’s great and it's a big deal and there's even a red carpet.
A red carpet?
Yes, she got a red carpet from someone and some big stacked blonde starlet to escort people in and there'll be lights and cameras and people, beautiful people. It's a big deal. Showbiz.
At Catalina?
Yes...and he began again with the showbiz and the carpet and the blonde with the big zambonis and this great tenor saxist from Cleveland.
This is a jazz gig?
Straight ahead baby!
