Bumpin It.

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers at Outside Lands in San Franscisco

Okay so in actuality I was at a friend's house a few blocks from the show at Golden Gate Park. Good enough sound to hear the show. It was as to be expected from Tom Petty. Many of the same songs he's known for, played reliably as ever. The rest of the lineup wasn't particularly interesting and I went back inside for food.

Gnarls Motherfuckin' Barkley

I really don't think it is possible for this dynamic duo to put on a bad show. Playing a great mix of new songs and old favorites, topped off with an encore performance of Radiohead's Reckoner that gave Thom Yorke a run for his money. Halfway through the show they performed an acoustic version of Transformer, which was a highlight of the night. If you haven't seen them, do yourself a favor and partake in this fantastic foray of genre blending, mind melting goodness.
Opening for Gnarls, who couldn't himself make it to the show, was Deerhoof and a band from Senegal called Fallou Dieng. Deerhoof sounded like roadkill, with a wailing lead singer "blending" to upper register electric guitar. Sorry, Deerhoof, but after Robert Plant matching Jimmy Page so soulfully and spot on, you really have to blow me away due to comparison. Thankfully Fallou Dieng did not dissapoint as one by one different drums and instruments entered playing wonderfully polyrhythmic solos, punctuated by pounding accents. Definitely a band I recommend looking into.

Living Legends

Living Legends played at the Thousand Oaks Teen Center last week for a foundation to prevent teen drunk-driving. Thank's to Nick's uncle we were able to get in, despite the maximum-age limit. A few local bands opened, ranging from mediocre to pretty good. Living Legends tore down the place. Although the relatively low turn out (maybe 200 people high-school age kids) it was as loud and bumpin as ever.

The Presets

Never heard of Aussie's electro duo, The Presets, but they kicked ass. Walter Meego opened, a Chicago trio who were awesome but didn't get much love from the audience. The Presets were amazing and somehow got an audience of LA fuckers bouncing for their whole show. It was great, I really felt I was in 1985.

www.myspace.com/thepresets
www.myspace.com/waltermeego

Mason Jennings

I am fucking late. Apologies. Yes, it was quite random, and it felt like I was at the best high school talent show ever, but Santa Monica High is a legitimate venue. Mason Jennings, Brett Dennen, and Missy Higgins sounded great playing at Barnum Hall, which happens to be the theater for Santa Monica High. We missed Miss Missy, but Brett Dennen is amazing! He seriously got the whole place bumping. Everyone was a chilled out for Mason, but his new songs sound awesome. "I Love Jesus and Buddha Too" is probably going to be one of my favorites--can't wait for the new album.

www.masonjennings.com
www.brettdennen.net
www.missyhiggins.com

Flood in a Drought

Recently more and more music has become unsatisfying. I am not bagging on new bands but music I have been listening to regardless of conception date. Whether it be due to the amount I have listened to it or the fact that creating my own music has devalued other artists one unexpected fact remains: this is a good thing. It has caused those few really standout perfect albums to remain while the dregs are burned in the pyre of replay that is radio and friends' cars. I am beginning to see a few indisputably awesome albums that shine through the superfluous and vacuous muck that I once loved, but now trudge through disappointingly. So now I will call to those albums that really stand the test of time. First, Wolf Parade's Apologies to the Queen Mary. If there was an album that encapsulated the sheer pain of life and the ecstasy of its freedom in one blaring, yodeling middle finger solute - this would be it. This is a true album that can only be fully appreciated in its entirety, and to listen to individual songs is at least negligence and at most a gross insult to this great piece of art. Second, Animal Collective's Feels. Despite the genius of the bands recent endeavors including Strawberry Jam and Water Curses this album still remains one of their most prolific and piercing albums. While I am a ridiculously huge fan of Water Curses it is too much in its infancy for me to be blaring my opinions (even if it may be the peak of AC as we know it). On a side note this album includes one of the most romantic lines in all of lyricdom short of The New Pornographers Sing me Spanish Techno. This is of course Flesh Canoe's universal "singing to you what to do if id ask you to make funny faces with me in the mirror of the bathroom". If you ever wanted to float into yourself backwards and come out upside down take an afternoon with this album in a small room with no windows. I guarantee you will rip your clothes off in a vain attempt to express the euphoria within this album before you get halfway. Third, Otis Redding's The Dock of the Bay. When people reference the great blows dealt to music as we know it from the unfortunate deaths of promising artists who would've surely changed the face of music, a few names come to mind. Buddy Holly, John Bonham, but no one loss is possibly as tragic to the fate of music as the loss of Otis Redding. One of the most soulful and heartfelt artists ever (as I hear the cries of Ray Charles fans everywhere) was taken before many people were able to appreciate his genius and that of this album. Blues cannot describe how blue this album is, the spectrum fails to find a color solemn, melancholic, and bitter enough to describe the bite and feel of this album. Finally, The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds. Brian Wilson manages to capture adolescence in all of its innocence and perfection before the leap into experience. This album seems to define the cliff between adolescence and adulthood more than many people are able to, giving solace and fond reminiscence to an otherwise chaotic and desperate time. This album gives a window with which to recapture what was thought impossible to experience past its prime: youth. The irony of permanence this album gives to time itself would otherwise seem a luciferin attempt to decry the order of what is, if it were not for the calm harmonies and soothing falsetto of Brian Wilson. Pet Sounds is perhaps one of the greatest rebel albums ever made because it would seem ridiculous to call it as such.

Limbeck

Yesterday was National Record Store Day, so indie record stores all over the states got together and had sales, in-stores, giveaways, and such things. I had the option of catching Silversun Pickups or Limbeck, which I have never heard of. Out of Orange County, half the band showed up for an acoustic set, and it was alright. Very down to earth pop songs with a little country bite. Imagine Rocky Votolato meets optimism meets Calexico hollow body solos.

http://www.limbeck.net/

Mike Seeger is wrapping up a residency at UCLA this weekend with the famous Ashgrove Festival. This week he gave talks on the journey of the guitar through America, as well as history on other instruments found in old timey America. Including the Jew's harp, which he is holding above, the banjo, and more obscure instruments such as the banjo ukulele and the quills (a southern pan pipe). Some highlights were Seeger and his wife playing a Carter Family song and the Elizabeth Cotton song, "Freight Train."

http://www.mikeseeger.com

Mia Doi Todd

A late report of Mia Doi Todd at the Echo! About a decade ago folk music was in a place that could be characterized as making country folk cool. Whether it was a slide guitar or a tex-mex backbeat. Now folk music seems to be in a romantic period, with themes shifting from drugs, drinking, and relationships to nature and transcendental thought. Yes, yes, all these themes and instrumentalization are a constant somewhere in folk, but right now folk music is quite romantic, bringing to mind Nick Drake, John Fahey, or any folk musician of the psycho-60's. Mia Doi Todd is a contemporary of Jose Gonzalez and Devendra Banhart, who both focus on themes found in the art songs of traditional romanticism. With a droning harmonium at her feet, the keys being held in place by coins, she played her guitar and sang simple poems about love and nature. Now Mia Doi Todd is an example of this type of transcendental music being awesome. Her opening act, The Dead Flowers, can suck dick, because that is all they were doing last Thursday.

http://www.miadoitodd.com

4/10/08 - Karin Tatoyan at the Echo

karin tatoyan_0096
Originally uploaded by arbouler jameson, i love you!

Easily this was the most incredible display of musical intensity I've ever seen during my career as a show-goer. Karin Tatoyan and her band were great!A drum+drummachiner, cellist, and a french horner, all did backup to Karin's keyboard, theremin and vocal shenanigans. I showed up a little into their set but my attention was immediately grasped. All of the songs were excellent. There was a little bit of hip-hop beats with the drum machine and a lot of tastefull vocal and instrumental looping. The highlight of the show was about half way through the set. To paraphrase:

"This is so important to me right now. I feel like.... a nebula... out there...."

And she goes into this glorious song all wild eyed and crazy. She starts screaming and playing her theremin, eventually slamming it into the stage where it shatters and pieces of it fly off into the audience. The audience loved it, but it was sort of strange having such a small crowd applauding with such approval.

Vampire Weekend

So I found about these guys in the wee hours of this morning. Something like the Wailers, Police and some classical biznass mixed in.

Check them out:
http://www.vampireweekend.com/
http://www.myspace.com/vampireweekend

Nate Weiner

Credit: Eugene Goryachev

Wednesday night our very own Nate Weiner graced California Lutheran University sans the remaining members of his trio. We had a pretty solid attendance for CLU and Nate got down and was hanging out with the crowd before the show. Nate mostly played his own songs but mixed in a few covers and even a Gnarles Barkley reference. Even a few people in the crowd got in and back up vocals too. This was one of the more fun shows I've been to in a while.

Definitely hit him up:
http://www.nateweiner.com
http://www.myspace.com/nathanweiner

José González at the Wiltern

José González played an excellent show at the Wiltern last Tuesday night. The show was a lot more lo-fi than I had expected, with José starting it off solo. About a third of the way through the show two percussionists/backups joined and they went on to play until the pre-encore finale where the opening artists joined. Simple but wonderful.

http://www.myspace.com/josegonzalez

Justice - DVNO

This is by far one of the coolest music videos I've seen in a very long time. So Me does it again.

Alex & Sam

Today I was visiting an old friend in Hollywood. He asked if I wanted to check out his Girlfriend's sister's band. "OK" I said. They were playing at a cute little boutique on 3rd street. The band filled up the whole front of the store, and we had a bit of difficulty getting past the accordionist. They were excellent. Very lo-fi indie folkey stuff. Unfortunately I could only stay for two songs but they play at Tangier every Sunday.

Check out their Myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/alexsammusic

All good stuff but doesn't do the live show any justice.

Missy Higgins

So I saw another chick singer, but man this Aussie bisexual is a great songwriter. She is gonna make it big here in the U.S. She already sold out the El Rey last night with Robert Francis opening. Francis performed as if he wanted to be seen as a hip 2008 Neil Young w/ a Rilo Kiley/The Band circa The Last Waltz vibe, but alas he was too much of an indie pisser.

http://www.missyhiggins.com
http://www.myspace.com/robertfrancis

Bass Sessions L.A.

DJ Craze, DJ Assault, Low B, Klever, Treasure Fingers, Villains, FMB and Dan Oh tore it up at the Henry Fonda theater at Bass Sessions L.A. last Sunday. It opened a little slow at 10:00 with Dan Oh starting it off but soon after the sexual shenanigans of FMB began the place got interesting. Daedalus of FMB (white tux above) has some of the fiercest chops I've ever seen IRL. The Klever and DJ Craze sets were definitely the highlights of the show although the place was still going strong at 3:00AM when I peace'd out.

Here are some of the highlights in no particular order:
http://www.myspace.com/lowbee
http://www.myspace.com/treasurefingers
http://www.myspace.com/firemagicblood
http://www.myspace.com/kleverbeats

G. Love & Special Sauce

G. Love & Special Sauce brought their brand of blues to the House of Blues on Sunset last night. The best moments of the show were the instrumental jams when G. Love would tear it up on guitar or harmonica trying to channel old blues legends like Johnny Lee Hooker and Sonny Boy Williamson. Also Ventana, some guys that I've run into in the coffee shop scene randomly showed up to sing back up. Tristan Prettyman did a nice job opening with her trio. None of her new songs sounded too great, but she did an awesome job of being extremely hot.

http://www.myspace.com/glovespecialsauce

http://www.myspace.com/tristanprettyman

http://www.myspace.com/ventanarock

Villains - Maximum Mini Mega Mix

Los Angeles party machine, Villains are blowing the place up with their Maximum Mini Mega Mix. I've been listening to this non-stop since last week. It's a perfectly edible piece of electrogasm at just over twenty minutes. Check it out over at Missingtoof.

A-Trak & Kid Sister

A-Trak and Kid Sister played at the Natural History Museum across from USC last Friday and tore it up... with dinosaurs! Before the show the museum was open to walk around and look at the skeletons and everything. All very cool. The show started a little slow but after Kid Sister got up, the place went nuts. The last hour was more A-Trak with a finale of Killing In The Name Of all remixed and stuff.

Nellie McKay

Nellie McKay showed up for a solo performance at Fingerprints Record Store in Long Beach last night. First of all Fingerprints is awesome and have fantastic, intimate in-stores. A few other artists who have recently graced Long Beach: Fionn Regan, Josh Ritter, Damien Rice, Matt Costa, Pinback, the Aggrolites...you get the idea, Amoeba what?

So Nellie started off with songs from her new album Obligatory Villagers. She is a great pianist, but she also busted out some ukulele action. Check out the song Mother of Pearl for a sample of her hilarious musical stylings. If you like YouTube check it out, this one too, and this one.

http://www.nelliemckay.com 

White Williams

White Williams headlined at the Echo last night. Pretty sweet stuff. We walked into the venue and the manager or somebody asked us if we were the Blakes. We weren't. The Blakes weren't bad though. The Magic Bullets were not bad either, but not that as good. The lead sounded something like Franz Ferdinand. White Williams was pretty awesome. Great beats and everything but the energy at the venue was not nearly as good as it could have been. Maybe because they made us stand outside in the rain for an hour.

http://www.myspace.com/theblakes
http://www.myspace.com/magicbullets
http://www.myspace.com/whitewilliams

Justice

So Justice is awesome. Totally awesome. I've been listening to their rejected Christmas mix non stop. Thanks to Asian Dan, it's available to all of you guys. Awesome.

Pictures

Here they are:



Specs:
Deck:
Pioneer brand
100W per channel
4 channels

Speakers:
Outdoor speakers from Radio Shack
130W

The deck has a sub hookup on it so maybe one day.....

New Enclosure

Yesterday I spent 6 hours making a new enclosure. This one is superior in many aspects. For one it does not look like utter crap. Other improvements include:

Hidden charging electrodes
More solid construction
Bolted to the frame

Pictures will be coming soon