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