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