His rise has inspired me to start a new project, called “Give Katy Perry Some Material To Write About By Sending Her to Somalia for a Month.” Basically, I have heard various Katy Perry songs and have become concerned that she has no well to draw from. So far, we have learned that she can be moody (”Hot ‘N Cold”), that she has some interests in exploring her sexuality (”I Kissed a Girl”), and that she thinks girls like her from California are the best (”California Girls”). To get her career to the next stage and provide some longevity, and more importantly, to fill the free airwaves with more stimulating and enlightened music, I think we need to plot a societal intervention to get Katy where we need a public artist to be. Keep an eye out for a Pay Pal donation link coming soon, where for just a few dollars a day, you could provide Katy Perry with the life experiences to really write some amazing songs.
Coachella 2010 wrapped up 2 weeks ago and I’m just getting around to writing up my review/thoughts. It was a wonderfully mild weekend, with highs not surpassing 92 degrees. More importantly, Saturday and Sunday were overcast. I’ve never had a better Coachella weather experience. Kudos to Goldenvoice for moving the event up 2 weeks. Their new get-one-wristband-and-wear-it-all-weekend process worked, to an extent. The worst part of it was on Friday when wristbands were first issued - long lines were everywhere, and eventually they ran out of wristbands. The event was listed as sold out at least a week before; Goldenvoice screwed up this part. Saturday and Sunday were a much smoother experience and entry was no problem.
The sold out part was surprising but real. It did seem like there were more people all 3 days than I’ve ever seen. Even earlier in the day, it was tough to walk the polo fields. One major change this year was the increase in relay speakers. You could now hang out several hundred feet back from the stage and get a major sound experience. In years past, it was always very obvious where the radius of sound ended because a large, dense ring of people crowded to be inside this radius. Behind the radius of sound, the crowd was lean. So this year, with several rings of relay speakers, people were more evenly spaced out and there was less pushing to just hear the show (on the 2 main stages at least - the Gobi & Sahara tent still have amplification problems).
As for the music, I saw a variety of excellent performances. Friday, I saw:
Hockey
Yeasayer
She & Him
Dillinger Escape Plan
Passion Pitt
Grizzly Bear
Imogen Heap
Ceu
Jay 7
I had to elave She & Him early because they were really boring. Dilinger Escape Plan, on the other hand, blew my mind and my ear drums. Grizzly Bear sounded weak on an outdoor stage, and could not create an intimate performance when the other stages were bleeding through. They need an intimate performance space, or a different performance for festivals (see the Decemberists for how to do this properly, and see Jose Gonzalez for another example of flacid festival performance).
Jaz Z killed it - his band was awesome. I’m usually not a fan of hip hop performances, but this ranks as one of the best. To an extent, I will have trouble appreciating Jay Z at a club - he needs a live horn section every time! Beyonce’s guest performance during encore was incredible - google “Forever Young” to see their duet.
My only regrets for Friday was missing Echo & the Bunnymen, deamau5, and the specials.
On Saturday, I saw
temper trap
gossip
edward sharpe and the magnetic zeros
the xx
hot chip
parts of faith no more and mgmt
muse
Edward Sharpe woke me up from a nap I was taking in front of the Outdoor Stage, and I really got into their hippie groove. I had never heard of this band previously but I will definitely be checking out their recorded tracks and keep them on my concert radar. The XX were incredible, but the audience seemed rather bored. Hot Chip more boring than I would have guessed for a dance band.
On Sunday, I saw:
florence and the machine
jonsi
yo la tengo
miike snow
orbital
thom yorke
I wish I could’ve stayed to watch the Gorillaz, who I heard were incredible. Some said they were the highlight of the festival. Florence put on an incredibly high energy set that left us wanting more. Jonsi started slow but found his groove mid way and produced an incredible sonic experience. Orbital was excellent until the covers of Guns and Roses and etc. Thom Yorke plus friends was amazing - great backing band with much livelier and rhythm interpretions of the Eraser album. I had to leave midway to get back to town for work, but I wish I could’ve heard some of the non-Eraser material, including some Radiohead songs.
All in all, another wonderful weekend. I’d hype Coachella, but now that it’ll probably sell out, the festival doesn’t need my promotion.
Airborne Toxic Event, a band from Los Feliz, CA, has a series of acoustic versions of their songs that are completely amazing. The song below, gasoline, features brush hits on a snare and an upright bass, for a version that surpasses the album song.
I saw Beck last night, performing with his father and string orchestra conductor, David Campbell at the Hollywood Bowl. The show was well designed. He started off with Loser, the song that propelled his career, to get it out of the way, and raced through 3 minute arrangements of Odelay, Hell Yeah, Timebomb, and other classics. The orchestra came out for 4 to 5 songs, to wonderful effect. I was disappointed before by the last strings/band collaboration at the bowl, when I saw Belle & Sebastian and the Philharmonic in 2006. In that case, the music was just too diffuse and the melody and vocals were washed away in over-orchestration. But not so, with Beck, probably because David Campbell did much of the original orchestration for the Beck albums anyway. And finally, I forgot about the ability to put on great light shows at the Bowl, and the Beck producers took full advantage of using light to amplify the effects of the music.
LAist had a provocative article several months back about the dearth of good music, and good music venues on the west side, in the context that tickets were still available to a Rilo Kiley show at the Santa Monica Civic Center.
Rilo Kiley have a new record out, their first video for it “Moneymaker” was hot as hell (see below), and pretty much every new band name checks them as a band and definitely Jenny Lewis. Plus they’re bringing two other really good bands, The Bird and the Bee, and Grand Ole Party with em. So why aren’t the kids from the westside filling the joint?
Because the westside is soft and has no taste. Just as always, just as it will always be. Bet ya Good Charlotte would sell out in minutes there. Bet Daughtry could pack the place overnight. It’s all why there are no great clubs over there, it’s why there aren’t any good bands coming from there, it’s why real bands don’t want to play there.
There is truth to this — the “east side” — Hollywood, Silverlake, and Echo Park — certainly dominate the live music scene in Los Angeles. After spending a year in Los Feliz, walking to wonderful venues like The Derby, Tangier, the Greek Theatre, etc, moving to the West Side was disappointing for seeing live music. A few bars had small corners for live music, with dry rock music or even jam bands, but nothing like the vibrant indie scene going on 8 miles east.
But lately I’ve found some venues that have been booking good bands, and with local support, have the potential to bring more shows over.
The Air Conditioned Supper Club on Lincoln Blvd., not to be confused with the Air Conditioned Wine Bar on Pico Blvd, is a popular night club in Venice. There are crowds of attractive people lining up to get on the weeknights to dance to club/hip hop music. But on Tuesday nights, their stage turns over to rock bands and the occasional pole dancer. They have a taco special and no cover, so its a good bet to check out.
The Temple Bar consistently books excellent hip hop, rock, and world music at their beautiful bar in Santa Monica on Wilshire. Parking is pretty easy at metered spaces, and the covers are usually $5 or $10, cheaper if you get there earlier. I recently saw The Elevaters, a 6 piece live hip hop/soul group that had the best live performance I’ve seen in a long time. The trio of MCs played off each other beautifully with charisma I’ve not seen in a hip hop group. Their performance features falsettos, soul, rapid fire verses, beat boxing, and congas. Check out the Temple Bar website for upcoming shows.
Good Hurt, on Venice Blvd in Mar Vista, has a nice interior with a bar, booths, a pool table, and a stage. The acoustics are mediocre, and they have a tendency to charge $10 bucks cover on a weeknight for no-name bands, but they do book live music on an almost nightly basis. I question their marketing, which heavily emphasizes the female bartenders with nurse outfits that emphasize cleavage. Not that there is anything wrong with this, but I don’t think a single bartender — no matter what her bra size — is enough to get this place going, and I’ve yet to see more than 20 folks attend a show. Then again I’ve never been on a weeknight, and looking at their website, last night they have a 20 piece Brazilian percussion band, and played “BRAZILIAN BOOTY SHAKIN’ DANCE PARTY,” which, to these ears, is totally dope. Looks like they are coming back on March 7th — cya there?
And. . . thats all I got, west of the 405. Am I missing anything? Let me know.
I’ve felt bad, leaving a negative review on the top of this here blog for the past few months. I haven’t softened my stance on Let’s Go Sailing - their live show works better than benadryl.
M.I.A. was in town a few weeks ago, and the line at the new venue EchoPlex (underneath the Echo) was well over 300 people, waiting for a sold out show in the hopes that capacity might increase. Come to think of it, I have no idea why they were waiting, and we took off. The new album Kala is amazing and I listen to it frequently. That is all on my MIA obsession.
Though, in honor of her baile funk vibes, I scored some tickets to Bonde De Role next month, also at the EchoPlex. The story goes that Mia’s boyfriend and collaborator, Diplo, has signed Bonde to his label. I don’t know what to expect from the show, but am hoping to catch some rad Brazilian opening acts, in addition to hearing a few of my fav’s from the Bonde.
A few weeks late, but below are some of my Coachella pics. It was a much different festival this year, no doubt because of the Rage reunion. Turning it into a 3 day festival seemed to turn off a lot of people, too, especially since it was hard to get single day passes. I actually enjoyed getting 3 full days of desert music in, though it was hard to schedule with work. The lineup was not as good as last years, yet I still managed to catch some amazing performances and overall, I truly enjoyed the event. The key to Coachella is good planning and common sense. For example, do not drink alcohol at 2 pm when it is 100 degrees and you are in unsheltered sunlight. Do drink alcohol as the sun is setting. Do not camp out at the 2 main stages all day, as you will surely die from heat exhaustion. Do check out the lesser known acts at the smaller, covered tents. I did see more victims of heat exhaustion this year than last, which I blame on the Rage Reunion Effect (RRE).
LA’s own DO Lab designed a beautiful city in the center of the Empire Polo Field that evoked an elfin village, perhaps an Ewok city, of shade tents that looked like leaves. This organically-inspired city had a stage in the center, raised up on wood - it was like a treehouse party with psy-trance DJs spinning through most of the event.
There were amazing art installations all throughout the fairgrounds, including this massive, spider-looking thing. There was also a set of tesla coils that turned on occasionally at night.
This guy is charging his cell phone by peddling on a bike. Seems like more than a few people forgot their chargers and figured they had to peddle to chat. Pretty impressive considering the temperatures.
As for the music, Rodrigo y Gabriela rocked the Gobi tent with their metal/classical guitar music. The duo used two acoustic guitars to create fervent, classic guitar music. Gabriela played percussion on the barrel of her guitar to great effect. Their cover of a Pink Floyd song rocked.
I actually had no interest in seeing The Decemberists, but I had nothing better to see. Their show was in the late afternoon at an outdoor stage without sun shield, so I broke my own rules to see them. The sunny, outdoor stage would not seem to suit the melodramatic, intellectual band from Portland, but they rocked the crowd. Their tight and witty songs projected out well to the huge audience, and the playfulness of Colin Meloy kept everyone into the folktale style of songwriting. One of their new songs described a deep sea adventure in which the hero is swallowed by a whale, and the live performance included a band member in a ridiculous whale costume swallowing up other band members. For their last song, Colin organized 3 dance offs in the crowd, as sun starched festival goers battled each other on the dance floor.
Conversely, Jose Gonzalez was disappointing at the Gobi tent. He seemed to plod through his songs with useless guest musicians (one, i believe, hit a flute note every now and then.) Perhaps Jose was the one not suited for an outdoor festival.
Amy Winehouse put on an amazing show at the Gobi tent. Her live R&B band and backup dancers, combined with her skimpy outfit and amazing voice, combined for one of the better Coachella performances.
While everyone else was watching the Red Hot Chili Peppers, we snuck off to see The Teddybears at the Gobi tent. The band came out with bear heads and projected classic movies with bear heads superimposed (think about the scene from Scarface at the end, but with a bear shooting everyone up at the mansion.) The guest vocalist rotations made the show quite interesting and the band blended through different styles, including vocoder electro and rasta-rap songs. They even covered an Iggy Pop song.
How could a Coachella 07 review be complete without mention of Rage Against the Machine? There was definitely a tension in the air on Sunday as everyone waited to see Rage. Obviously, a huge segment of the crowd was there to see Rage, and it just looked like an endless sea of people near the main stage. Rage finally took to the stage, looking the same as they always did, and prepared to . . . fizzle. The sound engineers dropped the ball - it sounded like Rage was being pumped out of a boombox. I could actually hear people talk next to me as they crunched through the first 3 songs. After the levels were finally changed, the real show began and Rage brought it back old school. There was no rioting, and corporate america still pulsed on, but for a minute, it felt like we were part of something big and volatile … and then the show ended and we were slowly herded out to the very crowded parking lot.
The amateur rock photography i have promised has finally arrived on day 2. I started my first full day at SXSW by going to some of the panels. After getting some corporate conference calls out of the way (boooo overlords!), I caught the tail end of David Byrne’s talk entitled “Record Companies: Who Needs Them?” The hall was packed to overflow capacity, and David appeared to be winding up his thoughts when I got there. It seemed slightly disjointed, as he occasionally played with his macbook on the podium in the middle of a thought.
First things first, I had to get my BBQ fix out of the way. A buddy of mine, a local Austinite, took me to the Ironworks on 1st street where I had delicious ribs and was introduced to the concept of serving a slice of white, Wonder bread with meat. It turned out to be an essential side dish to dull the burning spicy BBQ that I lathered my ribs with.
For my first evening showcase, I went to La Zona Rosa, on the Western side of the city. This large venue was playing host to the Attic Jam, a showcase by Pete Townshend (pictured above) and his girlfriend, Rachel Fuller. The Attic Jam is headlined by Fuller and Townshend, who perform their own songs, but who also make appearances in the bands opening for them. These are bands that Rachel and Pete are really into, and included Willy Mason, Mika, Alexi Murdoch, Sean Lennon, Martha Wainright, and a bunch of others. Pete came out first and rocked the acoustic guitar with really complex rhythms and blew the audience away. This performance came after his SXSW keynote speech, which I missed, about his new venture into user-generated music.
Later in the evening, I went to the various Emo’s showcases (which featured 4 stages.) First I caught Dengue Fever, a Cambodian pop/psychedelic rock band from Los Angeles. The 6 piece band plays covers of 60’s and 70’s Cambodian pop songs and also originals in the same style. The Cambodian vocals and vocal styles are hard to get used to because of the strange melodies and overall high pitched tone, not to mention that all the songs were sung in Cambodian. The band was very tight, and the catchy guitar licks and good stage presence brought the crowd into the show. Their basist, Senon Williams, almost stole the show from the lead singer with his huge frame and manic dancing. By a huge margin, the band won the award for Best Facial Hair at SXSW.
After this set, I wandered over to another Emo’s stage and caught Datarock, a Norway synthpop band. The foursome entered the stage in matching tracksuits and sunglasses, with a breakbeat, and proceeded to perform the Datarock Rap. Then they picked up their instruments and played fun, dance rock and got the indie rock audience to shake their asses, for at least a few songs.
At the main stage, the Gossip started their set at the same time as Datarock’s, so I only caught the last few songs. This loud, rocking threesome from Arkansas had filled the venue. I saw them last at a KWUR show 3 or 4 years ago and I thought they were fun but somewhat forgettable. At Emo’s, they were fucking massive, and Beth, their large, lesbian lead singer was channeling Patty Labelle. The guitarist and drummer made a louder sound than some of the 4 pieces I saw at SXSW. At the end of the set, Beth stripped down to her underwear, a bold move given her physique. She owned the show and her confidence as a singer and a woman were evident. I wish I saw the whole set!
Its 12:30 in the morning, we’re on fumes and have had some to drink, but 10 blocks west, at Opal’s Firehouse, The Bird and the Bee from LA are set to play in a half hour. We make the long, cold walk to watch the Blue Note signed The Bird and the Bee perform a 20 minute sound check. That wasn’t long enough, as when they finally started at 1:20 AM, the feedback and low hum ruined the otherwise classy performance. Inara George had a cute outfit with a much too short skirt, and was backed by 2 singers. They performed their poppy/electronic/jazzy songs and thanked the sparsely attended audience for making the late show.
Arriving late in the evening, I missed most of the opening festivities, but I did catch the start of the night shows. Emo’s Main Room was too crowded, so we hit up the sister bar, Emo’s IV Lounge. I apparently saw Tiny Vipers from Seattle, but I don’t remember anything about this set and didn’t take any notes or pictures. I’m sorry Tiny Vipers, my complete ambivalence must mean that you aren’t very good, but I especially remember the bad shows, so you were just.. neutral?
The next act was Lonely, Dear from Sweden, and they were highly recommended by Alex, a graphic designer/IT professional from Arkansas. A lengthy sound check, including the set-up of a glockenspiel, was not terribly inspiring. And their lead singer, looking like a 15 year old boy, ambled up to the mic. His choir-boy style of vocals had us heading for the door after the first song.
We ventured over to Stubb’s, the largest venue at the event. Stubb’s looked more like a traditional amphitheater than the club settings for the other bands, so the bigger bills were usually booked here. We saw Razorlight, a British four piece who channeled Queen and 70’s rock glam. Their lead singer a pure, rock ‘n roll star, whom my buddy likened to Mic Jagger. He owned the stage and the audience with his flamboyant presence and vocals. True to form, he ripped off his shirt half way through the set, exposing his waif like hairless chest. With their epic riffs and driving percussion, Razorlight rocked the audience, who appeared to be quite familiar with their songs.
Following Razorlight, the Bravery took the stage and played a decent set. I am only familiar with their one hit from a few years ago (with the video of the rube goldberg machine), but apparently they are huge and from New York. I mention this last part because a music writer in line behind me insisted that they are British, but the lead singer’s banter between the songs disproved that argument.
The amateur rock photography did not make an appearance this night, but stayed tuned for blurry, wide shots of musicians taken from very bad angles!
I just arrived back from SXSW and I am physically wasted. I attempted to squeeze every band in that I could possibly see, and I paid the toll Saturday night, after alternating meals of BBQ and pizza by the slice, I could no longer focus on the band on stage for more than 5 minutes. I finally called an early night and prepared to actually get 8 hours of sleep, and then hang out all day at the SXSW hangover party at Opal’s Firehouse. I thought my flight out of Austin was at 7 PM and I was looking forward to sitting at one place all day in the beautiful spring skies of Austin. Unfortunately, after I woke up at 11:30 AM and realized my flight was leaving at 1 PM, I scrambled and was lucky enough to find a cab to the airport.
Which brings me to lesson 1 and 1A of South by Southwest. When a cab finally picks you up at your hotel, try to get their personal number. At 3 AM, there are apparently no cab drivers in the greater Austin area, and any cab you try to call to your location will pick up the first fare they see, and that will not be you. Lesson 1A is to know your flight times, though this might be a universal lesson and not so specific to SXSW.
I was most impressed with the organization of the event. Everything went smoothly, most bands performed on time, or within 10 minutes of their start time, which made it easy to hop between venues. Not a single band I planned on seeing canceled or even changed their time slots, and this with a schedule made several months in advance. Just amazing! I foolishly went to the panels the first full day i was in town; every talk, no matter what the title, degenerated into a discussion of how the internet is changing how fans find artists, and how to make money via the internet without music labels. Seriously, I went to a talk about Net Neutrality, and business models for music stores dominates the discussion. After this experiment with panels, I just went to some of the sponsored parties during the day and had much more fun.
I will be posting amateur concert pics with brief reviews over the next week. As you can see, the streets really filled up on Saturday night, coinciding with St. pat’s day. The St. Pat’s crowd kind of got in the way, but I guess 6th street can be exclusively for music fans for 6 days out of the week, and then we shared the 7th day.
Last weekend I attended the 7th annual Coachella festival in the desert. It was completely incredible, mainly because I saw so much high quality live music. I didn’t really take any notes during the sets, and I was running in between the stages to see as many acts as I could, so I didn’t always stay for the entirety, but here are some rambling notes about some of the artists I saw:
Depeche Mode - awesome show (2nd time I’ve seen them). Strange stage production that involved a giant UFO looking ball with morose words in LEDs (ANGST, REMORSE, also ANGEL). Their keyboards also looked like UFOs. It looked kind of stupid.
Franz Ferdinand - Sounded good, I was really far away from the stage but it looked like a good performance.
Sigur Ros - kind of awkward listening to them in the direct sunlight that their stage and timeslot afforded them.
Damian Marley - One of my favorite sets. The son, or second cousin, or whatever of Marley was rocking hard. Had a guy waving a Jamaican flag on stage that was really kind of cool.
Murs - Amazing MC who i had heard was part of living legends, but had never seen before. I was cracking up the entire time - his lyrics are awesome.
And now I will switch to listing one phrase per act, because I am getting bored of this: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (crowded tent), Imogen Heap (amazing solo show!), White Rose Movement (kind of boring post-Orgy music), Platinum Pied Pipers (forgettable), Hybrid feat. Perry Farrell (cool), Section Quartet (muzak quartet covers of pop songs…eh), Massive Attack (incredible!! they brought back all their old singers, and have an awesome stage set-up. Very political, too), Tool (solid), Madonna (crowded), Bloc Party (boring), Oakenfold (4 pm in the desert is not the best time), James Blunt (boring), Matisyahu (actually put on a good live show), Sleater Kinney (awesome!), Gnarles Barkley (surprisingly kind of boring. “crazy” was pretty much the highlight), Amadou and Miriam (beautiful Mali music), Seu George (cool, but not as cool as his stuff in The Life Aquatic), Ted Leo (boring), Jamie Lidell (good show, not as good as his show last week at the Trobadour, and had an annoying guy on stage with him that didn’t contribute to the music and was just annoying with his ‘act’.)
