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Brother / Useless Keys, Live @ The Satellite, Los Angeles 04/26/11

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Contributed by Christopher Gedos

Brother and Useless Keys played The Satellite Tuesday night to roughly 110 people. Airborne Toxic Event played here Monday night to a sold out crowd (check out August Brown’s thorough review here). I’m afraid many concert-goers were too burnt out for double duty. Moreover, Brother only has 3 (or 4) songs online at the moment, which I’m sure factored into the modest turnout. But those in attendance were generously rewarded for their curiosity with a playfully confident 45 minute performance.

I arrived about two songs into Useless Keys’ post-psychedelic performance. I didn’t even know it was them for another three songs. I had to ask the girls at the merch table. I mean it in the best possible way when I say that Useless Keys are all over the place sonically. It’s fun seeing a band this talented still trying to define their sound. Or maybe they don’t want to be defined. The volume is near-deafening as fog envelops the stage. Everybody digs the paranoiac ambiance. Their sound is schizophrenic: Replacements on roids, My Bloody Valentine at prom, Nirvana in LaLa land, early Pink Floyd meets Trout Mask Replica. Only through the marriage of cacophony will such eccentric euphony ever ferment.

Brother hasn’t basked in the “second coming” musical deification bestowed upon The Vaccines and WU LYF, possibly because they’re from Slough as opposed to London or Manchester. Their self-described style, grit-pop, isn’t quite as apt as WU LYF’s “heavy pop”. A more fitting branding for Brother is “hard-jangle”, in honor of XTC and The La’s.

As Brother prepares to take stage, I’m not quite sure what to expect. It’s a battle of cognition versus perception: I know the group to be a very promising foursome, but is my concert-going frequency having an adverse affect on the appreciation value? Am I becoming a part of the creative and jaded LA cross-section I’ve lamented in the past?

My doubt dissipates once Brother takes stage and launches into “Still Here”, which was featured in an April 9th post. The pitch-perfect harmonies have a tinge of adolescent abandon, as in, “We know we sound good and we still don’t give a fuck!” The singer mentions something about his guitar strap breaking and how “half a million people in England might care to know that right now.” (I’m paraphrasing.) I can forgive a healthy level of conceit for a band with this much talent. After all, Rock n’ Roll is a game designed for the young and the precocious, those who understand that each passing moment is the oldest we’ve ever been and the younger we’ll ever be. And Brother, with their charming blend of youthfulness and insouciance, perfectly captures that ineffable spirit.

The songs besides “Still Here”, “Darling Buds of May”, and “Time Machine” were catchy as well, but I’m still not sure if Brother will maintain the uniform quality of their initial public offerings. They could’ve played louder but I won’t nitpick. “Just download the album for free,” the singer quipped. I don’t know how happy Geffen will be if Brother dissuades CD purchases come July, but it doesn’t really matter if the lads from Slough deliver like they did at The Satellite on Tuesday. All interested parties will receive their spoils, creative and monetary, at year-end.

Brother – New Year’s Day

Brother: (Official) (Myspace)

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RATING: 8.88 – A score suggesting great auspiciousness, even infinity.
brown8

reviewed by
04-28-11

Seapony – Dreaming

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Contributed by Christopher Gedos

Seattle’s Experience Music Project unveiled its Nirvana exhibit last weekend, but Seapony proves that Seattle hasn’t lost it’s rock relevance here in the year 2011. Dreaming, the 7″ of which was released by Double Denim records, has been rippling throughout the superhighway as of late. Intelligent rock from the city with the most PhDs per capita in the United States. These black and red flannel patterns don’t run! Seapony is rock regionalism at its finest. Dreaming infuses all the saccharine elements of dream-surf while discarding all the insincere ones. Color me excited for their show at The Echo on May 31st. And don’t you worry Brooklynites — they play Glasslands on June 15th.

Seapony – Dreaming

Seapony: (Bandcamp) (Facebook)

RATING: 8.3
brown8

reviewed by
04-22-11

Smith Westerns – All Die Young

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Contributed by Christopher Gedos

My only really polished skill is my ability to make sweeping generalizations about the state of people, places and things. So take it with no small grain of salt when I proclaim that Smith Western’s “All Die Young” is one of the representative songs of this the year 2011. It’s not indie pop but rather plain old pop music, music meant to be heard by the masses lest capitalist hogs and lowest common denominators bully their way through the back door. The effortlessness, the long build to the chorus, it’s dream pop at the expense of the dream and nerd rock at the expense of the nerd. It’s Beach Boys circa ‘71 had Brian Wilson never cracked. A beautiful lake-effect blowing in off the shores of Lake Michigan, Chicago’s Smith Westerns.

Smith Westerns – All Die Young

Smith Westerns: (Myspace) (Blogspot) (Twitter)

Rating: 8.7

brown93

reviewed by
03-29-11

Wu Lyf – L Y F

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Contributed by Christopher Gedos

Q: Does this band know how good they are? A: Of course. Otherwise they wouldn’t have kept their cards superglued to their chest over the past year. Otherwise they wouldn’t self release their album (Go Tell Fire to the Mountain, out in the UK June 13th), nor would their website look like an art gallery installation. Otherwise their music wouldn’t bubble with such untamed emotion, nor would their videos border both catharsis and parody. These guys are so far ahead of the pack it’s scary, and their other songs are of equally uniform quality. WU LYF’s U.S. debut this April Fool’s Eve at Glasslands Gallery in Brooklyn is sure to be AN EVENT.

Wu Lyf – L Y F

Wu Lyf: (Official) (Myspace) (Facebook)

Rating: 8.7

brown93

reviewed by
03-29-11

Red Cortez/Richard Swift/Everest, Live @ The Satellite, Los Angeles 02/28/11

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Contributed by Christopher Gedos

Everest, Richard Swift and Red Cortez played at The Satellite (formerly Club Spaceland) on Monday, February 28th. It was the final Monday for Red Cortez’s residency. They played 4 free shows and gave away 4 free EPs (different each week) throughout the month. It was either the final Spaceland residency or the first Satellite residency, and I’m sure the crowd would’ve been at max capacity were it not for the unnecessary, corporate-driven name change.

Five piece Everest was Neil Young’s backing band on the legend’s most recent tour. I could see them slaying through hits like “Cinnamon Girl”, “Hey Hey (My My)” and “I’m The Ocean” with fury and confidence. But Everest’s Achilles’ heel is they lack a true frontman, effectively zapping them of their musical prowess. Neil has had good success launching affiliated acts: Danny Whitten sang a haunting lead on most of 1971’s eponymous Crazy Horse before he OD’ed on heroin, and Nils Lofgren has a respectable solo career along with having been part of The E Street Band since the Boss’ 1985 Born In The USA tour. Unfortunately, there’s a time and a place for everything, (not to use too many shallow platitudes in this review.) I think Everest may have been conceived 20 years too late.

Portland-based Richard Swift is a staple of Secretly Canadian records. Imagine Randy Newman singing a mix of Elliot Smith and slow Beatles jams. The emotional availability and unpretentiousness of Ben Folds mashed up with the original song structures of Andrew Bird. Both he and Everest are throwbacks; neither is indicative of the indie scene circa 2011 — more like renegade meteors passing tangential to the asteroid belt. Indie fans are very particular about their tastes. They want a particular sound, and if an artist doesn’t satisfy that need and niche, they’re very easily discarded. Such is the ease and accessibility of music today. Imagine Everest releasing a debut album in ’74 to coincide with Bad Company and Richard Swift releasing an album in ’79 to coincide with Christopher Cross.

I enjoy Swift’s temperament on stage – he doesn’t give two fucks about whether the jaded, LA crowd applauds his music. This is the mark of a true artist, an ability to separate the product from the profit. Everest’s bassist joins in on the last few songs, which prompted my friend to lean in and yell, “this guy’s got a degree in Paul McCartney!” Swift did an a cappella version of “Lady Luck” for an encore which showed off a nice Nilsson Schmilsson vibe.

I saw Red Cortez play on the 21st of February and wasn’t fully impressed. The lead singer had a manic quality bordering on histrionics. I thought the songs were decent but simply couldn’t justify his gimmickry. But he was much more subdued during the show on the 28th. Maybe his band mates sat him down and said, “Don’t resort to that, you’re better than that.” Whatever happened, his toned-down performance was infinitely more believable and truthful. There was also more interaction between the singer and the other band members the second time around.

All their songs are really pretty good, almost anthemic but not there yet. Like Mona, Red Cortez is hoping they take a long time before they discover their ceiling. Unlike Mona, I think Red Cortez’s singer could have a Bono-type stage presence if he tames himself and chooses more wisely his emotional freak-outs. There’s a lot of British post-punk here (Ocean Rain, anyone?) along with the indie Americana of Neutral Milk Hotel and Modest Mouse. Teaming up with Kings of Leon producer Ethan Johns for their upcoming debut LP will prove a wise move for Red Cortez, as I think Johns will nurture their sound much like he did on Youth and Young Manhood and Aha Shake Heartbrake.

Listening to the 2 EPs, I’m even more impressed than Monday’s show. Is Red Cortez’s talent schizophrenic? Which band were they in the recording studio? Which band will they be if they play the Wiltern, Metro or Hammerstein Ballroom? In the lead singer’s defense, he donned a megaphone for the encore, but that was one of the first times he didn’t take himself too seriously. I’d like to see more playfulness from them. You have to separate the art from the business.

Red Cortez: Official / Myspace
Richard Swift: Official / Myspace
Everest: Official / Myspace

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RATING: 7.9999999

brown8

reviewed by
03-04-11

Caribou live @ Henry Fonda Music Box, Los Angeles October 8, 2010

Dan Snaith aka Caribou and his band played Friday night, October 8th, 2010, at the Henry Fonda Music Box in Los Angeles, located at the Southwest corner of Hollywood and Gower, which is also the Southeast corner of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The theater originally opened in 1926 as the Carter DeHaven Music Box Theater. It was called the Fox, followed by the Pix, between the Forties and Seventies, where films had their premieres, and in fact Jaws first showed at the Pix in 1975. The building has been restored over the past several years to its original façade, which could be called Streamline Moderne, (loosely defined as Art Deco, but stripped of its more decorative elements.) However, many Hollywoodites lament the loss of the neon sign which adorned the building three decades ago.

Inside the theater, above the stage and along the walls, are details from the right panel of The Garden of Earthly Delights, by the 16th century Flemish painter Hieronymus Bosch.

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This ancillary information is said to highlight the fact that the Music Box is a great place to see someone like Caribou play, because, like The Music Box, Caribou amalgamates different influences and styles, some of it “cutting edge” or “avant-garde” to the ears of some, and still retains a level of classicism, “rock classicism” in this case, by which I mean mid to late 60’s sounds and song structures. As an electronic newbie back in 2003/2004, this “classicism” helped me bridge the gap and appreciate Snaith’s music from the first.

All of Snaith’s records before Swim had been recorded on an archaic version of Sony ACID, a relatively basic music production software. In fact, Snaith has voiced his disdain in interviews for more in-depth software such as Protools, noting the importance of software whose facility, “allows the thoughts to move as fast as the music.” This also disproves the false notion that Snaith is a virtuoso who records all the instrumentation at once, and he describes his drumming abilities as “very basic.” While he does play the drums live (along with guitar, keys, analog, and recorder), the main drummer plays all of the most difficult parts, the frenetic cacophony of cymbals Caribou/Manitoba is best known for. (sourced interview via One Thirty BPM)

Caribou took the stage at approx. 11:20. They played for about 80 minutes, including the five minute break between the main set and encore. The crowd was very familiar with the recent album Swim, and surprisingly unfamiliar with the earlier material. The audience reception to “Melody Day,” opening track to 2007’s Polaris Prize-winning Andorra, was subdued, and you could almost hear the hipsters whispering, “What song is this?” when they played “Hendrix with KO,” off the 2003 Manitoba album Up In Flames. These songs were highlights of the show for me, prime examples of Snaith’s grounding in Psychadelic Pop. And of course they played all of Swim, playing “Kalli”, “Bowls”, and “Leave House” early in the set, finishing the main set off with “Odessa”, and encore-ing with “Sun”.

I saw Caribou at Cleveland’s Grog Shop back in June, and was surprised that Snaith’s gang trumped themselves with their Music Box show. Even despite the steep disparity in ticket prices ($12 vs. $23) and beer prices ($4 for a PBR tallboy vs. $7 for Heineken in a Dixie Cup). I suppose that’s the price we pay for a more cosmopolitan experience. The venues are more historical, the girls are more beautiful, and the bands play longer and more varied sets. Who says there’s a lower quality of life in the big city? I would gladly trade a covered parking spot or a $450 studio in Cleveland for the opportunity to see shows like Caribou’s at the Music Box in LA on October 8th.

Contributed by: Christopher Gedos

pixakahenryfonda

reviewed by
10-23-10

Pavement / Sonic Youth / No Age @ the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles 09/30/10

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…And the last band left standing shall receive the spoils, but these are metaphysical spoils, which shall not be quantified by ticket sales or legions of fans, but rather by the knowledge that your music inhabits a space within the sinuous web of rock and roll, and that every afternoon new bands are forming everywhere, inspired by a specific set of your songs…

Few bands over the past 25 years exhibit the level of influence wielded by Pavement or Sonic Youth, and we would have to go back a half-decade and across the sea to find bands like Joy Division, Gang of Four, and The Clash, who lay claim to a greater circle of followers.

That being said, the September 30th Pavement / Sonic Youth show at the Hollywood Bowl was a lineup for the ages, at one of the most beautiful venues in the world, a venue almost out of antiquity, so complementary with its natural surroundings that it couldn’t be man-made, or at least originally conceived by the father of the great Frank Lloyd Wright, who was called simply Lloyd Wright.

The up-and-coming Los Angeles band No Age opened the show. They are about to embark upon a European tour, which will be followed by an American tour, including a show at Cleveland’s Grog Shop, an old b3sci stomping ground. This is a band to watch. From what I’ve heard, they’re still in the process of amalgamating their influences, but their measures of experimentation show a band without a clearly defined ceiling, for whom the sky’s actually the limit, creators of music which belongs to “no age”.

Sonic Youth played for about fifty minutes, and they absolutely slayed it! Kim Gordon is 57 years old. She’s the hottest rockin’ grandma I’ve ever seen! The tightness of this band is unbelievable, the result of long periods of incessant, generally uninterrupted touring. They’re like Phish, where even if you’re predisposed against the style, witnessing their live performance is enough to baptize the neophytes. They stopped playing at approximately 9:35, waving and leaving without an encore, to the dismay of thousands of old and new converts.

My friend and I walked around the structure during intermission. Except for the steep incline up to the nosebleeds, there isn’t a bad seat in the whole bowl, thanks to the convex arrangement of seats. The consensus is that the new shell, added between the 2003 and 2004 season, has greatly improved the sound quality. Also worth noting, Heineken costs eight dollars at the Hollywood Bowl… we should’ve gone to a liquor store beforehand.

Pavement took the stage a little before ten o’clock. They opened with “Cut Your Hair”, which was the song they played on Leno back in ’94 (watch below). When we see the popular disregard in Malkmus’ falsetto, it’s easy to understand why they weren’t invited back for a second performance. Still, with its hooks and harmonies, “Cut Your Hair” could’ve been a single on the level of Weezer’s “Buddy Holly”, if only it had a Spike Jonze directed memorable music video. Other highlights included “Gold Soundz” (which was voted top song of the 90’s by Pitchfork) , and the transition into Shady Lane. Other set highlights included “Summer Babe” and “Range Life”.

Malkmus had a wry smile as he trotted off the stage, and I figure they’d be back in 90 seconds for an encore, which of course would include “A T & T”, my favorite Pavement song. But the house lights went up immediately, along with some barely audible PA music, a not-so subtle way to tell the masses to exit the premises. Sadly, the band were hoping to play an encore, which would’ve included “A T & T”, but couldn’t due to time constraints.

It was a fantastic show, and I couldn’t have asked for anything more. But Pavement only played 17 songs, totaling an hour, as opposed to their NYC concert, where they played 27. Hopefully I’ll still see them play “A T & T” someday.

Contributed by: Christopher Gedos

hollywood-bowl

reviewed by
10-06-10