I’ve never been to Coachella, but I say with confidence that I don’t regret that. But I do suppose that I owe the festival a big “THANK YOU!” for sending this amazing co-headlining show my way. In between the Coachella weekends this year, there are amazing shows in the outskirts of LA and tUnE-yArDs and St. Vincent at The Glass House in Pomona this Thursday 4/19 is the best one.
I have been completely obsessed with both of these bands this year. My crush on St. Vincent is clear from the love I’ve been giving the project on my site (WATCH THIS: St. Vincent – “Cheerleader” / Favorite Albums of 2011). tUnE-yArDs has gotten less textual support, but I love Meryl nearly as much. I’M SO EXCITED!
I loved Rugrats, so with a name like “Reptar,” you’re bound to get my attention. And it’s not just me– this Georgia-based band has been collecting quite a following since 2008. Their debut album Body Faucet was produced by Ben Allen (Animal Collective, Gnarls Barkley, Washed Out) and will be released on Vagrant Records on May 1st (review coming soon).
They’ll be playing at SXSW and supporting buzzed-about band Grouplove on tour this Spring. If you’re like me and want to catch them early, come see them at The Echo this Wednesday with Quiet Hooves and Lucius.
REPTAR LIVE DATES
2/23 – Fitzgerald’s (Downstairs) – Houston, TX
2/24 – The Prophet Bar – Dallas, TX
2/25 – Stubbs BBQ – Austin, TX
2/27 – Solar Culture – Tucson, AZ
2/28 – Soda Bar – San Diego, CA
2/29 – The Echo – Los Angeles, CA (more…)
Walking Sleep’s series of EPs, Tarp Sessions, will be released as a full length on collectable orange 12″ vinyl on November 1st. They’ll have some pre-order bundles available next week.
If you’re a frequent reader, you’re aware of my weakness for finely tuned indie pop withguy/girl vocals. Walking Sleep fits right in, rocking it out and romancing with the essence of the dreamy fifties. Grab your beau and catch them tonight at The Bootleg with Radical Face. Walking Sleep goes on at 8:45 so make sure to get there early.
The show with Vanaprasta at the Thirsty Crow was a huge success. The band’s acoustic show is sensational and the crowd was dancing, singing, and a mob of rambunctious excited energy. The highlight for me was the newest single “Nine Equals Nine” from their upcoming album Healthy Geometry. They have a Monday night residency at The Satellite in november and if you don’t make it out at for at least one of the shows, you’ll be missing out on something sensational.
“Capsize” from BBDLP1 out September 26 on Coming Home Records
If you live in Los Angeles and you haven’t been to one of Big Black Delta’s shows yet, you’d be making a huge mistake by missing the last night of their residency at The Satellite tonight. I’ve been to a few already and the live show is incredible–no house lights, just a multi-colored light board synchronized with the music. Jonathan Bates (aka Big Black Delta) slinking around the stage with the mic chord slung over his shoulders twiddling with his laptop and, let’s not forget, two female drummers with full kits frame either side of the stage–Mahsa Zargaran and Amy Wood. It’s 35 minutes of pure energy and once you’ve emerged from the pool of vibrations, you will be converted.
Plus, some perks of this last show: today marks the release of Big Black Delta’s debut LP BBDLP1. They’ll be selling their limited-edition colored vinyl tonight, which I think is pretty damn sexy.
Also, highly-buzzed band Letting Up Despite Great Faults will be playing just before BBD so get there early!
SET TIMES:
9.26 Los Angeles, CA @ The Satellite (Free Residency, BBD record release party)
12 pm – Echoes de Luxe
11 pm – Big Black Delta
10 pm – Letting Up Despite Great Fault
9 pm – Death Kit
And in case you’re a new fan, download the older EP for free…
Upon arriving at the large canyon where Pacific Festival: OC was situated, my first thought was “where is everyone?” Even though the festival had already been going on for about an hour before my photographer Tamea and I got there, there was no line getting in and barely anyone wandering around the grounds. We staked out the place, crossing through the main stage area, through the array of still-close food trucks, to a giant dirt lot pulsing with electronic beats.
AROD
Gotta Dance Dirty’s AROD was positioned in a colorful Teepee-of-a-stage and grooving to white headphones behind a laptop and a turntable or two. Everything felt like the wrong setting. The crowd was sparse and the sun was bright overhead in what looked plainly like a desert, but the tunes were dark, hot, and wet. AROD is the girl at the club who is drunk and sweaty but too far gone to care. The samples were a whirlwind of textures, never leaning too house or aggressive–just a good time. Or rather, it would have been given the right place and crowd. He was just a victim of festival scheduling, but still made a good impression.
Sneaking into the artist lounge to take a break from the sun and re-collect, we were happy to discover, THERE WAS HUMMUS. Once we had come up with a game plan, we set out for the Pacific stage where Superhumanoids was up next. (more…)
I had the distinct pleasure of spending part of my fourth of July weekend with Taking Back Sunday in Phoenix, AZ at The Marquee Theater. It’s been a few years since I last joined them and not only are they back with their strongest album in a long while, but this tour also marks the return of TBS’s original line up.
The show started with The New Regime who were decent, but ultimately forgettable. After a few more drinks The Colour Revolt took the stage and if you haven’t seen this band, you’re missing out. They were the best parts of mewithoutyou with their own style, but end of the day were just super awesome. I bought their record after the show.
Next up was Thursday, a band I loved in my younger days, but who lost me somewhere along the way. Their set was great, exactly how I remembered them. Tight, full of energy. Their set was mostly newer material, but they did bring out the deep classic “Jet Black New Year” off of the somewhat obscure Five Stories Falling EP and the place erupted with happy fans.
Taking Back Sunday took the stage in grand fashion, kicking off their set with “MakeDamnSure,” which made the whole room release all the energy they’d been storing up until that point. It’s always gutsy to open a show with one of your biggest hits, but this definitely set the stage for the rest of the night. Despite the fact that I had promised a review for this show, I needed to mosh to this set. Taking Back Sunday practically demands it (in fact, I think they may have literally demanded it). I did, like a pissed off 15-year-old and it was the most fun I’d had in a while. Their set was a great mix of old favorites and new songs that reminded me why I love this band. So much energy, and a sense of passion that can sometimes be forgotten in all of the “chillwave” and “reverb.” TBS played a great show and they’ve still got it.
Jimmy Eat World, what a show to begin my Seattle based rock journalism efforts with. It has been almost precisely ten years since I’ve seen them live (their Bleed American tour in 2001) and the decade has certainly treated them well. It started a little tumultuously with the departure of Mike Trombino from the “Futures” project in 2004, as he had produced/recorded with/ or engineered every major release of theirs since 96 when he produced their first studio album Static Prevails. It was said that this was due to the band not having enough material to feel comfortable recording a full cohesive album and then later having scheduling conflicts with Trombino. While this was indeed traumatic as far as the production of the album was concerned it gave the band a chance to break away and construct something completely different. They took a little time to get back into the creation phase and after building out a few of the key tracks of Futures they teamed up with Gil Norton who was known widely for his work with the Pixies and Dashboard Confessional and put out an album that was a far reach from anything that they had done before. I found the album to be a testament to the many layers of the group that was continually being displayed through the evolution of each album. The band then toured with Taking back Sunday and Greenday before returning to the studio to record their next album “Chase This Light”
Chase This Light came at an interesting time for me because I was heavily involved in the creation of tour apparel for major label bands for a merch company in Los Angeles and was constantly immersed in the music world. While I didn’t have the pleasure of working on any Jimmy t-shirts they were definitely played through my headphones while I worked away in adobe. When Chase This Light came out I couldn’t stop listening. It felt like an incredible call back to the days of Bleed American where every track could be a single. It was one of those albums where there was no wasted space, every song was worth listening to every time. This time they decided to self produce the album, which involved getting a bunch of talented producers working together with them to create something amazing. (Chris Testa and John Fields as co-producers and Butch Vig as exec producer)
After announcing that they were going to start working on their next album in 2008 Atkins began work in a bit of an unconventional method for “Invented”. He would spend time studying the works of photographers like Cindy Sherman and Hannah Starkey before putting pen and ink to paper and because of this method a lot of the songs have their own distinct message. Each track communicates an individual idea but is woven together to form a fully cohesive set of thoughts communicated through the band’s music.
While putting together the material for Invented, Jimmy Eat World traveled for a tenth anniversary tour of the release of their first studio album Clarity in which they performed ten sold out shows across the US in which they played the album Clarity in its entirety. It was on this tour that the band regained connections to Trombino while playing in San Diego. They then decided to work with him again to produce their most recent work. One of the reasons they worked so well together on this production was Trombino’s willingness to produce in an unconventional method. The band would record their tracks in their home studio space “Unit 2” in Arizona and then send the tracks off to Trombino who was located in Los Angeles. It was an interesting long distance relationship but no one can deny the results. “Invented” very clearly follows the path of greatness that has been made standard by this band. With Atkins new approach to the lyrics and the return to Trombino’s production style (you can hear elements of Clarity and Bleed American pulse through this album) I was again amazed by their work. It should also be noted that another flavor was added to the recording in singer/song writer Courtney Marie Andrews who provided an integral part to the sound of the album and again in the show I just witnessed.
I will admit that Jimmy has seen a little less face time on my playlists over the last few years but this show reminded me of why I’ve been a fan for so damn long. When you run into bands throwing down shows after establishing a pretty extensive catalogue of music there is no telling what can come up, Atkins and crew played almost everything I wanted to hear from the more obscure to the classics to some tracks off of their most recent album “Invented”. I can liken it best to having just had exactly what I wanted from a meal. I walked away from that music feast satisfied and since the show they’ve definitely seen resurgence in my library.
