August 15 @ Origami Vinyl In-Store
August 16 @ Hotel Café
The quintet The Wilderness of Manitoba just released the album When You Left The Fire and now they’re out on the road touring. Dueling guy/girl vocal harmonies between lead vocalist Will Whitwham and back-up singer Melissa Dalton are a great match for their indie folk instrumentation. Although they are from Toronto, Ontario and not Manitoba at all, their sound is that of wilderness, drawing similarities to Vancouver/Pacific Northwest bands like The Head and the Heart and Said the Whale.
Check them out in Los Angeles next week! They’ll be free at Origami Vinyl on Monday and cheap at Hotel Cafe on Tuesday.
Their video for “Orono Park” was video of the day on Spinner…
While Orange County tends to be known for the pop punk, screamo, emo, and other mosh-inducing genres that thrive at renowned venues like Chain Reaction in Anaheim, the second annual Pacific Festival: OC is doing it’s best to battle the stereotypes. For the second year, the festival will be conjuring an “upscale” music event, featuring artists of all genres as well as a wide range of food and drinks, art installations, and local business vendors. While last year the festival found a home in the small courtyard and venues of the Triangle Square complex in Costa Mesa, this year the rising event will set up camp in Oak Canyon Ranch in Irvine. It’s nestled in the Santa Ana Mountains where there are over one hundred acres that border the old reservoir and are surrounded by hills, oak trees, a little pond, and a big lake. Sounds like a perfect spot for over 50 artists and 14 hours of music on 5 stages.
Headlining acts include the illustrious hip-hop mainstay and Long Beach resident Snoop Dog, Atlanta blues-tinged garage rock quartet Black Lips, internationally renowned Australian “indietronic” trio Cut Copy, and Newport-Beach-raised electro/house musician, producer, and label-founder Steve Aoki. Even just judging by those four, it’s easy to see the organizers have done a good job of balancing the genres on the bill. You will find a fair amount of DJs, house, and dance musicians, including France’s dance musician Alan Braxe, British electronic group Zoot Woman, and French house producer Fred Falke, but they’ve also pulled in some great indie acts like The Growlers, Phantogram, Superhumanoids, and Hanni El Khatib. …And then there’s Afroman, who will get his own category entirely.
Whether house or rock or somewhere in between, the festival has done a great job of showcasing the local talent. As you’re preparing to head to Pacific Festival this weekend, take a minute to preview a few of the great Southern California acts that will be in attendance.
Superhumanoids @superhumanoids (1:45-2:45 p.m. @ PACIFIC STAGE)
Self-described as “music to help kiss the doldrums away,” the Los Angeles quartet Superhumanoids “makes dreamy pop that shouts summery ’60s harmonies, garage rock’s raw tonality, slick new-wave electronics, and the adventurous dissonance of ’90s indie rock.” Cameron, Sarah, Max, and Evan have together released two EPs (Urgency, July 13, 2010 and Paradise Paradise, April 12, 2011) and a two-track 7-inch, released on June 21, 2011.
Hanni El Khatib @hannielkhatib (4:35-5:35 @ PACIFIC STAGE)
Los Angeles multi-instrumentalist/singer/songwriter/producer Hanni El Khatib is totally off the beaten path and not what you would expect from the name. He’s the son of Palestinian and Filipino immigrants and his music is inspired by his obsession with classic Americana and pop culture of the 1950s and 60s mixed with his past as an avid skateboarder. To borrow (and alter) how the bio describes the band, “his sound is like the rock soundtrack to a glass-shattering knife-wielding dirty bar brawl between…” Clint Eastwood and Black Lips. Khatib’s debut full-length Will The Guns Come Out will be released on September 27th on Innovative Leisure.
The Growlers @theGROWLERS (2:10-3:10 p.m. @ MAIN STAGE)
The Growlers from Costa Mesa are exactly what you might expect from an Orange County band 50 years ago. They’re a lot of 60s surf rock, a good helping of classic rock n’ roll, and a pinch of “pre-punk.” They claim to explore everything from “ice-flossing hip-hop to psychedelic rock.” The second I have to see.
American Royalty @AMRCNRYLTY (3:10-4:10 @ PACIFIC STAGE)
American Royalty is not a 30 second listen. They should not be easily slotted into genre A or B, which may make them a bit less palatable to some, but they kick major ass. The Los Angeles 3-pieces fuses psychedelic rock, electronic house, indie rock sensibilities, and harmonies of front men Billy Scher and Marc Gilfry. For what would normally be a complete disaster, American Royalty’s innovation is a stroke of genius. “Guitars, samplers, 2 singers, drums, synths, whiskey, beer…A never ending showdown of genres.” Can’t wait to see these guys live.
Poolside @poolside_music (4:35-5:35 @ LAKESIDE)
Created in their pool house/recording studio, the Los Angeles friends Filip “Turbotito” Nikolic (of Ima Robot) and Jeffrey Paradise make sweet hazy dream pop electro. It sounds like an afternoon pool party or, as they so aptly describe, “day time disco.” The perfect noise to listen to lakeside at Pacific Festival.
Brady Miller (Wyo Stars) (12:55-1:45 p.m. @ Main Stage)
Miller calls himself a weird dude. He’s played in a million bands, including Wyo Stars, and has been a touring member of Money Mark. He made some music in the dark abyss of his home studio, which he’s debuting at Pacific Festival. He’ll be releasing some of the music he’s recorded as his first solo record in the near future, but only a select few (and by that I mean the thousands at the fest) will have the chance to say they saw his first show. Some looping, filtered vocals, feedback, and pedals, add some talent and ingenuity, and I’d say we’re looking forward to a pretty solid show.
AROD @gottadancedirty (11 AM – 12:45 PM @ LAKESIDE)
To represent a bit of the DJ scene that will be prevalent at Pacific Fest, I’ve picked out one of my favorite DJ’s from the Southland on the lineup. From Santa Barbara and an editor and DJ for the blog Gotta Dancy Dirty, AROD avoids the classic house- and trance-like clichés with the repetitive beats and runs more along the lines of what he considers to be a fusion of “French house, dance punk and electroclash sounds of the early 2000s.” He’s innovative and creates completely dance-inducing beats, using vocal samples to support the melody. Makes perfect sense that he’s opened for Temper Trap, Sleigh Bells, Delorean, and Glass Candy. “His defining electronic dance music moment came in the 7th grade when he stole his big sister’s New Order t-shirt, wore it proudly to class & made all the goth girls swoon.”
I’ve recently been introduced to the amazing musical project of Teddy Briggs from Sacramento, CA–Appetite. The music on Appetite’s recent album Scattered Smothered Covered plays with rhythms and silly melodies with dark themes. It’s really fascinating and I was so enraptured with it that I wanted to ask Teddy, the creator, a few questions.
S: First off, Appetite. Why the name? Does it mean something for the concept of the musical project or was it just something fun?
Teddy: I was trying to think of cool band names (as usual) and I thought of Appetite. I liked the way it sounded and then thought about what it might mean. I think I initially related to the idea of hunger in making music, being hungry in part to be heard but also hungry to just make music no matter what, even if no one heard it. Now I find even more potential meanings for the name, which is my favorite thing about words and language in general, meanings morph with time and context.
“Botany’s debut Feeling Today explores the cosmic nexus of shimmering psychedelia, blissed-out pop, and instrumental hip-hop, as he turns recycled sounds into something thoroughly modern.”
Adding on to my love for music from Texas is Botany, calling home “somewhere between Denton and Austin.” I’ve been obsessed with “Feeling Today” by Botany (aka Spencer Stephenson) for almost a year and now the containing EP will finally be released on August 16th and doesn’t disappoint. The Feeling Today EP slices together noise samples into a beautiful amalgamation. Each sound trickles together and blends like similar shades of watercolor. “Feeling Today” feels like morning light on an empty city street. It gives a sense of brightness. In its simplicity, Botany is intensely beautiful and deeply personal.
Los Angeles’ shoegaze-y electronic rock band Letting Up Despite Great Faults have a new EP Paper Crush coming out on August 2nd on Old Flame Records.the band is the brainchild of founder member Mike Lee. Starting with piano, bass and guitar, Lee started exploring sampling and sequencing after rooming with two DJs in college. Lee along with band mates Kent Zambrana, Chris Gregory, Matt Salas, and Caitlin Dwyer, as a live band integrate electronic and acoustic drums on stage. You can catch them live at The Echo in LA on Monday on Active Child’s residency. If you’re awesome, I’ll see you there!
Portland’s Johanna Kunin’s vocals are strong and firm. In “Hidden Systems” Johanna, along with various other musicians under the moniker Bright Archer, tells the story of nature, history, and love as a lullaby of powerful and dynamic proportions. The song is from the Bright Archer’s recent release Hidden Systems.
With Hidden Systems out now, Bright Archer will be touring the West Coast this August, performing at Los Angeles’ Bardot on Monday, August 22nd.
08.19.11 – Seattle, WA @ Fremont Abbey for Songs About Books
08.20.11 – Davis, CA @ Sophia’s Thai Kitchen
08.21.11 – San Francisco, CA @ Hemlock Tavern
08.22.11 – Los Angeles, CA @ Bardot
08.24.11 – Tucson, AZ @ Plush
08.27.11 – Denver, CO @ The Meadowlark
08.28.11 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
08.29.11 – Boise, ID @ Visual Arts Collective
08.30.11 – Seattle, WA @ Comet Tavern
If you’re going to be on the West Side tomorrow night, come check out “Chicks That Bang” with Correatown, Kissing Cousins and a personal favorite Tic Tic Boom! at Central SAPC in Santa Monica.
The night will be filled with some lovely female musicians and some awesome dude musicians as well. Doors at 9 and $5. DO IT and you won’t regret it.
If your as big of a fan of this British folk pop duo as I am, you’ll be thrilled to hear that on Turntable.fm Tomorrow at 11 am PST they will be debuting tracks from their upcoming album Paradise (Moshi Moshi Records) in the Paste Magazine Room. Their debut full-length Yeah, So came out in March of last year and was easily one of my top favorite records of the year. With a sweet sense of folky nostalgia, gorgeous guy/girl harmonies, and bittersweet lyrics, Yeah, So is completely captivating. Paradise will be out on September 13th so here’s to hoping that Slow Club’s sophomore release will continue my love affair. See you on turntable.fm tomorrow!
As of tomorrow, the single from the record “Two Cousins” (video below) will be available to buy on iTunes.
Loving this! Don’t have too long to write but wanted to share a great track today…
“Their music has been infiltrating the web since early 2010 & already garnered fans around the globe, but MNDR a.k.a. Amanda Warner & co-producer/co-writer Peter Wade 1st came together 1 year ago when Warner moved to New York from Oakland, CA. Warner’s melodic sense & underground noise/art influences coupled with Wade’s interest in merging non-traditional sounds with polished songs has proven to be a perfect marriage of minds. In less than 6 months, MNDR has toured the world opening for acts including Miike Snow, & Massive Attack. MNDR continues to be a band member with Mark Ronson & The Business INTL.” (WeLikeItIndie)
“As MNDR’s single “Cut Me Out” has continued to work its way onto dance floors around the world, the Brooklyn-based DJ, Kingdom, decided to work his notorious remix magic on the track. His remix focuses on one simple melody line on which he builds Amanda’s vocal layers from the original track. Kingdom, who has released some hyped mixtapes and a single through Fool’s Gold records, earned his dance cred through unique remixes like this one. So download this official Green Label Sound remix for free right now along with “Cut Me Out” remixes from Drop the Lime, Hervé, and MNDR.” (Green Label Sound)
