Album Review: Marvelous Toy - "Not Moving"

by Brad Roberts

Jordan Hudock was one of the first people to approach me when I started going to local shows back around '06 and '07. He and Vivien Cao helped me fish my wallet out of the fountain at Boardner's one night back at a "Let's Independent!" event in early 2008. Vivien posted a short blurb on her blog at the time, Nineteen Thousand Pages, about "Superfan Brad: He's Someone To Know" (March 2008) and we formed a bond. I'd been toying with the notion of starting a blog, but that convinced me and shortly thereafter I began Feed Your Head.

Even then I didn't know that Jordan was a musician with a band called Marvelous Toy, he was just someone I met in clubs and chatted with, as happened with many others who I later learned were in bands. Had the same experience with Matthew Teardrop and Rob Danson, who I got to know long before I'd even heard of Manhattan Murder Mystery or Death To Anders.

It was a completely new experience for me to come to a band "ass-backwards" so-to-speak and know the musicians before I'd heard a note of their music. Thank god their bands were so good I never had to avoid anyone to keep from saying "Your band sucks". (And everyone knows how hideously cynical and nasty I can be.) I remember going to Crane's Hollywood Tavern (now gone) one night to hear Marvelous Toy and the relief I felt when they turned out to be, not just good, but incredibly good.

Video Free Silver Lake: Active Child, Stone Darling, American Royalty, Simon Cardoza, Prinspolo, Human Woman

By Jed

1) The consensus at October's Iceland Airwaves festival was that L.A's Active Child was one of the highlights.  His expert harp-ing, and "choirboy"-like (hat tip: all other reviews on the internet -- I prefer to compare his vocals to that of Jimmy Sommerville of the Bronski Beat) make him both a critics' favorite, as well as a compelling live performer.  The new video for "Hanging On" (the second sing from Active Child's debut album You Are All I See) casts away such comparison, by depicting the misadventures of a flyfisherman in an unidentified "naturey" location (i.e. a river). It's a compelling song, which transcends the accusation of gimmickry. 

The L. A. Show Low Down (Or: "Your Life, Back In A Banner Year, A Blast Of Light, A Brace Of Cheers...")

by Brad Roberts

Now that I've seen the documentary PASS THE MUSIC, and learned a lot more background on some of the bands I love, and the struggles they go through, I shall treat them with more respect in the future. And once again this week the locals dominate the music scene. Summer breaks out at the Seasons Monday night residency  with the help of Manhattan Murder Mystery, The Health Club and Downtown Union. After learning more about their history and beginnings as a band in the documentary, I look forward to this show with high anticipation. It may be raining that night, but it will be a hot time at The Echo.

So many other bands have shows this week it's hard to keep up. The Belle Bridgade play an intimate set at the Touché residency at The Central on Tuesday. Hexham Heads, Light FM, The World Record, The Pity Party, The Californian and Kind Heart and Coronets are among the best shows of the week and Naive Thieves (seen above) play twice. I use their photo above to represent the fresh new bands that are still popping up in Los Angeles with alarming regularity, of which Naive Thieves is one of the best. WALK have an album release party on Friday at The Mezz. I loved this music when I saw WALK at Echo Curio a few years ago, and be sure to see Joe's post here.

Big band Wilco blazes through town with three sold out shows at three different venues. Tuesday at Hollywood Palladium, Wednesday at The Wiltern and they're back again on Friday for a sit down show at Los Angeles Theatre.

Interview: WALK on Icebreaker

by Joe Fielder

We like LA's indie rock act WALK. Like, really. So much that we had them play one of our new music showcase shows awhile back. They're a group we feel like you should keep an ear out for.

So when lead Timothy Jordan mentioned that they just released their new album Icebreaker, we asked him to write a few words about the origins of several songs on it.

You can stream Icebreaker below and download for FREE here on Bandcamp.

Now here's Timothy:

"Icebreaker"
When we first started playing shows, we'd usually open with Icebreaker to get our energy up, shake out our demons. It's really jarring live, and it's easy for us to put everything into it. We tried to capture that seem feeling in this recording, make it feel like you're really drowning in sound. The song is also kind of an anthem for introducing yourself, sharing the most important things right up front, acknowledging your idiosyncrasies. So we all agreed it should be the first track on our debut album.

"Caveman Game"
I'm having a tough time thinking of something to say for this song. It was written so slowly that I can't remember any details... it's kind of just a chronicling of how I was feeling during the few months it took to come together in my head. I'm mentioning it though because it managed to come off sounding so effortless on the recording. Dan started out the session with some of the best drums I've ever heard him play, and they really carry the album. So we just took our time fleshing out that skeleton, experimenting with so many different sounds to make the songs unique until they finally moved us on a gut level. Chris' keyboard on this song is kind of what makes it though, so I really wanted to turn it into a character that came in and out of the scene, and said the most important things.

"I Am Not In Charge"
My parents were having some pointless argument one day, and I felt like I had to get out of the house, so I ended up walking 5 miles down this bike path, just totally charged up and thinking things out. I came home and banged this song out on the piano. I'd been listening a lot to Daniel Johnston at the time, so I tried just channeling him and letting go. It's kind of a lullaby to remind us to just take it easy.

Video Free Silver Lake: Aaron Embry, Lonely Wild, Colin Stetson, Polica, Pascal Pinon

By Jed

1) L.A.'s Aaron Embry (of Amnion) recorded this very stripped down version of "Your Heart And Mine" on January 1st, 2012 in Ojai, CA.  He'll be performing at Townhouse in Venice on January 30 and February 2 at Hotel Cafe. 

Reminder: Ticket Giveaway: Pass the Music Screening Saturday at the Bootleg

By Kathryn Pinto
Don't  forget, people. Thanks to the Radars To The Sky and Thrillhouse Productions, Radio Free Silver Lake has a free pair of tickets to the preview of Pass the Music, a documentary about the Silver Lake music scene, including an interview with RFSL's own Joe Fielder. The film screens this Saturday at the Bootleg Theater with live music from  Manhattan Murder Mystery, Radars To The Sky, MoviesTribute Band, Joey Siara, and Tenlons Fort. 

To enter, send an email to RFSLpinto(at)gmail(dot)com with "Pass the Music" in the subject header, include your first and last name as well as your email address and anything else you want to add. Send this to us by NOON Friday, January 20. Good luck to all and see you at the show.

CENSORED: Radio Free Silver Lake will go dark on January 18 to oppose SOPA & PIPA

Radio Free Silver Lake Will Go Dark on January 18 to Oppose SOPA & PIPA

By Kathryn Pinto
Radio Free Silver Lake is going dark on January 18 to oppose SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act (House Bill 3261 or H.R. 3261) and PIPA, PROTECT IP Act of 2011 (Senate Bill 986 or S.968). We oppose these bills because they will infringe on the First Amendment right to free expression and have a chilling effect on the free exchange of information and collaboration on the internet. For these reasons we will post nothing tomorrow. We stand in solidarity with other music sites going dark including: Listen Before You Buy, Beats Per Minute, In Your Speakers, The Owl Mag, GIMME TINNITUS, Tiny Mix Tapes, .

Read more about the pending SOPA/PIPA legislation. The House of Representatives will resume work on SOPA in February.

• Technical Explanation of SOPA and PIPA
• An overview of the SOPA bill
• Full text of the bill, H.R. 3261
• Why SOPA Is Dangerous
• White House opposition to SOPA
• House to take up anti-piracy bill in February

Ticket Giveaway: Pass the Music Screening Saturday at the Bootleg

By Kathryn Pinto

Hello music fans. Did you know that the good people of Thrillhouse Productions (Ryan Maples, Jason Tovar et al.) have been working tirelessly to document the Silver Lake music scene over the past three years? The result is Pass the Music a film that tells "the story of the people who make the LA indie scene of of the best today." You'll be able to preview the film this Saturday at the Bootleg Theater with a special screening and live music from  Manhattan Murder Mystery, Radars To The Sky, Movies Tribute Band, Joey Siara, and Tenlons Fort .

Thanks to the Radars To The Sky, and Thrillhouse Productions, Radio Free Silver Lake has a free pair of tickets for one lucky reader to the screening and live show. To enter, send an email to RFSLpinto(at)gmail(dot)com with "Pass the Music" in the subject header, include your first and last name as well as your email address and anything else you want to add. Send this to us by NOON Friday, January 20. Good luck to all and see you at the show.

PASS THE MUSIC - Documentary Trailer from Thrillhouse Productions on Vimeo.

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Thrillhouse Productions presents a special preview screening of Pass the Music Saturday January 21 at the Bootleg Theater, 2220 Beverly Blvd. LA 90057. Live music from Radars To The Sky, The Movies Tribute Band, &Joey Siara (Henry Clay People), Tenlons Fort, and guests. Ages 18+ $8, doors open at 7:30pm, show at 8:00pm.

The L.A. Show Low Down (Or: "But I Grew To Like The Underground, The Path That No One Sees...")

by Brad Roberts

We should just cut the crap and declare that January belongs to the  Seasons residency and stop pretending that we won't be attending every Monday night at The Echo. This Monday Radio Free Silver Lake is presenting and it's the week's best opportunity to hear four great local bands on one bill...all for free...and on a holiday! What could be better? As seen on the poster at right, they are joined by the steadfast Death To Anders and by one of the best new bands of 2010, George Glass, along with one of last year's best discoveries, The Lonely Wild, on a bill that shows off both the quality and variety available in the local music scene. Seasons with be playing their EP called Spring on a stage setting that will no doubt be as effective as their sets for Autumn and Winter were. I imagine there will be birds chirping in the trees.

Local music has dominated the Los Angeles music schedule since the beginning of the year and the energy and excitement I've seen this month is becoming contagious, so it's only appropriate that the long-awaited documentary on the local music scene gets a preview screening and a concert show at Bootleg Theatre on Saturday. PASS THE MUSIC was shot all over the East Side/Silver Lake area by Ryan Maples and Jason Tovar over a two year period, from 2008 to 2010, asking a bunch of local bands what it means to make it in music today. What happens after the big, conglomerate record labels have lost control over public taste and musicians are suddenly free to create a product without compromise? Interviews and live performance clips illustrate how that has manifest itself in our city and the film is put together with insight and integrity. (No, I haven't seen it yet, but that's obvious from the clips.) There will be live music as well, provided by some of the bands represented in the film, like Manhattan Murder Mystery, Radars To The Sky and Tenlons Fort plus more.

Not to slight the rest of the week, there's also shows with Olin and the Moon  on Tuesday at The Echo followed by Tommy Santee Klaws at the same venue on Wednesday, Jason Simon will lure me to Harvard & Stone on Thursday and more besides. Look inside...