Radio Free Silver Lake

Interview: Useless Keys

by Joe Fielder

Los Angeles' favorite new spooky/dreamy pop/rock act Useless Keys play next Monday for free at The Echo with Castledoor (and then on Sunday, June 14th at The Viper Room). We felt like it was long past time to interview the band -- who have been getting better and better in the last year since they first formed -- so we chatted with them via IM mid-last week, right before they played a last minute show over at Spaceland.

Haven't heard Useless Keys yet? Go listen to tracks from their upcoming EP over on their myspace page and come back to read all about them.

Then figure out how to clear your schedule for Monday night...

Show Review Medley: Fort King, Gangi, Avi Buffalo, The Wooden Birds and Others

by Brad Roberts

 

I'd said I was going to try to cut back on shows so I could get more writing done, but when all was said and done I still was at four shows this week, down one from the week before. And I'm still sorry about the ones I missed. They were all smallish shows in small spaces, but with major local talent on display.

 

Friday, May 22, I went over to Pehrspace to see an artist, I hoped I wasn't overestimating. And I wasn't. It was Ryan Fuller's group, Fort King (pictured at left), who I had just met a couple of weeks ago at Hyperion Tavern, where I had gotten his CD, Naked Shadows. I was pretty flabbergasted when I played it. It displays such a strong grasp of mood and ambiance, with orchestrations from the "less is more"school of music.

 

At first they sound like really sad songs, but repeated listenings reveal, not despair, but introspection and thoughtfulness. Reminiscent of a French film score, I don't think I can call this indie rock, but folk songs with classical chamber music orchestrations. I was a little nervous that in a live setting, it might be so delicate it falls apart.

 

It was a revelation to see how steady and assured Ryan's delivery is. He duplicates the vocals of the recording perfectly and with the addition of Catherine Campion on cello and harmony vocals, they reproduce the delicate nature and poignancy of the compositions. As the CD has lots of ambient sounds and instruments, on this night they employed the talents of Aaron Robinson on dobro, which added a certain country flavor, to augment their sound with atmosphere.

 

Mark Your Calendars: Signal Hill Album Release Event

by Joe Fielder

Los Angeles post rock favorites Signal Hill dropped their first full album More After We're Gone, at least digitally, a few weeks ago, with the physical release due on Tuesday, June 9th.

To celebrate, the band is holding an album release event at Pehrspace on Saturday, June 6th (along with pals Beware of Safety and Timonium) and Radio Free Silver Lake is helping present. Because we heart their music with a fierceness that borders on ridiculous.

If you haven't seen them perform before, this is really the time to go. The first time I ever saw them play was at Pehrspace for their EP release and it was one of the best shows I saw that year. Should not disappoint.

RELATED LINKS:
- California Is Too Long MP3
- Signal Hill Mini-Interview

Video Free Silver Lake: Hunter's Hollow, Grizzly Bear, The Thermals, The Robotanists, & more

by Jed

Once again, I've selected some videos for you to watch, listen to, and forward on. Please enjoy.

1) Thank you, Aaron Embry of Amnion for making me aware of (you should be made aware too)  Hunter's Hollow, Mr. Embry's Glassell Park music studio, and the live performances periodically recorded and broadcast therefrom.  The YouTube channel (and accompanying blog) features videos of a number of the best local bands, including Avi Buffalo, The Wild Bunch and the The Monolators. From what I've seen, the featured videos look and sound great. Here's a few recently posted videos from The Monolators:

The Monolators will be playing on May 29 at Pehrspace. Amnion will be playing with Avi Buffalo at the Bootleg Theatre on August 7.  

Bite-Sized News: HEALTH, No Age, Napster

By Whitney Hawke

- LA psycho-punks HEALTH have announced their sophomore full-length, Get Color, will be released September 8 on Lovepump United. The album's single, Die Slow, is a dance-tastic power jam fit for any mix tape or party playlist. Get pumped.

- Remember Napster? Well, after Metallica crashed the Napster party and essentially killed the site, it was bought out by company after company until finally resting in the hands of Best Buy who purchased the company for $121 million in late-2008. And now, the former mega-site has a new pricing model that is actually pretty cool. For $5 each month you can get five downloads and unlimited streaming from Napsters extensive library. Hella hella hella hella hella tight, right? Yeah. I'm doin' it. 

Ticket Giveaway: This Thursday, May 28, The Wooden Birds at Spaceland

By Joel Robinson

Tuesday + RFSL + Spaceland friends = FREE TICKETS for lucky readers.

Check it out and get in on the action. Thanks to friends at Spaceland, RFSL has three (3) pairs of tix available for what should prove to be a terrific eve of music from The Wooden Birds (the new group from teh guy from American Analog Set) joined by The New Trust.

As a taste of what's to come, and for those of you (okay, us) that missed it, here's a look at The Wooden Birds performing "Sugar" at SXSW earlier this year. (Note: Joe saw them play in Boston a few weeks back and says they "make lazy strumming pop music -- like a mellower Earlimart or less morose Elliott Smith... so goddamn charming live that you'll notice everyone in the room breaking into a smile at once.")

The L.A. Show Low Down (Or: "All My Demons Start To Party At Dusk...")

by Brad Roberts

Among all the shows that I've missed in my life, I think one that hurts the most is the one that took place on October 18,1975 at the Boston Garden, when I figured I'd seen Jefferson Airplane / Jefferson Starship  enough (three times in 1974, alone) that I didn't have to subject myself to the degradation of going to see my favorite band in an (horrors!) ARENA. To my great misfortune, it just so happened the opening band was on their first tour as the newly reformed Fleetwood Mac, which now included recent additions, Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks (photo at right, in 1975). I had been a big fan of, and had seen the previous incarnation of Fleetwood Mac during the Danny Kirwan years, but didn't know this new line up. 

In fact, if you'll indulge me a minute, I dug out the Boston Globe review by Pat McGilligan of 10/20/75 that I clipped and saved and want to share a couple of lines. "Two stalwart groups, Jefferson Starship and Fleetwood Mac, both in top form, blasted away for over four generous hours of incandescent, energizing music. The evening was so charged with good feeling that the sold-out crowd, which clamored again and again for encores, edged on hysteria...Both (bands) are dominated by their talented women. In the case of Fleetwood Mac, it is Christine McVie, keyboards and throaty vocals, and a new member, Stevie Nicks, who so bewitched the Garden crowd with her gutsy solo, that the set was interrupted for a standing ovation." 

Now, 34 years later, they're back for another show at the Staples Center, this time as the headliner. I'm not going. I saw them during their first reunion tour at the Hollywood Bowl in 1997, and truthfully, after three decades of exposing their demons for all the world to see, Fleetwood Mac still sound really great, but I can't afford those prices. Or, ugh, the Staples Center. (photo of the current lineup at left)

Our local favorites, The Henry Clay People, come through town on their second national tour, opening for Ben Harper and the Relentless 7 at The Wiltern and St. Vincent returns to weave her hypnotic magic spell at El Rey, all on Thursday. Animal Collective, making up for the cancelled January gig, play at The Wiltern and the sudden, always welcome reappearance of the super-psychedelic trance rock of Brightblack Morning Light at The Eagle Rock Center for the Arts are highlights on Friday night. Radio Free Silver Lake will be offering some free tickets to The Wooden Birds at Spaceland Thursday night, details here. Plus lots of good local shows every night.

Take a look at the week coming up:

Show Review Medley: Iron & Wine, Amnion, Loney Dear, Avi Buffalo, The Shins, & More

by Brad Roberts
 

I've caught so many extraordinary shows in LA over the last week and change that Joe suggested that I write some brief comments up for each...

It began on Thursday, May 7, 2009, igniting a music binge that didn't end until Avi Buffalo (picture to the right from The Unknown Theatre, Sept, 08, courtesy of LA Underground) dropped me back on earth on Tuesday, May 18. It was a big mash up of local favorites, national bands, international bands, a couple of sets in the intimate confines of a radio studio to one the size of the Hollywood Palladium.

Show Reminder: Sleepmask and Veil Veil Vanish at The Scene

by Seamus Simpson

I did not get a chance to tell the kids about this earlier, but there's a great show tonight at The Scene. If you like darkwave, goth, shoegaze, or post-punk, I highly recommend you make it out tonight to see the stellar line-up of  Sleepmask and Veil Veil Vanish. They will be supported by acts The New Room and Seaspin.

This is the sound of the new underground movement! You will do yourself a great disservice by missing this, so dust off those dark leather pants, get your eyeliner on and make it out to a fantastic show. Promise you will not disappointed.

DOWNLOADS:

- Veil Veil Vanish's Reproach MP3

- Sleepmask's Choose That Girl MP3

Show Review: Amusement Parks on Fire & Xu Xu Fang (aka "How to go to a Residency and Miss the Headliner")

by Seamus Simpson

On Monday, I got word that one of my favorite bands from Nottingham, England was in town and playing at of all places The Silver Lake Lounge. This is a great place to see “larger” bands as the room forces you to rub elbows with the crowd as you are blasted by sound. I like to think Amusement Parks on Fire fit nicely into that niche.

The Golden Animals residency was apparently taking off as the sonic masters of Xu Xu Fang was also set to play this night, so with the wife in tow we ventured out to see the show.

I last saw Amusement Parks on Fire at The Knitting Factory over three years ago. It also happened to the first Silversun Pickups I caught. Needless to say I became instant fans of both bands that night. Thus it came as no surprise to ¾ of the Pickups in the crowd.