Radio Free Silver Lake

LA Band Picks: Best Shows of 2009

It's the last day of 2009 and we're still looking back at the year... This time, we asked more than a dozen of our favorite local musicians what their favorite shows were.

(Come back tomorrow for their favorite albums.)

Hunter Curra – The Flying Tourbillon Orchestra

Let's see...The Henry Clay People's new years eve show started the year off on the right foot. Super fun show. You can't go wrong with a drunk sing-a-long!

Wilco at the Wiltern blew me away.

The Local Native's Spaceland residency was really amazing as well.

Aaron Kyle – Le Switch

Future Of The Left, The Henry Clay People (Summer Circus), Dr. Dog, Evan Way, Division Day, Tandemoro (RIP), Terry Riley, The World Record, Camera Obscura, The Cave Singers, Lambchop, Vetiver

Andy Siara – The Henry Clay People

Mike Watt and The Missing Men at Spaceland-- The man in the van with a bass in his hand.

SSPU and Metallica at Stubbs/SXSW -- not a big metallica fan, but was pretty rad to see

Bruce Springsteen at LA Sports Arena

Jason Lyttle at the Mohawk/SXSW Monolators at the Echo. Can't remember the exact date, but they played last, and everyone who was there (which was a ton of people, cuz practically everyone stuck around) was pretty much floored by them.

Of Montreal at Sasquatch

2nd night of Le Switch's Spaceland Residency when the power went out and they set up in the center of the floor and played acoustic.

Malcolm Sosa – Rademacher

Oh man. There were so many good ones. On a personal level, the shows we played with the Airborne Toxic Event and Henry Clay earlier in the year were a blast. The Glass House was especially awesome. It was my first time there. We played great. It was sold out. We jumped around and had fun.

On the other hand, last summer we played a show with Downtown Union at the Silverlake Lounge. Nobody showed up. Like nobody. And Scott Sterling from the Fold asked us never to play there again. So we got banned from an eastside club, which is pretty cool. That kinda made my year in a special way.

I also got to check out Red Cortez when they opened for TATE in Iowa City a couple of months ago. They played great and it was the third time I had seen them live in 2009. We had already played shows with them on the road in Visalia and later on at Spaceland. But I think Iowa City was the best of all three of their sets I saw in '09. Afterwards, Harley and I got to hang out on the wings of the stage while Mikel and Co. did their set. Besides seeing so many great performances, there was something awesome about seeing so many familiar faces so far from home. Plus the beer was cheap.

Video Free Silver Lake: Prs Hltn Mthr Fckrs, Elaine Layabout's Hella Hipster Hoedown, Vic Chesnutt

By Jed
After last week's epic post, I'm going to keep this one relatively short and sweet. Check out Brad's excellent as usual rundown of what's going on this week, and have a very happy New Years Eve.

1) The Prs Hltn Mthfckrs are playing at the Smell on December 30. I thought they broke up, so if this is true, totally worth seeing. The sound on this brilliant video a few years ago is not so good, but the video captures the performance reasonably well:
 

Ticket Giveaway: REMINDER - New Year's Eve with The Henry Clay People at Spaceland

By Joel Robinson

Greetings, Radio Free Silver Lake gang! Happy New Year wishes heading out your way. Also heading out your way is this reminder that there is a chance for free entry for one of you and a guest to Thursday's terrific Spaceland New Year's Eve event.

Ring in the new year (and in some books, the new decade) with The Henry Clay People, joined by Aushua, Le Switch, The Monolators, and others, providing sounds and performance to prompt the celebration! Have a visit to the giveaway post as found here and act as needed! 

Have an amazing, fabulous, fun, and safe New Year's celebration, all! See you in 2010...

The L.A. Show Low Down (Or: "Gotta Get Back And Ahead To The Things That Matter...")

by Brad Roberts

Here we go again with another paltry Show Low Down, though it's not as sparse as last week's edition, with a fine selection of New Year's Eve revelry to choose from. I'm on vacation this week, so forgive the spare recommendations. Anyway: Here's to 2010!

There may be shows with bigger profiles, but the Aquarium Drunkard/Web In Front event at Spaceland has such a great line up of New Year's Eve-friendly bands (bands that know how to tear the roof off an establishment) that all other shows pale by comparison. Any opportunity to spend time with The Henry Clay People (photo by Marcela Cussolin) and The Monolators ought to be grabbed, but with the impetus of New Year's behind them, this could be explosive. The audience pleasing indie bands, Aushua and Le Switch round out the bill. As Joel predicted here (accompanied by a ticket giveaway here), this could be among the top shows of the year.

I can imagine that Dengue Fever will also ring in 2010 with style at The Smell, The Growlers and My Pet Saddle team up at The Echo for the Roarrring New Year's Eve Celebration.

RFSL Staff Picks: Best Shows of 2009

Yeah. We’re all like: "Memories… Light the corn-ners of my mind…" It was just the other day when we reminisced about our favorite albums of the year. Now it’s time to cover the shows.

Joe Fielder

Again, I’ll keep it to top three to keep things snappy:

Under Covered at All-Star Lanes

It seems a bit, I dunno, self-aggrandizing to mention a show that you helped put on as one of the best of the year, but I can’t take any credit at all for how well it turned out. The folks from The Eagle Rock Bowling and Drinking Club and RFSL held this night at All-Star Lanes where four great local acts (Marvelous Toy, Radars to the Sky, Death to Anders, and The Flying Tourbillon Orchestra) performed sets comprised of covers of songs by currently active LA bands. The idea was to celebrate the local music scene, but it was also the site’s third birthday.

The bands came, performed, and conquered. It was fun. If you weren’t there, you missed out, but you can still find MP3s and videos of all the covers right here.

And yes, we’re working on putting together another one like this early next year.

The Happy Hollows CD Release Show at Spaceland

LA’s current best live act playing their hearts out to commemorate the long overdue release of their first album? For a packed house of fans, friends, and family? How could you not make it out? Read Brad’s review of it here.

Leonard Cohen at The Wang Theatre

It’s been over a dozen years since the singer/songwriter/poet toured the United States, so I made sure to go twice and get the best seats humanly possible. I’m still paying that off, but it was worth it -- his sets were nearly three hours long... His songs from the 60s still seem ahead of their time... Here's the full write-up.

Brad Roberts

15 Top Concerts in Chronological Order

This is tough. I've been to 144 shows this year at the time of this writing.

Red Cortez The Echo Jan 12 (at Robert Francis residency, Evan Way)

This was the show that nailed this band for me and I became an obsessive fan from this moment on.

Devotchka The Viper Room Feb. 2

Smashing concert and I was right up front. Incredible skill on display.

Chad Van Gaalen Spaceland Mar. 28

Great to hear songs from '08's Soft Airplane and to watch the way he makes his music...again up close.

The World Record Spaceland Apr. 13 (at The Henry Clay People residency)

This offshoot of The Parson Red Heads came on after midnight and completely made me feel like it was 7 o'clock all over again. Invigorating, dancable indie pop of a very high quality.

Iron and Wine Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever Cemetery May 8

A solo show by Sam Beam that was electrifying from the first note till the last. One of the finest voices I have ever heard singing some of the best folk rock around.

Grizzly Bear The Wiltern June 19

This was a beautiful concert, perfectly miked and vastly superior to their Hollywood Palladium show later in the year. I was perfectly positioned in the pit.

Video Free Silver Lake: Christmas Edition

By Jed 

The following is a not so small selection of the Christmas related videos that I've been enjoying this season. I hope the same for you, dearest readers.  There's a lot more here than usual, but do you really have anything better to do over the next few days?

Remember friends, be kind to each other, and if we don't get the chance to talk between now and the New Year, may you all have a lovely next decade full of free downloads, Monday night residencies, record release parties and ironically themed parties.

1) I'll start with one of the most depressing Christmas songs I've been able to unearth (I hold the unpopular belief that, as much as I love Kirsty McColl, the Pogues' "Fairytale of New York" is highly overrated*). But Tom Waits' "Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis" is drink-yourself-to-sleep-on-Christmas-Eve gold.

*While a little schmaltzy, this version by Paloma Faith and Scouting for Girls isn't half bad though.

Ticket Giveaway: New Year's Eve festivities at Spaceland

By Joel Robinson

Well Radio Free Silver Lake readers, as you know, the end of 2009 approaches through what we hope is a terrific Holiday Season for all. Thanks to the great team over at Spaceland, RFSL is able to offer a final gift of the year to one of our readers and a guest. Yes, the image to the right is a valid indication of what is on the table: entry to an evening of New Year's fun as provided by The Henry Clay People, joined by Aushua, Le Switch, The Monolators, and other friends at Spaceland.

If past experience (thanks, Web in Front, friends) is taken as any kind of indicator, then this promises to be a terrific night. And with this line-up delivering the goods, I cannot imagine it not leading to smiles and fun throughout the room throughout the night!

Well, seeing as it's the last giveaway of the year, I am betting most of you know how to enter the action by now. But just to be certain, here's a refresher on what you need to do...if you are 21 or older drop an e-mail to "RFSLjoel(at)gmail(dot)com.” Include "HCP celebrates NYE at Spaceland" in the subject line and your full name (and any other comments you may have) in the e-mail text. Be certain we receive it by NOON on Wednesday, December 30.

Best of luck to all on this one! And seeing as this is our last giveaway for the year, seems like an apropos time to send out a very big THANKS to all those who provided us with entry giveaway opportunities for the RFSL community throughout an amazing 2009. And, of course, a big THANKS to that RFSL community for checking in with us and joining in the giveaway fun. Please enjoy your holiday season as we roll into the New Year and let's all do our best to make 2010 one for the books! -the RFSL team

The L.A. Ho Ho Ho Show sLow Down (Or: "I Looked For You Then In Music And Song, And I Thought I Could Find You There, But They Were Only Notes Pulled From The Air, Not The Kind I Could Read, Or Breathe, If I Dared...")

by Brad Roberts

 

This rather perfunctory edition of the Show Low Down is pretty much just a call to have an enjoyable holiday and get your music in on Monday or Tuesday, because that's about all there is.

Monday night's line up is actually pretty strong with the space age rock outfit Moonrats and hypnotic mind-benders, VOICEsVOICEs, who will alter your state at The Echo. Mere Mortals play a strikingly pretty psychedelic rock, and with the gorgeous swirling shoegaze of Helen Stellar, you could achieve a sort of indie rock nirvana at Spaceland, and then there's Links for straight up power rock, playing with Parade of Lights, who bring their grand melodic Long Beach indie pop to the Silver Lake Lounge. One can hear why they number top quality bands like Division Day, Aushua and The National among their myspace friends.

All these shows are free and show off the amazing musical variety available on a Monday night, all within a stones throw from each other. A gift from L.A. to L.A.

EXTRA! EXTRA! Avi Buffalo at the Echoplex on Saturday.

RFSL Holiday Fare... And You!

by Joe Fielder

The whatchamacallit season is right upon us, which means the number of shows will soon be slowing to a crawl. However, that doesn't mean that the site will be closing up shop for the holidays...

We'll be continuing our year-end wrap-up features featuring not only staff favorites for 2009, but picks from a few dozen of great LA acts... Marvelous Toy, Rademacher, Amnion, The Western States Motel, and The French Semester, just to name a few.

We'll also have a look forward at new bands to watch out for in 2010 and another one of our quarterly site mixes featuring new tracks and demos from the aforementioned bands as a special holiday treat.

So, don't forget to check in.

And, by the way, for a good time this weekend, don't miss the Artist in Aid benefit show for the homeless on Friday night at Edgar Varela Fine Arts with Red Cortez, the VLA, Rademacher, and "special guests."

Video Free Silver Lake: Dodos, Phil and the Osophers, Melt Banana, Rural Alberta Orchestra, Jasper Dickson

By Jed

Merry Christmas everybody! Here's some music videos!

1) Los Angeles' 3rd of 4th favorite band Foreign Born aren't playing until the 18th (at Spaceland) but they released a new video on the 7th for "Early Warnings," directed by Matthew Lessner, the genius who put together the Dirty Projectors' video for "Stillness is the Move" and Foreign Born-related Fool's Gold's video for "Surprise Hotel". Videos about people traveling around usually just make me a little bit envious, but I can't stay mad at Foreign Born for long...