Radio Free Silver Lake

Festival Report: Silver Lake Jubilee-Day 2

By Kathryn Pinto

Day 2: Sunday evening started with a beeline to the Sunset stage to see Walking Sleep. They owned every ounce of momentum built up from playing an Echo residency in April and a new album, Measures (released May 25). They sounded great, they even looked great up there framed by the Sunset Bridge overpass. In the crowd were members of the Monolators, most of the Henry Clay People and RFSL Brad, fresh from a big win with the laptop doctor. Brad on the Walking Sleep’s “Just Like Heaven” cover, “I don’t think I’ve heard that song before.” Kathryn: “It’s the Cure.” Brad: “Oooh, the Cure.” Kathryn: “I think it came out during your hiatus from music.” Brad: LOL.

The L.A. Show Low Down (Or: "And I'll Try To Find Something On This Thing That Means Nothing...")

by Brad Roberts

Ode to The Fonda. Have you been to The Henry Fonda Music Box Theatre recently? It is rapidly becoming the busiest showplace in Los Angeles. Over the years I've noticed various larger venues have tides that ebb and flow, with The Orpheum, Avalon, The Wiltern, El Rey and The Fonda all vying for the most shows, and sometimes, many of them going months without a worthwhile concert. But now that The Fonda has a show almost every night this week and a new interior design overhaul that features giant blow up details of the third panel of Hieronymus Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights (at right) all over the walls, this venue seems to be aiming for just that. I've always found the sound and the sightlines here to be among the best in the city and I'm happy to see it taken full advantage of.

Shows this week include two nights of Miike Snow and another two nights of Mumford and Sons. Among the artists on the immediate horizon for The Fonda are mewithoutYou, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The New Pornographers, and off in October, Eels, all of which I am intent on seeing.

Locally, we've got the record release show for The Californian on Tuesday at Spaceland, and there's already considerale buzz about it. Canadian band, Hot Hot Heat are re-inventing themselves and are in town to do a residency at Bootleg every Wednesday night, and Fitz and The Tantrums launch their own residency on Thursday at Spaceland.

A Quick Peek at Under Covered's Set List - Pt 2

by Joe Fielder

Last week, we posted an early peek at the closely-guarded Under Covered set list for you... Here's one more before the show this weekend.

(Again, it's a night where great LA bands cover other great active local bands. It's also a benefit where all proceeds go to research to cure Huntington's Disease. It's this Sunday at 7PM at All-Star Lanes and One Trick Pony, Rademacher, Seasons, The Hectors, and George Glass are all playing.)

Randy from One Trick Pony:

"We are also doing a song i just heard from Light FM called 'Thrift Store Clothes.' I think it sounds great as 'Bossa Nova.'"

Nick from George Glass:

"We're doing a song not too many people have heard, I'm assuming. The song is called 'Cookbook' and its by a local band called The Primos. I bought their lone album recently off of Papermade Records and its been a staple in my music rotation for the past three or four months.

Corinne from The Hectors:

"We had worked out a killer version of 'Ain't No Fun (If The Homies Can't Have None)' by Snoop Dogg, but everyone told us that Long Beach wasn't 'local' enough. So we went with the next closest thing: Marvelous Toy."

Johnny from Seasons:

"We chose the amazing 'Eagle Fighting Zebra' from The Monolators because we believe it's the hardest rocking song by any local band - period! Eli and Mary have blowing minds in LA for a while now, but we will never forget hearing this song for the first time really drunk at Mr. T's Bowl."

What about what Rademacher are playing? After some prodded, Malcolm told us two of them: "Cold Cold Heaven" by Earlimart and "Monumental Life" from The Movies...

For all the details about the event, go right here. Again, hope you can make it.

Rad poster by Christine Hale.

Festival Report: Silver Lake Jubilee-Day 1

By Kathryn Pinto

In the spirit of eco-friendliness and, more importantly, plans to patronize the beer garden I left my car in Echo Park and rode the 2 Metro bus down to Sunset Junction for the Silver Lake Jubilee. The ride was short, sweet and not too terrible. A quick scope out revealed Myra street blocked off and anchored at both ends by stages, the Origami Vinyl stage at the Santa Monica end and the Sunset Stage, just south of the Sunset Bridge overpass. In between was a circus train of food trucks. Name a truck, it was there. An enterprising vendor of Sonoran-style hot dogs positioned her cart just outside the gates to the festival and appeared to be competing just fine with the caravan of food trucks inside the gates.

I arrived late in the afternoon, when the eco- and art Villages looked half-abandoned. Inside the art village the art in question was zines, artist books, screen prints. The most interesting and inventive work was the physical space of the art booth. It was built up with set walls like a movie set and displays were made of corrugated cardboard to look like the inside of a space ship, or maybe a Cold War era submarine. The shelves and consoles were pretty cool, but the standout was a fully-operational periscope which afforded an adjustable view of the outside environs. It would be great to see more of this kind of work at future festivals.

On to the music. I caught the evening sets at the festival both days. I missed some of my must-sees from the daytime sets but I heard good things about the Black Apples’ set. They have a new record coming out this summer--we'll keep you posted. 

Eulogies: caught a bit of the four piece, the sound on the Santa Monica stage was not great either day, but Eulogies sounded pretty good despite the technical limitations. The Growlers brought surf guitar , hippies, bongos and about a million people (okay, six folks) on stage. There were some good cool slow bass walk down struts.

The Living Sisters bring it every single time. The three ‘sisters,’ plus a guy in a suit on guitar made me forget how cold it became once the sun went down. Their harmonies sounded great and their stage banter was charming and funny. “Anybody want a date with a pregnant lady?” About the song, “How Many, How High?” one of the sisters responded to the crowd, "It’s about the infinity of the sky, it’s not a rasta song.”

Show Spotlight: Princeton & More @ Pehrspace on Saturday

 by Joe Fielder

Just a quick note to let you know that local indie pop favorites Princeton are playing with the band members' three side project bands this Saturday evening at Pehrspace.

"Matt's side project Mystery Claws is our label Easter Everywhere's first release and this show is the album release," says Princeton's Ben Usen. "Jesse's side project Kisses will be DJing the night and both twins are also playing together as shoegaze band The Sleeping Bags." And it's also Princeton's last show for the entire summer.

Should be a fun night and it's just $5.

Video Free Silver Lake: Under Covered, Nada Surf, Black Keys and More

By Jed

1) As you should know, on the 30th, you should expect to see me at the Under Covered Show at All Star Lanes in Eagle Rock. I went to it last year and had a real nice time.

Songs, bands and folks that you know and like. Not the mention the cheap beer.

Here are some videos of the songs and bands you should expect to see:

The Movies' "Get Your Macho Out", which will be performed by the Seasons:

Album Review: Plants and Animals - La La Land

By Jackie Lam

Plants and Animals' La La Land, the second album from the Canadian trio made up of Warren C. Spicer, Matthew Woodley, and Nicolas Basque, is an mixture of songs rife with grunge-y guitar riffs and combines elements from blues, rock, and pop. A follow-up to Parc Avenue, their debut album released in 2008, La La Land includes tracks that are intricately textured and wonderfully moody. Highlights of the album include “Undone Melody,” with brooding guitars and singer Spicer’s voice expressing a deep melancholy, is worth a thorough listen.

The album changes drastically in style with songs such as “The Mama Papa,” an upbeat, dance-y tune. One of the strongest songs on the album and my favorite track, it embodies a time of nostalgia and teenage hijinks, of idle youth and listlessness. “The Mama Papa” is a rarefied form of a pop song exuding high energy and unexpected quirks, such as a succession of handclaps here or quirky cowbell there. “Kon Tiki” is simply enjoyable pop that’s reminiscent of the Beach Boys’ lush melodies.

There are some songs, however, that are weaker and undermine the rest of the album. It feels like some of the tracks are undeveloped fragments that jerkily change musical styles before fully hooking you in. While mixing different elements from different genres, if done carefully and tastefully, could produce wonderful results, La La Land lacks cohesion.

Overall, it is apparent that Plants and Animals are talented songwriters that have an ability to play different styles of music. However, a general mood and spirit in the songs seems to have gotten lost during the songwriting.

Plants and Animals will be performing at the Troubadour this Thursday with Lost in the Trees. They’ll also be playing a free in-store at Origami Vinyl this Saturday.

Ticket Giveway: 400 Blows, Broken Mirrors, Kill The Capulets, Totally Serious at Spaceland Saturday, May 29

By Joel Robinson

Hello Radio Free Silver Lake readers. Tuesday is here bringing with it a chance at free entry for a couple of readers and friends to this Saturday's sonic session over at Spaceland.

That's right, thanks to friends over at Spaceland, we are able to offer this chance on getting in to catch the Saturday sets with 400 Blows, Broken Mirrors, Kill The Capulets, and Totally Serious. A night that promises most interesting and intense musical delivery throughout.

So, if you are 21 or older, drop an e-mail to "RFSLjoel(at)gmail(dot)com.” Include "400 Blows 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, Friday, May 28 and you're in the mix!

Best of luck to all. -jdr

The L.A. Show Low Down (Or: "In Carbon And Grey, In Submarine Chambers, One Day, It Swam For The Light...")

by Brad Roberts

(This column reflects a week which saw my laptop corrupted, diagnosed as two weeks of repair, and suddenly restored after only a 2-day wait. Pictures and links to come. Forgive the clumsy publishing process this week)

It's kind of an odd week for shows, like an anti-climax to last week's assault of shows, culminating in the Silver Lake Jubilee all weekend. There are some big shows here and there, but the real focus is on quirky little local delights. There's this thing going on called "Bottled Smoke II" which is the brainchild of Grant Capes of Echo Curio, meant to celebrate the revolution taking place in music distribution. And that is definitely worth celebrating, kind of like celebrating the demise of record labels' stranglehold on music creation. Bands participating this year include Pocahaunted, M. Geddes Gengras and Sun Araw. It takes place over the weekend at both Echo Curio and Synchronicity.

A wonderful benefit show for The Nada Project on Tuesday at The Echo with local stars, The Airborne Toxic Event and the explosive Red Cortez, who overwhelmed an appreciative audience last Friday night at Bootleg. And on Sunday The 30th, there's the second ever "Undercovered" show at Eagle Rock Bowling and Drinking Club. A benefit for a cure to Huntington's Disease, this year, Rademacher, Seasons, The Hectors, One Trick Pony and George Glass will cover The Henry Clay People and The Monolators, just to whet your appetite. And our friends, Walking Sleep have their CD release party for Measure at Bootleg with Pearly Gate Music on Saturday.

Big time commercial headliners include Angels and Airwaves (left) at Hollywood Palladium on Saturday, Nada Surf for two nights at The Troubadour beginning Tuesday. Jack Johnson plays for the financially troubled concert series at Santa Monica Pier on Monday. And I hope this series can be saved. But what I really wish is that I had payed attention to Angus and Julia Stone, who are performing two sell out shows at, maybe, my favorite venue, The Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.  The Australian couple have a large following, obviously, but I hadn't heard of them. When I checked out their stuff, it was a hand to forehead slap. How did I miss them? Their kind of '60's-style folky/troubadour sound is a time-honored favorite genre of mine, so I'll have to catch them if they ever come back.

A Quick Peek at Under Covered's Set List - Pt 1

by Joe Fielder

You've hopefully already heard all about the upcoming Under Covered show, but if not, here's the Reader's Digest condensed version:

It's a night where great LA bands cover other great active local bands. It's also a benefit where all proceeds go to research to cure Huntington's Disease. It's Sunday, May 30th at All-Star Lanes and One Trick Pony, Rademacher, Seasons, The Hectors, and George Glass are all playing.

The full set list is a carefully guarded secret, but we've asked each band to give us a few words about one of their choices for the night.

Johnny from Seasons:

"We chose 'Get Your Macho Out' from The Movies because we have been fans of the band for a long time, and when we got to record our 'Summer' EP with Tim James of The Movies we would occasionally hear him playing it on acoustic, leading us to warm up with it on a couple of sessions."

Nick from George Glass:

"We tried to be as varied in our local song selections as we could. We're playing 'Loose Talk' by One Trick Pony. They're an old favorite of ours and we've been playing with them for over six years now."

Corinne from The Hectors:

"We were watching 'Gossip Girl' together as a band, like we do every Monday night (all cuddled up under a big blanket), and we heard this catchy song that we immediately decided to steal and pretend was our own. Unfortunately, we found out later that the song was by our friends, The Breakups. So now we avoid them at shows, and ignore their calls."

Randy from One Trick Pony:

"We're covering'Sell Out' by Death to Anders, an old song that reminds me of moving out here just starting to discover the wonder/train wreck that is LA." 

What about Rademacher? What are they playing? They wouldn't say anything, no matter how many times we prodded them.,,

For all the details about the event, go right here. Again, hope you can make it.

Rad poster by Christine Hale.