Bikos, along with Lovers Drugs and Son Ark, plays Tuesday at the Bootleg. Radio Free Silver Lake has tickets for one lucky reader and a guest. Bikos fans were so enthusiastic in their response to the giveaway for the Bikos record release show for Make Your Sound Sound back in November that we had to offer up another giveaway to keep you all happy. This one is a quick turnaround contest so you need to get back to us by Monday.
Free tickets or no, it’s going to be a tremendously fun, energy-filled show to get your new year started off right. Kevin Bronson called Bikos, “the most fun you can have without getting sponsored at happy hour, or without selling your soul to the synth devil… The results: Spazzy, smart songs that’ll hook you from head to toe.” If we could think of a better endorsement we’d have written it ourselves.
Don't miss it! Drop an e-mail to "RFSLpinto(at)gmail(dot)com” that includes "Bikos at the Bootleg" in the subject line and your full name (and any other comments you may have) in the e-mail text. Please be certain we have that e-mail by NOON MONDAY (January 2) to secure your spot in the mix.
Bikosplays Tuesday January 3, along with Lovers Drugs and Son Ark, at the Bootleg Theater Bar (2220 Beverly Blvd, LA 90057). Tickets are $8 and doors open at 8pm (21 & over).
There are more than a few songs from indie pop act The Western States Motel that remind us of days spent driving in the desert or going to the beach. To say that we find that endearing is kind of an understatement.
The band's latest album Freeway Freeway Riverbed ended up on our LA's Best Albums of 2011 list, so we asked frontman Carl Jordan to write a few words about the making or recording of some of his favorte tracks on it.
Here are the tracks to stream, followed by Carl's own words:
"Country & Western Song"
This was the first thing I finished for the album. It's a pretty straight forward song about simple answers to big questions; the kind of answers you can find in an old c/w tune, and the kind of questions you start asking yourself when you are riding an ATV on the beach in Mexico and it's really fun, but you start thinking it's probably not such a good idea for a lot of different reasons.
The dual analog synths at the start and during the outo were directly influenced by listing to a lot of music by Tobacco. I'm hoping one day I'll get an email from him saying he wants to produce an album for me, free of charge.
"Ghost Town"
This is sort of like The Western States Motel's "Thriller." (The song, not the album.) It's the track most likely to feel appropriately listened to on Halloween.
When recording Freeway Freeway Riverbed, I took a page from The Doors' playbook… I played more-or-less all the bass parts on a keyboard, there's really no bass guitar. So for the recent shows, Paul Zawacki (of 'The Procession', same as our guitar player John Schreffler) has been doing the keyboard-bass live, and it rules.
Last week brought you our staff picks for favorite albums of the year. We also asked Silver Lake and local bands for their word on the year’s best releases: albums, EPs and songs. So here is what we heard from: the Californian, Geronimo Getty, Geoff Geis, George Glass, Death to Anders, Seasons, the Spires, Wendy Wang and WALK. (Photo of Manhattan Murder Mystery from DirtyHippieRadio.com)
John Graney - The Californian
Albums: St. Vincent: Strange Mercy For me this is the first time in my life where the perfect album came out at exactly the perfect time. It's impossible for me to explain how much I love this album. I feel like to talk about it and dissect it too much is to take away from its strongest point, which to me is that it's just fucking rad any way you slice it. "I make a living telling people what they want to hear, and I gotta tell ya - it's gonna be a champagne year".
Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble: Mr. Machine I really do love getting my mind blown out the back of my head. This shit is too cool. It has long been my opinion that the best dance music comes from outside the dance music world. I love how these guys just put together a rag tag chamber orchestra and had them churn out awesome dark dance beats and disjointed counterpoint madness.
Timber Timbre: Creep On Creeping' On No need to explain why this album is amazing. All the things that make a good album? They did all of those things. Did them all very very well. It's freaking haunting and beautiful.
The Black Keys: El Camino I feel like every time I listen to The Black Keys my ass gets fatter. And I appreciate that. This record is super duper solid. Pop music is really in a bad way right now. If it is ever going to recover it needs good bands like this killing it real hard.
Aaron Kyle - Geronimo Getty
Songs: Bill Callahan “Riding for The Feeling” My favorite record of the year.
There was something not quite right about News Year's Eve last year when 2011 crept in with barely a whimper. What was wrong was that there was no Henry Clay People show to go to. All will be corrected when they pick up the reins again this year with a smashing Buzzbands show at The Satellite on Saturday night and there is simply nowhere else to be. We'll party like it's 2009 or 2010...or something. Great supporting bands in Races and LA Fontmake it, not only the show of the week, but one of the shows of the year! We will have a ticket giveaway for this show HEREsoon.
We all wear our hearts on our sleeves here at Radio Free Silver Lake, so it's easy to guess that our favorite albums of the year were the ones we spared little or no hyperbole for in 2011.
But to save you time digging back through earlier posts, we’ve compiled a list of what we consider the best releases by LA bands over the last twelve months.
We’re still listening to post punk act Manhattan Murder Mystery’s self-titled release like it came out just yesterday. If we could only convince people to check out one album from an LA act in 2011, this would be it.
"Smoky Mountain" is probably the album's brightest gem, full of lyrics that are smart, funny, and catchy and equal parts art and completely punk rock at once -- but lines from "Trailer Trash," "I Always Think About Dyin'," and "Ambulance" get stuck in your head for weeks or months.
The members of Red Cortez emerged from several months of woodshedding with a new sound and a new project rechristening themselves Just An Animal. Already a force to be reckoned with as a live band the foursome closed out 2011 with danceable upbeat record that is catchy as hell.
With this new album, “dynamic mope rock” groupOne Trick Pony delivered a recorded release as impressive and varied as their fantastic live performances. Opening tracks "Knives so Sharp" and "Get Over Yourself" hook from the start, while songs "Diagonal Waves" and "Crepe Hangers" break your heart in the most upbeat possible way and "Andrew Jackson" is worth the trip for its chorus alone.
This band gave some of the best live performances we saw all of this year and this album of five songs shows off their range and uncanny abilities as indie-pop songwriters. What's even more encouraging is that in concert they perform more songs that aren't here and they are every bit as good as these five. Their superb vocal work is beautifully recorded here.
5) RademacherBabyhawk, Part I of III (Self-Released)
This tale of a fictitious rock band almost “making it” in the Silver Lake scene and beyond quickly became habit-forming... The rich detail in the lyrics has a real ring of authenticity and wonderful melodies reveal a deep appreciation of classic rock styles. When we think "summer of 2011,” we think of this album.
Indie act The Californian makes music that combines crooning, Sergio Leone-style western film soundtracks, and Dick Dale surf rock with decidedly crush-worthy results. You’d be hard pressed to find a song on their debut that’s anything less than absolutely charming.
WSM lead Carl Jordan is a virtual maestro at weaving surprisingly complex arrangements with just a handful of tools. Evoking a strong American Southwestern atmosphere, the tales of life on the road offer more plain-spoken, unpretentious observations aided by the lilting and very catchy melodies. And seeing the songs brought to life by a full band at their November On The Rox residency showed off the material's durability.
If more music critics listened to albums three or five or twenty times before writing, this album would be on everyone's Best Of list. Poplar Avenue is about things revealed slowly, the sweetness hidden by bluster, the strength of the ensemble behind a frontman.
Angela Correa lives on top of a steep hill in Mt. Washington that has a panoramic view (metaphorically at least) of the musical landscape of all of Los Angeles. From this vantage point Correatown takes in everything and recombines these styles with Correa's own perspective as a songwriter to create a brilliant amalgam. There are songs on this record more playful pop than anything coming out of Silver Lake in a long time.
10) A Tie for:
One AM RadioHeaven Is Attached by a Slender Thread (Dangerbird)
Every track on electronic pop group One AM Radio’s latest release sounds like a single. There’s no filler whatsoever. The songs are widely varied, but are catchy as hell to a man and either hummable or danceable. Synth pop that melts the mopeyist heart.
The sniff test on this EP (a sneak peek of their next album due next in January) was when it was go-to getting ready in the morning music every day of a particularly tough work week. If you say that Jordan Hudock is one of the best front men in LA, while true, it shortchanges the rest of his band. Seemingly without effort they create the musical structure that lets loose their band leader.
The Henry Clay People return to the Satellite on New Year’s Eve for a Silver Lake classic. Regular readers of this site know that this is the only show that matters for New Years Eve. Radio Free Silver Lake has a free pair of tickets for one lucky reader to the Saturday December 31 show.
But wait, there’s more. Playing in support are RFSL faves Races and LA Font. Playing upstairs are Jillinda Palmer/ Joe Napolitano, and Paulie Pesh.
As we’ve said before, The Henry Clay Peopleare easily one of the best live bands in Los Angeles. So let's shake it all off and put on a great rock show. The Henry Clay People are going to deliver a crazy night to the good people of Silver Lake.
So don't miss it! Drop an e-mail to "RFSLpinto(at)gmail(dot)com” that includes "The Henry Clay People NYE" in the subject line and your full name (and any other comments you may have) in the e-mail text. Please be certain we have that e-mail by NOON FRIDAY (December 30) to secure your spot in the mix.
One of the best things about the Silver Lake music scene is that you can see a good show nearly every night of the week, "for cheap or for free" as the song goes. RFSL starts off our Best of 2011 coverage with best new bands. We're calling a new band one that released its first album or played its first show this year, although we can be a bit generous. We included bands that have been playing shows but didn't have a record out and ones that RFSL staff hadn't seen play live until this year. Real talk: if a band is playing the Silver Lake/Echo Park clubs and both Brad and I haven't seen them, they're either brand new or keeping it on the DL.
Spero The prettiest girls at the dance, but they're leaning on the walls all too shy-shy. The Spero's sound is the conversation among romantic/dramatic/ethereal vocals, 1980’s vintage synths and guitar lines that quietly come forward to the front of the mix, along with an understated rhythm section that lays the foundation for the quiet dramas at the front of the stage. (Read more in our Band Spotlight.)
Naive Thieves You take four guys who by all appearances enjoy crate digging for early 1960’s records, playing music for hours in lonely stretches of desert, and a clean close shave. Let them play a midnight set and hear how these vintage influences infuse a modern sound. Guitarist Levi Audette is the show stealer live, but these are well-structured arrangements that breathe in three-dimensional space. (Le Sheik Rhat EP review)
The Lonely Wild The Lonely Wild are another band first seen the last set of the night when I wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep. Fortunately I stayed to be blown away by their excellent songwriting and tight live performance. Since that first show they have released an album, recruited vocalist Jessi Williams--a tough little firecracker of an artist, completed a national tour and come home to write and record their debut LP out in 2012. Not bad for their first year out. (Read Jed's in-depth interview with the Lonely Wild.)
I have now in two previous years (see 2009 and 2010) entertained you through the Christmas season with a highly irreverent but occasionally sentimental list of Christmas videos. Here comes year number three of my curation, and I am faced with the seemingly impossible challenge of yet again avoiding many of the the last century's obvious Christmas music choices, while still maintaining your attention for 20+ songs. Is it possible? Do you dare me to do it? Some of these are quite good actually! While others are...quite holiday related! Here are 22 holiday videos for you!
1) This mid-90's Icelandic cover of a French religious song by gay pop icon Páll Óskar (Paul Oscar) was, in my opinion, my greatest music video discovery of the year. Once I set eyes on this brilliance in the early summer, I began to feel full of the Christmas Spirit! Enjoy: "Sjáumst aftur" ("We Will See Each Other Again")
At the risk of overstating the obvious, Marvelous Toy has released some pretty great material this year. Tomorrow night "El Infiel" the first single from their upcoming album Not Moving, makes its television debut on American Horror Story on FX. In anticipation, Radio Free Silver Lake is streaming a sneak preview of "El Infiel." As I wrote earlier of the band, "We fell hard for Marvelous Toy when they played at Radio Free Silver Lake residency at the now defunct Labrie’s in Glendale. Somewhere between the colorful narrative storytelling of the songwriting and the high energy theatrics of the live show, Jordan and the band leave it all on the field with a goofy sincerity and high octane performance."
