Radio Free Silver Lake

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...

Favorites of 2011 – RFSL Staff Edition, Part 2

By Staff
Here's the second part of RFSL staff's report on favorite records and live shows of 2011, picks from editors Brad Roberts and Kathryn Pinto.

Brad Roberts, Senior Editor

Favorite Albums of the Year
1. Rob Crow - He Thinks He's People
I know people will say, "Oh he's crazy about Pinback anyway..." and it will be of little surprise, but my favorite album of the year popped up unannounced and unexpectedly near the end of the year in October, and it caught me off guard. Rob Crow is such an amazing musician, but I wonder if his greatest talent is in songwriting. Virtuoso guitar and wonderful singing are to be expected, but this is such a varied collection of unforgettable, melodious and structurally complex compositions, subtitled 13 Depressing Pop Hits!, that I don't know where to begin. So I won't. Just go buy it, listen to it and be seduced by it. It hits so many sweet spots it's nearly orgasmic I long to see it in concert.

2. Okkervil River - I Am Very Far
This one came across like a ton of bricks from the first listen.

Interview: Marvelous Toy on Not Moving

by Joe Fielder

Indie pop band Marvelous Toy reinvents itself more often than the weather changes in San Francisco -- but breaks the analogy by always turning out nice. 

We recently were gabbing around the water cooler at the RFSL corporate offices about where the act's latest album Not Moving should place on our LA's Best Albums of 2011 list.

Then we realised that it didn't come out until 2012. Earlier this week on Tuesday, to be specific, and the album release show is at The Bootleg Theatre later tonight.

We asked group lead Jordan Hudock to tell us a little bit about the making of some of his favorite tracks on the album. Here are streams from it, followed by Jordan in his own words.

"I HAD THE MATCH"

This is the opening track of the album... I originally wrote it as a folkier countryish song but it was boring so with the help of the whole band, we completely transformed it into a loud rock song and i'm much happier with it this way. Raymond kicked his bass into overdrive for the whole song which is why you have that loud fuzz bassline throughout the song... I love the way he recorded it, too... kind of flat and crisp and loud.

"EL INFIEL"

This (along with 'Match') was the last song we recorded for the album... I wrote it quickly and we assembled it and arranged it during a rehearsal... I like that we were all able to contribute something to the arrangement... It was a real band effort. And I'm very happy with the way it came out in the recording... We were able to really capture the live energy of the song onto the recording. I really believe that the less time you have to think about a song, the more energy you capture in the recording, especially when it's new and fresh.

Show Review: Little Red Lung and Pisces at Hotel Cafe (1/10/12)

by Brad Roberts

I've been trying to catch up with Little Red Lung and Sarah Negahdari's newest project, Pisces, for a while now. So when Zoe-Ruth Erwin (photo at right by Chris Aguilar, also below) invited me to come out to the Hotel Cafe to review the Little Red Lung set on Tuesday, January 10, and as soon as I learned that Pisces were also on the bill, I jumped at the chance. And it's so close to my home, how could I refuse?

A nice crew of familiar faces dotted the audience here in the heart of Hollywood on a week night. And as has been the case at all the shows I've attended since the first of the year, there was a palpable sense of excitement in the air at this show too. Hard to assess and even harder to explain, it's as if people are reaching out for something out of the ordinary or striving to expand their horizons. Maybe it's just a response to the bad economy, or the mad political circus going on until November. Maybe it's just the spectacle of seeing Newt Gingrich have a temper tantrum worthy of a seven year old.

Whatever it is, this show had the effect of making one forget the outside world and just concentrate on the journey these musicians were taking us on. Little Red Lung is a musically ambitious project headed by Zoe-Ruth Erwin which stretches and expands the boundaries of what is known as indie-rock. Heavily European in its influences, it mixes sweeping cinematic arrangements with quirky, unpredictable melodies supported by Zoe-Ruth's lilting soprano. She plays keys as well with impressive concentration, yet never neglects engaging the audience with her natural charisma.

Video Free Silver Lake: First Aid Kit, Big Moves, Act As If, Lo-Fi Sugar, Orphic Oxtra

By Jed

1) Years and years ago, when these Swedish twins First Aid Kit covered the Fleet Foxes' Tiger Mountain Pleasant Song, my brother began emailing me about them, urging to me to check it out. Years and years and millions of youtube views later, I urge you, friends, to view First Aid Kit's recent release -- "Emmylou" taken from thir new album The Lion's Roar -- and shot at Joshua Tree (just a short 2 hour drive from Los Angeles).  

Favorites of 2011 – RFSL Staff Edition, Part 1

By Staff
Earlier Silver Lake and LA bands told us about their favorite records and live shows. This week, in two parts (Part 2 later this week), the staff of Radio Free Silver Lake wraps up 2011 with our take on the best of the year.

Seamus Simpson, Contributor
10. Danger Mouse & Daniel Luppi – Rome & Javelin – Canyon Candy (tie)
These are two of the greatest instrumental albums I have heard in forever. One the fake soundtrack to a spaghetti western and the other the old west re-told through the eyes of a robot

9. Raphael Sadiq – Stone Rollin’
Awesome new-style old school R&B

8. Rademacher - Babyhawk (Pt. I & II)
Umm, a little close to the bone Silver Lake, and that’s why it’s an amazing inside joke as well as a great album

7. Manchester Orchestra – Simple Math
Just a great rock album. Period.

6. Wild Flag – Wild Flag
These ladies have not lost a step, and have in fact gained a few.

The L.A. Show Low Down (Or: "And I'm Feelin' Interstellar Now, And Everyone Is Staring At The Ground, What Are We Waiting For...")

by Brad Roberts

It would be so easy to go out every night this week, but that's just not going to be possible, so I'll try to pick and choose judiciously. Tenlons Fort (at right) was so impressive last week at my Lot 1 show Saturday night (and at Pehrspace on Friday, I hear) that one should really try to get over to the Seasons residency night at The Echo, presented by Web In Front on Monday, to see one of his last shows before he leaves town again. He has, once again, assembled a band of hugely talented individuals, John Seasons, Sheridan Riley and Will Courtney, who give give familiar material a new, exciting twist and make the new songs their own.

Marvelous Toy are having a Record Release party at Bootleg Bar on Friday on a bill with Ozma. This Marvelous Toy album, entitled Not Moving, has been a long time coming, but has been anticipated by incredibly positive buzz. (LITTLE REVISION): As a huge fan of Dead Meadow I would love to go to The Satellite on to see lead singer Jason Simon in a solo set on Tuesday night. (This was originally set for Thursday, hence the change) But I'll be at Hotel Cafe seeing Little Red Lung and Pisces. 

Performers I haven't seen in a while who resurface this week include Kind Hearts & Coronets, who are on the Seasons residency bill Monday and Aaron Embry (of Amnion) is in a show at Bootleg Bar on Sunday.

 

Interview: Frankel

by Jane McCarthy

After depriving Silver Lake of his presence on stage for far too long, local indie favorite Frankel (aka Michael Orendy) is back, and he’s got a fantastic new LP under his arm too.  On a recent afternoon at The Casbah, I got to sit down with Orendy to talk about this latest album, Sugar Twists Like Hurricane, the trouble with second-guessing, and the funny thing about focus-grouping demos….

JM: You got started as a bass player, is that right?

MO: Yeah, that was my first instrument.  And actually, it’s still probably my favorite.  But there’s something about playing bass that doesn’t go with singing very well.  It’s a little hard to do both. It’s not as intuitive as playing guitar and singing or playing piano and singing.  It’s a little too rhythmic or something. I’m not quite sure what it is, but that’s why you don’t see too many singing bass players. Except for like Sting.

JM: At what point when you were in bands playing bass did you decide, ‘I want to try my own stuff?’

MO: I was playing my own stuff for a long time as a very reclusive four-tracker. I had a little four-track recording device, and I was always doing that stuff.  It wasn’t so much fleshed-out songs. Just fun ideas. But when I started singing and started messing around with harmonies and writing lyrics- it was so expressive, you know, that soon playing bass in somebody else’s band, with somebody else’s melody and lyrics, started to not be as fulfilling. 

So I wanted to do my own stuff, but (and I still struggle with this actually) I’m not the alpha dog front guy, if you haven’t noticed. I’m not like Diamond Dave where I swing in on cables with a power drill and start spitting on people.  So Frankel has kind of evolved into a quieter experience and still a little bit of a reclusive one.  I’ve developed a pretty solid reputation now as the Howard Hughes of Silverlake.

JM: You do have a reputation for being elusive.  Though you’re here, and you’re real.

MO: Or so you think.  That’s what this hologram would have you think.

JM:  I actually got to see you live at Bordello. I thought you played a great set.  But is playing live painful for you on some level?  Or do you feel you don’t get the sound you’re looking for?

MO:  I actually really love playing live.

Video Free Silver Lake: Pisces, Alekesam, Vanity Machine

By Jed

This will be a short and sweet VFSL. Look forward to more next week!

1) New video by Pisces (Happy Hollows's Sarah Negahdari) for "Paint a Rocket":

Favorite Live Shows of 2011: LA Bands Edition

Last week we brought you the favorite albums, EP’s and songs from our favorite Los Angeles bands, and today we return with bands’ picks of their top live shows of the past year. Here’s the word from Light FM, The Californian, Geoff Geis, George Glass, Death to Anders, Seasons, Wendy Wang and WALK. (Photo: Le Switch Final Show at the Satellite, courtesy of Aaron Kyle)

Josiah Mazzaschi - Light FM
The Kills - Emo's, Austin, TX  SXSW
So much energy for a duo! Great guitar sounds.

Shadow Shadow Shade - Lobsterfest, San Pedro, CA
Claire is my vocal instructor and I finally got to see her in action. They sounded so good!!

Rademacher - Fulton 55, Fresno, CA
I feel like these guys always put on a good show no matter what. They definitely vibe off their hometown people! Really great show!

Fancy Space People, The Smashing Pumpkins at the 9:30 Club, Washington D.C.
The sound was really good and everybody was having fun. SP totally rocked that night too.

Wild Flag at the Troubadour West Hollywood, CA
One of those moments where something magical happened. The spontaneity of their performance was truly inspiring.