by Brad Roberts
I've been a huge Grizzly Bear fan ever since I first heard their oddball sound on a music video for the song "Deep Sea Diver" on TV in 2006, it's combination of low-tech sound mixed with highly complex melodies and other-wordly vocals seduced me completely. I was attracted to the strange and acary animation and the minimalist grandeur of the music. When I heard it had been created by one man, Ed Droste, in his room from whatever materials were around him that were capable of making a sound, I was intrigued. He put together a band to recreate that sound and tour, so when they played at Spaceland in Sept. 2006, I had the good sense to go. That assemblage of musicians stuck and the rest is history.
Witnessing this band's rise to international fame and acclaim has been one of the funnest aspects of their career for me. Unfortunately the last time I saw them was in 2009 and they had grown into the Hollywood Palladium, but that venue tried to make them sound like heavy metal arena rock, which Grizzly Bear decidedly is not. On Wednesday they appear at The Greek, touring for their latest record, Shields, and this is a far more appropriate venue. Perfect, in fact.
Actually, the rest of this column may resemble a testimony to the bands we tout over and over. But you know what? They deserve it. Take Everest, for instance. Who doesn't love Everest, who represent the best of what our music scene has to offer. Dedicated hard workers who write classic-style rock songs and perform them with passion and spirit...and have found a national, ney international, audience. Tuesday at The Fonda. Or Manhattan Murder Mystery, who seem to be able to keep an impossible juggling act in the air consisting of equal parts passion, energy, reckless abandon mixed with deep intellectual concerns, and puke. I bet it's something like watching Pollock paint (while drinking). Sunday at The Troubadour with an equally beloved band, Seasons.
A band that's a little newer on the scene and deserving of some attention is Go West Young Man. I have known about them for a while now, but when I finally saw them at the 3 of Clubs in August, I was, quite frankly, blown away. They are incredibly able musicians and multi-talented as songwriters and performers. On Tuesday they are out at The Central with another hot new band on the scene, Warm Weather. So much talent bubbling up everywhere.
Monday, October 8
- Immanu El @ Origami Vinyl
- SuperSoul Monday w/ Jason Joseph w/ special guests, Rollo & Grady, Dune Rats, Reignwolf @ Hotel Cafe
- Florence + the Machine, Maccabees @ Hollywood Bowl
- Dirty Three, Stab City @ Bootleg Theatre
- New Beat Fund, Vim Furor, Dr. Awkward & Barbi Crash @ The Central
- Seasick Steve, Leslie Stevens (solo) @ The Troubadour
- The Raveonettes, Melody's Echo Chamber, E13 @ El Rey
- "School Night!" w/ Royal Teeth, Chrome Canyon, Touché @ Bardot
- Antizocial, Normandie Blue @ Redwood Bar
- Last In Class, Sean Wheeler and Zander Schloss, Immanu el @ The Satellite
- Robert DeLong, Tapioca and The Flea @ Echoplex
- Superhumanoids, Mr. Little Jeans, Carousel @ The Echo
- Kera and the Lesbians, Kitchen Hips @ Bootleg Bar
DECISION:
Tonight offers treats both big and small. The Raveonettes (at right) play El Rey, Florence + the Machine fulfill their two night engagement at Hollywood Bowl, while Leslie Stevens does a solo set to open for Seasick Steve at The Troubadour. And there's the Superhumanoids, Kera and the Lesbians and Last in Class residencies, all for free.
Tuesday, October 9
- BuzzbandsLA Second Tuesday w/ Troup, Paper Pilots, Mighty Forces @ Lot 1
- Wanting (two shows), Lydia Loveless, Kasey Anderson & Star Anna @ Hotel Cafe
- Metric, Half Moon Run @ The Greek
- Go West Young Man, Immanu El, Dune Rats, Pony Boy, Warm Weather @ The Central
- Grimes, Elite Gymnastics, Myths, Brooke Candy @ El Rey
- JEFF the Brotherhood, Diarrhea Planet, Colleen Green @ The Troubadour
- The Balconies, Heroes and Heroines, Future Ghost @ Bootleg Bar
- The Wallflowers, Everest @ Henry Fonda Music Box Theatre
- DIIV, Violens, Cold Showers, Deathday @ Echoplex
- Fired, The Boners, Dirty Eyes, AKA @ Redwood Bar
- Tav Falco and the Unapproachable Panther Burns, Reignwolf, Gabriel Hart and the Fourth Wall @ The Satellite
- The Corin Tucker Band, Summer Twins, Branden & The Chics @ The Echo
DECISION:
BuzzbandsLA has the Second Tuesday event at Lot 1 tonight with Troup and Paper Pilots and there's a great show at The Central with Go West Young Man and Warm Weather. In the big time, Everest (at right) plays a set at The Fonda, opening for The Wallflowers. The new Everest album, Ownerless, has not left constant rotation on my iPhone ever since it came out and is destined to figure prominently in my ten best list at the end of the year. It features some of their strongest songwriting yet and represents a new high in recording quality. You owe it to yourself to see them perform this material live. I was flattered and happy when I went to their website and saw my photo prominently displayed.
Wednesday, October 10
- Matt Bauer @ Origami Vinyl
- Milow, The Young Romans, Breacat, All Young Band @ Hotel Cafe
- "Desert Nights" w/ Chris Glover, Ted Russell Kamp, Granville Automatic @ The Standard
- Grizzly Bear, Lower Dens @ The Greek
- A House for Lions, Let's Drive to Alaska, My Double My Brother @ The Central
- Bad Books, The Drowning Men, Harrison Hudson @ The Troubadour
- Grimes, Elite Gymnastics, Myths, Brooke Candy @ El Rey
- Rufus Wainwright @ The Grammy Museum
- VUM, Kissing Cousins, Hepa-Titus @ The Echo
- Saint Vitus, Weedeater, Sourvein, Spilth @ Bootleg Theatre
- The Voodoo Organist, Wild Pink Horses, Sound Reasons @ Redwood Bar
DECISION:
O.K., I've already told you it's the Grizzly Bear concert for me tonight at The Greek. Their new album, Shields, is wonderful so I look forward to hearing it live. I also realize that this band has it's share on naysayers (which is fine...just don't bring it up.) For them, there's Milow at Hotel Cafe or Grimes at El Rey or Rufus Wainwright at The Grammy Museum.
Thursday, October 11
- Patti Smith @ Amoeba Music
- Earth Like Planets, Graham MacRae @ Los Globos upstairs
- Judson McKinney, Haley & Michaels, The Blank Tapes, Neil Bryden, Lily Elise @ Hotel Cafe
- OohlaLA Festival 2012 w/ Tomorrow's World, Housse de Racket, Citizens!, Lescop @ El Rey
- Bettye LaVette @ The Troubadour
- Elizaveta, Milow @ Witzend
- Giant Giant Sand, Russ Tolman Band, Brian Lopez @ Echoplex
- Erroneous Monk, The Dharma Bums, The Bukkakes, Folk & Company @ Five Stars Bar
- K. Flay, Michna, Air Dubai @ The Echo
- Northern Youth, The Union Line, Jarrett Killen, Young Empress @ Bootleg Bar
- Patrolled By Radar, Psychedelic Cowboys, Son Ark @ Redwood Bar
- Them Howling Bones, Santoros, Visions, So Wrong, Vibes The Mezz
- Amanda Jo Williams, Falling Still @ Harvard & Stone
- Kevin Earnest @ Room 5
DECISION:
Some terrific intimate shows tonight. I'll be at Hotel Cafe to see Judson McKinney and The Blank Tapes, but Amanda Jo Williams has a show with Falling Still at Harvard & Stone. Patti Smith does a free gig at Amoeba tonight and has a full show at The Wiltern tomorrow night.
This week's festival, The OohlaLA Festival starts tonight, which is hosting shows at El Rey tonight and tomorrow, and at The Satellite on Saturday.
Friday, October 12
- Bell X1 w/ Duke Special, Goodnight, Texas, Oak & Gorski, Liz Wood record release, Brandon
McCulloch from Folk Riot @ Hotel Cafe
- Amon Tobin, Holy Other @ The Greek
- Bajofondo @ Royce Hall
- Dustin and the Explosions, Starskate, Mystery of Iniquity, Rot @ Lot 1
- Gaelic Storm @ The Troubadour
- Gossip, Magic Mouth @ Henry Fonda Music Box Theatre
- OohlaLA Festival 2012 w/ -M- @ El Rey
- Patti Smith @ The Wiltern
- Stan Ridgway @ McCabe's
- Biblical Proof of UFO's, Tiny Destroyer, King Cheetah, RT 'N the 44s @ Redwood Bar
- Busdriver, NoCanDo, Open Mike Eagle @ Bootleg Theatre
- Close to Modern, Brannigan's Law, Bodysnatchers, Leaking Pigs @ The Smell
- Ezra Furman and his band, The Peach Kings, Krill @ The Satellite
- Strange Talk, Hundred Waters, Wildcat! Wildcat! @ The Echo
- The Mo-Odds, Badwater, Clearwater @ Casey's Bar
- White Mystery, Crazy Band, Heller Keller, Palm Reader @ Pehrspace
DECISION:
When I was 26 and travelling through Europe in 1976 with two friends, we were somewhere on the coast of The Netherlands and we came across a concert hall where Patti Smith was playing that night. I'd heard of her, but not having any notion of what her impact was about to have on music and art, we passed it by. We'd been in Europe long enough (six weeks) to be a little homesick and I remember strange pangs of comradeship that I felt for an American performer in a foreign country. It was only when I read her amazing autobiography of her life with Robert Mapplethorpe, Just Kids, last year did I appreciate her extraordinary talent and contribution. Now 36 years later she's still an exciting artist, and playing at The Wiltern tonight.
Saturday, October 13
- The xx @ Hollywood Forever Cemetery
- Robby Krieger's Jazz Kitchen @ Hotel Cafe
- Sock Puppet Sitcom Theatre - "The Golden Girls" @ The Echo
- An Evening with David Byrne and St. Vincent @ The Greek
- Bill Frisell & Bill Morrison: The Great Flood @ Royce Hall
- Meiko, Bobby Long @ The Roxy
- Ronee Blakley @ McCabe's
- Starfucker, Mystery Skulls, Steffi Graff @ The Central
- Tea Leaf Green, Howlin' Rain, David Dondero @ The Troubadour
- Feed Your Head presents Soular Brothers, Cardoza, The Happy Casualties, The Trembling
Tabernacle of Piorek @ Lot 1
- Fink, Someone White @ Bootleg Theatre
- Old Testament, Joy, Dahga Bloom, Plant Tribe @ HM 157
- OohlaLA Festival 2012 w/ Chocolate Genius VS Caught A Ghost, François & The Atlas Mountains,
Freedom Fry @ The Satellite
- Rumble King, Groovy Rednecks, The Defendants @ Redwood Bar
- The Chuck Dukowski Sextet, Insects vs. Robots, Douglas and The Furs @ The Smell
- Zak Waters, Steffi Graff, Mystery Skulls @ The Central
- Jhameel @ Bootleg Bar
DECISION:
Ronee Blakley represents a real milestone in my past. As a movie fan in 1970, Robert Altman became the most favorite and influential director of my youth on the strength of M*A*S*H, Brewster McCloud and McCabe and Mrs. Miller. All three came out when I was 20 years old...huge impact! When Nashville was about to be released, Robert Altman brought a print of the rough cut to Boston to sneak preview it at the Sack Cheri 1 Theatre on May 9, 1975. Since 1970, The Long Goodbye (1973) had become my favorite Altman film of all, and I do consider it Altman's masterpiece. Members of the cast were with him when they came to Boston to preview the film for the notorious Boston student audience of that time. Everyone was a film authority by the mid-1970s and the Boston underground press was spawning a whole new generation of film critics who went on to national prominence ultimately. I loved the film and Ronee Blakley's heart-wrenching performance as the tragic Barbara Jean was a key reason why, so I would have to recommend her show at McCabe's tonight. David Byrne and St. Vincent's collaboration is getting a lot of attention, Find out why at The Greek tonight.
Oh and don't forget the Feed Your Head show at Lot 1 with Soular Brothers, Cardoza, The Happy Casualties and Dave Piorek's new band, The Trembling Tabernacle of Piorek.
Sunday, October 14
- Shannon McNally, Amy LaVere @ McCabe's
- Behind Closed Doors: A 2nd Class Cabaret @ Hotel Cafe
- Manhattan Murder Mystery, Fancy Space People, Seasons @ The Troubdour
- Oniunu, Feeding People, Cayucas @ Bootleg Bar
- Big Business, Federation X @ The Down & Out
- Grave Babies, Ghost Wave, The Golden Awesome, Regal Degal @ The Echo
- Moral Crux, Dead Ones, Harry & The Hendersons @ Redwood Bar
- Sun Airway, Pure Bathing Culture, Body Parts @ The Satellite
DECISION:
Wow! Tonight Manhattan Murder Mystery are playing The Troubadour. This I will not miss. What a dangerous and reckless way to start the new week. Who can resist. And Seasons are on the bill too, so let's party in West Hollywood!
I think this is a pretty great week,
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