Radio Free Silver Lake

Show Spotlight: The World Record Double LP Release Show at the Echoplex Tonight (10/4/12)

By Kathryn Pinto

One of the most anticipated records of the year The World Record’s Freeway Special --nearly four years in the making--is out October 9 on Squid vs. Whale. Radio Free Silver Lake and Origami Vinyl are teaming up to present a Double LP Record Release show tonight at the Echoplex with Seasons, Francisco the Man and Adeline & the Philistines, as well as unplugged sets by The Damselles & the TC4, Geronimo Getty, and The Breakups.

The World Record is what happens when exquisite song craft collides with powerpop directly descended from Big Star, Nick Lowe and The Cars. Freeway Special began humbly several years ago as Andy Creighton’s (Apex Manor, Papercuts, Foreign Born) solo project, but has since expanded to an 18-song CD (with five bonus tracks on vinyl). These songs are full of hooks and heart and spirit and are so well written that you want to get up and dance and cheer at the sound of the first chords. You can preview the album at bandcamp and pre-order the album (a vinyl double with a gatefold jacket) from Squid vs. Whale or buy it at Origami Vinyl.

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The World Record plays tonight, Thursday October 4 at the Echoplex 1154 Glendale Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90026 (enter through the alley on Glendale) along with  Adeline & the Philistines, The Breakups (unplugged), Seasons, The Damselles & the TC4 (unplugged), The World Record,  Geronimo Getty (unplugged) , Francisco the Man , 18 and over, Free to all with Culture Collide wristband, Others free 21+, $7 ages18-21. Doors open at 8:00pm.

New Release: Erica Elektra on 'That's Intense'

From time to time we ask an artist  to join us with a guest column introducing a new release. Today  Erica Elektra (Hearts of Palm UK) weighs in on her favorite tracks from That's Intense, out now on Itunes, and describes how the album got its name.

By Erica Elektra

I sat down with Dan Horne of Lone Palm Studio to begin work on the album, and he asked me to describe the songs and the feeling I was going for. I told him that this was basically a concept album, of being brokenhearted and going through breakup after breakup. I wanted to convey my sadness. He was quiet for a while (as he often is) and then said… "Whoa, that’s intense.”  And he was absolutely right, cuz my album IS intense!

My favorite 5 tracks off the album, in no particular order, they are just what came to me.

1. “Kitten”
This is a song I wrote many, many years ago while I was living in Portugal. When leaving the country, I’d had to find a new home for my cat, and when I took her there (which was located in the Humboldt countryside), she ran away and disappeared. Her bones were found a few months later. This song was an homage to that sweet kitty who was so special to me. I had never recorded the song properly and when working on this album, I thought it would be really nice to revisit it and make it sound beautiful. After all, it fits in with the theme of “That’s Intense”… cuz losing a pet is really intense.

2. “Contract”
I like this song because it’s so simple. There are no real chord changes that distinguish the verses and choruses… in fact there is hardly a chorus at all. This song was an exercise in minimalism and it feels very different from what I usually do. Because of the simplicity, I feel like the heartfelt lyrics are able to penetrate the listener in a more direct way.

3. “Oh No”
I just like how this sounds like something you’d hear on the dance floor in some trashy club in Germany. It’s total Europop. Writing the music and lyrics also came really easy to me. Something about this song was just effortless, and that’s why I like it!

4. “Please Understand”
This was a song I built entirely on the Omnichord, and so the writing process was quite different from what I usually do. I also think it really represents the Erica Elektra sound… it sounds somewhat chipper and happy but when you listen to what I’m actually singing about, it’s quite sad. Someone once described my music as upbeat melancholia, like a rain cloud made out of cotton candy. I feel like this song is a perfect example of that. Plus I can’t help but love the use of dried out coconuts to replicate the sound of horses’ hooves during the choruses…

5. “Heading West”
This was really fun to flesh out in the studio. I love how Dan played the pedal steel and gave it a real country vibe. I also like all the hawk and rattlesnake samples we used. It just ended up sounding totally different from what I usually do. One other thing that made this a different type of song is that I wrote the lyrics with a non-musician friend of mine. I wasn’t feeling super inspired to write about anything, I was sick of sad love songs, and so I asked her to tell me what was on HER mind. She had just done a road trip from Oklahoma to California and had a lot of imagery and philosophy to talk about… so that’s what I wrote about!

 

Show Spotlight: RFSL presents the Jillinda Palmer solo record release show

By Kathryn Pinto

Radio Free Silver Lake is proud to announce the record release show for Jillinda Palmer's debut solo EP Lazy Sun on Wednesday September 5th at the Satellite. Performing in support are Geronimo Getty (Aaron Kyle and members of Le Switch, Division Day), Walter Spencer, & Charlie Limousine.

The release of Lazy Sun marks the debut as frontwoman and songwriter for Palmer, a piano, organ and keyboard player and veteran of countless eastside bands, including the Damselles & The TC4 and Tenlons Fort. This stunning EP reflects the jazz, country, blues and folk influences Palmer has infused into her style from the many artists she has played with. "New London Set Me Free" (featuring Tommy Santee Klaws) is a heart-stealing song-story in the folk ballad tradition about a school explosion in Texas in the 1930's. "Black El Camino," a languid  country-tinged track leads with Palmer's dreamy vocals.

The record was recorded and mixed by Joe Napolitano (Saint Motel, Hi Ho Silver Oh, & Le Switch) and mastered by Kevin Bartley at Capitol Studios. Lazy Sun is available now for pre-order on bandcamp, the EP will be officially released on August 20. A limited number free CDs will be available to ticket holders at the record release party on September 5 at the Satellite only while supplies last.

 

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Jillinda Palmer plays Wednesday September 5 at the Satellite 1717 Silver Lake Blvd, 90026 with Geronimo Getty, Walter Spencer, Charlie Limousine and DJ Sir Pall McCartney play in support. Doors open at 8:30pm, $8, 21+.

Best of 2012 So Far: Part II (Lazy summer edition)

By Kathryn Pinto

Early in July Brad Roberts gave you his picks for the best music of the first half of 2012 and we promised you a Part II. Summer is lazy; there are lots of shows to see. After a little vacation, here are my album picks for January to June of this year. This is not a comprehensive list--there are far too many albums released for one person to absorb everything--but it's an opportunity to point out some of the best music we’ve heard this year with a focus on emerging acts and live music.

Rademacher - Baby Hawk (Part III of III) (Self released, 2012)
Baby Hawk III is simply the record I’ve wanted to listen to more than any other this year. Malcolm Sosa’s songwriting is unparalleled, but it is his chemistry with his band (particularly Kim Haden) and effervescent production from Josiah Mazzaschi at the Cave Studio that lifts the Baby Hawk trilogy above all earlier Rademacher records. Impressively, Sosa's lyrics create expansive visual imagery with very few words. “We were all drunk and dreaming/popcorn on the ceiling” from “Who Knew Love” might be one of the most evocative turns of phrase I’ve heard this year. The instrumentation and production on Baby Hawk III percolate up through the songwriting, setting loose the tracks to be something that compels you to roll down your car window and sing out to the summer sky.

Auditorium - Nights Worth Living (EP) (Self released, 2012)
There are so many good things going on here. Spencer Berger as a one-man show is an enormously talented songwriter and vocalist, but he’s also not afraid to be uncool, or more precisely, to be unhip. Free to geek out in both writing and arrangements, Berger fills these songs with tremendous heart and humor. “The Sex Offenders” could be the most wrong thing written in a song except that it rings true and very funny. “There's a bunch of sex offenders living down the street from me/
But I guess if they've found forgiveness in the law/
Then there's probably some hope for me.”

Japandroids  - Celebration Rock (Polyvinyl, 2012)
Sometimes music at its most essential is a physical thing. It’s the way guitar strings and vocal chords vibrate, sound waves push through the air. It’s the heavy weight of damp sweat in the air, bodies so close together at a show that someone else’s saturated t-shirt slides against your skin. It’s about raw release. Music like this doesn’t care about beautiful construction--just holding itself together enough to shout along, raise a first, and push toward the front of the stage. Go for broke sound, all guitars and exhilaration. Japandroids call it Celebration Rock.

Hear the new Henry Clay People: Twenty-Five for the Rest of Our Lives

By Kathryn Pinto

The new Henry Clay People album Twenty-Five for the Rest of Our Lives is out today. We'll have more from the Clays later this week, but today we wanted to point you to a full album stream of the new record.These twelve tracks are the result of a labor of "we no longer give a fuck." Front man Joey Siara once described the Henry Clay People to me as something better to do on  a Tuesday night than sitting on a couch in Glendale watching Survivor.

 "[The new album]... comes from being a little bit burnt on playing music. ...and asking why go out and make anything that doesn't say anything. On the last record the songs I really liked were the ones that had a clear, pointed angry voice. On this record Andy [Siara] and I made almost a pact: We make an honest record about who we are and the things that go on in our brain.  If this is the last record that we ever make, then make it something that we can stand by and be proud of. That was the creative backbone of the record. Don't stop, don't settle for anything. ...There's a youthful optimism in playing rock 'n roll music--at first and then it's put against the challenges of getting older, what you sacrifice in order to follow your delusional dreams. It's an honest record about at what point is that sacrificing worth it. "

Five Songs: (Geronimo Getty, Torches, Auditorium, Rademacher, AA Bondy)

Aaron Kyle of Geronimo Getty (photo by Jean Claude)

By Kathryn Pinto

There’s a lot to see and hear and not so much time to write about it unless one stays home from the shows to write—and that’s no fun. Take it easy on us, we are cranky and old and haven’t had enough coffee. Consider this a round up of things I’m listening to and trying to find the words to put together for a full review, and a couple of others that the rest of the RFSL staff will weigh in on soon.

Geronimo Getty “Darkness Hides” from Darkness Hides (self-released)

After Le Switch called it quits, Aaron Kyle started turning up in small venues with an acoustic guitar playing new originals and covers of Buck Owens jams with the kind of delivery that left everyone in the room crying into their beer. Geronimo Getty is a full band, notably with Chris Harrison of Le Switch on electric guitar, and spirited enough in production to raise a glass to without ever losing the heartbreak.

 

Torches “I Want Something” from Heads Full of Rust (self-released)

It’s refreshing to hear a young LA band play something is so upbeat and fun. Torches’ live show has always been solid, but never this sunny and carefree. When the track cues on  this indie pop driving jam, it's nearly a Pavlovian response to roll down the car window. With this breezy a melody and equally breezy lyrics you can almost forgive the band for cynically namechecking Brooklyn.

 

Auditorium “Karaoke Freight Train” from Nights Worth Living - EP (self-released)

By abandoning all pretense of being cool and embracing  his innate theatrical ambition and the opera training of his youth, Auditorium wins big with a hero ballad of a karaoke singing best friend. The sound is as big as and powerful as the titular freight train, but the charm and beauty is in the small details, down to  the Chula Vista reference.

 

Rademacher “Minnesota” from Baby Hawk (Part III of III) (self-released)

“I-I-I got lost, I-I-I got crossed over, under and through...” Confusion has never been this poptomistic. From Part III of Rademacher's Baby Hawk trilogy comes a tour song,  images of the no man's land stretch of a tour, going dot to dot on a map, lost in the middle of the country and finding yourself in the middle of something, out there and in it. Recorded and engineered at the Cave Studio by  Josiah Mazzaschi it's the best possible kind of could-be radio pop song. Like what happened when bands like The Replacements and R.E.M. came out of obscurity and started getting airplay, a brief moment when radio was cool.

 

AA Bondy “I Can See the Pines are Dancing” from When the Devil's Loose (Fat Possum, 2009)

“I’m just going surfing,” called AA Bondy to me after his set  at The Echo at this month’s ESP residency, when I asked if he was in town working on a new album. His most recent album Believers (Fat Possum) came out in September 2011. Bondy plays "I Can See the Pines Are Dancing" as the finale of a Daytrotter session full of resonant  guitar tones and moody slurry vocals. Both recorded and live, Bondy's performance burns with charisma that keeps the audience hanging on every note.

 

New Track: Marvelous Toy "El Infiel"

By Kathryn Pinto

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."

Marvelous Toy "El Infiél" by rfslpinto

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Marvelous Toy's single 'El Infiél' will be featured this Wednesday on the Season Finale of American Horror Story on FX on December 21st at 10pm.

MUSIC WE LIKE: The Henry Clay People

Album recommendations by Kathryn Pinto

The Henry Clay People-This is a Desert EP (TBD)

The known world is divided into flyers and gigs if you believe Mike Watt of the Minutemen. The gig is the thing, where a band has the most creative control over their music. Everything else (videos, interviews, facebook pages) is a flyer to get people to the gig. A record is a flyer and the Henry Clay People are a live band. Sure, front man Joey Siara is a pretty good, if underrated, songwriter given to cleverly poetic turns of phrase, but the reason to care about this band is that on stage the Henry Clays connect with their audience from the first moment the guitar pick strikes a string.

This is a Desert was released this spring just as a wave of malaise settled in dark over the East Side, musicians and writers asking, “Does any of this matter? Is anyone listening?” The Henry Clays fire back with five songs burning against the claustrophobia of a conventional life. “…they’re telling us to stay inside/but we’ve been stuck inside for the better part of our lives/and we just want to watch something burn,” sings Siara on “California Wildfire.” Sometimes the lyrics have a meandering perfection and sometimes they’re a bit obtuse. Sometimes the band plays like a band and sometimes they stumble all over each other in barely controlled chaos, but whole is always greater--and more magical --than the sum of the parts. The floppy-haired laid-back delivery is a screen for a profound connection to their audience, who are also held back, constrained and can’t quite get ahead. Does any of this matter? Yes, it absoultely matters. This is music that saves your life three minutes at a time.

The Henry Clay People "California Wildfire"

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The Henry Clay People play with Lady Danville at the UCLA Hammer Museum Thursday July 28 at 8pm, FREE, part of the Also I Like to Rock summer concert series.

Album Review: Art Brut - Brilliant! Tragic!

By Seamus Simpson

Eddie Argos needs a hug. That’s the overriding feeling I have when I listen to the new album from Art Brut. He’s a guy second guessing himself at every turn. In the opener “Clever Clever Jazz” he bemoans the fact that his friends are not appreciative of his new direction in music, and with good reason. It’s depressing.

Now don’t get me wrong. I like a good sad song more than most people, but I want my Art Brut to be happy, even jovial. I want this to be the band that bragged about hanging out at the DC headquarters in New York. The band that screamed that there is no Green Lantern other than Hal Jordan! Sadly, that band is not on this album.

The music is as tight as ever and one of the reasons I was able to get over Argos’ best Jonathan Richman impression was that the songs are impeccable. In the same way I don’t really enjoy Morrissey so much as the guy has awesome back-up bands. The thing is I liked Argos until now. It’s not that his lyrics aren’t as wry and full of wit as they used to be, but this set of songs are the ravings of a broken hearted man. They remind you of your first love broken heart. We’ve all had that feeling, but it’s coming from the “happy” guy in your group of friends. That takes some time to get used to.

Interview: the Lonely Wild, Part II

By Jed

We return with Part 2 of my interview with the Lonely Wild. Radio Free Silver Lake presents the Lonely Wild's record release show this Thursday, February 24 at the Bootleg Theatre. I strongly recommend checking out the show.

Local Band, Global Market

"I've gotten three phone calls already from my aunts and grandmothers saying 'How do I get the music off of my computer?'"

RFSL: How did you end up getting reviewed in Israel?

Carroll: No idea! We debuted the record, and it showed up on bandcamp's top charts and I think he saw us on there.

Schneider: We had some random stuff. We sold a vinyl record to a guy in Australia. I don't want to know how much this thing will cost to ship it.

Carroll: We'll figure it out. Buy a plane ticket.

RFSL: Were you able to translate the Hebrew?

Carroll: Well, he spoke English in the email, and it was kind of funny because I went down and looked at his website and a lot of his stuff was American folk music. I checked it out and he had a big section on the Dust Bowl, and Woody Guthrie, he had Iron and Wine on there.

Ryan: He had some good taste, you know?

Carroll: If you use Google translator, you can kind of see what he was trying to say.