Radio Free Silver Lake

The L.A. Show Low Down (Or: "We Should Let This Dead Guy Sleep...")

by Brad Roberts

I think the highlight of my week is on Thursday night when Yo La Tengo (at right) play The Fonda. Formed 30 years ago this band has never really stopped and their influence is felt far and wide. Their latest album, their 13th, Fade was released in January.

We've been working hard on Make Music Pasadena where Radio Free Silver Lake where will present musical acts, and a rock and roll photography exhibit, at The Armory (adjacent to the park which houses the Levitt Pavillion) for the June 1st festival. We'll reveal the super line up we've assembled for the stage very soon.

And speaking of summer, some of my favorite bands are set to be openers at Hollywood Bowl and The Greek for a bunch of bigger, more famous acts that they threaten to overshadow. Our own Lord Huron is opening, with DeVotchKa, for Rodrigo y Gabriela in July and Beirut opens for Vampire Weekend in September at The Bowl. The xx, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, System of a Down and Fleetwood Mac are also scheduled to appear. New sensation, Divine Fits, are opening for The Postal Service on the second night of their two-night engagement at The Greek in July and The National headline a show there in August.

Check inside for a load of great local shows...

Show Review: MUDHONEY (and the curse of part-time punks) 4/14/13

Text by Seamus Simpson
Photos by Simon Cardoza

So a couple of weeks back I was taxed with going to see Mudhoney at the Echo. I haven’t seen this band since around ‘93 or ‘94 and the lasting image in my head was the band wearing dresses and ripping through “Mudride,” but a lasting image it was. This was a band that in high school was the lesser-known progeny of the Seattle scene. I have always appreciated how they never seemed to take themselves nearly as seriously as their peers in the scene. They always looked like they were up for a good time and Mark Arm was going to drag you there if he had to and you were going to enjoy it. So I was more than excited to learn that they were back on tour again and even more excited that they were doing only small clubs on this tour. A win-win situation for the fans.

Well, there I was sitting on my friend’s couch listening to Super Fuzz/ Big Muff and casually watching some really pretentious band on the first weekend Coachella (I let you the reader pick which band I was viewing as it will probably be right) and it occurs to double check when the shows starts and that is when the reoccurring curse of Part-Time Punks stuck me again. Due to this DJ night the damn Sunday shows at the Echo  start early in order to make way for the post-punk waifs dressed in black to lurch and sway all over the dance floor to a drone of classic post-punk and new wave, so of course I love the night.  I just always seem to forget about it.

Needless to say, we made record time from downtown to Echo Park and shoved our way to the front in order to catch a spectacle going full tilt as we walked in. This was a much different crowd at the Echo  than I was accustomed to seeing. It felt for a second that I was somehow back to 1994.

Video Free Silver Lake with Simon Cardoza of Cardoza

While Video Jed is away getting some much-needed R&R, Simon Cardoza of Cardoza is this week’s guest for Video Free Silver Lake. Cardoza is known to many as a longtime photographer of the eastside music scene, but about a year ago he launched his own band Cardoza. Cardoza (the band) have played at the Central SAPC, Casey’s and Lot 1. You can check out their demo EP on Soundcloud.

By Simon Cardoza

Friend Needs Help
Part 1: Today is Your Lucky Day

Friend Needs Help is a four part web series I wrote and directed a few years back. I wanted to see if I could write comedy so I created this series. Many of the actors are friends from local Silver Lake bands and most of the music used was local bands. Manhattan Murder Mystery’s “Smoky Mountain” is the theme song for the series. This is the first episode.

The L.A. Show Low Down (Or: "Now I No Longer Hear 'Em Calling From My Window Every Morning, My Life At Last Means Something...To The Birds...")

by Brad Roberts

At The Echo on Friday night to see the terrific set by The Veils, I was chatting with Kevin Bronson when he let slip that there were rumors of a gigantic secret show on Saturday. All one needed to do was get in line before 8 AM at El Rey to try to get a ticket. By now everyone knows this was for The Rolling Stones at Echoplex (above). I was too busy...and that will have to be my excuse. The historical nature of the show and the fact that I leaned more toward The Stones than The Beatles during their 1964 and 1965 "Get Off My Cloud"/"Ruby Tuesday" era, makes me kind of sorry I missed it. Now beginning their sixth decade in the limelight, The Rolling Stones kick off their newest tour on Friday night at the slightly less intimate Staples Center.

Last week was packed with good shows, and this week looks just as busy. On Saturday there's a mini music festival called The Eclectic Music Festival & Art Walk at Burke Triolo Studio and three stages staked out across South Pasadena, with Torches, Tapioca and the Flea, L.A. Witch and Mt. Ossa among others slated to play. Starts at 2 PM. And be on the look out for shows with NO, Haunted Summer, Tall Tales and the Silver Linings, The Black Apples, Pam Shaffer, Pageants and so many more. Enough to keep you out every night.

The L.A. Show Low Down (Or: "Going Out In A City Of Doubt, An American Culture Is A Culture Without...")

by Brad Roberts

Well, is everyone back from Coachella in one piece? Attendance may be spotty at shows during the beginning of the week as festival-goers from the desert mix with local festival-goers who attended Desert Daze and downtown L.A.'s Brokechella this past weekend. Just call this recovery week.

The other news this week is that Upcoming Yahoo is ceasing to exist and that is where I collect all the show data for this column. I'm usually able to feed information into it all during the week so it's easier when the weekend comes to put it all together. Now I'll have to find another way as the site is already becoming slowly disabled. Just getting the list together was about all I could do this week. I'll know to plan ahead some extra time next week.

One thing is certain, it's doubtful this week will be as fraught with national drama as last week. At least I hope so. I'm especially excited about a couple of shows later in the week. On Thursday the Har Mar Superstar show at The Satellite features a special performance by Josh Tillman (better know by another name these days) and once word gets out this show will be the hot ticket of the week.

The "BritWeek" is starting up at The Echo on Friday and bringing The Veils (above) back to town on the week of the release of their newest album, Time Stays, We Go. This band has long been on my list of favorite bands as they combine originality, passion and pop with an amazingly charismatic lead singer, Finn Andrews, who pours his soul out on stage.

Celebrate Record Store Day

 

 

 

 

By Jackie Lam

Here's the haps that's going around in town on the day that celebrates what your record store brings to a community: a physical place to connect with fellow music lovers and keep the local music scene alive. There's a few new record shops that have sprouted around town recently, and this Saturday's Record Store Day would be a great time to check them out.

Notable RSD 2013 exclusives include releases from Wire (Change Becomes Us, 12" vinyl), Nick Drake (s/t, 12" vinyl), Portugal. The Man (Church Mouth, 12" vinyl), Destroyer (This Night, 12" vinyl), Tame Impala (s/t, 12" vinyl), Ra Ra Riot (Binary Mind, 10" vinyl), Best Coast (Fear of My Identity and What I Have Become, 7" vinyl), Black Lips / Icky Blossoms (7" vinyl), Dan Deacon (Konono Ripoff No. 1, 7" vinyl), Fitz & the Tantrums (Out of My League, 7" vinyl), Milo Greene (What's the Matter/Staging Point, 7" vinyl), Grizzly Bear (Horn of Plenty, 12" vinyl). For a full list, visit their website.

To confirm which releases each store will be carrying, I highly suggest checking out their FB pages or blogs or contacting the store beforehand.

 

Eastside

 Amoeba is going all-out with their annual daylong celebration. Doors open at 10:30 am. Hundreds of limited-edition RSD releases will be available along with a sale: 25% off all turntables, posters, and headphones, and significant mark-offs on their bargain Blu-rays and rare DVD collection.  Customers will receive a special RSD gift bag with purchase (while supplies last). 

Starting at noon there will be a RSD silkscreening, with all proceeds benefitting the Silverlake Conservatory of Music. Last year there were tote bags and tee-shirts available with a few rad designs, and I'm thinking this year it may be the same sort of thing. There's also gonna be a prize wheel to spin for some neat giveaways.

And what's a RSD without some tunes? Guest DJs spinning sets that day are Lance Rock (1 pm), Lucinda Williams (3 pm), and Jeff MacDonald (5 pm). 

Mono Records on Glendale Blvd. will open their doors at 10 am. They'll have some RSD releases plus 1000s of LPs for a mere buck. Everything else in the store will be discounted at 10%. 

Origami Vinyl in Echo Park  is up to their usual awesomeness with an entire day of DJ sets, special in-stores, and specials. Doors will open at 8 am for sprightly early birds, with the added incentive that the first person in line gets to shop in the store all by themselves for 5 minutes. They'll be carrying a fair amount of RSD exclusives (you can check out their blog for the full list). 

DJ sets and live music rotating every hour, including sets from Dean Spunk of No Age/PPM (11 am), Bennet Kogon of KXLU (10 am), Justin Gage of Aquarium Drunkard (1 pm), and Avey Tare of Animal Collective (2 pm). Live in-stores include Nick Waterhouse at 7 pm (first-come, first served) and Silversun Pickups at 8 pm. (sorry kids, but all tickets have been issued).

And after checking out the wares at Origami, stop by The Echo, where turntables will be available from 11 am - 3 pm to test out your crisp, new vinyl purchases.

 Rockaway Records on Glendale Blvd. is having their annual blowout RSD sale. The sale will go from 10 am-8 pm. Nearly everything in the store will be on sale at up to 50% off (except for RSD exclusives)  and Rockaway will be carrying 100s of exclusive RSD releases. And freebies and giveaways will be generously held throughout the day. 

VACATION Vinyl on Sunset will open their doors at 10 am, with a buttload of RSD exclusives and samplers. Sick City Records is hosting an in-store with a few bands from their label: Ugly Kids, Black Sea, Death Lens,Victory, and the Echo and the Sound!! The store opens at 11 am and bands go on starting at 3 pm. Sick City will be carrying some RSD exclusives, and will have their own special release on red vinyl with four bands on their label: Ugly Kids, Death Hymn Number 9, Cigarette Burns, and the Flytrap. Freebies include a Sick City T-shirt with every purchase (while supplies last). 

Gimme Gimme Records, having recently moved to Highland Park after being in NYC East Village for nearly 20 years, will take part in RSD with some RSD exclusives. All their bargain dollar records will be free that day.

High Fidelity Record Store in Los Feliz will have a handful of RSD exclusives including releases from Elliott Smith, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Wire, and Half Japanese. Plus music all day long:  DJ sets by DJ Sacred and DJ Maxwell, and live in-stores with IRIS, Dark Matter, HelixFossil, and singer/songwriter Joseph Scaturro.

  Westside

Record Surplus on Pico will be having their annual three-day weekend sale, which goes from Friday-Sunday. Their attic section will have CDs, DVDs, and LPs for a mere .92. All items in the store sans RSD exclusives will be 15% off. 

Touch Vinyl, a new shop on the westside on Sawtelle, is throwing an all-out bash,with DJ sets, a bunch of RSD exclusives, baked goods and a churro truck. Plus there's a raffle at 4:20 to win prizes such as a turnable and rare vinyl. They'll be open from noon-midnight.

Fingerprint Records out in Long Beach is worth trekking out to. They've put their own spin on Record Store Day, extending it to Record Store Month, full of daily giveaways, specials, live in-stores, and contests through all of April. Check out their FB page for daily deals and the RSD low down.

 

The L.A. Show Low Down (Or: "Trying Not To Lose Our Hearts, Not To Lose Our Minds...")

by Brad Roberts

It's a great big week with lots of great big bands as the Coachella Festival brings some heavy hitters into our vicinity in order to kill some time between weekends one and two. Franz Ferdinand at The Fonda on Tuesday and at Pappy and Harriet's on Thursday, where Grizzly Bear (at right) will also play a show later that night. But it's the little shows that make this a stand out week here in Los Angeles. Don't let the Hands residency at The Echo go by without catching at least one night of their month long engagement. NO are in Hollywood for an early show at The Redbury on a Wednesday that is packed with good shows.

The rest of the week is dotted with sets here and there like Omar Velasco at The Viper Room on Tuesday, a couple of shows at Taix Lounge with Many Embers on Thursday and bikos on Friday. And a couple of appearances by Manhattan Murder Mystery, on Wednesday for The Happy Casualties residency at Lot 1, and on Friday at the anti-Coachella show Brokechella 2013 with yOya and Body Parts at a place downtown called Six 01 Studio.

Currently, I'm up to my ears in great new music. So many new and recent releases have taken over my listening habits I have to name some of them: Until in Excess, Imperceptible UFO by The Besnard Lakes, Fade by Yo La Tengo, Her Dark Majesty by The Hectors, Fear Fun by Father John Misty, The Invisible Way by Low, The Sun  As It Comes by The Lonely Wild, and the releases by Haunted Summer, Many Embers and George Glass. My ten best of the year list is already over-crowded. And it's only April!

Show Spotlight: RFSL Presents Radars to the Sky Tonight at the Central SAPC with Seasons, Cardoza and The Breakups

By Kathryn Pinto

Friends, West Siders and fans of good music across the Angel City, tonight Radio Free Silver Lake brings you a bill stacked wall to wall with RFSL Faves. Every other show this week was a warm-up for this event, the Radars to the Sky single release show with Seasons, Cardoza and The Breakups at the Central Social Aid & Pleasure Club in Santa Monica.  Radars to the Sky are one of the most consistenly great live acts going. They cycle in and out of the live music circuit, always returning with a new batch of songs and an explosive live set. Radars are back with two songs “Basement 213” and “Your Sheltered Little Heart" for readers to preview from their latest recording project.

The Breakups  play super catchy, expertly crafted songs that are physically impossible to not to dance to.

Seasons have returned from a month of recording their latest album in Seattle, reportledly with a snappier sound honed by weeks of studio work.

Cardoza are the latest project from Simon Cardoza backed by veteran Silver Lake rockers Martin Avelar, Seamus Simpson and Nick Roumeliotis.

Photo by Simon Cardoza.

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Radars to the Sky plays tonight April 11, with Carzoza, Seasons and The Breakups at the Central SAPC, 1348 14th St‎.(at Santa Monica Blvd.), Santa Monica, 90404. Show starts at 9pm.  Tickets $8 advance $10 at the door, ages 21+.

Show Review: Low - Down At The Troubadour (4/2/13)

by Brad Roberts

Low put on a typically low-key and hypnotic spell-binder of a show on Tuesday night, April 2, at The Troubadour. Having seen this band be equally impressive in so small a venue as The Satellite or as large as El Rey, they have the admirable ability to tailor their sound to the needs of a room's acoustical dimensions. The Troubadour affords them the best of both worlds. Big sound in a cozy setting.

I greeted their newest album, The Invisible Way, with a little trepidation, as it was produced by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco and I didn't know if that was a good fit. The album sounded deceptively laid back and sluggish on my earbuds, but it actually is strong and powerful when played with enough volume on a good home stereo. And that was what I heard at The Troubadour. Differing from the fuzzy electronic bombast of The Great Destroyer or the more lyrical quality of C'mon, this new album heads off in new directions as Mimi Parker assumes a more lead vocal role.

Show Spotlight: RFSL Presents The Black Apples, Kissing Cousins and Kat Kong at Harvard & Stone Tonight April 9

By Kathryn Pinto

Radio Free Silver Lake is excited to present the second week of the Black Apples residency at Harvard & Stone, the offfhandedly stylish Thai Town music venue and mixologist bar, tonight Tuesday, April 9. The heavy, heavy Kissing Cousins and Kat Kong play in support. Brothers Campbell (vocals and percussion) and Andrew Scarborough (guitar) form the creative core of the Black Apples, formed years ago in Colorado and now rooted in Los Angeles. The two play a psychedelic garage-edged rocked that reeks of years spend soaking up the likes of T-Rex, the Zombies, and Phil Spector's Wall of Sound production. The residency is in anticipation of Black Apples' latest and catchiest yet  EP Tales and Truths, out April 16.

The all-female Kissing Cousins  play a dark, reverb-heavy rock that the band describes as Southern gothic from a preacher's daughter (frontwoman Heather Heywood) in the tradition of Flannery O'connor and William Faulkner. Well, yeah, if Metallica was covering Faulkner.

Kat Kong is loud, fuzzy and fun, playing songs on such pressing topics as "Wolf Baby" and "Somniac." If you don't smile when they take they stage you probably don't have a pulse.

Disclosure: Campbell and Andrew Scarborough were baristas at the local coffee shop in my early days in Los Angeles. I've socialized with them outside the cafe in situations that involved listening to Harry Nillson records.

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Radio Free Silver Lake presents the Black Apples with Kissing Cousins and Kat Kong at Harvard & Stone (5221 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, 90027) Tuesday, April 9 at 9pm. Free Show, 21+.