Radio Free Silver Lake

The L.A. Show Low Down (Or: "The Peace Our Music Brings, Our Song Is A Garden And What We Sing Will Grow...")

by Brad Roberts

Summer is really gearing up and the season's schedule is filling up quickly with amazing shows typified by this week's appearances of Fleetwood Mac at Hollywood Bowl and The Rolling Stones, back at The Staples Center. Just last week tickets went on sale for another announced outdoor show at The Hollywood Forever Cemetery, this time with Grizzly Bear on Friday, August 9, which joins another show two days later, The National on Sunday, August 11, keeping me in the cemetery (above) most of that weekend, except for the detour to The Greek on Saturday night for another show by The National. Luckily, I acted fast and was able to get tickets for all three. I love my outdoor summer shows in Los Angeles.

This week looks fairly mild compared to what's coming up as we head toward June and the start of a bunch of festivals. Monday is, as usual, one of the highlights of the week. This Los Angeles idea of free Monday night residencies has become such a long-standing tradition that all the clubs are packed every Monday night and the acts are usually so stimulating that you just want to go out every night for the rest of the week. Tonight I start with The Sixth Son and LoveyDove at Los Globos, then venture over to The Echo for the Torches residency with Seasons.

Friday night offers a special show not to be missed. Amanda Jo Williams is releasing a new record and is having a release party at El Cid with a dynamite bill including Tommy Santee Klaws and Dorian Wood. A few other treats are buried inside...

Show Spotlight: RFSL Presents United Ghosts, The Hectors, Modern Time Machines and Bulletins Tonight at the Silverlake Lounge

By Kathryn Pinto

Radio Free Silver Lake is excited to present a stellar lineup for the second week of United Ghosts’ Thursday record release residency at the Silverlake Lounge. The Hectors, Modern Time Machines and Bulletins (members of Film School) will play in support tonight.

This residency launches the self-titled album  United Ghosts  were recording when RFSL last spoke with the band. The music was inspired by the underbelly of LA. The rusting shopping carts, payphones and guns  entombed in Echo Lake that were uncovered when the lake was recently dredged resonated with the band. Tracks like “Echo Lake” reveal the dark and sinister things hidden behind cool jackets, shimmering blonde locks and California smiles. It’s the sound of big guitar steeped in a back catalog of psychedelia, shoegaze and Kraut rock. Frontman Axel Steuerwald says he’s always trying to turn people on to NEU!, but his real love is a pre-Britpop sound in England in the 1990’s, (Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine and countless other less storied bands) a genre-crossing sound equal parts experimentation and pop sensibility, anything goes noise but always carried by a melody. In fact the album has tracks like “Sparks from a Cold Star” that recall American indie rock like Husker Dü or The Replacements as much as anything from England.

Watch "Echo Lake" and hear the band's take on making the album.

 

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United Ghosts play the Silverlake Lounge (2906 Sunset Blvd., LA, 90026), along with The Hectors, Modern Time Machines and Bulletins, Thursday May 16 at 9pm (first set), FREE SHOW, 21+.

The L.A. Show Low Down (Or: "When You Wake Up Your Mind...")

by Brad Roberts

So many good shows this week make Los Angeles look like a music cafeteria where you can pick this from here, that set from there, and another band at another club and make a gigantic feast every night either club hoping or just staying put. For me, one of the major shows of the week is for Seven Saturdays (at right), who are having a record release and video premiere show at Eagle Rock Center of the Arts with Little Red Lung on Friday night. Seeing Seven Saturdays as they were forging a new direction with their music last December at The Satellite, I have been anxiously waiting their new CD, Make Note Of Every Sound, which their music is wont to make you do anyway. Adding vocals to their heady mix of atmospheric soundscapes and electronic/orchestral sweep has taken this band to another level.

Torches have the best Monday night residency this week with, among our favorites, Radar To The Sky and Manhattan Murder Mystery on the bill. Other Radio Free Silver Lake favorites are sprinkled throughout the week like Duniven, who got a great write up in L.A. Weekly this week, and is playing a video release show on Wednesday at The Satellite, and Thursday gives us a stellar line up at Silver Lake Lounge with United Ghosts, The Hectors and Modern Time Machines. Look for shows with The World Record, Fort King, The Dustbowl Revival and many more below the fold...

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...

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.

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 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+.

The L.A. Show Low Down (Or: "All This Remembrance...I Won't Ask For A SIgn, There Have Been Enough...")

by Brad Roberts

As I write this there are earthquakes rumbling through the Valley of the Coachella, probably in anticipation, and trepidation, of the sea of humanity about to sweep over the area. And all the heathen revelry that goes into the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival starts up this Friday and a lot of Los Angeles is all ready to head out to make the desert quake some more. Apart from the not-terribly-exciting headliners there are some amazing bands filling out the schedule. For me, bands like Grizzly Bear, Divine Fits, Lord Huron, Hot Chip and Father John Misty could have lured me out to the Festival, but we can see them all here in town on a fairly regular basis. So, once again, I'm not going and, once again, I will probably be sorry when I hear how great it all was.

Back here in town, Radio Free Silver Lake is hosting two shows this week, the first being for The Black Apples residency at Harvard & Stone on Tuesday night. Kissing Cousins and Kat Kong are also on the bill. Then on Thursday we play host, once again, to a band that are like an anchor for us. Just when you wonder if you'll see them again, Radars To The Sky jump back into the limelight with a new single release. They will be celebrating at The Central along with the other fine bands, Seasons, The Breakups and Cardoza. This could be the best show of the week.

Actually there are a lot of other great shows and if you peruse the list below, you'll find out what they are.