Radio Free Silver Lake

Echo Park Rising - Programming My Days and Nights, Part 3

by Brad Roberts

ECHO PARK RISING

Saturday, August 20:

Day one highlights included Pompeya, an amazing indie pop band from Moscow with a real talent for arresting and beautifully crafted songs with an unpretentious and direct delivery that transfixed a large audience at Echoplex. Ghost Lit Kingdom, which features powerful four-part harmonies, and Dios, back together again and sounding better than ever.

Day two brought me to Sand Babes, Broadcast Station, and Send Medicine,  three new must-see-again bands.

But I've fallen behind and there's simply too many bands to sample them all before I go to the festival. So I'll be winging it today. But I hope to see Gregg Garvey and the Wintergreens, Billy Changer, Ryan Fuller, Korey Dane, Drinking Flowere, SWIMM, FEELS, Froth, The Black Heartthrobs, Donna Bummer, Bloody Death Skull...oh hell! I'll just go over and see what I find. Sorry, no links or photos, No time!

Echo Park Rising - Programming My Days and Nights, Part 2

  by Brad Roberts

ECHO PARK RISING

Friday, August 19:

Once I started really researching the bands for this year's festival, I found a ton of music I was attracted to, raising the excitement and anticipation I already felt about Echo Park Rising 2016.

Friday starts earlier than Thursday with a fuller schedule and tighter choices. Around 2:30 and 3:00 music starts at Spacedust and Lot 1, but I'm holding off till around 4 to try to catch the twangy, surfy psychedelia of Solar Sons the first day of the outdoor at Liberty Stage at 4:15, followed immediately by my buddies in Winter and the haunting, dream pop, garage rock music they create at 5:05, again Liberty Stage.

Want to try and catch some of Ryan Fuller/Cuz'n Roy at The Semi-Tropic, though he plays again on Saturday, so maybe I'll get to the beautifully sung indie pop of WASI at The Lost Knight but they, unfortunately, go on at 5 also. Too many choices.

I'm intrigued by the lo-fi, trippy indie-folk of The Berkshire Hobbits that reminded me of Chad VanGaalen, at 5:30 at Spacedust, but I'll be catching solid 70s style rock and roll in he form of Broadcast Station at The Lost Room at 5:45. Across the street to Lot 1 for Sand Babes at 6, who sound like classic rock and roll artists who play lush organ psychedelia with a flavor of the east.

At 6:30 clever writing and classic folk elements make Send Medicine an easy bet at The Lost Room, though at The Echo, female-fronted Chastity Belt bring an interesting a varied sound to their punk metal., also at 6:30. Damn it!

Rainbow Arabia follow at The Echo at 7:20 with their haunting, dreamy soundscapes, then downstairs at Echoplex at 7:50 I want to see the drum and synthesizer, singer/songwriter T.O.L.D.

But if it's variety you're after, step over to Stories Books & Cafe for a LOUD storytelling show hosted by Scott Schultz and with Matthew Teardrop.

The rest of the evening is up for grabs and I wonder how I'll be holding out. there's Ducktales at The Echo at 9, Emerson Star at 9:30 at The Lost Room, and more... now it's time for me to run out to the Thursday shows.

Friday, Aug 19

Echo:

• 4:50 Walter
• 5:40 So Pitted
• 6:30 Chastity Belt*
• 7:20 Rainbow Arabia*
• 8:10 Pom Poms
• 9:00 Ducktails*
• 10:00 Whiskey Biscuit*
• 10:50 Jesus Sons
• 11:40 PART TIME

Echo Patio:

• 7:20 Argee Algee
• 8:00 Starcrawler
• 8:45 Pinky Pinky
• 9:40 Bad Water Bob
• 10:20 Le Cos

Echoplex:

• 4:30 Autumn in June
• 5:20 Hawai
• 6:10 Guides
• 7:00 Mating Ritual
• 7:50 T.O.L.D.*
• 8:40 KAUF
• 9:30 Dear Boy*
• 10:30 Buyepongo
• 11:30 Dub Club

Liberty Stage:

• 3:00 Modern Funk DJs
• 4:15 Solar Sons*
• 5:05 Winter*
• 6:00 Mexico 68
• 7:00 Prettiest Eyes
• 7:50 Thee Commons
• 8:50 Chicano Batman*

Lost Knight:

• 5:00 WASI*
• 5:45 Minamal
• 6:30 Supr Whatevr
• 7:15 Royaljag
• 8:00 Bedbugs
• 8:45 Audiomammal
• 9:30 The Knitts
• 10:15 Liv Slingerland
• 11:00 Lighthorse
• 11:45 Outside Animals
• 12:30 Christian Salzar and Band

Lost Room:

• 5:00 Diana Meyer
• 5:45 Broadcast Station*
• 6:30 Send Medicine*
• 7:15 The Rituals
• 8:00 Low Country Kingdom
• 8:45 Sean Gadd
• 9:30 Emerson Star*
• 10:15 Maxie Dean
• 11:00 Miles Tacket
• 11:45 Arms Akimbo

Lot 1:

• 3:00 Porcelain Pale
• 4:00 Mosquito
• 5:00 UNBLOOM
• 6:00 Sand Babes*
• 7:00 Young Lovers
• 8:00 Batwings Catwings
• 9:00 The Honey Tones
• 10:00 Cutty Flam
• 11:00 CHILDREN*
• 11:59 Band Aparte

Short Stop:

• 4:00 Kids In Heat
• 5:00 Cigarette Bums
• 6:40 Telephone Lovers
• 7:25 Cheap Tissue
• 8:10 CG Roxanne & The Nightmares*
• 9:00 Do It! w/ DJ Expo

Spacedust:

• 2:30 Nectarine
• 3:15 Void Of Course
• 4:00 Snake Chime Zen
• 4:45 The Bomb
• 5;00 Lo-Pie DJs
• 5:30 The Berkshire Hobbits*
• 6:15 Veronica Banqui*
• 7:00 Lucas Fizsimons
• 7:45 The Blank Tapes*
• 8:00 Red Light Vinyl
• 8:30 Golden Animals
• 9:15 Miss Jupiter*

Stories Books & Cafe:

• 7:30 LOUD storytelling show hosted by Scott Schultz*
• 10:00 Good Heroin Comedy show

Taix Champagne Room:

•  7:30 TWINKIDS
• 8:20 Raener
• 9:10 Bloodboy
• 10:00 Roses*
• 11:00 Colleen Green*
• 11:59 King Henry

The Semi-Tropic:

• 5:00 Ryan Fuller / Cuz'n Roy*
• 6:00 Badwater Bob
• 7:00 Old Jitters
• 8:00 The Velopheliacs
• 9:00 Jim & Sam
• 9:00 Cassandra Violet

Trencher:

• 4:40 Kid Sister
• 5:20 Diamonds
• 6:00 Emily Gold*
• 6:45 Crown Plaza
• 7:30 Beca
• 8:15 Disco Shrine
• 9:00 The Anti-Job

Echo Park Rising - Programming My Days and Nights

by Brad Roberts

ECHO PARK RISING

Thursday, August 18:

Perusing the schedule and sampling as many bands as I could, I came up with a schedule that is heavy with competing sets that I'll have to choose from. And this is just the first day.

As the Thursday line ups don't really get up much before 6 PM, the opening day is mostly evening events. I'm already torn and it is just the beginning.

Since they're right across the street from each other I'm hoping to catch some of the first sets at Lot 1 and The Lost Room at 6PM. DreamVacation (at left) opens The Lost Room festival schedule playing a layered, atmospheric shoegaze I find very appealing, while at Lot 1 The Eleventh Frequency attract with a new wavy, jangly alt pop. From there I'll probably wander over to The Lost Knight for Featherwolf to hear their prog rock instrumental work. Competition for the 8 o'clock slot comes from Buddha Jones and the Man and their wild-eyed soul/classic 60s rock blend at Lot 1 and the beautiful alternative pop of Rosechild at The Lost Knight. So far, so good...I'm centered at the far end of Sunset Boulevard.

I can then mosey on up to The Echo for Numb.er (right) at 8:50. I like their dark, expansive, atmospheric post punk. I can then go downstairs to Echoplex to see Pompeya and hear some of their very pretty new wave pop from Moscow at 9:30.

Have to miss The Flusters at Lot 1 at 9, who I wanted to see, but I'll be back at that end of Sunset to try to catch some of the King Washington set at 9:45 at The Lost Room. 10:30 presents the worst dilemma of the night with gutsy garage rock seasoned with a 60's English beat from Mind Meld at The Echo, while Ghost Lit Kingdom (left) offer terrific power pop indie at The Lost Knight, which will probably be my destination. At the same time classic troubadour folk rock comes from Patrolled By Radar at The Lost Room.

The night will end with three possibilities at 15 minute intervals (providing the schedules are adhered to) I want to catch as much of the 11 o'clock set by the psychedelic indie favorite Seasons (right), back at Lot 1, who are reaching classic status, or the 11:15 set by baroque indie pop band I, Us & We at The Lost Knight, and hopefully be able to get back to The Echo for part of the 11:30 show by Dios, who represent the best of L.A.

What a way to begin a festival!

Next up, I'll talk about Friday.

 

 

updated schedule:

Thursday, Aug. 18

Echo:

• 8:00 Sloppy Jane
• 8:50 Numb.er*
• 9:40 The Birth Defects
• 10:30 Mind Meld
• 11:30 Dios*

Echoplex:

• 5:00 Franky Flowers
• 5:50 The Regrettes
• 6:40 SadGirl
• 7:30 The Frights
• 8:40 Kron
• 9:30 Pompeya*
• 10:20 Pale Blue
• 11:20 Egyptian Lover

Lost Knight:

• 6:00 Joe McFly
• 6:45 Featherwolf*
• 7:30 Iconique
• 8:15 Rosechild*
• 9:00 Melted Bodies
• 9:45 Forest
• 10:30 Ghost Kit Kingdom*
• 11:15 I. Us, & We*
• 12:00 MARKS
• 12:45 Porcelain Pale

Lost Room:

• 6:00 DreamVacation*
• 6:45 Rosy Crucifixion
• 7:30 SwearxxxWords
• 8:15 The Freddy Spacer Experience
• 9:00 VerBs
• 9:45 King Washington*
• 10:30 Patrolled By Radar*

Lot 1:

• 6:00 The Eleventh Frequency*
• 7:00 The Pocket Rockets
• 8:00 Buddha Jones and the Man
• 9:00 The Flusters
• 10:00 The NV
• 11:00 Seasons*

Shortstop: 

• 5:00 Future Shoxxx
• 6:35 Die Group
• 8:00 The Vivids
• 9:00 Egrets on Ergot
• 10:00 Singles Going Steady

 Spacedust:

• 6:00 VS Jupiter (DJ set)
• 6:15 Joan Apperson
• 7:00 Dominique
• 7:45 Risa Rubin
• 8:30 Julian Porte
• 9:15 Alex & Derek

Stories Books & Cafe:

• 6:00 Iris Berry & Vicky Hamilton

Festival Report: Broke LA 2016

Text and Photos by Kathryn Pinto 

Last Saturday April 23 Broke LA (formerly known as Brokechella) brought another successful one day festival to young Angelenos: those short on cash, or saddled with unreliable cars or unreliable friends and some who just love dogs. For the sixth year Broke LA  was a lively day of music and art in Downtown LA. The festival moved to a new location at Imperial Arts Studios in the warehouse district that was a compact, labyrinthine setting. The dimly lit maze of indoor and outdoor spaces  gave the aura of a treasure hunt, with gems to be found around every corner if one was willing to venture deeper inside. (At right, DWNTWN on the Outdoor Stage)

The spirit of the festival is youthful, convivial optimism; everyone in attendance was a participant on board and bought in. Audience members made art and hugged puppies; security guards got down and danced to the bands. Foodies ate tater tots with every conceivable topping and then went back for more. Prince’s passing only three days before did not dim the spirits of festival goers who were mostly young enough to be born after “Darling Nikki” or “Little Red Corvette” had been retired to the eighties oldies station. Tributes rippled beneath the surface, bubbling up in art projects and DJ playlists, but lavender hankies were stowed; the Purple One’s spirit infused all music.

Bark LA (the former Puppychella) was again a highlight of the daytime festivities. At Bark LA canine best friends are invited to join the party. Watts Project and the Animal Wellness Foundation held adoption events for those who don’t yet have a pet of their own. These rescue organizations brought dogs and puppies available for adoption and allowed audience members to snuggle up with a pup and learn more about these no-kill organizations. There was even a Step and Repeat photo opportunity with a doghouse big enough for dogs and their humans.

(Festival Report and Photo Gallery continue after the break.) 

Festival Report: Brokechella 2015

By Kathryn Pinto

Insects vs. Robots

The first Brokechella started when the organizers of the cARTel art party realized that they didn’t have to cancel their April art party because none of the other participants could afford to go to Coachella, either. Five years later, there is no shortage creative people who were available to come out to a warehouse space in Downtown LA to see music, art, carnival sideshows and get together with friends on a Saturday. This year there were four stages and longer lines, but the energy and optimism that sparked the first festival continue to grow.

So why go to a music festival, or any festival? We want to see a once in a lifetime performance, or we want to see baby bands before they become huge, when we can still see them up close on a small stage, or maybe we just want to hear good music, of any genre, outdoors on a serious sound system while we dance and hang out with our friends. I didn’t see any holograms or TMZ reporters at Brokechella, but I did see all kinds of people hanging out and having a good time. This year I spent a lot more time at the hip hop stage, sponsored by Brownies and Lemonade, where the beats pumped and lyrics flowed with a vitality not seen in a long time. Some highlights:

Puppychella:
Dog lovers willing to preregister their pups in advance were able to bring their dogs to the festival, where leashed canines were welcome in designated areas. It was fun and friendly. Dog owners had a chance to spend time with their pets outside on a spring day with a beer and bands and their best friends, an online form wasn’t going to slow them down.

Marty Grimes

The Brownies and Lemonade Stage:
The hip hop stage was going off every single time I walked inside. There was so much energy in there it was crazy. I don’t believe I am qualified to cover hip hop in a critical way.  I love hip hop, but I am not current. I can hardly keep up with all of the indie rock LA bands that flood my inbox and that new Kendrick Lamar was going to last me through the whole year until I saw this stage. So this comes to you strictly as a fan not as a scholar.  

The first act to catch my eye was Gavlyn, an all female group showing off choreographed dance moves, led by a front woman who first commanded the stage, then came down to the floor to rap to the audience. Then there was Marty Grimes (above right) who rejoiced in the moment  and shouted out to his mom in the audience. Turns out she was the beautiful woman I had been standing right behind for the first half of the set, as proud of her son as any mother ever. Fortune was a full band playing soul, jazz and hip hop all in one impressive package.

Indie rock was well-represented on the cARTel stages. There was a refreshing new crop of bands I mostly hadn't seen before, as well as RFSL favorites like Hi Ho Silver Oh who sounded the best I've ever heard them. There was a trend toward roots and jam band influences from acts like Insects vs. Robots and Neighbors as well as synth pop from Battle Tapes. 

In addition to four stages of music there was comedy, visual art and carnival-style side shows like the Los Angeles Ladies Arm Wrestling. 

More photos after the jump...

Discoveries from Culture Collide 2014

By Kathryn Pinto

Recently, Radio Free Silver Lake spent a long weekend taking in a slew of new music from all over the world at Culture Collide. The best music festivals deliver moments when excited fans, fresh from seeing a band for the first time, run into friends in a taco line or a crosswalk and ask, “What did you see? Who do you like? What are you going to see next?” Culture Collide, which took place last month in venues along Sunset Boulevard in Echo Park, is an event that is exactly the right size for discovering music. The lineup is rich with talent, tickets are affordable, there’s good food, and it’s easy to navigate and friendly. With all of these stars aligned, the experience was a chance to discover new bands and artists, to share finds and get excited about music all over again.

The fifth annual Culture Collide  in Los Angeles is an international music festival of bands and artists from more than 20 countries and includes a conference, Culture Collide Creative Summit, presented by Filter magazine. The event took place in locations along Sunset Boulevard in Echo Park October 16-18 this year. Venues included The Echo, Echoplex, Taix, The Church, Lot 1, and the outdoor Culture Collide World Stage, located at the Taix parking lot. There were excellent performances from new finds like indie rockers Autostrad from Jordan, The Kokoro (Israel), and bands we’ve seen before including headliners Cloud Nothings (USA) and hometown favorites like Haunted Summer and the Bixby Knolls. Here are our discoveries (and rediscoveries) from the festival. 

1. Dune Rats (Australia)
The most energetic set of the festival came from Dune Rats, a pack of skate rats from Brisbane, Australia who could go toe-to-to with any So Cal skate punks on brashness, sweat and pure party energy. They made the walls and low ceilings of the Taix Champagne Room shake with their bounding and sprinting across the stage. Think FIDLAR or the Orwells.

  2. Takeoffs and Landings (Peru)
Straight up indie rock made a strong showing at the 321 Lounge at Taix, emerging from places as unlikely as Peru. Led by one-woman ambassador of cool, Takeoffs and Landings injected fresh raw energy into that radiated throughout the festival.

Brokechella 2014: Festival Highlights and Photos

By Kathryn Pinto

For those music fans not up to spending three parched days and several hundred dollars in the desert of Indio, California Brokechella 2014 was a fun, sane way to spend a Saturday. The impecunious could enjoy live music for $10, including some fine sets by up and coming LA bands and the trek was only as far as Downtown LA. Having the Sixth Street Bridge as a background, the outdoor cARTel stage was an excellent setting for catching some music. The festival atmosphere was laid back and despite some logistical problems (food lines that did not move, a single beer garden tucked into a corner behind the comedy stage), festivalgoers seemed to take these setbacks in stride. In addition to music and food there were craft vendors, impromptu art exhibitions and an event called Puppychella, a daytime dog-friendly program for folks whose plus one was a furry friend.

There were four stages, including hip-hop, electronic, comedy and but of most interest to the Radio Free Silver Lake readership was the cARTel Stage, where the indie rock bands played. Here were some of our highlights from the cARTel Stage.

Kera & the Lesbians
Kera and the Lesbians—the titular lesbians are a bunch of longhaired dudes in the band—bring together influences of East LA Latin rock, surf guitar, and a gypsy punk of the flavor of Gogol Bordello. Kera is an incredibly magnetic performer at the heart of the group. Onstage she is so insanely charismatic that she illuminates the stage.

LA Font
LA Font play with such reckless abandon that you never question whether rock n roll is supposed to be fun. The only question is where are the other bands who bring this excitement to the stage when we need them for summer festivals.

HOTT MT (Hour of the Time Majesty Twelve)
Fronted by the charismatic Ashi Dalas, HOTT MT injected the evening crowd with a dose of eastern post-pop psychedelia and theatrical energy. The band is known for having made a pilgrimage to Wayne Coyne’s house in Oklahoma that resulted in a collaborative 7” with the Flaming Lips’ singer. HOTT MT has an energy and showmanship that honors Mr. Coyne's musical spirit. Their set energized and rejuvenated an evening crowd that moments earlier was drifting off toward the waning light of the beer garden.

Yoya
Yoya’s sweet harmonies bring to mind Simon and Garfunkel, and they put on a pretty great show with sing alongs like "Fireworks," the song the band described as “the smash hit featured on the Kardashians.”

More photos from Brokechella 2014 (after the jump)

Festival Report: Filter Magazine's Culture Collide Festival 2013

by Brad Roberts

It's hard to imagine a more stimulating or exciting event as this year's Culture Collide Festival. That's NO on stage at the World Stage at right. Now in its fourth year, I had only attended once before, two years ago and only saw a few bands, but getting a press pass this year, I decided to throw myself into it as fully as my time...and energy, would allow. The festival ran from Thursday through Saturday in as many as eight venues at its peak.

Going to their website, I was able to sample almost all of the bands on the schedule and jotted down quick shorthand notes like "dream pop", "shoegaze" or "sad girl folk", "delicate quivering voice" or "baroque pop" next to the band names. It gave me something to go on with my unfamiliarity of almost all the artists.

On Thursday, October 10, I raced over after work and got there in time to check in, get my treasured press wrist band and step into the Taix Front Lounge to hear Melpo Mene, a Swedish indie band whose lead singer, Erik Mattiasson, appeared to be suffering from some kind of stage-confessional jet lag, but pulled it together to deliver a couple of interesting songs. I saw them again on Saturday and was quite impressed by their second set. Catchy songs with nice vocal harmonies and complex arrangements.

I intended to spend most of the evening at Lot 1 as the band Secret Shine (UK) was the one I was most impressed with when I sampled their music and read their history as a seminal band in the shoegaze movement in England, and they were set to play at 11 PM. Before departing Taix, I stopped by the Champagne Room to hear a little bit of Wooster (US) who sounded very good as a representation of American indie rock with lots of jangly charm and a singer whose voice resembled that of Finn Andrews of The Veils. I really wanted to see Bombay Show Pig (Netherlands), not just because of the arresting name, but their energetic samples intrigued me, and they were scheduled to go on at Lot 1 at 9.

Festival Report and Photo Gallery: Jubilee 2013

Text by Kathryn Pinto
Photos by Angela Holtzen

The Jubilee Music and Arts Festival (formerly the Silver Lake Jubilee) moved to its new location in the Downtown Los Angeles Arts District this year. Photographer Angela Holtzen--featured in our RFSL photography show at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena-- was on hand last weekend to cover the festival and bring back some images of the event.

The Jubilee  lineup included local favorites as well as national acts like NO, Fool's Gold, Hott MT, Lovelife, Beat Club, Great White Buffalo,  Riff Raff, Tapioca and the Flea, The Dead Ships, The Drums, and Western Lows. (More photos after the jump.)

 

Hott MT

Lovelife

Festival Report and Photo Gallery: FYF 2012

Photos by Matt Heizman
Text by Kathryn Pinto

Radio Free Silver Lake is back from two back-to-back days at the FYF Fest, tired and dusty, but exhilarated and with the photos to prove it. When set times were announced it unleashed a fury of phone refreshing, texts, tweets, illegible instagrams and even a few old school scrawled pencil lists on the backs of parking tickets, all in an effort to map out some kind of a game plan for two marathon days of music. Inevitably we take a deep inhale and consider: “how’s this going to go down this year?” and “Is it worth it?” Since FYF partnered with Goldenvoice these past two FYF festivals, logistics have been smoother. You could get through the gate without much trouble and buy a bottle of water and refill it or cool off at a water station, a welcome change. Combined it added up to two days when fans’ biggest worry was which stage to choose. Here’s what we saw. (More photos after the jump.)

AA Bondy