Radio Free Silver Lake

Show Review: Thao and the Get Down Stay Down with Seratones and Kera and the Lesbians at The Regent 4/29/16

Text & Photos by Kathryn Pinto

Exploding with feral energy Thao and the Get Down Stay Down commanded the stage of the Regent Theater last Friday April 29 playing to an enthusiastic crowd. Seratones and the always excellent Kera and the Lesbians opened the show. “Oh my God/Oh my God/You didn't know I get ferocious,” Thao sang out to a crowd who could see wildness in her eye and hear it in her growl. The band inhabited the Regent like the “meticulous bird of prey” invoked on their latest album A Man Alive. The Regent Theater in downtown Los Angeles is where brand new “artist loft” apartments rub up against Skid Row, where going to a show can still feel seedy if your street parking is more than a block or two away. Inside, the Regent is gritty beautiful; a little raw, off and ragged in a way that leaves you slightly on edge. The setting proved fitting for an act who looks all business, but commands the stage with equal parts joy and ruthlessness. The guitar stand held at least half a dozen instruments, including a mandolin and banjo. When Thao picked up the banjo for “Holy Roller” the crowd erupted with applause. The banjo intro is shades of the Eve (featuring Gwen Stefani) hit “Let Me Blow Ya Mind,” a kinship with hip hop that continued through the set.

Material from the new album A Man Alive  is more beat and bass-driven than Thao's previous work. It reflects the influence of her friend and album producer Merrill Garbus (Tune Yards) in its percussive vocals and use of looping and manipulated sounds. The of vulnerability of lyrics create a counterpoint with the dancable beat-driven music. “Millionaire,” from the new album is about Thao's relationship with the father who left her family. “Shatter what you will not carry/Smash what you won’t bear/But daddy I broke in a million pieces/That makes you a millionaire.” The band brought the percussive sensibility to older songs as well. “Beat” from the album We Brave Bee Stings and All summoned Ronettes wall of sound drumming. On the last song of the set “Meticulous Bird,” “...I find the scene of the crime/I take my body back,” Thao sings rhythmically over drums and synth, not rapping, but singing in a way related to and influenced by hip hop.

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.) 

End of Summer Review - All Scene Guy

As summer comes to a close, let's look back at some of the highlights from August.

First we welcome a new voice to Radio Free Silver Lake and next week I'll follow up with a recap of some of the most memorable highlights I enjoyed at last month's Echo Park Rising.

ALL SCENE GUY:

Music collective and record label All Scene Eye co-chair Jayk Gallagher reviews the bands he books, and other LA shows too!

**

SUN AUG 9:

 

The line up for Melrose Trading Post was particularly tasty this past August 9th-- one of the more entertaining of the All Scene Eye events we throw every second Sunday.  While music is wonderful, I also strongly anticipate this monthly auditory affairs because I can wander the market, purchase shirts from Coast To Coast Vintage, and consume some glorious crepes and lychee lemonade in the food court. Literal heaven. (Cuz I'm dead.)

 

GhIANT (at right) opened up the line up at 11am, and I must admit Don was more awake and livelier than I, with his vibrant and jocund personality undulating all over the place.  He is an extremely pleasant person.  He set up his equipment and began his spare and haunting loop-pedal extravaganza.  Highlights of GhIANT include his exceptional high tenor and falsetto voice, the humor which infuses his music, and the moving soulful vulnerability he communicates in his songs.  I was gifted two vinyls by this generous individual. "Open up your heart, but keep a watchful eye," has been stuck in my head all week.

 

After GhIANT were BARRIE AND THE STARZ (below) who delivered an absolutely earth shattering performance.  Imagine Rainbow Bright and Strawberry Shortcake lip synching to Beyonce and you'll get an idea of the visual flavor of B&TS. Lead lady Barrie Rose has painstakingly curated the embodiment of her whimsical vision over the past year or so, which culminated in a recent debut at The Satellite.  This came a hefty chunk of time after her leaving her former band Tes Elations, which was an extremely different two electric cello deal that involved her barefoot incantations, and was a collab with Isaac Takeuchi, who now fronts Inner Ecstacy.

 

In any case, Barrie is joined by two dancers / back up singers named Patrice and Tiara, whimsical names to go with extremely whimsical choreographer. Barrie was dressed in a pink wig and boa, and I haven't even talked about the music yet.  Imagine a pink frosted wedding cake decorated with Malibu Barbie has replaced the lead singer of Little Dragon, and you may start to understand the sound.  I will always compare things to LD because I have no depth of experience in electronic music.  Barrie's music is like a blown bubble gum bubble-- It is cute, fresh, fun, funny, happy, and ever so slightly poignant.  In one of her songs she sings about being an adult living like a child, and the willingness to view the world with a child-like positivity is clearly present in the music.  Check it out if you enjoy happiness.

 

Next up were SLEEPING FOREST. Two people I don't know too well yet. One of whom had excellent electronic beats, the other of which sang lady-like over the beats with a huge dose of reverb. A pleasing aural excursion.

 

SF were followed by GRIT, who are an extremely exceptional rock band which you should view before they get too famous for their own good.  One trouble the band has is their name, for it is the name of many other things, including at least one well known historic punk band, and some other bands too.  But, in the tradition of bands with difficult to Google names (Girls for example. Or Thee Rain Cats who just changed their name to Channel.) perhaps no one cares.

 

In any case, front lady Kat Meoz (at left) has a decidedly excellent throaty rasp which is reminiscent of a grunge Melissa Ethridge.  Grit is power chord blues grunge rock.  It's not complicated or overly intellectual.  However, it is excellent music for rocking out. Definitely my type of music.  The best feature of the music is Kat's absolutely killer voice.  One song "I Would" stands out to me so far as a poignant song with solid lyrics. Looking forward to hearing more!

 

BRENDA CARSEY (at right) rounded out the line up with her incredibly voice.  Someone afterward compared her to Fiona Apple and boy is that a horrible comparison. The only similarity is the piano.  Fiona Apple didn't sing like Brenda Carsey.  Brenda has a huge range, and the kind of pipes that can fill up a room.  She really kills it on the low notes, singing notes that most women can't sing, but also equally rocks the high end.  Another reason she's not like FA is because Brenda's music is strangely infused with R&B and Funk in an indescribable way.  There's something very different going on with Brenda Carsey.  Innovative chord changes, eclectic rhythms-- There's nothing pedestrian or expected about Brenda's songs.  Her five string bass player lays down a mean solo as well.

 

Since we all felt like, Brenda took an extra long set, and may have played for an hour? Wowing the people that were just innocently trying to chow.  Some lady signed up for her mailing list, and after Brenda's set some guy came up talking about Sony and Capitol Records, and some Japanese lady came up talking about putting her on the radio.  Obvs everyone was about as impressed as I always am when I see Brenda.

 

Well that's all I've got to say about that... Next month we'll have Sam Marine (11 AM),  Love Ghost (12 noon), Genessa Gariano (12:45),    Old Man (Lucas Guerin at right) (1:30) and New Evil (2:30), which is another really varied, interesting, talented line up.  So I'm going to be snacking on my chicken pesto sun dried tomato crepes and enjoying the crap out of that on Sunday, Sept 13.  At Melrose Trading Post,

Photo Gallery: First Friday at the Natural History Museum with Hanni El Khatib, Avid Dancer and Chicano Batman

By Kathryn Pinto
(text and photos)

Last week First Fridays at the Natural History Museum closed its season with a finale lineup of Hanni El Khatib, Avid Dancer and Chicano Batman. The bill of hometown favorites reflected distinctly Los Angeles influences, indie rock steeped in east side roots, latin sounds, and spare rockabilly railsliding into skate punk. Set against dinosaur fossils, edible gardens and the Grandes Maestros folk art exhibition, the celebration felt perfectly at home in the neighborhood and the city. If one measure of an event’s success is the impossible choice between lining up for food trucks between sets versus staying close to maintain a plum spot in front of the stage to see the next band, then this event will be very happy with its report card.

More photos after the jump.

Hanni El Khatib

Chicano Batman

Show Review: Other Lives and Riothorse Royale at Club Bahia 5/7/15

Text and Photos by Kathryn Pinto

Not even the marquee proclaiming SOLD OUT gave any indication of the extraordinary show to come when Other Lives played a second sold out Los Angeles date last Thursday night at Club Bahia. Riothorse Royale opened. The previous night’s show the Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever kicked off a North American tour in support of their third album Rituals, released May 5. Before the Club Bahia show there was palpable anticipation in the room, a salsa club by weekend, turned 500-seat Live Nation venue on school nights. Fans, some of them  reviewers, barely contained their enthusiasm boasting how many times and on which early tours they had seen the band, with details of their interviews and  off-the-record chats. It was like so many bubbles building in a champagne bottle with each passing minute.

Riothorse Royale, all spare beauty and harmonies opened the evening. RHR is Madi Diaz on hollow body guitar, and Emily Greene on bass playing live with a drummer, as a dark, eerie three piece. Their songs evoked a melancholy drive long past midnight on a deserted two-lane western highway. Smoky vocals from both women underscore the haunted feeling the sense of regret in their harmonies. The echo on the guitar evokes the desolate open western landscape. The trio brought to mind other minimal female-driven trios like Sleater Kinney and Ex Hex.

With the mood set, lines checked and legends recounted, Other Lives  emerged from a puff of fog, and red light in front of the densely packed crowd opening with “Reconfiguration.” From the first notes the audience was crazy for Other Lives and the love was very much requited.

Show Review: Allah-Las, Tashaki Miyaki and Dream Boys at El Rey (12/11/14)

by Brad Roberts

Even though Los Angeles was about to be hit by it's biggest winter storm in years (which included the tornado) I had to get down to El Rey to see Allah-Las (at right) on Thursday, December 11th. I also wanted to see all three of these local bands break out on the big stage so I knew I'd be spending the whole evening there

I recalled seeing Dream Boys at The Echo at Echo Park Rising earlier this year and liked them so I got there as they were still in their first song. Dream Boys (above) play dream pop with an appropriately relaxed vocal style even though three of them sing. Nice melodies and precise playing, even with the sound mix at El Rey a little bass heavy, they still sounded good. The 30 minute set included some of their best songs and provided an appropriately inviting opening for what was to come.

Show Review: Broken Arrow Begin Residency at Hotel Cafe - 5/14/14

by Brad Roberts

Charlie Clark has become such a good friend over the past few months that it's hard for me to remember exactly when or where I first met him. Or even to remember when I didn't know him. I believe it was when I was swamped at the end of last year trying to put together my January Feed Your Head show and asked Rebecca Balin to help me out and book the evening. 

She brought in Charlie Clark (below) for my headliner and he performed a great set with an accompanist on guitar and harmonium that January night, after which we had a nice chat and I was struck by his passion and commitment to the local music scene. As a transplant from his native Scotland, he was surprisingly up on many of the primary musicians around the neighborhood, and his set had shown me just how serious he is about his own art. He also attracted a large local following that night which filled Lot 1.

He gave me the CD and LP of his album, Feel Something, that night and, of course, I was impressed. It's expertly produced and has a five song program that is varied and beautifully evocative. Moody and intelligent, highlighted by Charlie's sweet and accurate vocals, the title tune is especially dynamic. He enlisted the help of Brandi Emma to sing and thereby discovered a perfect counterpoint to his own voice. Their vocal coordination is perfectly attuned to each other and the effect is both solid and exhilarating.

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)

Show Review: De Lux & Earth Like Planets at The Echo (4/10/14)

photos and text by Brad Roberts

There's a whole lot of dancing going on. What's up?! Dance grooves are invading the indie scene and infecting the head-bobbing crowd. De Lux (at right) is fortuitously at the center of this 'seriously indie meets post-disco' sound that I keep running into all over the place. This show celebrated the release on Apr. 8 of their first full-length album on the Innovative Leisure label, called Voyage. I felt a little like a proud parent since I have known Sean Guerin for a couple years now as he does the sound for my monthly Feed Your Head shows at Lot 1. And one of the pleasures of our collaboration has been bands we've introduced to each other.

Sean has done sound for Earth Like Planets twice at Lot 1 and he and Brian Cooper struck up a friendship based on mutual admiration. So when Sean got this Album Release Show on April 10th he wanted to bring this performer with him. And I was very excited to see Earth Like Planets perform on the rather larger stage at The Echo to see what this one-man-band could do when opened up.

Show Review: Xu Xu Fang - "Noir State Beach" Music Video Release at S.I.R. Studios (4/3/14)

by Brad Roberts

I was happy to get an invitation to the video release party held at S.I.R. Studio on Sunset Boulevard last Thursday night, April 3rd, from Bobby Tamkin of Xu Xu Fang to see a live set by the band, followed by a screening of their fabulous video for "Noir State Beach." (that's Bobby on the drums in the murk to the right) I wanted to mention this show as it relates to an earlier version of this evening that took place at S.I.R. on February 13 in a different room that had a profound effect on the impact of the music and the video.

The previous studio was very wide and deep which forced the players to spread out over a width that resembled the area of, say, The Greek's stage. They were too far apart and somehow the vocals were drowned out in the sound mix. The result was a show that sounded like a band finding their way into their new material and not quite sure of it. The video that evening was therefore startling because the music had so much more impact than the live performance.

"Noir State Beach" is a remarkable piece of filmmaking directed by Casey Storm and starring Luke Grimes as an L.A. driver who keeps encountering Steve Railsback (brilliantly effective as Charles Manson in Helter Skelter, and opposite Peter O'Toole in The Stunt Man are among his substantial credits; with Tamkin at right) holding a cardboard sign with the words Xu Xu Fang written on it. With his vaguely threatening and slightly deranged demeanor he strikes fear into the heart of Grimes, who eventually takes off on foot to find this stranger who so haunts him. All the while the relentless pulse of the music sounds like a heart beating in your chest.

But this time, in a room with half the width of the stage as at the last show, the band really seemed to connect with each other, resulting in a powerful and intimidating performance that filled the room with the sound of Xu Xu Fang at the  height of their considerable powers. The live set made as much of an impression as the video and the result was somewhat revelatory. The murky, mucky undertow of the driving, tribal beat and the sturm and drang of the roaring guitars is offset by the feathery, light-as-air vocals that subtly lift the song into other territory. Always a trademark in much of Xu Xu Fang's oeuvre, the voices are never allowed to dominate as Tamkin gives equal weight to every element that goes into the formation of their unique and trance-inducing sound.

Accentuated with lots of fog and a very dark lighting scheme, they played a five song set with all new material that left one anxious for the release of their next record. Everyone in the audience was lulled into a state of hypnotic reverie. The relaxed and friendly atmosphere was heightened by the very pleasant wine, beer, cheese and dip spread that was offered. Hitting the street afterward was like landing back on Earth after a voyage to the distant stars.