Sweet download made available through RCRD LBL by Los Angeles band, The Like. They are currently playing Monday nights at the Echo before they leave for a tour. Enjoy this sweet, sweet download and pass it along. Read the rest of this entry »
The Like – Download
May 20th, 2010
Vivian Girls @ The Echo
September 15th, 2009
Electrifying. Dynamic. Energetic. Killer. Powerful. Talented. Determined. Playful.Gifted. And overall bad asses. I guess you get what I am trying to say, the Vivian Girls, Brooklyn’s own graced our city the other night and blew away the audience at The Echo. Read the rest of this entry »
Megafaun @ The Echo
August 7th, 2009
Hmmm. Granola night @ The Echo. Did I misread this occurrence or should I put aside all my own biases’ and just become part of the experience? Considering I had this night marked in my “calendar” for a while, I had to be here. Read the rest of this entry »
Jens Lekman @ The Echo
May 29th, 2009
Jens, Jens, JENS! I had the pleasure of watching one of my favorite vocalists, Jens Lekman, the first performance of two this week at The Echo on Wednesday night. I was in the front of the audience for once and was delighted to be there watching Jens play with his band. Read the rest of this entry »
Wreck N Sow @ The Echo
April 21st, 2009
Los Angeles weather confounds me. How did it go from 50 degrees to 90 in just four days?! The climate may be bipolar here, but I’m not complaining too much. Yesterday was a gorgeous day to spend out. I was going to see some punk bands play an early show at the Echoplex, but the weather was so nice I didn’t feel like ripping stuff up. Instead, I was lured to the Echo’s upstairs Country Music and Sunday Barbeque. Inside, I found beer, hot dogs, and Wreck N Sow playing full force. It was like a mini state fair in there! Read the rest of this entry »
Made Out of Babies @ The Echo
April 20th, 2009
To the untrained eye, the Echo looked kind of dead last night. Sure, it was still cold out and that does tend to keep people from seeing good shows. But only an expert metalhead like me knew what was about to happen. This wasn’t standard hanging-around, this was the calm before the storm. Made Out of Babies was about to perform and rip our senses to shreds.
When lead singer Julie lets out a shriek, she sounds like an evil Hindu goddess on fire. Brendan “Bunny” Tobin’s sitar-sounding guitar riffs just added fuel to fire on their insane opening song, “Cooker”. Made Out of Babies were high-pitched, fast-paced, whirlwind noise metal. And it was intense. With a name like that, how could it not be? When Christmas wasn’t making sonic scream blasts, she was doing equally disturbing noises. She’d whisper into her microphone then cackle and giggle like a little girl. Did the chick from the Exorcist grow up and start a metal band? Maybe…
Made Out of Babies were a different breed of extreme metal. It wasn’t really the stuff you could mosh to, it was too out there for that. Why bother slamming your forehead into your neighbor when you can you watch the lead singer crouch on the ground and speak in tongues? During the phenomenal “Swarm”, Christmas screamed and ran back and forth while Eric Cooper delivered skull-crunching bass lines. Drummer Matthew Egan played like he was from some Cro-Magnon hell, attacking his cymbals with intense precision and speed.
The best moments of any metal set are when the crowd goes just as nuts as the people on stage. Made Out of Babies were no different: they gave us tons of opportunities to join their live tornado. Not just from their wicked musical skills but also with an endless barrage of messed up strobe lights attacking the Echo. It really seemed like a storm in there. It was awesome.
Rachel K.
Juliette Commagere @ The Echo
April 8th, 2009
Hoo boy. I am exhausted. I’ve gone out every night for the last five nights. In fact, I almost decided to ditch last night’s show at the Echo in favor of potato chips and netflix instant viewing. But no, I picked myself up and said, “Rachel, don’t be lame! Get out and see Juliette Commagere’s solo show!” Why? Because her music is super pretty and I knew I’d kick myself for missing it. Besides, I’d seen her kick vocal ass two nights in a row. Why not go for a solid three?
In fact, I think Juliette Commagere must have a supernatural amount of energy. I saw her perform in Puscifer (the Maynard James Keenan of Tool’s side project) at the Nokia Club on Saturday AND Sunday. And those were an hour and half sets! I’m a huge Tool freak, so I immediately have a huge amount of respect for those who collaborate with him. Still, her performances with him were so badass that I knew I had to see her perform a third consecutive time.
But unlike her art-metal cohort, Juliette Commagere provided more gentle, delicate sounds. Her voice is haunting and angelic, as if descending from some twilight horizon. She sang about looking out from skyscrapers and queens dying proudly. She clearly had super mad skills as a singer and could have carried all of her numbers a capella. Instead though, she was supported by large crowd of super talented musicians. With trumpets, cellos, guitars, keyboards and synths, this ten-person team made her work amazingly layered and versatile. She didn’t hide behind them, she worked with them. In fact, she even made a point of saying, “I’m Juliette Commagere. And this is band is… also Juliette Commagere! We’re all Juliette Commagere!” Together they even got the place jumping with some pretty dancy numbers.
And (of course) the highlight of my evening came when Juliette brought up Maynard James Keenan and Puscifer:
“So… I woke up with these Puscifer lyrics stuck in my head. Wanna hear? ‘This vagina mine teach ya patient diligence. Keep the chain-gangs waiting, make a cat-bird sing…’ Oh wait, this is an All-ages show! Maybe I shouldn’t say vagina! Whoops!”
It was pretty hilarious and I loved her shout out to Maynard. Did I mention I’m a huge Tool freak? Yep…
Anyway, Juliette Commagere’s twinkling, layered songs were a real delight. After her set ended, she proceeded to sing another full set supporting the Bird and the Bee! That’s… four sets in three days. See? Supernatural amount of energy. I was still pretty tired when I got home last night, but I am so glad I didn’t stay in.
-Rachel K.
www.loudvine.com
Weekly Picks -4/6
April 6th, 2009Another great week of live music in LA and Long Beach. Thanks for joining us! If you like what we’re trying to do, pass us along to your peeps
For every show in LA: Click Here
Monday: 4/6
Juliette Commagere, 9PM @ The Echo, Echo Park
Tuesday: 4/7
Electrocute, 9PM @ Spaceland, Silverlake
Decelis, 7PM, @ Hotel Cafe, Hollywood
Angela Wood, 10 PM @ Dakota Lounge, Hollywood
Wednesday: 4/8
The Bumpers, 9PM @ Mr. T’s, Highland Park
Tasso, 9PM @ Scene Bar, Glendale
Tall Tales, 9PM @ L’Keg, Echo Park
Thursday: 4/9
Bobb Bruno, 9PM @ The Smell, Echo Park
Del The Funky Homosapien, 9PM @ The Glass House, Pomona
Friday: 4/10
Dark Star Orchestra, 9PM @ El Rey, Los Angeles
The Amateurs, 9PM @ Pehrspace, Echo Park
Railcars, 10PM @ The Smell, Echo Park
Saturday: 4/11
B-Side Players, 9PM @ Saint Rocke, Hermosa Beach
Punk Rock Social, 9PM @ Alex’s, Long Beach
She Kills Robots, 9PM @ Room 5, Los Angeles
Sunday: 4/12
Headlights, 9PM @ Spaceland, Silverlake
The Cult of Horns Events, 9PM @ The Scene Bar, Glendale
The Pastilles @ Old Town Pub
April 3rd, 2009
There was this perfect, moody band that performed at Old Towne Pub Wednesday night called, The Pastilles. The Pastilles formed here in LA and mostly stick to the Downtown LA area, but last night I caught them in Pasadena. The Old Towne Pub’s bar area is super tiny so when a band performs, the space gets extra tighter. The stage is extremely small, it was so small that the poor drummer was crammed in a corner like a little spider defending itself. But, as we all know, some of the tiniest venues provide the biggest and best experiences. Not only do you get an intimate experience, but the sound source is so close that it runs through your veins and opens you up to the musical offerings.
The Pastilles have perfected gloom. There’s a good chance that if you headed out to Old Towne Pub last night to drown your sorrows, then The Pastilles was there to help you wallow. To hear pain in music is often therapeutic and I am a huge fan of musical therapy. I would highly prescribe a big dose of The Pastilles! Laura is the lead vocal talent behind the band and her voice is the perfect blend of sultry, warm, melancholic comfort. Laura also plays the bass for some of the songs. The other band members are: Danny on guitar, Flavio on bass, and Jaime on drums. The band plays music so beautifully and will send you into blue haze. The bar-goers at Old Towne Pub are pretty much regulars and are really there to drink and watch sports, but The Pastilles managed to capture their attention. When they played, the bar was quiet and attentive to the music despite the sports on the tele. When you can pull the attention from sports-watching peeps, then you know you are doing your job! They played an untitled song during their set that they said was just created that day; they performed it like it had been a part of their song catalog for years! The Pastilles closed their set with a song called “Bad Timing” and it is a beautiful, soulful number that brings the whole band’s sound together.
I cannot believe the bands out there that are not signed and making a bajillion bucks. The Pastilles is one of them, at least their myspace page says they are unsigned and if it’s on myspace then it must be true…The Pastilles will be performing at Old Towne Pub again on April 22nd. Try to make it out to see this band, you will so thrilled that you did and I believe it is free!
C. Sanchez
www.loudvine.com
The Grates @ Spaceland
April 1st, 2009
Unfortunately, I’ve not been able to attend shows for the past week due to sickly sickness, which sucks hard because music is my therapy and without it I cannot be liable for anything I may do. I had been eagerly searching for my comeback band and who do I happen upon? The Grates! The Grates graced Spaceland last night and I was super thrilled to be in good health and fortunate to catch their last L.A. performance before they head back to Australia.
Their music is ALIVE! Their sound is that of amped up, catchy rock-pop. Patience Hodgson sings and carries sweet melodies that transform from sweet to jaw dropping raunch-style, and that includes the lyrical content as well; it’s a wonderful juxtaposition. Patience is a live wire, bouncy, hair tousling, firecracker. The band members, John Patterson on guitar and Alana Skyring on drums, match Patience’s energy with a powerful, upbeat, unpretentious musical performance.I arrived just as they began their set.
Spaceland was packed with a super energized crowd. Not only was the crowd full of beans, but as I made my way through the crowd, I saw many smiles on the faces of what are usually somber and serious in Silverlake (that sounds like it could be a hit daytime drama: The Somber and Serious of Silverlake). The crowd was totally eating up what The Grates were offering and so was the clap-happy, giddy person that was myself last night.
The Grates had just come from New York and before that they were in Austin doing the SXSW thing. It was so rad that they managed to squeeze in a two venue tour in L.A. for their second record, “Teeth Lost, Hearts Won.” I was lucky to catch them because like I said, they are heading back to Australia to finish up their tour promoting the album. I couldn’t have asked for a better performance from a better band to welcome me back to the nightlife. So, thank you to The Grates for giving a stellar performance and tweaking the facial expressions of the town folk last night. Also, check them out their videos online and check out “Teeth Lost, Hearts Won” it is good, fun music and it will get you up and dancing for sure.
C. Sanchez
www.loudvine.com
