Tag: indie
Shannon and the Clams: Case of the Mondays at The Griffin
Paige Vreede
May 20, 2015
When mastermind Jason Finazzo (singer of The Birth Defects and manager of The Griffin) began brainstorming with musical genius, Ty Segall, they decided Monday nights will no longer serve as a night of post-weekend blues, but as a night of prodigious talent. With previous acts such as Thee Oh Sees, Wand and The Coathangers making appearances at The Griffin in Atwater Village, it was no surprise that the raw talent of Shannon And The Clams were invited to immerse us in their tasty tunes this past Monday. Upon entering The Griffin for the first time, I immediately felt as though I had stepped into a different era. With candle lit tables and exposed brick arches, I felt as though I was meeting me mate William Johnson for a few lagers at our favorite pub. I was extremely curious as to how the night would proceed given the context of the genre amongst the seemingly intimate backdrop that surrounded it. To my surprise the room presented itself as nearly empty – something that made absolutely no sense to me considering the extraordinary talent that was to come. In a state of boredom, I decided to walk to the neighboring liquor store
Read More
Corners Homecoming at The Echoplex
JustinThomas
May 15, 2015
“Where are we captain”, Corners bassist, Bill Changer, asked last night to an all aged audience. The answer was obvious; we were in Echo Park congregated to see Corners homecoming show after a lengthy tour consisting of 80 shows spanning from California to Lithuania. A tip of the hat goes off to Crap Eyewear and What Youth for putting together a rad line up of bands. Each of which complimented each other quite nicely, and the crowd, which unsurprisingly dressed in mostly black, was extremely receptive and got increasingly looser as the rainy night persisted. I stumbled into The Echoplex in somewhat tardy fashion around 9 PM (I blame Southern California’s tendency to suck ass at driving in the rain) just in time to see popwave rockers, Popheart. The appropriately named four-piece, Popheart, played a nice blend of; you guessed it, pop. The four-piece performed their poppy ballads with an eerie hint of Joy Division-esque darkness. Their groovy sound warmed up the rain-drenched crowd nicely. Next up was Tropical Popsicle, who in my humble opinion wins the award for dopest band name. The four-piece, lead by Timothy Hines, are fresh off a two year hiatus, and I for one, am stoked
Read More
No Parents & Colleen Green Steal Thunder at The Echoplex
Janky Smooth Central Command
May 12, 2015
Who is Rat Fist? That was my first question when I saw them headlining a show with both No Parents and Colleen Green, two artists who could just as easily headline their own show at The Echoplex. It seemed that many of the other attendees must have also been wondering the same thing, as a good portion of the crowd left before they played. Rat Fist, though not universally notorious themselves, is the side project of members of No Age (Randy Randall) and Pissed Jeans (Sean McGuinness), two pioneers of the current west coast garage punk scene. The opener, Chew Toys, was an excellent and authentic throwback to old school punk. In a scene ruled by reverb and chill vibes, genuine raw punkers like Chew Toys deserve some recognition. Husband and husband, Jay Tag and Kevin Dickson, make up the queercore duo and boy can they play their instruments. Their influences are clearly rooted in early punk bands such as The Ramones and The Clash as well as later interpretations of folk punk, specifically The Dead Milkmen. And as the Chew Toys demonstrated, power chord and pop punk vocally dominated punk still kicks ass. The next act, Colleen Green, could
Read More
Ty Segall Unplugged at the Smell
Danny Baraz
May 9, 2015
The sky was illuminated by a brilliant flash of light followed by a loud and ominous rumble. The rain was coming down on me as I walked down the alley behind Main Street in Downtown Los Angeles approaching The Smell. As I got closer to the entrance, I saw Jason Finnazo of The Birth Defects nervously smoking a cigarette in the rain. He had been the opening act of the evening in which the band Feels and Ty Segall were trading in their face melters for acoustic guitars. “Did you feel naked up there?” I asked him as he took a deep pull off of his smoke. “Yeah, everytime I do this, I always say that I’ll never do it again”. He proceeded to go through the inventory of issues he had and I kept thinking how musicians were like chef’s- always pointing out where the meal was too salty and never giving any credit to the deliciousness of their creation. I was bummed I missed his set because I love The Birth Defects and one thing that is hard to imagine is The Birth Defects unplugged. It’s exhilarating when artists go out on a limb. I did make it
Read More
New Album Review: Metz II
Brent Smith
April 30, 2015
Every time I think I’ve heard the best of what today’s rock has to offer, I get sucker-punched by a band like METZ. If you haven’t heard their 2012 self-titled debut album, then Spotify that shit right now and relish in true noise band glory. With the axiomatic smashing and crashing of the ‘music industry’—that oxymoron that continues insisting upon itself—we’re getting exposure to a lot more bands who no longer have to compromise their sounds for vanilla marketing schemes, and who now have the freedom to continue pushing boundaries and challenging their audiences. METZ’s sophomore album, II no doubt attests, and convinces me that I’m going to be keeping tabs on these Toronto-based hellcats—doing the Canadian image justice in the destructive wake of Bieber Fever. Sub Pop, that label “up there” where it’s always wet, that label that’s kept us radicalized and on our toes for the last three decades, has done it again. They’ve given a great rock band the space and the faith necessary to maintain and cultivate their own vision, which is as loud and unwavering as any fan could hope. Like the preceding album, there are no frills, no bullshit, they don’t let up. No
Read More
Fuzz Unleash Distorted Heavy Overdrive On El Rey
JustinThomas
April 25, 2015
Words: Justin Thomas Photos: Taylor Wong Last night Ty Segall, and his longhaired trio, Fuzz headlined the sold out El Rey Theatre in West Hollywood with support from Endless Bummer and CCR Headcleaners. Heads were banged, faces were fervidly melted and stoner jams tirelessly ensued. News Flash: Mr. Ty Segall knows his way around a fucking drum set, Ladies and Gentleman. Arriving just after 9 PM on a Friday night, with the venue nearly one third full, Endless Bummer were already creating mass amounts noise in the realm of psychedelic bong-rip friendly jams. The Los Angeles locals, Endless Bummer, carried the torch of the thriving garage scene well. Like Fuzz, as a three piece they did an efficient job producing a wall of noise while working in the ambit limitations of two dudes hammering guitars and a girl ripping the drums apart. Next up were the San Francisco five-piece CCR Headcleaners. The Headcleaners set the pallet well for Fuzz and warmed the waters for the crowd that was beginning to trickle in. CCR had some stand out moments during their set, one of which included a stoney version of Free the Freaks off their 7 in. split with Fuzz, LAMC
Read More
A Night at the Museum with Cherry Glazerr and White Fence
Savannah Peykani
April 11, 2015
Words: Savannah Peykani Photos: Taylor Wong Where can you find dinosaurs going hard in the pit on a Friday night? At the Natural History Museum, of course, as part of their First Fridays program, which last night featured Cherry Glazerr and White Fence. First off, I have to say how genius the First Fridays’ concert series is. Science is always cool, Los Angeles rock is better than ever and the audience has never been to a venue with a floor this clean. After navigating LA traffic from Orange County, I eventually made it to the Hall of North American Mammals to mosh with some stuffed gray wolves and Clem Creevey, Cherry Glazerr’s lead singer and guitarist. I’ve seen Cherry Glazerr a handful of times, most recently when they opened for Sky Ferreira in November. Six months, a new single and dozens of shows later, Clem is an entirely different performer. Once a pixie teenaged hipster, now Clem is more punk demon ready to take on anyone who dares call her and her band “cute.” Shrieking, gut-busting vocals unleashed a fury of angst throughout the crowd. Their brief set, of which I only saw the last half, was enough to get
Read More
Burgerama 4: Burger Food Poisoning
Danny Baraz
April 2, 2015
Almost every place in the world now breeds the type of angsty teens that pick up guitars to butcher some out of tune power chords. What is it about Orange County, California that continuously, for the last three generations in a row, forms and re forms these amazing scenes that surround dozens of good local bands? Many bands that eventually rise to international fame or at least, notoriety. Decade after decade the youth of Orange County reject the status quo, vandalize their strip malls, piss in their pools and rock the fuck out. Once the music industry crashed and burned, you would think that those kick-pedal-carrying kids would remain in anonymity in the solitude of their own bedrooms, never to move out of their parents homes. Rising from the smoke and the ash of a music industry unwilling to adapt to the digital age comes Burger Records bearing, of all things, cassette tapes. They are here to service this generations’ insatiable thirst for angst, sex and adolescence. Burger Records was formed in 2007 by Sean Bohrman and Lee Rickard. They allowed all their artists to retain complete control of their works and primarily, all of their releases have been on cassette.
Read More
Panache Spring Fling at The Echo: Jacco Gardner, Ultimate Painting, The Entrance Band and more…
Lawrence Rengert
April 2, 2015
Two nights ago I was at one of the most unglamorous dive bars in Ventura, a show organized for label mates of Jacco Gardner, The Miseries. The place was dark and smelly with dartboards and bikers, prostitutes (I may have only imagined them), a guy even took off his pants going full frontal and a bartendress showed up late, but just in time to direct security around the bar as girlfriends threw Q balls at boyfriends heads. Los Angeles garage sensations The Cigarette Bums were opening up but there was something special about that night and the willingness of the bands to play a show there, in that semi-dangerous and remote spot. There was something special about it because nothing was being handed to anyone and each band would have to work the crowd (most of whom knew nothing about these bands or the musical styles they played), fight to be heard, deal with the worst sound equipment imaginable, everything was running late and it was still an unknown if the last band of the evening would even have enough time to play. There was something tragic, yet beautiful and romantic about it, it was a great show. Today I
Read More
Don’t Think, Just Drive: Deap Vally Always Worth The Trip
Danny Baraz
March 25, 2015
For the past few weeks, Moon Block Monday’s has been a recurring event at the Continental Room in Fullerton. Week after week, the lineups have intrigued me but I have been unable to muster the energy for the drive from LA to Orange County at the end of a weekend of covering shows. Luckily, Moon Block’s last show at The Continental Room fell on a Sunday. Even luckier than that, Deap Vally was the headliner. The show also featured L.A. Witch and Summer Twins. I didn’t make it in time to see Globelamp. After interviewing Julie, Lindsey and Phil Pirrone of Moon Block/Desert Daze a couple of weekends ago, I realized that not only are these people talented musicians and relatable song writers but I found out that they are also genuinely nice and hospitable people. It makes it easy to be a loyal fan. There is nothing worse than meeting artists you respect and finding out they are douchebags. I made my way down to Fullerton California on Sunday evening. I got to the venue and ordered a beverage. The trio of women that call themselves L.A. Witch took the stage quietly but that quiet didn’t last long. The battery of
Read More
Tijuana Panthers Rock Teens and Their Parents at The Echo
Danny Baraz
March 23, 2015
Teens and parents alike congregated to see Tijuana Panthers at The Echo for a pseudo-matinee show courtesy of KXLU 88.9. With the sun still shining outside, I nestled into the cave-like venue around 6:30 PM, which felt a little strange. The bar tenders were drinking coffee, the patio atmosphere seemed abnormally void of booze, and my pizza order was, for the first time, a sober and conscious decision. The vibes were surely a bit off but a promise to see Tijuana Panthers for my first time kept my spirits high. I arrived just in time to see openers Wounded Lion. While it was merely 7 PM, Wound Lion seemed to pay it no mind and ripped right through their quick set, which the lead singer boasted/cautioned would only last 27 minutes. After each song, the band members would rotate instruments, while their resident hype man screamed along and persisted the white man can’t dance theory. Taking the stage at 8 PM was Tijuana Panthers. Before I even heard their music I loved them strictly because of their name. Tijuana is a bat shit crazy place I frequented as a teenager where morals are extremely low and the price of a
Read More
A Place to Bury Strangers Makes Eardrums Bleed at The Echoplex
JustinThomas
March 16, 2015
Last night The Echoplex played host to a union of reverberate noise courtesy of A Place To Bury Strangers, Creepoid, and Tennis System. I arrived around 10pm, just in time to catch the Los Angeles transplanted three-piece, Tennis System. Like the other bands billed, Tennis System produced no shortage of noise, setting the stage perfectly with their stony jams for the rest of the acts to follow. Next up were the Philadelphia bred four-piece, Creepoid. Lead by guitarist Sean Miller and bassist Anna Troxell, Creepoid had a dark, shoegazey sound that translated extremely well live. Much like A Place To Bury Strangers, their songs seemed to deviate from their recorded structure, instead, leading into reverb filled bridges and bass driven breakdowns. Last night was their last stop on the tour supporting APTBS, and they made it known. Before Anna Troxell led into “Tired Eyes”, she dedicated the melancholy track to ABTBS letting them know how much she would miss them. To wake the sleepy Sunday night crowd at 11:30 PM was A Place To Bury Strangers and wake them they did. Never in my life have I experienced a band that produces the amount of noise that A Place to
Read More