Okay people, consider me back from my summer vacay/hiatus and bigger than ever. I want to take some time out to personally invite you all to the Echoes West Fest that's a happening this Saturday, September 8th, especially if you (like me) didn't make it to FYF Fest 'cause it wasn't in the budget/ out of town/etc. As you will see from the video, this is a can't-miss lineup, including neo-psych legends of today such as Spindrift, the Silver Chords, Dead Meadow, Strangers Family Band, Daniel Aquarian, as well as super-psych/drone stars like Sterling Roswell of THE Spacemen 3 and the Strawberry Alarm Clock (yup, Z Man's house band from Beyond the Valley of the Dolls!). Also, there's gonna be amazing food trucks and a special event at Stories Books and Cafe', plus may I add, unlike FYF, you'll get to partake in this whole trip without frying in a big open space or dealing with pesky job johnnies and luxuriate in the fabulous Echo/Echoplex space in Echo Park. There are still choice tickets available here: http://www.theecho.com/event/140104/ (half the price of the FYF day passes!). I expect you all to come out to LA and show what powerful co-creators we all are. Let's make this the biggest post-summer bash ever!
I just discovered this wonderful little gem of a video while I was watching the trailer for (of all things) the experimental No-Wave Early 80s film "Liquid Sky". Mind you, Stereo Total is a French Pop duo that has
been around since the early 2000s and are famed for their cover of Salt 'N Pepa's "Push It". They're also
major fave raves of Le Tigre and it's easy to see why. This video is a living piece of Pop Art in motion and just so vibrant and sunny it could have come straight outta my turf in East L.A. Now just before you guys get all jaded and say, "yeah, yeah, but that ditz Katy Perry has SO played out the whole neon colored wig thang already. ENOUGH!". However, in this case, it so works, like all those rad pictures of Debbie Harry in technicolor wigs that I have on my Pininterest boards, so yeah, I'm obviously SO L.A. now. Can't you tell?
I just found out today via Dangerous Minds Blog that Jack White will be streaming in debut solo show at Webster Hall in NYC which will be directed by Gary Oldman, as indicated in the deets from the video above. Since I really do love everyone who reads my blog, I'd thought I'd let you guys (yes, I'm originally from the East Coast, so I can never really pull off calling anybody "Y'all" or "Y'alls") who live well outside the vicinity of of NYC in the US, and especially my international readers to know. I've been following Jack's career since the fledgling White Stripes days from day one, so not only will I be superpumped to see this concert, but his new album, "Blunderbuss", will not only be released in a mere five days, it's also projected to be No. 1 with a bullet!
Not to be missed!
I figured it's been awhile since I've done a video of the week feature, so I've included this track by the Magic Wands that I've just been really stuck on lately. Every time I hear this, I can't help but wonder and say to myself, "How can one song be just so perfect?!" It's like remembering that feeling of the first time you ever fell in love and just reliving the rush of that over and over again. Simple as that. They also just posted the new song "Black Magic", which you can check out at http://wevegotyoucovered.buzznet.com (which will also be featured on the show, Gossip Girl), also, Nylon Magazine is streaming their new album, Aloha Moon in it's entirety at www.nylonmag.com
Last but not least, they will be doing a record release party at the Satellite in beautiful Silverlake Tuesday, April 24th. Believe me, if I can tell you that one song of theirs alone is perfect, seeing them live is totally epic.
I would like to take some time to share this new EP by my friend, Jeff Gilotti, and his Psychedelic Space-Rock project from back home in Scranton, Marshmellow Staircase. I've known Jeff for close to 10 years. Back in my radio daze, I was I got to know him and his work through him being a fan of my show, where I invited him to discuss and share his musical projects. We found we shared a similar fondness for the likes of Iron Butterfly, Suicide, the Silver Apples, Acid Mothers Temple, as well as many of the intense comps that were put out on Erik Lindgren's Arf! Arf! label. I've very happily seen Jeff work his way from putting out handmade music on his own, to his more recent recordings with the close cooperation of my friends' Eric and Cassie Schlitter's Summersteps label. I can say with tremendous pride that this is EP is Jeff's best work. Both the title track and "That's Why You're Not My Girl" have a really awesome edge the way the music by Suicide, the Lyres, and (especially most recently in my new adopted city of LA) the Warlocks. The first track will, of course, be from the upcoming album, "Gunslingers" (which has an awesome picture of one of my childhood heroes, Annie Oakley), and the second is a previously unreleased gem, so I can't wait to hear more of the same. I would also highly recommend that you check out more music from the Summersteps roster at: http://summerstepsrecords.bandcamp.com/
My apologies if you haven't heard from me lately. I took a two week breather, first to celebrate my birthday two weeks ago and to celebrate St. Patrick's Day last weekend (yes, I'm legit Irish-American and then some). However, during my two week break, I got to treat myself to one of the best birthday presents I've ever enjoyed since I got to see DEVO for free at Club Nokia last year, I got to go see Sabrosa Purr, Gliss, and the Magic Wands play a show at the Satellite (formerly Spaceland) in Silverlake on the day after my B-Day. This was my first experience seeing a show at this venue, which is awesome and reminds me of a somewhat larger and more glamorous version of the Barbary in Philly. Also, the best part is that all three of these bands were especially good, plus I'm gonna make up for being behind in posting my weekly video clips by including breakdowns of all three of the bands' performances.
First band was Sabrosa Purr, which had some really sweet and mean, slinky grooves, and sounded (plus resembled) an awful lot like Boss Hog/Royal Trux. The only bummer was that the lead singer in the beginning of the set had a nasty habit of sounding a little like Billy Corgan, but he eventually got over it and they just got better and better into the set. Their new video above for "Fashion Kills" looks especially great and it's really bonus that I got to hear this track live.
The second band to go on was the Danish/Los Angeles-based Gliss, of whom I was especially excited to see, because the last time I had seen them perform was two years ago when I still lived in the Scranton area of Pennsylvania at an "Arts Center" (read: some skeevy autobody garage right next to the Susquahanna River that was BYOB (I brought I huge-ass bottle of Manuschevitz wine when all the other bros and homies brought six packs of PBR and Bud Light), whose concept of "art gallery" was a bunch of buzzsaws painted with tattoo art hung on wood paneled walls that was located in some odd NEPA patchtown). Who knows, perhaps that first show when I saw 'em was a sign that I really would be living in LA like I am now, so it was very special to see Gliss again. Before they went into their set, I saw the band hold shakers of Bac'n Bits, which I initially thought was a joke, but they ended up using them like maracas and the rest of their sent us all blissfully over the cosmos. Gliss has not only has their beautiful new video for "Weight of Love", but they have a new album coming out, they just got to play at SXSW, plus they have their own Youtube channel called GLISSmusic, so they've got lots going on for them. So happy to see these guys again and love that they're doing awesome!
The last band to go on was the incredible Magic Wands, who, like Gliss, got to play SXSW and also have a new album coming out, Aloha Moon. Not only have I met the magical Dexy and Chris, but I first got to see them perform an all-too-brief set at Harvard & Stone in Hollywood in December, but I was very richly rewarded at this show, along with the rest of the audience. Seeing them live was such an amazing rush of energy that I can't even describe and their above video for "Space" is fabulous. In all, it was an amazing night and it was so good to see all my friends who enjoyed this show with me.
