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Local Stuff: New Albums Coming From The Fresh & Onlys, Lavender Diamond

Posted by Billy Gil, June 29, 2012 01:14pm | Post a Comment

San Francisco’s The Fresh & Onlys have announced the title, Long Slow Dance, and tracklist for their new album, as well as tour dates for a West Coast tour. For anyone who loved 2010’s Play It Strange, and there were plenty of us, the news of a new album from The Fresh & Onlys is exciting stuff. From the sound of “Yes or No,” they’ve ditched a lot of the reverb for a more straightforward shimmery rock sound. I say all the better; “Yes or No” is the best thing I’ve heard from them yet, unafraid to hide its gorgeous melody in the garage. The album comes out Sept. 4 on Mexican Summer.

Tour dates:

07/21 San Francisco, CA Phono Del Sol
08/05 Big Sur, CA Woodsist Fest / Henry Miller Library
09/05 Santa Ana, CA Constellation Room *
09/06 San Diego, CA Soda Bar *
09/07 Los Angeles, CA The Echo *
09/08 San Francisco, CA The Independent *
09/09 Santa Cruz, CA The Catalyst Atrium *
09/11 Sacramento, CA Ace of Spades *
09/13 Portland, OR Mississippi Studios *#
09/14 Bellingham, WA The Shakedown *
09/15 Vancouver, BC The Media Club *
09/16 Seattle, WA Crocodile *

* = with Terry Malts
# = with Grass Widow

Tracklist:

1. 20 Days and 20 Nights
2. Yes or No
3. Long Slow Dance
4. Presence of Mind
5. Dream Girls
6. Fire Alarm
7. Executioner's Song
8. No Regard
9. Euphoria
10. Foolish Person
11. Wanna Do Right By You

I’m a huge fan of L.A.’s Lavender Diamond. There are few artists you can say are truly “special,” and Lavender Diamond and their frontwoman, Becky Stark, truly are. This week they released the first song, “Oh My Beautiful World,” from their upcoming new album, Incorruptible Heart, due Sept. 25 on Paracadute. On releases like Imagine Our Love and The Cavalry of Light EP, Stark and co. constructed grandiose folk-rock songs that relayed a disarming, unforced naivete. “Oh My Beautiful World” has glorious harmonies, sounding somewhat like Stark’s other musical project, The Living Sisters, but producer David Fridman (Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev) ups the girl group quotient with big “Be My Baby” drums and acidic breakdowns partway through. I never would have thought to pair Fridman with Lavender Diamond, and I can’t wait to hear what else they come up with.

Tracklist:

1.     Everybody's Heart's Breaking Now
2.     Dragonfly
3.     I Don't Recall
4.     Just Passing By
5.     Teach Me How to Waken
6.     Come Home
7.     Forgive
8.     Light My Way
9.     Oh My Beautiful World
10. Perfect Love
11. Everybody's Song
12. All The Stars

Show Review: Light Asylum at the Echoplex

Posted by Billy Gil, May 16, 2012 05:17pm | Post a Comment

“Fuck Pitchfork!” was the clearest message Light Asylum’s Shannon Funchess got across in her stage banter while playing the Echoplex on May 15th with Tearist, Chelsea Wolfe, and Violet Tremors. She was referring to the so-so review of Light Asylum’s self-titled debut full-length, with which she (and many, like myself) disagreed.

That she would address the review in such a public setting with such abandon speaks largely to what is great about Funchess and Light Asylum, and why reviews of the band, either glowing or mediocre, are sort of irrelevant. The DGAF nature of her outburst or gruff addressing of the sound guy to lay off the “fucking” effects (immediately followed by a sort of apology) matches the no bullshit appeal of her delivery, whether she’s giving it all in emotional techno-ballads (“Shallow Tears,” which boldly opened the show, or their modern classic “A Certain Person,” which came next to last) or pulverizing audiences with an all-engaging persona of aggressive dancing and an awesome, sometimes terrifying growl in songs like personal fave “Pope Will Roll.”

The show was a huge improvement over the last time I saw them at the Echoplex with Salem, during which the room’s sonics washed out the sound a bit, while Funchess and cohort Bruno Caviello’s stage presence is even stronger than before. Funchess absolutely commands, singing powerfully with some combination of self-choreographed or ad libbed militaristic moves, inching toward the edge of stage and singing in people’s faces without coming off as antagonistic. The feeling gotten by listening to Light Asylum on record and watching them perform is a “bigger picture” thing that can’t be distilled into track-by-track album breakdowns — that’s what some reviewers missed.

Chelsea Wolfe performed her brand of brand of gothic noise-folk admirably, though her inclusion was slightly misplaced compared with the other three acts. Violet Tremors provided Minimal Wave Tapes-esque robotic pop that nicely whetted the appetite for Light Asylum’s more humanistic take later on. L.A.’s Tearist’s performance proved the closest in kinship, with singer Yasmine Kittles headbanging and lending her smoky drawl to industrial dance soundscreens, though the band still calls for clearer songs (like the skittery “Headless,” one of its best thus far, which sounded amazing Tuesday) to match their impressively theatrical performances.

Silver Lake Jubilee Schedule Announced

Posted by Amoebite, April 24, 2012 10:40pm | Post a Comment

UPDATE 5/25: Two-day passes are now $10 off at Amoeba Hollywood! Weekend passes are now $25 (plus $2 service fee).

The schedule for the 2012 Silver Lake Jubilee has been announced! The festival takes place on Memorial Day weekend in Los Angeles and features two days of music, comedy, food trucks, vendors, beer gardens, and more.

You can purchase two-day passes to the Jubilee at Amoeba Hollywood for $37 (this includes a $2 facility fee).

Saturday, May 26: 12 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.	Sunday, May 27: 12 p.m. to 10:00 p.m
KINKY Autolux La Santa Cecilia Las Cafeteras Letting Up Despite Great Faults FIDLAR Matthewdavid Allah-Las Virtual Boy XBXRX La Vampires Soft Metals Moses Campbell Catwalk Dunes JJAMZ Leech Leslie Stevens & The Badgers Robert DeLong Wildcat! Wildcat! Threeway Black Boots Public School Rocks	Aloe Blacc Family of the Year La Sera The Soft Pack Abe Vigoda Maya Jupiter LAKE Princeton Eastern Conference Champions TEARIST Incan Abraham Gangi Chasing Kings Summer Twins Heatwave Contact Field Orchestra Manhattan Murder Mystery Batwings Catwings The Mormons The Dharma Bums Bright Beast Little Guy Silverlake Conservatory of Music

Silver Lake Jubilee 2012 Tickets Available at Amoeba Hollywood

Posted by Amoebite, March 13, 2012 05:27pm | Post a Comment

This year's Silver Lake Jubilee in Los Angeles is on Memorial Day weekend May 26 and 27. The two day neighborhood festival may be its biggest yet with more than 35 bands, 40 comedians and performers, food trucks, craft vendors, and beer/wine for the 21-and-overs.

You can purchase two-day passes to the Jubilee at Amoeba Hollywood for $37 (this includes a $2 facility fee).

One of the cool things about the festival, aside from all the great bands, is its focus on environmental sustainability. You are very much encouraged to bring your own container and pour water for FREE from the fountains provided on site (that's a lovely change from other festivals that charge ridiculous amounts of money for very small bottles of water). Vendors use compostable food containers, and recycling and composting happens during the festival. Big no-nos inside the Jubilee include single-use plastic bags, Styrofoam, balloons, or other non-recyclable containers.

When: Memorial Day Weekend, May 26 & 27

12 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 26
12 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 27

Where: Santa Monica Blvd., with entrances from Sunset Blvd. and Commonwealth

Here is the lineup (so far):

Abe Vigoda performing at Amoeba Hollywood in 2008:

Local Bits: Videos From Frankie Rose, Tearist, Lovely Bad Things

Posted by Billy Gil, February 17, 2012 11:32am | Post a Comment

Frankie Rose – “Gospel/Grace” (Video)

This truly “interstellar” clip (ugh) perfectly fits Frankie Rose’s ghostly harmonies and spacey girl-group instrumentation. You guys are in for a real treat with Interstellar, her forthcoming album, I can’t stop listening to it. (Preorder it now!)

Frankie Rose - Gospel/Grace from Slumberland Records on Vimeo.

Tearist – “Unarmed”

Tearist has been making some really cool, creepily sexy music here for a while now, employing electronics, theatrics and improvisation to enticing effect. This live session, recorded for terroreyes.tv, sounds like Yasmine and co. are taking it to the next level. The video itself matches the music for shivery atmosphere. I can’t wait to see where they go from here. Read more about the video here. (Check out their album Living: 2009-Present. I've seen it at Amoeba before, so look for that shit!.)

Lovely Bad Things – “I Just Want You to Go Away”

Thumping, energetic super fun power pop from Lovely Bad Things, courtesy of the boys at tonyandgabe.com.

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