Okay okay, I just saw Twin Sister at The Echo on Friday February 3rd:  pace yourselves because the lineup was so great that I have a lot to say about each band and the entire experience. Talkdemonic was an excellent and…
So, I still haven’t made any New Years resolutions. Or, for that matter, entirely admitted that I’m back at school…maybe I’m lagging a little behind, but time is flying by, luckily bringing with it an upsweep of glorious music. Right…
Last week I posted a poll asking you KSPC listeners/blog readers about some of your musical favorites of the year, and since then I’ve been pulling in results via the comments here, email, and personal interview. Overall, the consensus has been that 2011 was a great year for music. Find out about the most-loved song, album, new artist, KSPC in-studio, concert, and more after the jump!
Love, your Fall 2011 KSPC Executive Staff
Everyone on the Internet gets to have an opinion, and right now I want to know yours about this year's best albums! What have been your favorites overall? Favorite KSPC plays? Favorite shows/DJs on the station? Let us know in…
Photo by Lincoln Andrew Defer/The Largo LA.
The Largo at the Coronet is a venerable LA-nightlife institution, as evidenced by the photos of star comedians like Zach Galifianakis and Sarah Silverman in the lobby and, of course, by the great Jon Brion�s status as an essential artist-in-residence there. He has played the Largo monthly since 1996, often bringing friends and surprise famous guests. As an independent musician, producer for artists including but not limited to Aimee Mann, Elliot Smith, Fiona Apple, and Kanye West, and composer of the score for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, I Heart Huckabees, and Boogie Nights, Jon Brion has connections and talent enough to be distributed equitably between at least five or six people. Though his set a couple weeks ago on November 18 was more acoustic and mellow than I had been led to expect, I still came away satisfied and impressed by Brion and a certain special surprise guest.
Photo by Shannon Lubetich.
Saturday November 19, 2011 1:30 AM
I just got back from one of the most amazing concerts of my life: Blind Pilot, with Point Juncture, WA, at the El Rey Theatre in LA on Friday, Nov. 19.
First up was �Point Juncture, WA from Portland, OR.� When asked after the show about the origin of their name, they said they were obsessed with the TV show �Twin Peaks,� and wanted to create their own imaginary town. This puzzled me, because I actually am from Washington, and was wondering where the heck Point Juncture was. Apparently, the band has had several people from Washington come up to them and claim they go to �Point Juncture� all the time� false. Not a real place.
Bradford Cox’s project Atlas Sound recently released a new album, Parallax, on 4AD, and it was a favorite at the station this week! Check out the rest of the Top 30 at KSPC below!
Tomorrow, Scripps Live Arts presents Athenafest, a punk music festival and benefit for Rock n Roll Camp for Girls LA! The show goes from 1pm-7pm, is free (though donations are welcome) and open to the public, and will feature all sorts of awesome bands. Peep the lineup and band info after the jump!
Photo by Rachel Fidler.
It�s rather funny that I spent most of October 26 debating on whether or not to go to this show. However, as I was working diligently on my Anthropology midterm, I mused to myself about the purpose of life.
Okay… maybe not something quite that deep.
But I did decide that I had a great opportunity at hand, and so at that moment, I closed my computer, got in my car, and jetted to LA to try and make it for GROUPLOVE at the El Rey.
Photo by Julia MacNelly.
Last Saturday evening, before Halloween festivities would prompt me to don a disguise of vivid tribal facepaint, I came across a different kind of disguise. At first glance, the dA Center for the Arts in Pomona seems like it’s just an art gallery—and an impressive one at that, with lively sculptural paintings and installations seeping out from every corner (and some even hanging from the ceiling). But that’s where its disguise has you fooled: it’s not only an art gallery, but a concert venue, a yoga studio, and a classroom.
The key word I must use to describe the show at the Music Box last Wednesday is “layered”. It was the so-called “remix culture” at its finest: danceable, sophisticated loops of vocals and instrumentals, sometimes live and sometimes electronically generated, but never once lazy or unoriginal. I was, of course, lucky enough to be seeing tUnE-yArDs, one of the most exciting recent indie projects out there and one that is, rightfully, blowing up in the biggest and best of ways.
Photo by Andrew Youssef (Stereogum).
In support of their latest album, Gloss Drop, Battles graced Los Angeles with a night of experimental rock stylings this Monday, headlining a show at Club Mayan in Downtown LA with tour-mates Walls and Nisennenmondai. The Italian electronic duo Walls opened the show. Working from a a table stacked with samplers, drum machines, effects pedals and other miscellaneous gear, they played a handful of lengthy hypnotic movements characterized by blissful ambience and textures morphing over steady electronic beats. Next came Nisennenmondai, an all-girl three-piece band from Tokyo, who pummeled through an otherworldly and upbeat set of progressive and moody instrumentals. With layered guitar loops, steady bass lines and evolving drum patterns, Nisennenmondai’s songs would typically begin with some minimal instrumentation and develop excitedly into epic freak outs (“Mirrorball”) or sometimes remained stubbornly dense with tension until a song’s anti-climactic ending (“Fans”). The openers’ bands set the mood perfectly for Battles, who are in fact co-currating the next ATP where all three bands are slated to perform.
Fall break 2011 ended fantastically, for me, with a chance to see one of my favorite musical artists of the past couple years: St. Vincent. Even if you don’t listen to St. Vincent, you may have enjoyed frontwoman Annie Clark’s skills without even knowing it: she was a member of both The Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens’ touring band. Clark, a porcelain-skinned, deceptively-waifish singer and guitarist, is an artist whose sheer talent claws its way through the feeblest of earbuds, unable to be ignored—so you can imagine my excitement to see her perform live. Her talent—and there really is a considerable lot of it—was in full, spotlit, often overwhelming display on Tuesday night.
As far as bands go, Blitzen Trapper has become one of my favorite traveling companions. Don’t worry–I’m not harboring any delusions about having spent a wild month on tour with them, rattling across the country one dimly lit bar or crowded nightclub at a time. I’m talking about the way their songs create a sense of adventure, a narrative that leads you on a journey through a distinct environment—usually past a woodsy creek or through a sleepy mountain town. The band has proved they are gifted raconteurs and American Goldwing, their sixth full-length album, is no exception to this.
It was a Monday night. I’d like to think I’m a responsible student. I rarely go out on school nights; heck, I would never just drive into LA to go to a concert. But on Monday, October 3rd, I did just that–specifically, to see Toro y Moi. My friends and I got in line about a half hour before the doors opened. To our surprise, the man of the hour himself, Chaz Bundick (better known by his stage name, Toro y Moi) casually walked by with the band. The people waiting in line, ourselves included, started applauding and before he rounded the corner to the stage entrance, Chaz turned and waved excitedly at his fans.