Autolux, Dead Meadow, Bloodcatlove at Little Radio

Lots of options for the ringing in the New Year but I made the right choice. I caught some flack for originally suggesting the Killers at Paramount studios backlot, but at $150... most friends scoffed. Little Radio came along and advertised Autolux, Dead Meadow, and Bloodcatlove for the riduculously low price of $20.00.... and an open bar!! Seeing that I had to work the next day, I offered my services as the designated driver and trucked a load of friends out to a stellar New Year's bash. I haven't made it to any Little Radio events before as I have had show conflicts in the past. Little Radio is a great warehouse in Los Angeles that runs an indie rock blogzine that happens to distribute electric cars as well. People were ready to party as the bar line was 10 deep early in the night and got worse as the night progressed. Dead Meadow opened up the festivities and played a smoking psychedelic fuzzed out set. They happen to rock the Orange Amps and Rickenbacker Bass like Wolfmother... so you get an idea of what they sound like. The drummer was summoning John Bonham with his seemingly larger than life drum kit and his thunderous beats. I was disappointed I missed them at the Troubadour a few weeks back as I was in San Diego for the FM 94.9 show. Autolux was up next and rang in the New Year with a loud sonic boom. I have seen Autolux multiple times when they opened for Nine Inch Nails on the With Teeth tour and was impressed. It seems like everyone likes Autolux because I have read that Maynard from Tool, Trent from Nine Inch Nails, and Brandon from Incubus hyping the Autolux machine. Greg from Autolux had an amazing guitar setup. He was running a VHT amp along with a Fender amp and a bevy of pedals that included some Moog effects, Line 6 Modulation, and a Digitech Whammy Pedal. He had 3 volume pedals that he was tap dancing on throughout the set. Some of the stand out songs in the set included, "Capital Kind of Strain", and "Plantlife". It is safe to say they have one of the more anticipated albums of 2007. I foresee a high billing for them at Coachella. Unfortunately my friends alcohol levels were increasing so I departed before Bloodcatlove. They are playing the residency at Boardner's every Wednesday this month so I hope to make it to a show. Check out more photos from the party at Littleradio.com as taken by my friend Timothy Norris. So begins the 2007 chapter of Amateur Chemist on a really good note.