Blonde Redhead and Autolux at the Wiltern Theatre

If you haven't figured it out by now, I am a big fan of Blonde Redhead. Their latest album "23" will easily fall into the top 5 releases of 2007 with Kazu Makino's dreamy lush vocals, Simone Pace's extraordinary drumming and Amedeo Pace's distinctive guitar playing. The album has a rare must buy recommendation from the Amateur Chemist.

I thought it wouldn't get much better after seeing Autolux and Blonde Redhead at Sunset Junction. I was wrong when they announced Blonde Redhead and Autolux at the Wiltern.








Autolux needs to make their sophomore album soon. It is torture hearing how good these new songs are and not being able to listen to them on my ipod. "Finders Fee" is one of these new songs that had Greg Edwards (Guitars/Vocals) providing feedback and extraterrestrial guitar noises on a silver Fender guitar. "The Science of Imaginary Solutions" puts you into a narcotic induced haze with its haunting sampler triggered opening that morphs into Greg's complex guitar chords. "Blanket" sounded flawless with Carla Azar's steady drumming and Eugene Goreshter leading the way on vocals. Autolux closed their set with another new song that started with Eugene singing and Carla taking over as the song shifted up and down. The song ended with a super fuzz bass breakdown that punctuated an electric set. All I want this holiday season is a new Autolux album.







I never get tired of seeing Blonde Redhead live. They haven't had a proper Los Angeles headline date on this tour but I caught them at the House of Blues San Diego, Sunset Junction and the Glass House back in August. When the opening chords of "Dr. Strangeluv" ring out, I quickly become captivated. Bright yellow beams of light projected behind them adding a sharp visual component in addition to their intoxicating audio presentation. Kazu Makino is playing her white Gibson SG as she sings while Amedeo plucked out the ringing notes on his Gibson Les Paul Double cutaway. Amedeo shined brightly as he delved into "Spring And By Summer Fall". The pit was not too crowded and allowed everyone to sway in time to "23". Kazu switched her guitar to sit in front of her Nord keyboard to play "The Dress". "In Particular" had Amedeo tapping his guitar bridge while holding down a guitar chord for the percussive intro while Kazu handled the squiggly guitar lines. "Equus" had Kazu walk to the front of the stage and passionately sing as she engaged the audience. Their set went by lightening quick as took a short break before the encore. A good percentage of people missed out when Blonde Redhead came back out for a second encore that was dedicated to Autolux. "Melody" sounded hypnotic with its phaser drenched keyboards. I was glad I would catch them once more at Vegoose before they head to Europe to open for Interpol.

Blonde Redhead Setlist for the Wiltern Theatre (10/25/07)
"Dr. Strangeluv"
"Spring and By Summer Fall"
"23"
"Falling Man"
"The Dress"
"In Particular"
"SW"
"Equus"
"We are a Real Team(Harry and I)"
"Silently"
"Melody of Certain Three"
"Misery Is A Butterfly"
"Melody"

Autolux at the Epicentre in San Diego

There was a plethora of concert options for a Thursday night in Los Angeles but I decided to travel to my unofficial second home of San Diego to experience the swirly feedback genius of Autolux. The last time I caught up with Autolux they nearly drowned the audience in a sonic tsunami at the Natural History Museum.



The Pity Party started off as a nice appetizer to the main course of Autolux. The Pity Party continues to improve their live show and are becoming an increasingly tighter live act. Heisenflei (Drums/Keyboards/Vocals) was her usual multitasking self utilizing a lot of black keys on her Yamaha DX7 for some nice dark basslines. M (Guitars/Vocals) was hiding in relative darkness getting Kraftwerk like guitar stabs from his Fender Stratocaster. One audience member at the end of the performance was baffled at Maurice's guitar sound and asked how he got that bass like guitar sound to which M pointed to his Boss Super Octave pedal. I did notice he had an Electro Harmonix HOG pedal which did some serious damage on this particular night.The crowd was receptive of their edgy schizophrenic attention deficit disorder indie rock that may include random guitar or vocal freakouts at any moment. I picked up their EP which has artwork constructed from recycled cereal boxes. They will be signed soon.








I have covered Autolux many times and the only topic I get tired mentioning is the fact that I have no new Autolux album to listen to. The new songs are fantastic and have Carla Azar (Drums/Vocals) singing vocals on more songs like "The Science Of Imaginary Solutions" and "Reappearing". The Epicentre is located off of Mira Mesa blvd discreetly nestled against an IHOP and is an all ages venue. It is basically like Chain Reaction of Anaheim but slightly larger. I was supposed to attend Asobi Seksu there but had a concert conflict. Carla opened the set providing airy vocals for "The Science of Imaginary Solutions" over the sampled looping feedback storm of guitars by Eugene Goreshter and Greg Edwards. During the intro of "Plantlife", I saw Greg use an E-Bow that he sampled with his Line 6 Delay pedal to create a buzzing bee like effect. It is interesting to reiterate that all his pedals on the floor were obscured by tape or paint to hide any manufacturer information. I did note that Greg tuned his guitar down one whole step to "DGCFAD". "SSW" was a new song that featured noisy guitar stops and a shrapnel storm of feedback accompanied by Eugene's vocals. "Finders Fee" was another new song that had some interesting guitar textures scattered amongst Eugene's vocals. I like Autolux so much that I plan on venturing out to the human cattle round up called Sunset Junction to see them.

Autolux setlist for the Epicentre in San Diego (8/16/07)
"The Science of Imaginary Solutions"
"Plantlife"
"Turnstile Blues"
"Blanket"
"SSW"
"SubZero Fun"
"Capital Kind Of Strain"
"Robots In The Garden"
"Here Comes Everybody"
"Reappearing"
"Finders Fee"