Blonde Redhead at the House of Blues San Diego

One of my top concerts of all time was the ticket stub from above. It featured a new band from Brooklyn called Blonde Redhead who were extremely loud and noisy. I was there to see Hum but the fact that I can remember their set from that long ago signifies that it left a lasting impression.  Blonde Redhead's latest offering "23" is simply stunning. This will be in my top albums of 2007 guaranteed. I was hoping they would play a smaller venue but was eager to catch them at the cozy House of Blues San Diego to start off my mini Blonde Redhead tour.



Traffic was horrendous on Friday night and I missed most of Midnight Movies but I managed to snag a few shots as they were wrapping up their set. I was disappointed because the soundsystem at the House of Blues is excellent and did well to differentiate all the sonic layers of Midnight Movies. My only recourse is I was lucky enough to see them at the Detroit Bar the next night and at the Glass House.









The curtains were drawn and the House of Blues was filled to capacity when Amedeo Pace (Guitars/Vocals) started to pluck the opening notes of "Dr. Strangeluv". Simone Pace (Drums) quickly followed in with his jazz influenced drumming as Kazu Makino's (Guitars/Vocals) voice emanated over the speakers quickly intoxicating the audience. "23" is a stellar album that gives praise to both Kazu and Amedeo but I think Simone is the unsung hero on this album as the drums stick out. I usually listen to albums and latch onto the guitars then the vocals. In this case, the subtle flourishes and different kinds of percussion on the album made my ears perk up. Throughout this concert I payed special attention to Simone and his drumming. He had a Roland electronic drum pad that he used for his multitude of drum samples. Amedeo stepped up to the microphone and sang "Spring and by Summer Fall" which has a beautiful counter melody played by Kazu in contrast to the louder, urgent guitar stabs played by Amedeo. The chemistry between all three members was very palpable and one could see them lock eyes throughout the set. Kazu did have some trouble remembering "Misery Is a Butterfly" but so sweetly apologized for it that you almost mistook it for part of the show. She was hugged by Amedeo to which the crowd greeted with a resounding sigh of compassion. They closed the show with "Equus" which helped me commandeer enough strength to brave the masses for Saturday.

Eskimohunter at the Detroit Bar

I originally was lamenting the fact that I had to sacrifice Eskimohunter at my beloved Detroit Bar to see Autolux at the Epicentre in San Diego. I figured I had shown Eskimohunter enough love by attending two of their Monday residencies and would catch them again around town. When Autolux finished at roughly 10:30 p.m in San Diego, I knew that the Detroit Bar tends to run late and that I might still be able to catch Eskimohunter. I double checked the time stamp of my first Eskimohunter picture and it was at 11:56 p.m. Anyone care to get extra credit and calculate my average speed?

I caught the majority of their set and was impressed how the band continues to get tighter in the live setting. I guess this is why bands decide to do residencies. Jason 71 (Guitars/Vocals) was front and center with his sparkly Fender Jazzmaster that has to be a homage to Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine. The visuals were more compact compared to Spaceland and ended up being projected directly on the members of the band which made for some interesting photo outtakes. I have failed to mention in previous reviews that their EP release "Musical Snowglobe Express" is fantastic and features 6 songs with 3 bonus videos and can be purchased on their Myspace page. If you are really high tech, you can also download their videos as a podcast over on itunes. They should be heading back into the studio in a few months to record a full length release that will hopefully capture the chemistry and magic of their live shows.

Eskimohunter Setlist for the Detroit Bar (8/16/07)
"Intro 1"
"Walking Tour of Space 90013"
"My Super Pink Stars Will Make Us Click"
"Speed And Other Forces of Nature"
"Fixed"
"M Intro 2"
"Surfing at 32F"
"Electro"
"Ice Station"

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"

Sparrow Love Crew at the Detroit Bar

It was "Busy Work" night on Wednesday at the Detroit Bar as Sparrow Love Crew brought the jams to the masses of Costa Mesa for an energetic forty minute set.



I arrived as the fashionistas of M690(Mighty Six Ninety) wrapped up their glossy synth pop rock jams with slinky bass lines that were reminscent of the Bravery. I used to have a Mighty Six Ninety sticker on my bicycle back in the day as it was a popular AM radio station. Camille (Keyboards) was doing an impersonation of Gillian Gilbert(New Order) on her Roland SH-201. They will be doing a residency at the Detroit Bar soon.




Uma "Theremin".. I got the joke. Did you?



Top view of DJ Opi Styles homebuilt Theremin






As I mentioned before, I am not a huge fan of rap music. But there is something about the Sparrow Love Crew that is undeniable. I would almost qualify them as Indie Electro seasoned with old school rap. They would have perfectly fit on the "Beat Street" or "Breakin" soundtrack from the eighties. I think the secret is the programming done by DJ Opi Styles who kicks out some serious synth basslines combined with various bleeps and turntable scratches. One of the weapons DJ Opi Styles uses is his homebuilt Theremin that he attaches to his turntables for some serious noise. If you listen to the end of "Monster Boogie" on their Myspace page you will get a sample of the Theremin in action. The Crew rocked the Detroit Bar and their set was a remix mashup of their tunes such as "Monster Boogie", "Style like Us" and "Naidu". They are working on releasing an EP soon and gave away casette mixtapes at the show. Does anyone have a casette deck I can borrow?

Film School at Spaceland

Film School


One of the more sonically dense albums of 2006 was Film School's self titled release. Film School manages to blend layers of guitars and keyboards into a swirling hurricane at one moment and then switch to the sound of light falling rain. They descended upon Spaceland to debut some songs from their new album "Hideout" due to be released on Sept 11th.

Downtown Union


Downtown Union tried to channel Two Gallants, Black Keys, and The White Stripes with their one guitarist and one drummer setup. Spaceland was fairly empty at this point.


Pela





Pela by the way of Brooklyn played to a growing Spaceland audience. Pela immediately reminded me a faster punk version of The Hold Steady combined with moments of Bruce Springsteen. The idea of punk was partially due to Eric Sanderson's (Bass) Black Flag shirt. Billy McCarthy (Vocals/Guitars) was all over the stage on this particular night playing like he was on center stage at Staples Center. He was strumming rapid fire barre chords on his blond Fender Telecaster(similar to the Boss). Nate Martinez (Guitars) was busy strumming octaves on his Fender Telecaster while stomping on his two Line 6 DL4 modules to add some shimmery delay effects. Their album "Anytown Graffiti" is out now on Great Society.


Film School









Spaceland was packed when "Garrison" started to blare over the speakers. I was apprehensive about this show because I was convinced there was no way they could reproduce the density of the album live. My fears were quickly abated when I saw the pedal boards on the floor. I think I really need to get an Electro Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man. Jason Ruck (Keyboards) was using a Roland SP-404 sampler in combination with his Kurzweil keyboard. Lorelei Plotczyk (Bass/Vocals) was chugging away on her Fender Mustang Bass. Dave Dupuis (Guitars) wins the award for most delays on a pedal board. Film School played most of their new album which sounded great. The songs seem to be more straight forward and have a cinematic feel to them. The guitars were a more focused maelstrom. Lorelei provided some nice vocals on "Plots and Plans" that serve as a nice contrast to Greg Bartens (Vocals/Guitars). They must have rehearsed quite a bit because they sounded fairly tight for a band doing pre release shows. The intro for "Deep Lake" sounded huge live and had the rafters shaking. I was hoping to hear "Breet" but was still happy to hear "Like You Know" close out the set. Unfortunately, I will have to wait a month until I hear the new songs again.


Film School Pedalboards



Film School setlist for Spaceland (8/14/07)
"Garrison"
"Compare"
"Lectric"
"Sick Hipster Nursed by Suicide Girl" (Song title of the year)
"Two Kinds"
"Capitalized I"
"Dear Me"
"Deep Lake"
"Plots and Plans"
"What I Meant to Say"
"Sick of the Shame"
"Like You Know"

Gliss and Moderates at the Viper Room

Indie 103.1 Check One..Two by Mr. Shovel airs on Sunday night from 6-8 pm and features some of the finest upcoming Los Angeles bands. They also put their money where their mouth is and sponsor a Monday night showcase at the Viper Room featuring bands that they play on the show. I was fortunate to catch this most recent Monday night.

Black Kites



Black Kites started the evening with a dreamy keyboard shoegaze collage of sounds. They seem to be second cousins of Mazzy Star, Sea Ray, and Longwave. Evelyn Reyes (Keyboards/Vocals) was working the keys of her Nord Electro and Nord Lead 2x as she provided breathy vocals that meshed nicely with Alan Petherick (Guitars/Vocals) husky vocal delivery. Alan had an intense guitar effect setup in combination with his Vox AC30 to create his spacey sounds. I especially liked his use of the Boss Vibrato pedal. Their Black Kites EP is available on itunes for your downloading pleasure.

Io Echo




IO Echo had a haunting presence the second the curtains were drawn. I couldn't help thinking of a female fronted Bauhaus or shades of Siouxsie and the Banshees. The goth imagery was accompanied by some post punk fast paced rock that is not far from the Horrors and Bloodcat Love who are both top friends on their myspace page. "Addicted" lived up to its name as it featured a fast paced drum beat against some creepy keyboard layers. "I'm On Fire" ended with IO(Vocals) writhing on the floor in time with the feedback. They will be playing with Low vs Diamond at Spaceland on August 27th.

Gliss








Gliss had no problems following up IO Echo as they launched into their swirling hypnotic rock set. "Gimme The Hit" was spectacular as David Reiss (Guitars/Bass/Drums) was punishing his Les Paul and bending the notes until they broke into an explosion of feedback. "Kissing The Boulevard" filled the room with its snake like guitar lines and throbbing bassline. Martin Klingman covered all the bases as he switched between guitar, bass, drums and vocals. Victoria Cecilia contributed nicely handling drums and bass. "Huh..What?" had its pulling guitar lines contrasted with a super huge bass line that you may have heard on a Mastercard commercial. They play the unofficial Sunset Junction afterparty at the Detroit Bar on August 18th.


Moderates




Moderates closed the night with their catchy post punk indie songs. I always like to see bands multiple times to get a better handle of how they sound and gage their live show. The Moderates didn't have their trademark multi colored lights on stage, but made up for it in their performance as they laid down a droney driving set. After a second viewing I see more of a dreamier Burning Airlines and Jets to Brazil influence with amplified spacey textures in their music. They were distributing free copies of their EP "Anthony The Poet" which will quickly transport you away for 20 minutes of your life. They are currently heading back into the studio to record a full length album. Overall, an excellent Monday night of music.