The 2007 Film School release Hideout is one of my all-time favorite LA (if by way of San Fran) records and I’m prepared to say that I like Fission a good deal better.
It’s hard to believe Radars to the Sky have never released a full-length record. Stalwarts of the Los Angeles indie rock scene ever since I’ve been paying attention, they finally put-out a proper release that gives indie rocker’s indie rock a good name.
POLLS celebrated the release of their new EP at the Bootleg Theatre last week. Terrific performance, one of the more enjoyable live shows I’ve seen in recent memory.
I don’t always go for this sort of thing, but Luke Temple’s latest project Here We Go Magic put out a record, Pigeons, that reminds me of something between Local Natives and Micachu and the Shapes. (A good thing.)
A couple Mondays ago I peeked-in Spaceland to catch the first night of the Summer Darling residency. It was a moving performance featuring a dynamic range of emotions, from seething angst to explosive triumph. I was grinning ear to ear, happy to have some unabashed indie rock for guys who wear clothes that fit.
An Aquarium Drunkard presents L’AventureToday LA-based blog An Aquarium Drunkard releases a tribute comp to Television’s Adventure. Titled L’Aventure, the album is a complete-cover record, each song performed by (arguably, truly) eight of LA’s fifteen best indie rock bands.
There are a lot of music geeks who take the “Adventure is an under-appreciated classic” stance. I am not one of them. I think it’s a perfectly fine record that unfortunately follows one of the all-time greats. (Disclaimer: I consider Marquee Moon the greatest rock record ever recorded.) In this way Adventure is like The Godfather Part III, it’s chief weakness an abundance of warmth where none should be.
(J. Neas eloquently argues the contrary, by the way.)
However, it is Adventure‘s “good, but not great” status that makes it ripe for covering, and An Aquarium Drunkard has picked only the finest fruit. Comps overrun today’s new music like randy strawberry plants overrun gardens, but Justin Gage has coordinated some truly impressive organic pairings.
Every track is expertly matched with an artist that deftly draws from a different dimension of Television’s rich sound. The Henry Clay People perfectly capture Adventure‘s reflective tones on “Glory,” the album opener. The Happy Hollows mutate “Foxhole” into a Marquee Moon outtake while Imaad Wasif (w/ Lykke Li assisting) takes the listener into an even darker and drearier hole on “The Fire”.
But for my money, The Deadly Syndrome steal the show with their cover of “Carried Away,” making the song their own more than any other entry on the comp. And props to Local Natives, who elevate the overall professional quality of the collection.
I was impressed with this comp on the first listen. Justin Gage’s passion for both the Los Angeles music scene and Adventure really come thorough. The best musical efforts are labors of love, and you can count this among them.
L’Aventure can be downloaded for free, but donations in conjunction with the record go directly to The Silverlake Music Conservatory. (So give a few bucks, will ya?)
An Aquarium Drunkard presents L’Aventure
1. The Henry Clay People – “Glory”
2. Foreign Born – “Days”
3. The Happy Hollows – “Foxhole”
4. Local Natives – “Careful”
5. The Deadly Syndrome – “Carried Away
6. Imaad Wasif (w/ Lykke Li) – “The Fire”
7. Dirt Dress – “Ain’t That Nothin’”
8. The Growlers – “The Dream’s Dream”
It’s impossible for me to be objective in regards to The Henry Clay People. They’re my friends. They’re emblematic of what a great local music scene means to me. I’ve seen them play great shows, great drunk shows, terrible drunk shows, and all other manner of shows. I’ve slept on hardwood floors with them. I can’t “review” their new record, Somewhere On The Golden Coast, out today on TBD Records. I can only offer my thoughts.
The Henry Clay People – Somewhere on the Golden CoastWithout talking too much inside baseball, I know that the song selection and track listing for Somewhere On The Golden Coast was a protracted process for everyone involved in making the record.
Somewhere out in the ether (somewhere on the golden coast?) there is a version of this album that would be more directly catered towards me. It would have included “Switch Kids,” “The Good Ones,” “Taste of the Tasteless,” “Randy Where’s the Rest of Me?” and a version of “Digital Kid” closer to what the band was playing in early 2009. It would have been a slobberknocker of a rock record.
The record that is Somewhere on the Golden Coast has a different tact. It’s a Slow Burn (like the same-named track on the album); less hyper-active, less eager to please, and less inclined to flaunt its influences than any HCP release to date. If For Cheap or For Free was a published Indie Rocker’s Manifesto then Somewhere On the Golden Coast might be that same indie rocker’s private diary: entries written at the bottom of the eighth pint of beer, a more intimate and introspective — if more abstract — assemblage of somewhat melancholy thoughts and musical ideas.
(I’m not a huge fan of the HCP’s glam rock-influenced direction, and for those like me, there were a number of terrific live sets recorded for various websites last year that well-document the band’s post-For Cheap or For Free, pre-glitter guitar period.)
It’s only fair to mention that longtime fans are only granted 26 minutes of new songs, with “This Ain’t a Scene” and “Working Part Time” getting fresh takes.
That’s the only serious downside.
And for those who have not yet heard The Henry Clay People (that is to say “the vast majority of music consumers”), Somewhere on the Golden Coast is an impressive, comprehensive introduction to The HCP and all their colors, from the glammy-epic “Saturday Night” to furious rocker “End of an Empire” to “Nobody Taught Us To Quit,” a stripped-down indie morsel in the vein of a hundred seemingly incomplete Guided by Voices tracks.
“End of An Empire” is a stand-out, but “Your Famous Friends” might be the best recorded track The Henry Clay People have ever released. (Admittedly, one of the glammier tunes.)
Good artists perfect a dish and serve it to their fans over and over again, only mildly tweaked. Great artists have the guts to know you can’t give the fans what they think they want, you have to give them something better; you have to turn expectations on their heads every time. That means taking creative risks.
On this album, The Henry Clay People have bravely charged themselves with the greater task. They often — but don’t always — succeed. The effort is admirable and worthy of The Henry Clay People’s reputation as “a band for the good guys,” rock music for The People Who Get It.
Somewhere on the Golden Coast is a rewarding listen and I give it a strong recommendation. It’s the kind of music worth paying for and will surely make many end of the year lists, probably mine. You can buy it tonight at Spaceland when The Henry Clay People celebrate the release of the album. (Expect a couple new covers, too!)
BUY THE ALBUM FROM THE HCP HOMEPAGE (Cheaper than iTunes!)
The Californian – Sea of Love EPThe Californian (Los Angeles, CA) have termed themselves both post-surf rock and alt-surf rock, and with good reason: their four-song Sea of Love EP contains just as much Radiohead in its DNA as it does The Surfaris or The Beach Boys. It’s a recording that doesn’t rehash a proven formula that works, but makes a daring effort to create something new from what’s come before. (Something “new” that doesn’t rely on an Afro-beat, I might add.) Remember when bands did that? 20 years ago? Well, The Californian have encrusted a 21st century crown with the sonic gems of surf rock, displaying expert craftsmanship and impeccable taste.
Where lo-fi acts like Wavves feature bedroom-quality recordings composed with sloppy faux indifference, The Californian is staffed with devoted musicians and professional recording engineers. Where acts like Dum Dum Girls go to great lengths to replicate the sounds of 60′s pop, The Californian prays before the altar of the same era but then builds an addition onto the church. And where today’s trendy indie music features droning under-mixed vocals, The Californian’s John Graney sings beautifully, loud-and-clear, at the forefront of the mix.
There is not a speck of nostalgia on this record, which is probably why I love it so much.
Every song has at least two heads. The Californian’s greatest strength is an ability to surprise you every step of the way. In the year 2010, with nigh-unlimited access for anyone to all the music ever made, this is a nearly impossible task. It can not be said enough.
The opening track “NaNaNa” starts with a foreboding melody before swiftly transforming into the catchiest pop-hook of the year. “Sea of Love” is the stand-out track and features Graney’s best performance (oh yeah, remember when artists performed on recordings?), but “The Big Hell No” is my darkhorse favorite of the collection, a track that pairs Graney’s most colorful lyrics with the band’s most despairing dimension.
The Sea of Love EP clocks in at just under 16 minutes. It’s dark, yet uplifting. The EP betrays a love of well-crafted music, and the hard-work surely required for its creation has paid dividends. More than any other record yet in 2010, it has kept my attention and earned my embarrassing adoration. I’m going to have to insist you buy it. Current front-runner for Album of the Year.
The Californian will celebrate the release of the Sea of Love EP TONIGHT, Tuesday June 1st, at Spaceland. $7.
Avi Buffalo – self titledReaders of this blog probably know about Avi Buffalo. “The kid is just 19,” heard now on KCRW, opening for Modest Mouse on tour soon, blah blah blah.
This post is a kindly reminder that their full-length record is available today. It is one of the best of the year, one of those rare times where the debut album of a hyped band turns-out to be exactly what you’d expected and hoped for.
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – The Brutalist Bricks
In the early 2000′s, appreciation of Ted Leo and the Pharmacists was a golden seal of good taste. The band released three pretty terrific records and toured extensively, bringing indie rock back to the clubs while The White Stripes and The Strokes were bringing a major label version to the masses.
2007′s Living With the Living was a very competent record, but also a step backward. At its best it was unmemorable, at its worst it was self-parody. (“Bomb.Repeat.Bomb.” anyone?) As a huge fan of Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, I am proud to say that The Brutalist Bricks (iTunes), out today on Matador Records, is a full-frontal assault and total return to form. Eat your hearts of oak out.
Leo’s standard array influences (sprinklings of power pop, reggae, new wave, and anthemic rock) are again all there, only this time they are most artfully wielded. More importantly, Leo’s punk rock streak has rediscovered its teeth; it seems Leo has again found some things really worth writing thirteen songs about. His passionate anger is balanced by introspection on other tracks, and while Leo’s trademarked tempo shifts are employed less on The Brutalist Bricks, the sonic palette he uses is so diverse that its hard to believe all thirteen songs are part of the same album.
Standout tracks include the opener “The Mighty Sparrow,” “Gimme the Wire,” and the infectious pop-hooked “Bottle in Cork”. On “The Stick,” Ted Leo and the Pharmacists come awfully close to channeling Minutemen.
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists are an experienced act, something all too rare in today’s music world. Says I: The Next Hip Band has been over-valued, and by releasing The Brutalist Bricks, Ted Leo and The Pharmacists have offered a rebuttal with the kind of maturity and rock intelligence that can only be earned with age. If you like music by people who know what they’re doing, then The Brutalist Bricks is for you.
Buy The Brutalist Bricks on iTunes.
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