The Noisettes caught lots of ears with the pretty “Never Forget You” from their second album. Lots of peeps didn’t realize that this UK band was seriously raw and bluesy on their fine freshman outing. They updated that disc’s “Sister Rosetta” for this year’s Twilight soundtrack. It’s the Noisettes the way I like them best.
Check out Bruce’s “Go Deep” show on Fridays 1-3 pm Pacific, 4-6 pm Eastern, 9-11pm GMT. Also listen to past shows at Bruce’s blog and follow Bruce on Twitter.
Re:Mix Labs kicked off a week’s worth of events at 401 S Main in Downtown LA on Tuesday night. This, the final stop for Re:Mix, which started at CMJ in NYC and made pit stops in Miami, Chicago and Las Vegas, of the Hyundai Veloster-sponsored multimedia event (from vintage arcade games and 3D movies streaming out from the trunks of cars to huge name artists in a small room spinning on the 1’s and 2’s).
Tuesday’s ANTENNA sponsored Grand Opening Reception featured an open bar and a variety of ensembled sets from Yeasayer, College, and Them Jeans to name a few. KCRW darlings Caught A Ghost’s new school mix of indie rock and soul found a pocket for the forthcoming event’s anticipatory atmosphere.
The Re:Generation event went down in a very special way on Wednesday night, with DJ Premier, Erykah Badu, The Crystal Method and more spinning brief DJ sets before Skrillex took the stage. With about 250 VIPS in attendance, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to glimpse the record collections of some of the most respected names in the industry. But the main draw was Mr. Skrillex, arguably the most popular (and divisive) DJ on these seven continents circa late-2011.
The legendary DJ Premier hosted sets between performers, hyping up the crowd of industry tastemakers busy making use of the open bar and interactive displays of elaborate art, fashion items and more intertwined through pimped-out Hyundai pocket rockets. The NY based producer brought the beats and set the tone for the evening as well as the forthcoming Richard Bishop directed and Grammy sponsored documentary (due February 2012) starring collaborations from the evening’s performers and many more other iconic artists from all eras. But Primo definitely got the party started, “how many people know about James Brown?!”
Erykah Badu opened with some Staple Singers, then played a little Stevie Wonder, followed by “Ain’t No Woman Like The One I Got,” a track worthy to rep, anytime, anyplace, despite unabated popularity. It was like Erykah had downloaded my hard drive into her laptop for the set, as heater followed heater followed heater. We were 5 feet away from Erykah Badu!
What would The Crystal Method have thought of Skrillex back in 1997? In the same way that an album like Vegas utilized an instrument like the Clavia Nord Lead 3 to create something avant garde, Skrillex uses the whole of electronic music technology to create a new genre unto itself. The Sonny Moore moniker proved a sight to be seen as well as an artist worthy of all the hype. As a dub-wake of mediocrity follows on his coattails it will be fascinating to see where he chooses to take electronic music next.
Skrillex Remixes Avicii “Levels” at RE:GENERATION Launch Party
Thursday night hosted the infamous artwalk on the streets LA. More great shows and events coming through Sunday this week. Be sure to stop by 401 S Main in Downtown LA for all the action.
Last Friday night, I traveled to the bootleg theater in LA to catch three superb acts. It was a fantastic show because each act was so unlike the act before it, yet the audience gravitated to all three performances.
In a sea of black rimmed glasses, flannels, and irony, Ana Egge stepped to the stage with her acoustic guitar. The Saskatchewan native quickly captivated the audience with her soothing voice and sharp guitar playing. Ana was accompanied by drummer, Michael Jerome and the two had a notable musical chemistry. Egge played a number of her more upbeat acoustic tracks like “Blood and Fairest of Them All” while also managing to work in some of her quieter songs such as “Silver Heels” (my favorite piece) and “Hole in Your Halo”. Ana’s music draws parallels to a range of folk champions such as Josh Ritter, Rocky Votolato, Neil Young, and Joanie Mitchell. Egge has one of those voices that is immensely calming, but at the same time purposeful and influential. It’s not easy to deliver an acoustic set at a venue as packed as the Bootleg was last night, but Egge put on a truly admirable performance.
The Allah-Lahs took the stage as the middle act. The California rockers experienced some technical difficulties early in their set, but they quickly adjusted and gave the crowd a rousing performance. The Allah-Lahs combine elements of 60’s surf, fuzz-folk, and garage, in addition to pieces of psychedelic rock and rhythm and blues. The band finished strong, coming to life while performing two of my favorites “Catamaran” and “Long Journey”. I sense good things on the horizon for the Allah-Lahs and I would love to see these guys perform again in the future.
Nick Waterhouse & The Tarots took the stage as the final act of the evening. They came out with a marvelous energy that helped them gain the attention of the crowd immediately. The backup singers of The Tarots were phenomenal, displaying a vocal range that was most impressive. There was a baritone saxophonist and a tenor saxophonist, which provided awesome harmonies. The piano player and the drummer kept the crowd grooving on every track. Waterhouse brought it on every song, displaying shrieking vocals, high energy and charisma, and screaming guitar work. There is something about nine people tearing it up on stage together makes the show all the more magical. The guys made sure to play their hits “Some Place”, “That Place”, and “I Can Only Give You Everything”. Before they went into their final song, “Is That Clear”, Waterhouse talked about how he wrote the song when he was fifteen years old. During the song, Waterhouse & The Tarots effortlessly transitioned into Them’s “Gloria”, which was my favorite moment of the set. Nick Waterhouse and the Tarots are revitalizing old jazz and performing irresistible tunes that are catching on all over the States. In what was one of the best performances I have ever seen, I truly believe that the sky is the limit for Nick Waterhouse & The Tarots.
Grieves and Budo hit the subterranean confines of Cambridge’s Middle East downstairs on Monday. The duo performed their big energy, multi-genre influenced hip hop at a high level leaving the mostly full venue (not bad for a Monday night) no doubt satisfied. Opening the set were frat rap duo Boom Box, the guys seemed to have difficulty connecting with the kids as they, in ever-increasingly futile attempts to rouse the disinterested crowd, doused water out from the stage. “You guys like dubstep?” asked one of the MCs to a mostly negative response. The rappers still went on with the song which was OK, but came off sloppy in performance (incl an entirely (poorly) lip synced chorus hook). So that set sort of sucked.
Up next was SF MC K Flay, who definitely brought a confidence and quality of performance that was lacking in the opening set. Thank God. K Flay’s style is sort of feverish, kinetic, almost stream-of-consciousness, as one sharply tipped line gives way to the next and so forth. The crowd seemed to get more involved as the set went, as her Boston fanbase seemed to expand which each song. Girl used a live drummer, which added a nice underlying strength/lower-end to the performance. About two-thirds into the set K Flay dropped an on-the-spot-created beat (which you’d never be able to tell) that she proceeded to verbally slay which each freestyled set of rhymes. It was that sort of “the moment” in the set where she was over with the Middle East crowd, the house sort of it all nodding heads approvingly in unison.
Grieves and Budo blew through a set that covered all eras of their partnership. And it was apparent that no matter how old or new each song was at least 80% the house knew no less than 100% of the words to every single song. And Grieves (the MC half of the duo) did a great job of keeping the kids psyched up and involved (as if they needed it), telling stories, cracking jokes (Budo hadn’t changed his pants for a week), waxing about Boston, etc. Budo, too, did his part switching from horns, to keys, to guitar, back to horns, on to keys, etc, all the while acting as Grieves’ hype man and back up. We love Grieves and Budo and we loved the set. We definitely left happy.
Look out, world, for Mikal Cronin. The SF bro of Ty Segall has got work. “Am I Wrong”, an unreleased track, toes the line of the sort of drop out pop of Wavves and the more straight up melodic indie tones of Real Estate. If you’re feelin that, than you’re prob gonna be into Mikal Cronin so go get it, girl.
If you’re into blues, rock, and/or soul, you’re going to love Gary Clark Jr. His influences range from Stevie Ray Vaughan, to Snoop, to Cream, etc. Some of his more bluesy material such as “Bright Lights” and “Don’t Owe You A Thang” remind me of blues rock icons, Ten Years After and the Black Keys. Not only can this guy shred your face off, but he can also soothe your soul. The soulful, slow burner “When The Sun Goes Down” is an absolute delight. One of his other, slower songs, “Things Are Changing” is an eloquent, soul ballad – one of the best I’ve heard in years. Gary’s versatile songwriting is undeniable. Mr. Clark Jr. is one of the most promising up and coming artists. He is lighting up the internet music world and there is no telling what great things are to come from this man in the future.
We love this! “Heaven” from Shock, a new band out of SF that features Dan Judd of Sorcerer, is great. On the track, an excellent space disco bed frames up the breathy chanteuse vocals of Terri Loewenthal. Catch a little surrealist dance party below.
I recently took a listen to Luise Pop’s single, “Black Cat.” This four piece is based in Berlin and Vienna. “Black Cat” is a truly enjoyable song. The song has a multifaceted range, featuring crescendos, decrescendos, tempo increases and decreases, and a nice bouquet of harmonies to boot. This is the Luise Pop’s third release and I recommend checking out their earlier music as well. I can’t wait to hear more from this band.
Jakwob delivers a strong return on “Electrify”. The track still holds to some dubstep elements but grabs on to pieces of current pop dance music, house and rave. It’s a big tune that should only expand Jakwob’s sphere into the new year.
Tyrese & Rozay take it all the way back on this remix for “Stay”, as the pair are joined by the one and only Faith Evans for this smoothed out spin on the track. The original’s 2005-era R&B as 2011 R&B sound is replaced for a full on 90’s throwback. You can imagine Faith bleeding it out in 3D Jurassic Park-style cgi in front a waterfall or bonfire on the beach. Bad Boy for life.
Tyrese – Stay (Remix) (Feat. Rick Ross & Faith Evans)
Here goes some beautiful remix work by UK artist S.Maharba of Shlohmo’s equally beautiful “Ghosts Pt. 2”. S.Maharba drops a nice heavy pulse to frame up Shlohmo’s gorgeous harmonies and melodics. We are into it.
Fiend (yes, that same Fiend that was on No Limit Records about 10 years ago) steps up to something smooth and buttery. Rappers get old too. And on a Friday night at age 35 a couple Hank Mobley 45s sound a bit more real than Silkk Tha Shocker. (word up to Silkk.)
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