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Rock

TICKET GIVEAWAY: CAVE w/ Sun Araw and Sean McCann @ The Satellite, Los Angeles CA. Tuesday, November 29, 2011

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Hit us up with a number between 1 and 1000 for a chance to win tickets to see psych instrumental group Cave play at The Satellite tomorrow night, November 29th. Silverlake’s premiere institution hosts the Chicago rockers who display methodical structures mixed in with killer solos, music with an inner peace much unlike da Bears’ QB conundrum at the moment. Cave’s 2011 LP, Neverendless, delivers with the same quality as 2009’s Psychic Psymmer. So get in for free, buy a pint of Newcastle and play a game of dollar eight ball. Just give us number between 1 and 1000. *Chris Gedos

Just drop us a line HERE to be entered to win a pair of tickets for the set (raffled day of performance). Get additional show details at The Satellite.


CAVE – MUJ

CAVE illinois (Drag City)
The Satellite california (Info)

reviewed by
11-28-11

Tree – People (ft. Shelf Nunny & Lena Kuhn)

Contributed by Chris Gedos

tree

It would be an understatement to say that the genre of grown up twee folk is oversaturated these days. From nihiti to Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr, the niche is ablaze with artists of various levels of acclaim, which is what makes the song “People” by SF artist Tree all the more impressive. Something about the rambling lyrics and piercing wurlitzer makes me imagine some cat on a guitar outside City Lights with a tin can and a tattered copy of Naked Lunch on the pavement. This is a rare song of great feeling which doesn’t get caught up in a pretentiously grandiose statement. I dare you to only listen once.

Tree california (Facebook)

Rating 8.2

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reviewed by
11-28-11

My Best Fiend – Higher Palms

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For those of you serving up the peyote this Thanksgiving, we recommend some “Higher Palms” to help wash it down. Palms is new from the NY psychedelic five piece My Best Fiend and the song will take charge of your musical tastebuds with it’s near five minutes of acid rock bliss. The band have just signed with Warp Records, and if “Higher Palms” is any indication of what’s to come, we could not be more psyched.

My Best Fiend – Higher Palms

My Best Fiend newyork (Facebook) (Pre-order)

Rating 8.5

brown8

reviewed by
11-23-11

We Are The Grand – Do you remember the first time?

Contributed by Chris Gedos

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Check out the new single “Do you remember the first time?” by Chilean band We Are The Grand. It’s very catchy with a nice breakdown and the entire thing pays a gentle South American homage to Rivers Cuomo, somewhat of a departure from their previous EP which is more ensconced in the English tradition. These cats are playing Lollapalooza Chile in Santiago if you happen to be in that fantastic city (I’ve had the pleasure, albeit brief) this upcoming March 31st. Say Chile and I can’t stop thinking about Roberto Bolaño, their most recent patron saint of letters, author of Los Detectives Salvages and 2666 , monster novels of a certain type of literary fiction, call it quasi-magical global realism! Much of his earlier works discuss Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and the aftermath of the coup, events Bolano may or may not have witnessed firsthand.

We Are The Grand – Do you remember the first time?

WATG chile-flag-icon (Facebook)

Rating 8

brown8

reviewed by
11-23-11

The Stepkids – Suburban Dream

stepkids

The Stepkids have just let loose on a new video for their track “Suburban Dream” off their self-titled debut LP. James Brown would have totally partied with these guys. Heavy.

The Stepkids connecticut newyork (Stonesthrow) (Official)

Rating: 8.3

brown8

reviewed by
11-22-11

ZZ Ward – OVERdue

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“OVERdue” tells it like it is. Angry, soulful and overdue. Previewed from ZZ Ward’s forthcoming Eleven Roses mixtape. Get into it!

ZZ Ward – OVERdue

ZZ Ward california (Tumblr)

Rating 8.2

brown8

reviewed by
11-22-11

SHOW REVIEW: Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds / The Hours @ Royce Hall, Los Angeles 11/18/11

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Last Friday night at Royce Hall in Los Angeles, The Hours took full advantage of an audience looking for something new in a familiar framework. Like Royce Hall (*see below) and headliner Noel Gallagher, history serves an indicator.

The UK collective fronted by Antony Glenn (former Pulp and Elastica fame to name a few) and Martin Slattery (who shares a connection through collaborations with Joe Strummer) kicked things off with recent single “I Want More.” The song caught the attention of fans stranded in the lobby trying to quickly finish their drinks. The Hour’s opt for Slattery’s multi-sectional musicianship in favor of a traditional bass player. Their blend of pop melodies and driving rhythms conjures an eclectic mix of everything from The Doves, Spoon, The Rolling Stones, and Spiritualized, with even moments Jeff Buckley and his protégés coming to mind. The band’s airtight set consisted heavily of material from their new I Want More EP as well as the band’s It’s Not How You Start, It’s How You Finish US debut. At one point The Hours invited two soulful women to stage to sing a few tracks with them. The audience’s playful approval of hoots and hollering felt most convincing during “Soul Music for Troubled Souls”. It’s the sort of song concerned with bigger messages and overall statements. And in such an economically wounded political environment, something like that might have been why the girl behind me tapped my shoulder to ask who the opening band was. The song drew a welcome response, as the did the band – as well as the bro-Noel banter between tracks. “What’s not to love about Noel” Antony asked? True, but there’s lots to like about watching The Hours. Get familiar and pick up a copy of I Want More.

The Hours – Soul Music for Troubled Souls

The Hours england (Official)

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the-hours-royce-hall

A musical homage to Noel Gallagher’s mentors played through the house speakers during the sets interlude. It was the High Flying Birds second night in LA on a sold out six city American tour. Having recorded the album in LA, I wondered about Noel’s affinity for American culture? The album artwork on the streets of Los Angeles, the music video in a Pioneer Town like desert world? What role did the west coast play in High Flying Birds? There’s even an American in the band, as Noel himself takes the piss at later in the show. More importantly being a KROQ Presents show, and him being here now with HFB, will Americans find any new inspiration in him?

A variation of “If I Had A Gun” from Noel Gallagher’s forthcoming Amorphous Androgenous collaboration lay stealth in the speakers as the lights soon dimmed and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds took stage. A folky version of early b-side “It’s Good to Be Free” opened the show; offering a fresh take on something classic. Which would set the tone nicely for the rest of the set. In true house band fashion the High Flying Birds performed a majority of their self-titled debut LP near sequentially with several musical intermissions of fan favorites.

Noel looked alive and free of any preconceived notions about his stage presence in Oasis. Standing in the middle of the stage with the conviction of Noel Gallagher, and joining him were four of his High Flying Birds on bass, keys, drums and guitar. Given all of it’s various versions, lead album track “Everybody Is On The Run” sounds even complete with a five piece. Noel’s band sounded great. The back up singing, even finger picking on bass, all the versatility felt just right. But these weren’t hired guns, they each played with style. Noel wears great musicians like he does great songs. But to hear drumming from Jeremy Stacey of The Lemon Trees on songs like “If I Had A Gun” played with the same type of spunk as the early Tony McCarroll… it became clear that this band was a very well fit experience.

“The Good Rebel” first broke the album’s sequence sneaking in before it’s release’s flip-track “Death of You and Me” – a song that really brings out the Ennio Morricone in Noel Gallagher, with it’s ragtime piano and lyric “I’m watching the TV or is it watching me” maintaining there album highlights. New song “Freaky Teeth” followed as the audience got their second taste of what’s to come from Noel in 2012. Similar to the variation of “If I Had A Gun” mentioned earlier, “Freaky Teeth”explores classic rock and psychedelic roads travelled much less if ever by Oasis. To wrap intermission Noel played a pair of near solo acoustic classics. The audience tried to let him sing “Wonderwall” but couldn’t resist on “Supersonic”.

Switching gears back to High Flying Birds the audience adjusted their Gallagher frequency as the sampled sound of children playing filled the atmosphere leading the band into new album’s anthem “(I Wanna Live In A Dream In My) Record Machine”. In-between songs fans shout for requests as if to indulge in the hilarity of Noel’s retorts. Following “Broken Arrow” Noel mentions that in his head he’d just heard “The Masterplan” the entire time’. Other highlights from the set included High Flying Birds ancestor track, “Half the World Away” and a few extended jam sessions prompting Gallagher to actually introduce each of the band members before ending the set.

The Chief returned to stage with a “thank you so fucking much” for a small encore set of fan favorites before he and his birds took a final bow.

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – The Good Rebel

Noel Gallagher england (Official) (Album Stream at Rolling Stone)

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Rating 8.7

brown8

*Royce Hall kind of reminds me of the Soldier Field renovation in Chicago. Circumstances differ but Royce Hall was renovated and redesigned as contemporary within elements of it’s original framework. Add world-renowned acoustics and well I see why the venue fit the evening’s event.

reviewed by
11-22-11

RAVE’S FAVES: Chantal Claret – Bite Your Tongue

Contributed by Bruce Rave

chantal-claret-by-leigh-reighton

Last decade, Chantal gave us “Jetsetter” and “Nth Degree” as lead singer of Morningwood. She’s baaaaack, now on her own and having as much fun as ever. Chantal has always loved the 60’s and that’s the feel of her upcoming album. “Bite Your Tongue” is a tasty appetizer, and those horn parts are spot on.

Chantal Claret – Bite Your Tongue

Chantal Claret california (Facebook)

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.

reviewed by
11-22-11

The Collectable Few – Model Behaviour

thecollectablefew

London-based quartet The Collectable Few prep a strong release in second single “Model Behaviour”. The track will sound like things you’ve certainly heard before (Maccabees, Friendly Fires, HAPPY MONDAYS) but TCF standout from their Brit guitar rock peers with their great pop songwriting ability. “Model Behaviour” toe-taps, jangles, spits and starts for most of its 2:49 duration but what makes the song of particular note are its great melodies (we’ve had that verse melody in our heads going on four days now.) Listen.

The Collectable Few – Model Behaviour

The Collectable Few england (Facebook) (Twitter)

Rating 8.1

brown8

reviewed by
11-21-11

Male Bonding – Seems to Notice

Contributed by Trevor Meyer

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English punk rockers, Male Bonding, are a recent trio hailing from London. If you’re on the fence, or a die hard punk rocker, MB certainly brings the heat, but their melodies and guitar hooks are infectious as well. I know that I am defenseless to the allure of melodic garage punk and these guys do it tremendously. Their debut album Nothing Hurts is excellent. “Seems to Notice” is my favorite track, but the album is loaded with catchy and blasting tunes throughout. Their second album, Endless Now came out earlier this year and trust me, if you haven’t already, this one you need to pick up.

Male Bonding- Seems to Notice

Male Bondingengland (Sub Pop)

Rating 8.47

brown8

reviewed by
11-19-11

Grabbel and the Final Cut – The Finest Thing

grabbelandthefinalcut

When we first heard “The Finest Thing”, we thought, whoa, here’s a neo-shoegaze band that sounds un-neo-shoegaze, like they sound like actual good shoegaze, like good classic shoegaze. And then we did a little research….and turns out Grabbel and the Final cut are a German(!) band from the early 90’s, “The Finest Thing” was recorded in 1991, and the release of the song is part of a reissue series of classic shoegaze 7-inches by Captured Tracks. Sweet. And we wondering where they got that sweet analog distortion pad for Garageband! Good work on unearthing this one, chaps.

Grabbel and the Final Cut – The Finest Thing

Grabbel and The Final Cut germany (Facebook)

Rating 8.0

brown8

reviewed by
11-18-11

Coasts – Drum Song (demo)

Contributed by Chris Gedos

coasts

Opinion is split here at base camp re: the effect of Facebook on new music. Zuckerberg’s super-corporation has officially supplanted Myspace as the destination spot for new music discovery; however, popularity is still unfairly and inaccurately measured by the number of “likes” as opposed to “friends”. I’ll admit that I do love the ability to simultaneously connect to a band’s Wiki, Bandcamp, website etc through Facebook. As Myspace was always limited by its interface, it’s Facebook’s intuitive design which allows the listener to scroll through a band’s pertinent info with speed and facility.

I also fall prey to those fleeting advertisements which knock but once, for they often disappear when you refresh the page. Tonight I saw an ad which read (I’m paraphrasing), “Wu Lyf fan? Check out UK’s Coasts.” Since I consider myself an effin’ Wu Lyf historian by this point, I feel obliged to click through, even though I’m under the influence of the Richard Brautigan novella I just inhaled. But Brautigan or not, Brighton’s Coasts sound a lot like Wu Lyf. Here we are late-2011, and there’s this sub-genre of extremely intelligent English rock which looks to America for influence and has vocalists that sound a lot like Tom Waits. Stranger things have happened.

“Drum Song” is a demo which clocks in at 1:59. A fuzzed out radio broadcast in what sounds like Argentine Spanish (Castellano) leads into the performance. The song’s brevity reads like a reluctant invitation from a band which I imagine, like Wu Lyf, is highly protective of their talents. The release date is set for 2013, so Coasts will have over a year to distinguish themselves from the Mancunians’ shadow. But until then, enjoy “Drum Song”. Kinda reminds me of the first time I heard “Tulips”.

Coasts – Drum Song (demo)

Coastsengland (Facebook)

Rating 8.47

brown8

reviewed by
11-18-11