Saturday 09.01.07: SMOG 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

with:
Youngsta
Matty G
Nick Argon

Plus SMOG crew b2b sessions:
Knife Dreams b2b Dlx
DJ Unit b2b Emu
Subcode b2b Showguns

FMI:
http://ladubstep.com/

8pm / $8adv, $12 dos / 21+

Saturday 09.01.07: BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE @ Echoplex

Brian Jonestown Massacre || Listen

“The Brian Jonestown Massacre artfully blends the influence of classic rock and 90s psychedelic/ shoegazer rock better than just about any other band. From track to track on their latest effort, Bravery Repetition and Noise, you get the best of many worlds in a work that still manages to gel as an album more than anything I have heard in a long time.” – Left Off The Dial

with:
Dimmer || Listen

@ Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
(Main Entrance is through alley)
Los Angeles, CA 90026

9pm / $15 / 18+

Sunday 09.02.07: BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE @ Echoplex

Brian Jonestown Massacre || Listen

“The Brian Jonestown Massacre artfully blends the influence of classic rock and 90s psychedelic/ shoegazer rock better than just about any other band. From track to track on their latest effort, Bravery Repetition and Noise, you get the best of many worlds in a work that still manages to gel as an album more than anything I have heard in a long time.” – Left Off The Dial

with:
Dimmer || Listen

@ Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
(Main Entrance is through alley)
Los Angeles, CA 90026

9pm / $15 / 18+

Sunday 09.02.07: PART TIME PUNKS

with:
The Chromatics (members of Glass Candy)
New Collapse

Can’t wait for this one! For fans of Suicide, Metal Urbain, Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV, Crawling Chaos, Plus Instruments. . .
Definitely not for the twee kids, this one! Unless yer into trepanation, electroshock therapy and general self-mutilation. . .

plus resident djs Michael Stock and Benny Shambles spinning mutant disco * Postpunk * indiepop

10pm / $5 / 21+

Monday 09.03.07: Monday Night Residency – THE HAPPY HOLLOWS

The Happy Hollows || Listen

“Los Angeles continues to breed killer new bands like some sort of musical rabbit farm. This three-piece litter of sweet sonic babies is known as the Happy Hollows, appropriate as it’s hard not to smile like an idiot when they commander a club stage. A spin through their “Bunnies and Bombs” EP reveals the power-puffy trio bashing out hyperactive power-pop with a serrated buzz-saw edge of noisy guitars and Pixie-fied beats. Songs like “Meteor” and “My Wet Tongue” bops with an abandon familiar with 1990s “college rock” before it gets swallowed up by all things “indie.” But the main attraction is super-fine lead singer/guitarist Sarah Negahdari, a woman after my own heart with her trademark striped tube socks and wild rock babe ways. We double dog dare you not to develop a mad crush on her after just one show. It’s nigh impossible. Resistance is futile.” – Metromix LA

with:
The Billionaires
The Henry Clay People || Listen
The Soft Hands

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Tuesday 09.04.07: THE ADVANTAGE

The Advantage || Listen

The Advantage, of course, represent the most literal faction of this phenomenon, with their four-piece instrumental rock covers of assorted level themes and boss music. Far from being the only band practicing this approach (see also: the Minibosses, the Power-Ups, NESkimos, etc.), they’re nevertheless the NES translators with the most star-power, featuring one half of Hella and assorted other noise-scene moonlighters. But where some practitioners of 8-bit revival coast along on kitsch, the Advantage do more than just tickle your retro bone– an, erm, advantage that was hinted at on their self-titled 2004 platter and is brought to full realization here on the cutely-named Elf-Titled.

Substantially upgrading the fidelity, and stepping away from the more obvious titles they’ve already covered– your Marios, Zeldas, and Bubble Bobbles– Elf-Titled is more stylistically explorative than their reflective, scrapbooky debut. Game composers designed music that was meant to loop infinitely without growing tiresome too quickly, resulting in brilliantly complex, maze-like melodies that the Advantage are all too happy to make their own. With guitars executing tightly choreographed, noodly maneuvers through songs like Bomberman 2′s “Wiggy” or the music from the “Metal Man” stage of Mega Man 2, the band amps up the originals to reveal the songs as more than just background jingles. – Pitchfork

with:
Them Hills
Abe Vigoda

8pm / $8 / all ages

Wednesday 09.05.07: BEN KWELLER (Performing Sha Sha in its Entirety)

Ben Kweller || Listen

(Performing Sha Sha in its entirety)

“Enthusiasm is what singer/songwriter Ben Kweller brings to his work; his Ramones-like perennial goofy-teenager attitude and lack of antipathy are his golden attributes; combine that with a keen songwriting sense and you’ve got a pop powerhouse. Following his demo/self-released Freak Out It’s and an EP, Kweller spreads out with more new pop songs and sounds on this full-length studio album. Underscoring the songwriting skill he’s been working at since age eight and over the course of 11 songs, he plays acoustic, folk-rock, alternative, power pop, and straight-ahead rock; his lyrics are consistently heart-sung but they aren’t lite (he’s got weight and bite too).” – All Music, Review of Sha Sha

with:
Willy Mason (acoustic) || Listen

8pm / $18 adv, $20 dos / all ages

Wednesday 09.05.07: DUB CLUB @ Echoplex

with Resident DJs:
Tom Chasteen
Roy Corderoy
The Dungeonmaster
Boss Harmony

Spinning the best in classic reggae, dub and dancehall

@ Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
(Main Entrance is through Alley)
Los Angeles, CA 90026

FMI:
Dub Club on MySpace

9pm / $5 / 21+

Thursday 09.06.07: BEN KWELLER (performing On My Way in its entirety)

Ben Kweller || Listen

(Performing On My Way in its entirety)

“Some have called On My Way Ben’s ‘grown up’ album, I think it’s more accurately Ben’s ‘growing up’ album. What’s particularly lovely about the songs that make up On My Way’s narrative is that they cut both ways, exploring newly minted adult life with enthusiasm whilst longing for simpler pleasures. The title track is a sweetly unsettling letter to ‘mom’, detailing her son’s newfound affinity for burglary, murder (by karate chop!), friendship and love. The lyrics are particularly moving in their artlessness; as Ben wheezes, ‘I’m in love with someone who’s as pretty as a flower… She makes hats with her hands / She is such an artist’ it’s simultaneously awkward and beautiful. Likewise, ‘I Need You Back’ is an anxious West Coast jangle of a cry for help; Ben seems at once confident and confused in luring his love back. ‘My Apartment’, an ode to his adopted home of New York, is a halting account of both newfound freedom and the occasional loneliness of living away from family, so that lines like ‘In my apartment / The home where I hide / Away from all the darkness outside’ gleefully play house and long for the safety of home.” – Stylus Magazine, review of On My Way

6:30pm / $18 adv, $20 dos / all ages

Thursday 09.06.07: MAGNOLIA ELECTRIC CO.

Magnolia Electric Co. || Listen

“On the first Magnolia Electric Co. album, Molina had his own heart split in two, and his response was the only one we could expect: “Half I’m going to use/ To pay this band/ Half I’m saving because I’m going to owe them.” His stoic devotion to his own craft even over his own heart is, like it was and still is for Bob Dylan, both myth and more or less the truth. The only thing that matters to him, even above his own songs, is the freedom to play them, which is why Molina’s project is intelligible only as an ongoing one. In recording sessions, he regularly tosses out whole records and writes new ones on the spot. His live sets are populated with songs he wrote as recently as that day. Those like myself who miss Songs: Ohia, because they prefer directness over guitar solos and vulnerability over big chords, can comfort themselves with the fact that in the continuum of Molina’s music, everything is equally yesterday’s news and, at the same time, the beginning of yet another song.” – Pitchfork

with:
Golden Boots
Secretary Bird

9pm / $12 / 18+

Friday 09.07.07: BEN KWELLER (performing Ben Kweller in it entirety)

Ben Kweller || Listen

(Performing Ben Kweller in its entirety)

“Harking back to the days of Sha Sha’s ‘Lizzy’, ‘In Other Words’ and ‘Falling’, Ben Kweller is tender, fragile and devoted. Gone are the grunge-pop moments, the raw recordings and the fuzzy distortion – in many ways it’s all for the best. This is Kweller’s most complete-sounding long-player yet, a fully-formed entity whereas his previous outings skipped playfully from one feel to the next. Combining touches of Ben Lee and Evan Dando in the songwriting and Ben Folds in its piano-heavy approach, Ben Kweller is highly sentimental, full of philosophical reflections of days gone by and the way life unfolds. Self-proclaimed masterpiece ‘Thirteen’ is a prime example of the former, a four-minute list recounting the most beautiful of moments.” – Drowned in Sound

Plus Guests

8pm / $18 adv, $20 dos / all ages

Friday 09.07.07: CLUB UNDERGROUND

Spinning the best in Brit / Indie / Soul / Twee / Madchester / Punk / Glam

FMI: ClubUnderground.net

10pm / $5 if 21+, $7 under 21 / 18+

Saturday 09.08.07: THE DEADLY SYNDROME

The Deadly Syndrome || Listen

“This hodgepodge of old and new friends began messing around, making noise in the guesthouse of a little ranch, and soon played their first “show” on the porch for some pals. Within months, they were appearing on bills with Silver Lake’s biggest bands (including Cold War Kids and Monsters Are Waiting) and had earned a reputation for explosively energetic live shows. The Deadly Syndrome presents with convulsive rhythm, feral drum bashing, modest guitar hooks and folky piano stitched between frank verse. The output is a hybrid of pop and folk likened to Wolf Parade and Built to Spill, and landed them a deal with L.A.-based Dim Mak records.” – LA Weekly

with:
The Morning Benders || Listen

7:30pm / FREE for 21+, $5 for under 21 / all ages

Sunday 09.09.07: GRAND OLE ECHO

Tony Gilkyson || Listen
The Evangenitals || Listen
Gentlemen Farmers
Fish in a Barrel

5pm / FREE / all ages

Sunday 09.09.07: PART TIME PUNKS w/ THE SPIRES

The Spires
Franklin For Short

Last time around, they were THE VELVET UNDERGROUND.
This time, THE SPIRES will be entirely themselves:
sparse, stripped down pop ala The Velvets, Galaxie
500, Beat Happening & early R.E.M. (though they have
promised to play one VU cover!). With fellow Ventura
County mates–who comprised the other half of last
April Fool’s Velvets–FRANKLIN FOR SHORT (see above
for applicable name-checking, ‘cept maybe more LUNA
than Galaxie 500…)

plus resident djs Michael Stock and Benny Shambles spinning mutant disco * Postpunk * indiepop

10pm / $5 / 21+

Monday 09.10.07: Monday Night Residency – THE HAPPY HOLLOWS

The Happy Hollows || Listen

“Los Angeles continues to breed killer new bands like some sort of musical rabbit farm. This three-piece litter of sweet sonic babies is known as the Happy Hollows, appropriate as it’s hard not to smile like an idiot when they commander a club stage. A spin through their “Bunnies and Bombs” EP reveals the power-puffy trio bashing out hyperactive power-pop with a serrated buzz-saw edge of noisy guitars and Pixie-fied beats. Songs like “Meteor” and “My Wet Tongue” bops with an abandon familiar with 1990s “college rock” before it gets swallowed up by all things “indie.” But the main attraction is super-fine lead singer/guitarist Sarah Negahdari, a woman after my own heart with her trademark striped tube socks and wild rock babe ways. We double dog dare you not to develop a mad crush on her after just one show. It’s nigh impossible. Resistance is futile.” – Metromix LA

with:
The Western States Motel || Listen
The Transmissions || Listen
Tigers Can Bite You || Listen

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Tuesday 09.11.07: YO MAJESTY @ Echoplex

Yo Majesty

“‘Daaaamn!’ That’s all we can say when we listen to the rap riot that is Yo Majesty, three freaky Florida femmes with rhymes spicier than Salt -N-Pepa and bombastic beats that’d make J.J. Fad proud (eat your humps out, Fergie). This old-school girl trio may be naughty — check out the choppy synth bobs and bossy braggadocio of “Kryptonite Pussy” and “Hustle Mode” — but the fierce delivery makes it come off fresh, never forced.” – LA Weekly

with:
Von Iva || Listen (CD Release Party)

8pm / $12 / 18+

Tuesday 09.11.07: QUI

Qui

“Typically noisy, unhinged and low-slung alt-rawk from Jesus Lizard man David Yow’s new project who are signed to Mike Patton’s Ipecac imprint and have an album, ‘Love’s Miracle’, forthcoming. Their idiosyncratic blend of punk, noise, metal and experimental genres, coupled with their advanced musical prowess, earned them a small but dedicated following throughout the U.S. In late 2006, Qui was joined by vocalist David Yow of The Jesus Lizard/Scratch Acid fame.” – Time Out London

with:
Sabertooth Tiger || Listen
Lozen

9pm / $10adv, $12 dos / 18+

Wednesday 09.12.07: KINSKI

Kinski || Listen
Down Below It’s Chaos doesn’t waste any time, saying emphatically from the very first attack in “Crybaby Blowout” that this record is going to pummel your skull in. However, it’s more than just an unending stream of distorted guitars and hard rock riffs, it’s more than just a consolidation of Kinski’s sound. The biggest change is the addition of J Mascis or Thurston Moore style vocals by guitarist Chris Martin on three of the tracks, “Passwords and Alcohol,” “Dayroom at Narita Int’l” and “Punching Goodbye Out Front.” Vocals are typically a problem for instrumental bands, forcing them to make their song structures more concrete, less complex, or generally less effective (case in point, Hella’s There’s No 666 in Outer Space or the last two Parts & Labor albums). But Kinski avoids this problem by limiting the number of songs with words and by using them to play around with form. – Dusted

with:
Dead Ponies
Unnatural Helpers || Listen

8:30pm / $8 adv, $10 dos / 18+

Wednesday 09.12.07: DUB CLUB @ Echoplex

with Resident DJs:
Tom Chasteen
Roy Corderoy
The Dungeonmaster
Boss Harmony

Spinning the best in classic reggae, dub and dancehall

ENTER FROM GLENDALE

@ Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
(Main Entrance is through Alley)
Los Angeles, CA 90026

FMI:
Dub Club on MySpace

9pm / $5 / 21+

Friday 09.14.07: DIRTY PROJECTORS @ Echoplex

Dirty Projectors || Listen

“Get ready for the latest brain-bending concept record from Dirty Projectors: a re-interpretation– not cover versions, mind you– of much of Black Flag’s Damaged…played completely from memory. Ha ha, guys. Tell us more about Don Henley. If you can get past the gulf between this and the original (differences include the addition of: violins, African-style staccato plucking, throbbing funk bass, harmonized female vocals, low and overwhelming Gregorian-like chants, Hendrix style backwards guitar, reverse bass drum hits, and some placid guitar arpeggios), this is the kind of challenging but seductive pop that the more modern moments of The Getty Address only hinted at. What’s more, taking the lyrics out of context reveals an almost mature perspective on the numbing day-to-day, check-to-check grind of adult life. Black Flag’s take was angry and throttled, perfect in all it’s one-note glory; this call-and-response between singer Dave Longstreth and his chorus of sirens is a moment of self-discovery turned inside out, making nihilism into self-acceptance and excitement for the future. It’s the perfect soundtrack for shoveling a handful of mushrooms in your craw just before handing in your two-week notice.” – Pitchfork

with:
Yacht || Listen

@ The Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
Main Entrance is Through the Alley

8pm / $10 / all ages

Friday 09.14.07: Echo & Undeground present – CALVIN HARRIS

Calvin Harris || Listen
BM LINX || Listen

Plus DJs Larry * Mark * Dia

Spinning the best in Brit / Indie / Soul / Twee / Madchester / Punk / Glam

FMI: ClubUnderground.net

9pm / $8 / 18+

Saturday 09.15.07: THE NEW CHECK YO’ PONYTAIL vs. HANG THE DJS w/ VHS OR BETA

with:
VHS or Beta || Listen
Institubes || Listen
Protokoll || Listen
Walter Meego || Listen

9pm / $15 adv, $17 dos / 18+

Sunday 09.16.07: HANDSOME FURS

Handsome Furs

“An album that sounds far bigger than its minimal constituent parts might imply from on-paper confines – each song is crafted using guitar, synthesizers and a primitive drum machine – Plague Park is far closer to the bedazzling indie-rock of Wolf Parade than the chuck-everything-in approach of companion side-project Sunset Rubdown. With the Parade’s Dan Boeckner at the helm, this LP can be summarised, succinctly, as a stripped-back take on the often epic tendencies of the celebrated Montréal act; its appeal is instant, and that voice serves as a sturdy bridge between bands. Listen closer, though, and great rewards await those with patience to burn.” – Drowned in Sound

with:
Johnny and the Moon
Nico Stai || Listen

8:30pm / $12 / 18+

Sunday 09.16.07: Echo & Part Time Punks present: SPECTRUM @ Echoplex

Spectrum || Listen

Founder/mastermind of SPACEMEN 3, Sonic Boom brings back the songs: namely, tracks from the first 2 Spectrum records AND the Spacemen 3 back catalogue. Backed by a full band (members of FUXA). No noise. No ambience. No experimental audio. With local loves, MIDNIGHT MOVIES, finally enjoying a belated record release party for their latest LP, a spiralling thrall of psyche and space rock. Got acid?

with:
Midnight Movies || Listen

plus resident djs Michael Stock and Benny Shambles spinning mutant disco * Postpunk * indiepop

@ Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
(Main Entrance is through Alley)
Los Angeles, CA 90026

9:30pm / $13 / 18+

Monday 09.17.07: Monday Night Residency – THE HAPPY HOLLOWS

The Happy Hollows || Listen

“Los Angeles continues to breed killer new bands like some sort of musical rabbit farm. This three-piece litter of sweet sonic babies is known as the Happy Hollows, appropriate as it’s hard not to smile like an idiot when they commander a club stage. A spin through their “Bunnies and Bombs” EP reveals the power-puffy trio bashing out hyperactive power-pop with a serrated buzz-saw edge of noisy guitars and Pixie-fied beats. Songs like “Meteor” and “My Wet Tongue” bops with an abandon familiar with 1990s “college rock” before it gets swallowed up by all things “indie.” But the main attraction is super-fine lead singer/guitarist Sarah Negahdari, a woman after my own heart with her trademark striped tube socks and wild rock babe ways. We double dog dare you not to develop a mad crush on her after just one show. It’s nigh impossible. Resistance is futile.” – Metromix LA

with:
Le Switch || Listen
The May Fire || Listen
Rademacher || Listen

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Tuesday 09.18.07: DIP’T IN HONEY @ Echoplex

with:
DJ Paul V
Mocean Worker

@ Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
(Main Entrance is through Alley)
Los Angeles, CA 90026

8pm / $10 / 21+

Tuesday 09.18.07: NUTRA

Nu-tra || Listen
If you’re upset that Devo doesn’t play a local club gig every other week, cry no more, for there is Nu-Tra. Giving the word “devotees” an entirely new meaning, Nu-Tra (short for “New Traditionalists”) presents the most grandiose synth-punk show in town, complete with keytars, cheerleaders, screen projections, and matching spiffy jumpsuits. Go see them and you’ll swear that you’ve entered a time warp and traveled back to 1981…or forward into 2181. – Skratch Magazine

with:
Jean Paul Yamamoto
Criminal Decathlon

8:30pm / $5 / 18+

Wednesday 09.19.07: DUB CLUB @ Echoplex

with Resident DJs:
Tom Chasteen
Roy Corderoy
The Dungeonmaster
Boss Harmony

Spinning the best in classic reggae, dub and dancehall

ENTER FROM GLENDALE

@ Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
(Main Entrance is through Alley)
Los Angeles, CA 90026

FMI:
Dub Club on MySpace

9pm / $5 / 21+

Thursday 09.20.07: O’DEATH

O’Death || Listen

“O’Death is more life than anything else, though the songwriting of Greg Jamie and Gabe Darling takes a more contemplative approach to back-alley country that gets freaky with folk and makes a collage of sound that sparkles like the prettiest knife. Jamie’s voice squeaks as a deranged mystics would, Pycior, bassist Grabby, drummer David Rodgers-Berry and banjo player Gabe Darling play as if possession has already occurred and their bodies aren’t being controlled by anyone except the dark spirits and their minions. They’re possessed and soon enough, there you are too, sweaty with lunacy. Jamie sings about human hearts that are filled with bats, as he chews past his dark brown beard like a billy goat. The band is full of authentic lightning and thunder clapping, dripping with a seediness that can only come from deep within. What they do cannot be cribbed or learned, but innate. For those of us who tend to our mundane lives as if there’s no other option, O’Death graciously present an alternative to clean living and sweet dreams. Their heavens piercing wails could cause turbulence for all the airplanes soaring up in the friendly skies and turn the unflappables pale as death with fear.” – Daytrotter

with:

Rock Plaza Central || Listen
Rock Plaza Central is an endearingly different sort of buzz band. Prior to all the unexpected acclaim and success following the self-release of their breakthrough record Are We Not Horses? in late 2006, the band had gone largely unnoticed outside their hometown of Toronto for several years. Sheltered from any attention, they unassumingly eased their way into something spectacular. Inspired by an elaborate conceit and sustained with evocative lyrics and powerful instrumentation, Are We Not Horses? is an outstanding fusion of alt-country earnestness and indie rock absurdity. Without any trace of flaunt or deliberateness, this homespun epic proves as casual in tone as it is ambitious in scope. – Popmatters

plus:
I Make This Sound || Listen

8:30pm / $8 / 18+

Friday 09.21.07: The New Check Yo’ Ponytail & Turntable Lab present – DIPLO @ Echoplex

Diplo || Listen
“So, Diplo. Short forDiplodocus, the tragic prehistoric behemoth, large beyond comprehension, invincible but doomed, felled by that silent predator called evolution. The Diplo in question is actually a tall, skinny kid from Mississippi that’s established a home with Philly’s streetwise Hollertronix crew. For a couple years now, Diplo and his partner Low Budget have run Hollertronix as a sort of crunk Underground Railroad, stealing away big-balled, white label southern rap into the seemingly sophisticated environs of the Northeast. He’s built a reputation as a party-starting, rabble-rouser DJ, fearlessly mashing Prince into New Order, greasing up Nirvana with Lil Jon.” – Pitchfork

with:
Switch

@ Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
(Main Entrance is through alley)
Los Angeles, CA 90026

9pm / $23 Adv, $25 dos / 18+

Friday 09.21.07: CLUB UNDERGROUND

Spinning the best in Brit / Indie / Soul / Twee / Madchester / Punk / Glam

FMI: ClubUnderground.net

10pm / $5 if 21+, $7 under 21 / 18+

Saturday 09.22.07: Echo & IHEARTCOMIX Present – SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO & special guests BOYS NOIZE @ Echoplex

Simian Mobile Disco || Listen

“Comprised of two blokes named James (that would be James Ellis Ford and James Anthony Shaw) from defunct Astralwerks also-rans Simian, dancefloor-friendlier Simian Mobile Disco burst onto the scene about a year ago with the aforementioned “Hustler” and a bunch of ace remixes for like-minded Klaxons and the Rapture, as well as Air and the Go! Team. “It’s the Beat” should prove one of 2007′s most primal and infectious dance anthems come year’s end. Opening on a murky, skeletal pulse, a slightly roboticized vocal– with very human sass– drops in amid the blips, bloops and scratches with some very Go! Team-derived hip-hop chatter. But when the song hits its stride at the three-minute mark, look the fuck out: A dense, swirling cloud of lush, twinkling synthesizers takes over for an electro-psych breakdown, and the song quickly reassembles itself with an absolutely colossal polyrhythmic drum track. “It’s the Beat” finds SMD puréeing the thrust of house with the shriller sounds of rave and the icy precision of techno, and it’s one of the most satisfying tracks– electro or otherwise– to drop yet this year.” – Pitchfork

with:
Boys Noize

@ Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
(Main Entrance is through alley)
Los Angeles, CA 90026

9pm / $20 / 18+

Sunday 09.23.07: GRAND OLE ECHO

with:
5 O’Clock Somewhere
Welldiggers Banquet
The Horsepainters

5pm / free / all ages

Sunday 09.23.07: PART TIME PUNKS

with:
I’ma F’cking Gymnast
Le Face

plus resident djs Michael Stock and Benny Shambles spinning mutant disco * Postpunk * indiepop

10pm / $5 / 21+

Monday 09.24.07: Monday Night Residency – THE HAPPY HOLLOWS

The Happy Hollows || Listen

“Los Angeles continues to breed killer new bands like some sort of musical rabbit farm. This three-piece litter of sweet sonic babies is known as the Happy Hollows, appropriate as it’s hard not to smile like an idiot when they commander a club stage. A spin through their “Bunnies and Bombs” EP reveals the power-puffy trio bashing out hyperactive power-pop with a serrated buzz-saw edge of noisy guitars and Pixie-fied beats. Songs like “Meteor” and “My Wet Tongue” bops with an abandon familiar with 1990s “college rock” before it gets swallowed up by all things “indie.” But the main attraction is super-fine lead singer/guitarist Sarah Negahdari, a woman after my own heart with her trademark striped tube socks and wild rock babe ways. We double dog dare you not to develop a mad crush on her after just one show. It’s nigh impossible. Resistance is futile.” – Metromix LA

with:
The Movies || Listen
Death To Anders || Listen
Lo-Fi Sugar

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Tiesday 09.25.07: THE MONOLATORS

The Monolators || Listen
Because the Monolators are a guitar-&-drums duo, they get the usual White Stripes comparisons, but their sound is actually weirder and more expansive on their latest CD, Our Tears Have Wings. Singer-guitarist Eli Chartkoff has a uniquely mournful yelp that’s somewhere between the late Nikki Sudden and the Subsonics’ Clay Reed on the lo-fi gem “Strawberry Roan”. Drummer-wife Mary Chartkoff cooks up a neatly sinister groove on “We Fell Dead,” and keeps it all down home on the glowing roots-rocker “14 Degrees.” On the album’s title track, Eli portrays himself as a lion tamer’s son with playfully clever lyrics and starkly effective chords that evoke the unpretentious simplicity of his hero Buddy Holly. The L.A. duo even engage in a little Jonathan Richman–style whimsy on the folkie ramble “I Was a Captain in the Army,” with Eli’s timelessly iconic tremolo guitar waves washing away any hint of mere cutesiness. – LA Weekly

with:
Mezzanine Owls || Listen
Amateurs || Listen

8:30pm / $5 / 18+

Wednesday 09.26.07: MAGIC MIRROR

Magic Mirror

Magic Mirror makes music to be listened to late in the evening, when such music is truly necessary. Songwriter Matthew Lindgren left Los Angeles to live in Spain for five years to gather inspiration from the bottoms of absinthe bottles, and returned with a collection of songs (recorded with help from kindred spirits in The Warlocks and The Brian Jonestown Massacre) variously described as “Spiritualized with Spanish guitars,” “Leonard Cohen fronting the Bad Seeds”, “Elvis, but only Elvis at Sun”, “The resurrection of Cash”, or “Breakup songs for brokedown people.” Magic Mirror strongly encourages you to listen for yourself. Fervent and romantic believers in the power of throbbing vintage organ seeping through reverb soaked guitars and haunted vocal harmonies delivering a beautiful, though bitter sermon, Magic Mirror sings songs to touch nerves in new ways and to help those who need help in the dark.

with:
Cuchillo (Spain)
Lion of Panjshir
Electromagnetic

8:30pm / $5 / 18+

Wednesday 09.26.07: DUB CLUB @ Echoplex

with Resident DJs:
Tom Chasteen
Roy Corderoy
The Dungeonmaster
Boss Harmony

Spinning the best in classic reggae, dub and dancehall

ENTER FROM GLENDALE

@ Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
(Main Entrance is through Alley)
Los Angeles, CA 90026

FMI:
Dub Club on MySpace

9pm / $5 / 21+

Thursday 09.27.07: THE BROKEN WEST @ Echoplex

The Broken West

They compensate for their somewhat geeky obsessiveness with confident songwriting, inventive arrangements, and verite production that emphasizes the band’s breakneck live energy, especially on “On the Bubble” and “Hale Sunrise”. Best of all is “Down in the Valley”, resurrected from their equally strong EP The Dutchman’s Gold, which they self-released in 2004 when the band was still know as the Brokedown. It’s a solid four minutes of churning guitars, fizzy harmonies, and insanely catchy melodies, anchored by a chorus that simultaneously plays into the city’s good-time vibe while slyly undercutting it: “Sun down, blood horizon, now it feels all right/ No one feels the darkness down in the valley tonight.” – Pitchfork

With:
The Parson Red Heads || Listen
Bodies of Water || Listen

@ Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
(Main Entrance is through Alley)
Los Angeles, CA 90026

8pm / $10 / 18+

Thursday 09.27.07: HELL YA!

with:
Sam Sparro || Listen
Iglu & Hartly || Listen
Voxhaul Broadcast
The Chain Gang of 1974

plus HELL YA! DEEJAYS

8pm / FREE for 21+, $5 for under 21 / 18+

Friday 09.28.07: GIRL TALK @ Echoplex (early show)

Girl Talk || Listen

“Pittsburgh native Greg Gillis (Girl Talk) absolutely detonates the notions of mash-up on his third album, the violently joyous Night Ripper. Rather than squeeze two songs that sorta make sense together into a small box, Gillis crams six or eight or 14 or 20 songs into frenetic rows, slicing fragments off 1980s pop, Dirty South rap, booty bass, and grunge, among countless other genres. Then he pieces together the voracious music fan’s dream: a hulking hyper-mix designed to make you dance, wear out predictable ideas, and defy hopeless record-reviewing.” Pitchfork Media’s review of Night Ripper

with:
Dan Deacon || Listen

@ Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
(Main Entrance is through alley)
Los Angeles, CA 90026

7pm / $15 adv $17 dos / all ages

Friday 09.28.07: GIRL TALK @ Echoplex

Girl Talk || Listen

“Pittsburgh native Greg Gillis (Girl Talk) absolutely detonates the notions of mash-up on his third album, the violently joyous Night Ripper. Rather than squeeze two songs that sorta make sense together into a small box, Gillis crams six or eight or 14 or 20 songs into frenetic rows, slicing fragments off 1980s pop, Dirty South rap, booty bass, and grunge, among countless other genres. Then he pieces together the voracious music fan’s dream: a hulking hyper-mix designed to make you dance, wear out predictable ideas, and defy hopeless record-reviewing.” Pitchfork Media’s review of Night Ripper

with:
Dan Deacon || Listen
White Williams

@ Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
(Main Entrance is through alley)
Los Angeles, CA 90026

10pm / $15 adv $17 dos / 18+

Friday 09.28.07: CLUB UNDERGROUND

with:
Thailand
Zookeeper

Plus Underground DJs spinning the best in Brit / Indie / Soul / Twee / Madchester / Punk / Glam

FMI: ClubUnderground.net

9pm / $5 if 21+, $7 under 21 / 18+

Saturday 9.29.07: SWERVE FESTIVAL, Echo & IHEARTCOMIX present The New Check Yo’ Ponytail w/ BONDE DO ROLE @ Echoplex

Bonde Do Role

“Bonde do Role may have inherited their homeland’s love of really crappy sounding 808s and breakbeats that rattle like coconuts in the breeze, but they friggin’ love cheesy guitars. I mean, terrible sports bar blues-band buttrock licks and 90s grunge grunts (an earlier single turned the detuned wah riff of Alice in Chains’ ‘Man in the Box’ into a dance hook), and the hairiest of hair metal. Just like baile funk. And also like baile funk, you can’t really describe it as ‘ersatz’ because the whole genre is ersatz as fuck, and Bonde’s baile is one, two steps from the ‘real’ thing. Cheerleader chants and horny panting! Incredibly cheap programmed drums and pop culture quotes! Booty bass beats and inexplicable Afrika Bambaataa shoutouts played on Todd Terry’s vocal-chopping keyboard! (Bonde loves the vocal stutter effect almost as much as they love guitars.) As with baile funk, this low-budget throwback is an aesthetic virtue for Bonde do Role. It’s a building block– the horns on ‘Tieta’ are as tinny and off-the-rack as any Trinidadian soca hit, while ‘Caminhao de Gas’ rocks and the 8-bit video game hook– not a necessity-is-the-mother-of-invention third-world practicality.” – Pitchfork

plus:
LA Riots
Juiceboxxx || Listen
The Toxic Avenger

and DJs:
Franki Chan
Paparazzi

9pm / FREE / 18+

Saturday 09.29.07: NUDIST PRIEST

Nudist Priest

“Then, like a lightning bolt from Zeus, Nudist Priest ripped the place apart. The audience became a sea of two-fingered devil horns, stage divers and moshers celebrating the mastery of these hairy, butt-nekkid hellions who dared mess with the gods of metal’s unholy songbook.” – LA Weekly

with:
Sasquatch
Jessie Deluxe || Listen
DJ Cave In

9pm / $10 / 21+

Sunday 09.30.07: GRAND OLE ECHO

with:
Mike Stinson & Dave Gleason
Psychedelic Cowboys
Grampa Drew

5pm / FREE / all ages

Sunday 09.30.07: PART TIME PUNKS

plus resident djs Michael Stock and Benny Shambles spinning mutant disco * Postpunk * indiepop

10pm / $5 / 21+