Monday 12.31.07: Hang The DJs & Club Undergound Present – New Year’s Eve w/ GRAM RABBIT

Gram Rabbit || Listen

They’ve gone from strange to stranger, those Joshua Tree denizens known as Gram Rabbit. On their third album, RadioAngel and the RobotBeat, out November 17, they come out spitting, with lead singer and co-songwriter Jesika von Rabbit coming off like Grace Jones with a bunny fetish on the fed-up-with-technology electro-ditty “American Hookers.” Considering they go to sleep every night under a sky filled with more stars than the rest of us can only dream of, it’s not surprising their lyrics express a great deal of concern for “the world gone wrong.” They also come from a place with fewer teeth per capita than the rest of the state, hence references to priests smoking crystal meth and pit bulls. Even weirder is “The Rest of Us Sleep,” which sounds like video-game effects. My pick hit is “Fancy Dancy,” with what may be the best line of the summer: “Any way you slice it, it’s still bologna.” They even wrote a song about Landers, called “Landers,” which is some blips and plucks and pounds and maybe some voices. Bonus: Most of the new tunes are excellent for doing “The Robot.” – LA Weekly

complimentary champagne toast at midnight

10pm / $15 adv, $20 dos / 18+

Sunday 12.30.07: MELVINS @ Echoplex

Melvins || Listen

With a similar sardonic glee, Melvins (now swollen to a quartet with the addition of Coady Willis and Jared Warren of L.A.’s Big Business) add to their already-weird canon with this latest 10-song bounty. Willis and Warren are themselves known for prostration before the almighty riff, and the partnership seems to have inspired in Messrs. Crover and Osbourne a measured return from their recent, more experimental work to the rock and roll drawing board. No trifling from the lead-off “The Talking Horse,” which blasts off with a tenderizing fuzz bass grind and interlocking play from the dual drummers. Here and throughout the record, the band’s new double-kit approach steers clear of bash-happy exploitation, and Crover, for one, downplays his megaton-concussion capability. When not locked into unison, honest-to-gawd grooves, Crover and Willis squeeze off clackety, dueling cymbal and percussive patterns and superimposed fills. “Horse,” along with “The Blood Witch,” introduces the Melvins’ new three-throated vocal attack – nearly every stanza is delivered via a raucous gang harmony. – Dusted Magazine

with:
400 Blows || Listen
Tweak Bird

@ Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

9pm / $16 adv, $18 dos / 18+

Thursday 12.20.07: RUMSPRINGA

Rumspringa

As drummer Itaru de la Vega and guitarist/vocalist Joe Stevens take the stage where a million hopefuls have previously set foot, it’s as if I was in some sort of mystical ceremony. Fans were dancing in this sort of sacrificial trance-like state and it wasn’t a surprise. Something about this band’s music is hypnotizing. As the show progressed, Rumspringa include their fans in their music by handing out tambourines and maracas—this sort of union speaks to the down-to-earth quality of the band and proves that (more or less) they are one with their crowd, as well as humble people. The crowd definitely took full advantage and it was absolutely a beautiful sight to see. Looking around, it was inevitable that between the first song and the third or fourth, everyone in the room had succumbed and were dancing or—to say the least—bobbing their heads. – LA Record

with:
The Devil Makes 3 || Listen
Army Navy
Chief

8:30pm / $5 / 18+

Saturday 12.15.07: HANG THE DJS

with:
Hey Chica!
Dream Date
C-Town
Sin
Hyphy Crunk
Dia
Scarlett Casanova

spinning the best in: indie, international pop, britpop, electro, disco, post-punk, new wave, no wave, hiphop and more..

FMI:
Hang The DJs on Myspace

10pm / $8 / 18+

Saturday 12.15.07: MELLOWDRONE

Mellowdrone || Listen

If there’s ever an award to be given to an unsigned act that’s opened for some of the coolest bands, it’s hands down – Mellowdrone. Aside from touring with The Smiths’ iconic Johnny Marr and his group The Healers (both in Europe and America) this Jonathan Bates- led project has also logged stage time with The Killers, Secret Machines, Elbow and Fire Theft. Along the way, the enigmatic entity also inked a major label deal and readied the official national debut disc Box by recording at various Los Angeles studios with producer Tony Berg (Beck, X). The results are a hodgepodge of all the aforementioned road mates, plus a lot of laptop derived electronics that move from melancholy to dreaminess to downright pulsating in one instance. – Concertlivewire.com

5pm / $10 / All Ages

Saturday 12.08.07: THE 8 with BALKAN BEAT BOX @ Echoplex

A Crazy Worldwide Hannukah Party

with:
Balkan Beat Box || Listen
Dengue Fever
Soulico

and
Festival of Rights

@ Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

9pm / $15 / 18+

Saturday 12.01.07: SMOG SESSIONS w/ PLASTICIAN

with:

PLASTICIAN
(Rephlex, Terrorhythm, Rinse FM, BBC Radio1, London UK) Plastician came into the spotlight with a nod from the ‘Grime’
compilation on Aphex Twin’s Rephlex label. Riding the line between dubstep and grime, Plastcian is both – yet neither. This year he gained control of the BBC airwaves by hosting a regular show on Radio 1’s ‘In New DJ’s We Trust’.

BREAKAGE
(Digital Soundboy, Pure Filth, London UK) While well respected in the world of drum n bass for his dubbed out musical masterpieces, Breakage has been working hard at producing dubstep worthy of his name. This year he’s put out genre breaking tunes like ‘Clarendon’ that have turned heads across the world.
Currently he is working on a new album which has been highly anticipated.

EMCEE CHILD
(Narco.Hz, Grime City, B.I.G. Crew, SF)

DLX
(Smog, Steps In Time Records, LA)

KNIFE DREAMS
(Smog, Sub FM, Pure Filth, LA)

SOUND REINFORCEMENT BY:
PURE FILTH

ART INSTALLATIONS BY:
SPECTR

Buy Tickets at Groovetickets.com

FMI: www.smogla.com

9pm / $8 Presale, $10 before 11pm, $15 after / 21+

Thursday 12.13.07: MOVING UNITS @ Echoplex

Moving Units || Listen

Moving Units’ latest has the swagger and sneer of the most iconic rock, combined with catchy, sexy, melancholic dance riffs recalling classics from New Order to the Cure. Opener “Pink Thoughts” is dramatic yet focused, with guitars that remind me of favorite Chameleons songs of yore. Miraculously, even with all these 80’s references, Moving Units never sound dated. Instead, they’ve got enough going on in their novel electronics and within the music’s subtext to come off as fresh and modern. – Sentimentalist Magazine

with:
Scissors for Lefty || Listen
Tigercity

Plus special guest DJ Le Castle Vania

@ Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

RSVP to get in for FREE

8pm / FREE / 18+

Saturday 12.01.07: THE NEW CHECK YO PONYTAIL w/ SURKIN

with:
Surkin
Dre Skull
DJ Hyphy Crunk

Plus resident DJs:
Franki Chan
Paparazzi

@ Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

9pm / $10 / 18+

Saturday 12.01.07: GWENDOLYN & THE GOOD TIME GANG @ Echoplex

Gwendolyn & The Good Time Gang

It is very much to Gwendolyn’s credit that her second album for kids, Get Up and Dance!, released late last month, is entirely irony-free. Somehow, though, the songs are eager without turning off the parents. For example, kids will enjoy her exhortation to “bounce and bounce and bounce” (ad nauseam) “around” on the leadoff title track, while parents will smile wanly at the recognition of the fact that this, yes, is exactly how their child moves. But somewhere in the course of the song, the music opens up, adding handclaps and becoming sonically interesting (without losing the kids). The rest of the album is like that, too — the super funky “Eensy Weensy Spider,” the disco freeze-dance of “Red Means Stop,” and the best song never recorded for Grammar Rock!, “I Can Read.” The listing of vegetables “Out in My Garden” is reminiscent — in a good way — of their debut album’s “My Anatomy.” I also appreciate the fact that the album doesn’t end with a typical kids-album-closer slow song, but instead with the peppy “Sunny Day.” It fits perfectly here. – ZooGlobble.com

with:
DJ Lance Rock from Yo Gabba Gabba

@ Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

10:30am / $12, Family of four for $44 / all ages

Friday 12.07.07: THE THERMALS @ Echoplex

The Thermals || Listen

Portland, Oregon natives the Thermals have been hovering on the periphery since their 2003 debut, delivering solid records to undersized acclaim. The band’s third album, The Body, The Blood, The Machine, conjures an America piloted by some sort of Christian-fascist regime (“They’ll pound you with the love of Jesus…They’ll own your days/ They’re only God’s babies/ They follow, they know”), and traces the frantic, fiery flight of an ex-pat and his girl (“I can see she’s afraid/ That’s why we’re escaping/ So we won’t have to die, we won’t have to deny/ Our dirty God, our dirty bodies”). The Body’s story is just vague and gruesome enough to be weirdly terrifying, totally Orwellian, and grander, louder, and more electrifying than anything the Thermals have spit out before. – Pitchfork

with:
The Big Sleep || Listen
Scandells

@ The Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

8pm / $13adv, $15dos / all ages

Friday 12.21.07: CLUB UNDERGROUND w/ RADEMACHER

with:
Rademacher || Listen
Wait Think Fast

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+

Friday 12.14.07: CLUB UNDERGROUND w/ THE MORNING BENDERS

with:
The Morning Benders || Listen

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+

Friday 12.07.07: CLUB UNDERGROUND

with Underground DJs

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

FMI: ClubUnderground.net

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

Friday 11.30.07: CLUB UNDERGROUND w/ HELLO STRANGER

with:
Hello Stranger
Io Echo || Listen

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+

Thursday 12.06.07: Grand Ole Echo and Echo Present – COUNTRY CHRISTMAS

A Hee Haw Styled Country Variety Show with:

5 O’clock Somewhere
Kingsizemaybe
Mike Stinson
David Serby || Listen
Leslie and The Badgers
The Psychedelic Cowboys || Listen

8:30pm / $10 / 18+

Tuesday 12.04.07: PORT O’BRIEN

Port O’Brien || Listen

But Port O’Brien has earned the right to the salt-crusted imagery adorning its first full-length, The Wind and the Swell, as well as to the numerous mentions of seas and oceans and fishing boats and puffins in these jagged, intelligent indie-folk songs. Port O’Brien mainstay Van Pierszalowski, a California native and son of a commercial fisherman, spends his summers aboard an Alaskan salmon schooner, either fighting the seas or bored in port if the weather’s bad. He named the band after an Alaskan port, uses photos of his father’s crew as album art, and keeps a detailed ship’s blog on the group’s web site. But The Wind and the Swell, which collects the group’s first two out-of-print releases on one disc, sounds like a much better journal of days at sea. Like most tracks, opener “I Woke Up Today” could be a sea-legs lament: “Yes I understand I cannot live on this land,” Pierszalowski sings, “but does that truly mean I have seen all that can be seen?” The song is all windworn surfaces: the guitars sound rough and creaky, the voices cracked but resolute. These same lyrics repeat on the sparse closer “Simple Way”, which slows the tempo and pares down the music: instead of a stormy passage, the song fades gradually, like land disappearing on the horizon. – Pitchfork

with:
The Cave Singers || Listen
Whispertown 2000 || Listen

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

Saturday 11.24.07: WHITE MAGIC

White Magic

Like an acoustic Electrelane, White Magic weave monkish mantras and spiraling instrumentation into weirdly amorphous yet direly catchy pop: This is some snake-charming, kaleidoscopic, aboriginal shit. “The Light” uses hidden hinges to amalgamate several distinct, melodically ingenious permutations of billowing vocals, terse pianos, rumbling drums and sinuous guitars in a seamless unfurling motion. The chunky bass-plink-plink piano phrase slyly accumulates squiggly digressions, while imbricate vocal harmonies doppler complexly through the fluctuating arrangement. They intone fallow vowels, chirp clipped consonants, helix around each other in dizzy oscillations, and resolve, out of a languid soup, into actual, emphatically moaned words with big rounded edges. The song in total describes a gentle pitch and yaw, like liquid sloshing in a bucket, reflecting back a cockeyed world symmetrically distorted by concentric ripples. – Pitchfork

with:
Luke Top
Layer || Listen

8:30pm / $10 / 18+

Friday 11.23.07: CLUB UNDERGROUND

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

FMI: ClubUnderground.net

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

Thursday 11.22.07: CLOSED FOR THANKSGIVING

Sunday 12.09.07: PART TIME PUNKS w/ MEDIUM MEDIUM

Medium Medium || Listen
Yes. That MEDIUM MEDIUM. The ones who were produced by Adrian Sherwood. The ones who toured with Gang Of Four, PiL and The Pop Group. Better than Glaxo Babies or Minimal Compact. And as underrated as APB and, more recently, The New Bloods. DO NOT MISS THIS SHOW!

with:
Abe Vigoda
Guest DJ Paul V || Listen

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

FMI:
Part Time Punks on Myspace

10pm / $10 / 18+

Sunday 12.16.07: PART TIME PUNKS w/ SAVAGE REPUBLIC

with:
Savage Republic || Listen
Solid Eye

Along with NERVOUS GENDER [see above], SAVAGE REPUBLIC
were LA’s other most important offering to Post-Punk. Think Joy Division, Cabaret Voltaire, Fela Kuti and his Afrika 70 crammed onto a stage with stacks of analog electronics and massive oil drums. On fire. Contemporary name-dropping might also include Indian Jewelry (and we’re working on that pairing for next time). Meanwhile Rick Potts’s SOLID EYE enemble, like Savage Republic, were originary members of LA’s LAFMS noise/artcore scene of the late 1970s/early 80s. And if you don’t know more . . . well . . . you should.

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

FMI:
Part Time Punks on Myspace

10pm / $10 / 18+

Sunday 12.02.07: PART TIME PUNKS

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

FMI:
Part Time Punks on Myspace

10pm / $5 / 21+

Sunday 11.25.07: PART TIME PUNKS

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

FMI:
Part Time Punks on Myspace

10pm / $5 / 21+

Sunday 11.11.07: PART TIME PUNKS

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

FMI:
Part Time Punks on Myspace

10pm / $5 / 21+

Sunday 11.18.07: PART TIME PUNKS

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

FMI:
Part Time Punks on Myspace

10pm / $5 / 21+

Wednesday 11.21.07: SPINDRIFT

Spindrift || Listen

“Kirpatrick Thomas, the founding member of Spindrift, a self-dubbed ‘psychedelic Spaghetti Western’ band, made just such a journey-in true cosmic cowboy fashion-from Delaware to Southern California in late 2001. He was already heading up the experimental post-punk incarnation of a band called Spindrift when he took off. His fuel: fragrant dreams of the Western mystique rooted in the stylized ’60s cowboy movies of Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone (often grandly referred to within the burgeoning L.A. ‘neo-cosmic cowboy’ scene as simply ‘Sergio’).” – LA Alternative

9pm / FREE / 21+

Tuesday 11.20.07: NOW ON

Now On || Listen

A sound so universally appealing you’ll be calling your jet an “aero-plane.” A sound so rich with the soul of Detroit you’ll be calling your pilots “cats.” A sound so progressive you’ll begin to wonder why you’re sitting on a floatation device and not a parachute. The music you’re listening to on todays flight comes care of Michigan’s ground-breaking Hip-Hop take-over, Now On. Hip-Hop lovers the world over have been inundated by cynics who think they’re part of a dying art form. On the contrary, the members of Now On are leading a rebirth of the very fundamentals that defined Hip-Hop thirty years ago: originality, voice, culture and of course, entertainment. In fusing and confusing this elemental barometer, Now On emerges with a grimy freshness unseen or heard to date. Consisting of emcees IX Lives (son of Larry “Squirrel” Demps of the legendary Dramatics) and Jackson Perry formerly of Funktelligence, together with Haircut of Athletic Mic League (AML), Now On is set to make their tenure in the music industry the very definition of Def.

with:
Othello
Buff1
DJ Manwell

8:30pm / $10 / 21+

Saturday 11.17.07: Poo Bah Records & Dublab present – DEMONS (early show)

with:
Demons
Smegma
Shannon Walter & John Wiese
Animal Charm

plus DJ Sets by:
Frosty (Dublab)
Ras G (Poobah Records / Crate Creator Music)
Kutmah (Poobah Records / Dublab)

5pm / $5 / All Ages

Tuesday 11.13.07: EMMA POLLOCK (from The Delgados)

Emma Pollock || Listen

Pollock is a huge fan of Dusty Springfield and Sixties pop. You can hear her love of the production of the time: strings, elaborate arrangements and the importance of melody all shine in Watch the Fireworks. She oozes enthusiasm for “If Silence Means That Much to You”, a tune that encapsulates all that she loves in a song. “It just sounded to me like it could be from a Sixties film soundtrack and the melody just sounded like it could comfortably appear on the Dr Zhivago soundtrack.” She talks excitedly about how they dug a Sixties hammer dulcimer out from their cupboards for the chorus. While the songs retain similarities to The Delgados (their eclecticism and the changing tempos) it is this eccentricity that keeps the music fresh. – The Independent

with:
American Music Club || Listen
Two Sheds || Listen

8:30pm / $10 adv, $12 dos / 18+

Tuesday 11.13.07: BLACK DICE @ Echoplex

Black Dice || Listen

Load Blown is the fourth album by Brooklyn’s Black Dice. The beats drip and roll, tar-pit voices sing into an oil can, and the guitars crank like calliope. Some tunes crackle and burble like submerged television, others bump and click along like a Summer Jam concert series from another dimension. While a noticeable change in tone encompasses Load Blown (some tunes veer close to pop songs), this is a work of over-stimulation, a product of frenzied media culture, a sonic sifting of the gratuitous amount of “stuff” out there. – Insound

with:
No Age
Mika Miko

8pm / $10 adv, $12 dos / 18+

Tuesday 11.27.07: LOS CAMPESINOS

Los Campesinos || Listen || Watch

Silly names aside, Los Campesinos! play superbly crafted indie pop that bounces off walls like Love Is All, grins with the childlike exuberance of Bis, and throws the toy chest into its arrangements like Architecture in Helsinki. Glockenspiels and pizzicato violin veer into reckless guitar riffs and full-bodied handclaps– or fizz over, like Mentos and Coke, into happy-stupid crescendos. Gareth shares lead vocal duties with the similarly pseudonymous Aleksandra Campesino!, and their boy-girl exchanges give the music an extra, sweet frisson. Newfeld’s treatment turns “You! Me! Dancing!” from a lo-fi rallying cry into an unstoppable force for converting spindly legs into dancefloor blurs. – Pitchfork

with:
The Most Serene Republic || Listen

8pm / $13 adv, $15 dos / all ages

Friday 11.30.07: LITTLE JIMMY SCOTT @ Echoplex

Little Jimmy Scott || Listen 

Billie Holiday often singled out Jimmy Scott as her favorite singer, and over the course of a long, circuitous career that dates back to his 1949 jukebox hit “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool” (with Lionel Hampton’s big band), and a series of 1950s-’60s recordings for the Roost, Coral, Brunswick, and Savoy labels, Scott achieved notoriety as an R&B singer and pop balladeer. However, Scott himself took a much broader view of his talents, and always considered himself a jazz singer as well, a point driven home convincingly on his latest Milestone recital, But Beautiful.

@ Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

7pm / $28 GA, $32 Seated / all ages

Friday 11.23.07: TSOL @ Echoplex

TSOL ||Listen

When T.S.O.L. blasted onto the Orange County punk explosion in 1979 with white face paint, 6′ plus frames and blazing punk anthems, they were automatically a force to be reckoned with. Today, 10 years since it’s last “reunion”, the band is back to give us what they gave then. “Superficial Love”, “80 Times”, “Code Blue”, “Wash Away” and the rest of those vintage punk nuggets will be blasted live into our faces again. Those who were not around to witness TSOL in their heyday can finally see for themselves why the band spawned a generation of bands and changed the shape of music today.

D.I.||Listen

@ Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

7:30pm / $15 adv, $18 dos / all ages

Monday 12.03.07: VAMPIRE WEEKEND

Vampire Weekend || Listen

Fans describing Vampire Weekend often mention “Graceland” — the album, not the estate. It’s an inexact reference point, but an effective one, evoking 1980s nostalgia (it’s getting harder to find people who pretend to dislike that Paul Simon masterpiece) and an unfussy approach to Afro-pop. On Saturday the band members laid down a series of playful indie-rock grooves: plinky keyboards and spidery guitar lines, rattling drums and nudging bass. One of the band’s best-loved songs, “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa,” seems to evoke the pleasant confusion of making out, or not making out:

Can you stay up to see the dawn,
in the colors of Benetton?
Is your bed made? Is your sweater off?
Do you want to? Like you know I do?

The title makes reference to Congolese soukous music, and so does Mr. Koenig’s guitar figure. But if fans can’t tell exactly what has been borrowed from where, that’s part of the point. And in the refrain Mr. Koenig name-checks the guy who helped make so-called world music a genre unto itself, singing, “This feels so unnatural/Peter Gabriel too.” The band members all attended Columbia (online they claim to be specialists in “Upper West Side Soweto,” among other styles), and something about their preppie, polyrhythmic sound feels fresh and funny and, weirdly, inevitable. Instead of borrowing from early Talking Heads albums (the way Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and many other bands have done), they’re borrowing from Afro-pop, just as Talking Heads did on later albums. In retrospect it’s a brilliantly well-timed approach.

with:
Grand Ole’ Party
Princeton || Listen

8:30pm / $10 / 18+

Saturday 11.10.07: HEAVY TRASH

Heavy Trash || Listen

Spencer and Verta-Ray do rockabilly so well that even if they stuck to that sort of genre play, Way Out would still be a fun record. They’re not disciplined enough for that sort of release (nor should they be), though. “Outside Chance,” minus the guitar solo, could have been a girl-group song, and the rock-influence delivery makes it hard to pin down to one precise influence (see much of late ’60s radio). The brief “I Want Refuge” toys with gospel before giving way to the Bo Diddley blues, and “Crying Tramp” splits its sound between early rock ‘n’ roll ballad and country and western weeper. “I Want Oblivion” (fittingly, given its title) mines Johnny Rotten’s vocal style. – Stylus Magazine

with:
Powersolo || Listen
Jail Weddings

Saturday 11.10.07: The New Check Yo’ Ponytail w/ THE PONYS @ Echoplex

with:
The Ponys || Listen
The Ting Tings
Chin Up Chin Up || Listen
DJ Low B || Listen

Plus Resident DJs:
Franki Chan
Paparazzi

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

8:30pm / $10 adv, $12 dos / 18+

Saturday 11.10.07: SATURDAY LOOKS GOOD TO ME (Early show)

Saturday Looks Good To Me || Listen

Finally the array of comparisons critics have made regarding this band is to be found in its entirety on the same release. The moody crescendos and meanderings of Fred Thomas’ voice cut slices of Stephin Merritt; the shimmying guitars on “Money in the Afterlife” suggest the dance-rock quirks and pop romances of Vampire Weekend, BOAT, and the Brunettes. These great discrepancies of mood and genre slant are welcome as standalone pieces and contributions to the band’s already hodgepodge oeuvre. So as a collection, the album is fitful and pleasantly disconcerting, a far cry even from July’s Cold Colors EP, which was a wintry aperitif to this full-length’s sweet, sultry, and dimly sentimental refreshments. – Pitchfork

with:
Cryptacize
Princeton || Listen

5pm / $8 / all ages

Wednesday 11.28.07: DUB CLUB presents EEK-A-MOUSE @ Echoplex

Eek-A-Mouse || Listen

Eek-A-Mouse has all of Perry’s goofiness without any of the latter’s tendency towards actual physical mayhem or his off-putting tendency to do things like drink gasoline and pray to bananas. Instead, Eek has satisfied himself with inventing a “bing-bing-boing” school of reggae scatting whose sounds continue to echo in the dancehall, and with projecting and perfecting a happy but inscrutable persona in a musical marketplace that doesn’t generally know what to do with anyone who isn’t either a glowering locksman or a chest-beating, chain-wearing dancehall don. – All Music Guide

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 / $10 / 21+

Wednesday 11.21.07: 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+

Wednesday 11.14.07: 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+

Wednesday 11.07.07: DUB CLUB w/ NATTY KING & @ Echoplex

with:
Natty King
Welton Irie || Watch

plus 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 / $10 / 21+

Thursday 11.15.07: GOLEM

Golem || Listen

To call a band punk suggests that it’s willing to sacrifice finesse for the sake of energy and on Fresh Off Boat there’s every sign that Golem means to keep hold of both. This “Ushti Baba” is looser than the Koçani Orkestar’s but it’s just as tuneful. The accordion is biting and jaunty and there are some tense moments between Aaron Diskin’s beseeching voice and Alicia Jo Rabins’ shivering violin. “Aven!” he sings. “Aven! Me phenjake aven!” (“My sister, my sister, they’re coming for my sister!”), and the violin jitters on a raw knife-point. You can’t listen to the exactness of the percussion stings in “Czardas” or Rabins’ controlled up-and-down wriggle in “Mazel” and think of them as punks. When they go into a frenzy, as they do in “Golem Hora”, it’s all thanks to happy enthusiasm. Diskin sounds as if he’s having fun with his singing, and he does it with such openness that you have fun listening to him having fun. – Popmatters

Plus:
Quazar & The Bamboozled || Listen
Mr Uncertain || Listen

8:30pm / $10 / 18+

Monday 11.26.07: Monday Night Residency – RESTAURANT

Restaurant

At 16, Bobby got a job bussing tables ironically in a Cajun eatery in Rangoon, Texas where he impressed the owner with his wide range of knowledge pertaining to roux and Creole spices. Shortly thereafter, Bobby was promoted to head-waiter/sommelier but kept the position only 6 months after which he applied and was accepted to the University of Texas at Austin’s Botany Department where he would meet his soon-to-be bandmate, Kevin. Kevin was quiet and reserved, but with a distinct air of sophistication about him. The two would run into each other during late nights spent in the campus Botany laboratory, a place they would fondly refer to as “The Kitchen.” Kevin was preoccupied, some would say obsessed, with gourds. He spent almost two years attempting to grow a special kind of gourd with “laces” that could mimic and eventually replace conventional leather rugby balls in tournament play. Bobby spent his time in “The Kitchen” trying to create a smokeable hybrid of herbal Viagra and herbal ecstasy, a blend he would call Erectstasy and sell to merchants on the Venice Beach boardwalk. Kevin successfully licensed the use of his athletically modified gourd to Merf, a division of the popular Nerf foam sports-ball company, and the two quickly gathered their respective fortunes and relocated to Southern California to start a fucking band.

with:
Devon Williams
The Tuffingtons
Tsk Tsk

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Monday 11.19.07: Monday Night Residency – RESTAURANT

Restaurant

At 16, Bobby got a job bussing tables ironically in a Cajun eatery in Rangoon, Texas where he impressed the owner with his wide range of knowledge pertaining to roux and Creole spices. Shortly thereafter, Bobby was promoted to head-waiter/sommelier but kept the position only 6 months after which he applied and was accepted to the University of Texas at Austin’s Botany Department where he would meet his soon-to-be bandmate, Kevin. Kevin was quiet and reserved, but with a distinct air of sophistication about him. The two would run into each other during late nights spent in the campus Botany laboratory, a place they would fondly refer to as “The Kitchen.” Kevin was preoccupied, some would say obsessed, with gourds. He spent almost two years attempting to grow a special kind of gourd with “laces” that could mimic and eventually replace conventional leather rugby balls in tournament play. Bobby spent his time in “The Kitchen” trying to create a smokeable hybrid of herbal Viagra and herbal ecstasy, a blend he would call Erectstasy and sell to merchants on the Venice Beach boardwalk. Kevin successfully licensed the use of his athletically modified gourd to Merf, a division of the popular Nerf foam sports-ball company, and the two quickly gathered their respective fortunes and relocated to Southern California to start a fucking band.

with:
The Strange Boys
The 1921A

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Monday 11.12.07: Monday Night Residency – RESTAURANT

Restaurant

At 16, Bobby got a job bussing tables ironically in a Cajun eatery in Rangoon, Texas where he impressed the owner with his wide range of knowledge pertaining to roux and Creole spices. Shortly thereafter, Bobby was promoted to head-waiter/sommelier but kept the position only 6 months after which he applied and was accepted to the University of Texas at Austin’s Botany Department where he would meet his soon-to-be bandmate, Kevin. Kevin was quiet and reserved, but with a distinct air of sophistication about him. The two would run into each other during late nights spent in the campus Botany laboratory, a place they would fondly refer to as “The Kitchen.” Kevin was preoccupied, some would say obsessed, with gourds. He spent almost two years attempting to grow a special kind of gourd with “laces” that could mimic and eventually replace conventional leather rugby balls in tournament play. Bobby spent his time in “The Kitchen” trying to create a smokeable hybrid of herbal Viagra and herbal ecstasy, a blend he would call Erectstasy and sell to merchants on the Venice Beach boardwalk. Kevin successfully licensed the use of his athletically modified gourd to Merf, a division of the popular Nerf foam sports-ball company, and the two quickly gathered their respective fortunes and relocated to Southern California to start a fucking band.

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Sunday 11.04.07: PART TIME PUNKS

with:
Das Llamas
The Girls

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

10pm / $5 / 21+

Monday 11.05.07: Monday Night Residency – RESTAURANT

Restaurant

At 16, Bobby got a job bussing tables ironically in a Cajun eatery in Rangoon, Texas where he impressed the owner with his wide range of knowledge pertaining to roux and Creole spices. Shortly thereafter, Bobby was promoted to head-waiter/sommelier but kept the position only 6 months after which he applied and was accepted to the University of Texas at Austin’s Botany Department where he would meet his soon-to-be bandmate, Kevin. Kevin was quiet and reserved, but with a distinct air of sophistication about him. The two would run into each other during late nights spent in the campus Botany laboratory, a place they would fondly refer to as “The Kitchen.” Kevin was preoccupied, some would say obsessed, with gourds. He spent almost two years attempting to grow a special kind of gourd with “laces” that could mimic and eventually replace conventional leather rugby balls in tournament play. Bobby spent his time in “The Kitchen” trying to create a smokeable hybrid of herbal Viagra and herbal ecstasy, a blend he would call Erectstasy and sell to merchants on the Venice Beach boardwalk. Kevin successfully licensed the use of his athletically modified gourd to Merf, a division of the popular Nerf foam sports-ball company, and the two quickly gathered their respective fortunes and relocated to Southern California to start a fucking band.

with:
The Blakes
Tall Hands || Listen

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Thursday 11.15.07: FILM SCHOOL @ Echoplex

Film School || Listen

Like a brother from another mother, San Francisco-based Greg Bertens’ second release as Film School is just similar enough to last year’s self-titled debut to register as family. Hideout finds his band completely overhauled (after a crippling robbery and “creative differences”) and much improved; this end result doesn’t sound like another predictable addition to your nu-wave library. (But file between Echo and Interpol, if you must.) There’s a shambolic fervor with tambourines, and cyclonic guitars, in places that recall Primal Scream’s psychedelic rock. Other tracks drift into expertly crafted space. Hideout excels as mood music, with at least one stellar single (“Two Kinds”) that creates a new and better one than however you felt before. – XLR8R

with:
Division Day || Listen || Watch “Tigers”
The L.A.-based foursome’s debut full-length Beartrap Island  stands as a wildly diverse combination of both supremely hard-hitting and finely-shaded exploratory tracks. Like its rather portentous title might suggest, the album takes the listener on a tour
of a mysterious and ultra-moody place, where they will find  scenes of both utter exhilaration and fearsome foreboding.

Eulogies || Listen

@ Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

8pm / $12 / 18+

Thursday 11.01.07: YOU ME & IOWA

You Me & Iowa || Listen

Featuring a good mix of indie, pop, and dance rock, You, Me, & Iowa stand out from much of the LA indie scene. They make simple, fun, and meaningful rock music that could be adaptable by hipsters, teens, and college kids alike (and everyone else, for that matter). Their short, but impressive six song set featured a mix of songs from their debut EP Bigger Than Boston and a taste of new material from their upcoming, yet to be titled full length. Their lyrics are reminiscent of early Weezer circa Pinkerton with catchy indie pop melodies the likes of Death Cab for Cutie with a hint of prog thrown in to the mix. The band’s strongest point is their ability for great hooks with harmonizing guitars and synthesizers. – Billboard’s Mobile Beat

with:
CoCo B’s || Listen

9pm / $7 / 18+

Friday 11.16.07: UNDERGROUND w/ ARMY NAVY

with:
Army Navy
The Strange Boys

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+

Friday 11.09.07: UNDERGROUND w/ CELEBRATION

with:
Celebration || Listen
Kill Me Tomorrow || Listen

Plus Underground DJs

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

FMI: ClubUnderground.net

9pm / $10 / 18+

Friday 11.02.07: CLUB UNDERGROUND w/ MEZZANINE OWLS

with:
Mezzanine Owls || Listen
Black Kites || Listen

Plus Underground DJs

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

FMI: ClubUnderground.net

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

Thursday 11.08.07: GREAT NORTHERN @ Echoplex

Great Northern || Listen || Watch

On the cover of Great Northern’s debut album, Trading Twilight for Daylight, sits a barren tree backed by an arctic landscape. Such a dormant image is ironic considering the band’s lively and articulately layered sound, with traditional instrumentation being complemented by the likes of strings, brass, and other orchestral elements that are often considered too complex or overbearing to even visit the usually simplistic world of indie pop. Demonstrating the ability to take risks, Great Northern are one of the more capable bands of their element I have heard lately. Based out of Los Angeles, Great Northern was formed due to the strong friendship of pianist Rachel Stolte and guitarist Solon Bixler, both proficient songwriters and lead vocalists. – Obscure Sound

with:

Robbers on High Street || Listen || Watch

Each of the eleven tracks within Grand Animals can be broken down and taken apart as a stand-alone piece – individually they hint at manner of pop rock sounds – but none carries enough weight to eclipse the album. From the simple pop rock of “Crown Victoria” to the smooth nighttime pop of “Nasty Numbers,” the Robbers shift left and right across the style spectrum with ease. The album’s cover, of embroidered throw pillows emblazed with the Robbers’ faces, suggests Grand Animals might be suited for muzak at a soft-spoken retirement home, but an early 60’s sock hop on the wrong side of the tracks would be more appropriate. – www.lostatsea.com

plus:
The Jealous Girlfriends || Listen

@ Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

7pm / $12 / all ages

Tuesday 11.06.07: TUNNG

Tunng || Listen

The music Genders and Lindsay forged together – they attribute their early work-rate to their fear of startling a semi-clothed woman if they attempted to exit the studio – comes under the banner of folktronica. It’s an awkward-sounding name that smacks of faddishness, but even Genders and Lindsay admit it fits the sound Tunng have honed over three albums, matching Genders’ woody brand of songwriting with skittering electronics, snatched samples of film dialogue, ambient noise and arcane instrumentation – their third album, Good Arrows, opens with the sound of a hammered dulcimer. – The Guardian

with:
Big Search
Karin Tatoyan || Listen

8:30pm / $10 / 18+

Saturday 11.03.07: IRREGULAR WINE TASTING @ Echoplex

IRREGULAR WINE TASTING presents

Six Wines from Spain

Screening of “Un Chien Andalou”

Wine information from the Cheese Store’s Julian Davies

plus DJ Cuz’n Roy

@ Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

RSVP at:
irregularwinetasting@yahoo.com
Irregular Wine Tasting on Myspace

8pm / $20 / 21+

Tuesday 11.13.07: Spaceland Productions and KCRW present – SPIRITUALIZED @ Vista Theatre

Spiritualized || Listen
Performing the music of Spiritualized, Spaceman 3 and others. Accompanied by strings and gospel singers.

with:
Simple Kid || Listen

@ Vista Theatre
4473 Sunset Drive @ Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA, 90027

7pm / $32 adv, $37 dos / All Ages

Monday 11.12.07: Spaceland Productions and KCRW present – SPIRITUALIZED @ Vista Theatre

Spiritualized || Listen
Performing the music of Spiritualized, Spaceman 3 and others. Accompanied by strings and gospel singers.

with:
Simple Kid || Listen

@ Vista Theatre
4473 Sunset Drive @ Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA, 90027

7pm / $32 adv, $37 dos / All Ages

Thursday 11.29.07: The Return of Josh Haden’s SPAIN @ Echo

Spain || Listen

Performing “Blue Moods of Spain” in its entirety

‘The Blue Moods Of Spain’ demonstrated what happened when the son of a jazzbo set forth to create a downcast, West Coast take on pure atmosphere. The cover art’s Blue Note quotation and bandleader/bassist Josh Haden’s kinship to Ornette Coleman bassist Charlie Haden put the preconception of “jazz” on the tip of many listeners’ tongues. But ‘Blue Moods’ was less about improvisational flair than it was about evoking a smoky, confessional vibe. Thankfully, all that ambience was backed up by considerable chops and Haden’s bottom-of-the-bottle baritone. Despite its immersion in the hipster Silverlake scene of the early ’90s (which included That Dog, featuring Haden’s sisters, Petra and Rachel), Spain had little patience for indie-rock preciousness.

with:
The Minor Canon || Listen
Let’s Go Sailing || Listen

8pm / $13 adv, $15 dos / all ages

Friday 11.16.07: Echo, Process Media, Flaunt & Cold Sweat present: YA HO WA 13 @ Echoplex

Ya Ho Wa 13

To celebrate the launch of the new Process Media book The Source: The Untold Story of Father Yod, Ya Ho Wa 13, and The Source Family by Isis Aquarian (Pub date: October 25, 2007), the author and a dozen original Source Family members from the legendary LA cult/commune will mark a return to Los Angeles in early November for rare live performances and book signings. Sure to please collectors and fans, two events mark the first public performance in thirty years of the Family’s legendary rock band Ya Ho Wa 13. The live music event at The Echoplex on November 16 will also feature the seminal proto-punk psychedelic garage rocker, Sky Saxon and The Seeds—Saxon was also a devoted “member of The Source Family. In January 2008, the Ya Ho Wa 13 classic record PENETRATION will be re-released in the U.S. for the first time since the (now extremely collectable) original 1000 print-run LP sold out through the Source restaurant for $1 each!) in 1974. Cold Sweat in Los Angeles will release the CD and Tee Pee Records out of Brooklyn will release the Vinyl version.

Plus special guests:
Sky Saxon & The Seeds || Listen
Entrance || Listen
Hecuba

@ Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, Ca 90026

8pm / $16adv, $18dos / 18+

Sunday 11.11.07: 30 Year Anniversary & Book Release Celebrating the Infamous Punk Club THE MASQUE @ Echoplex

30 Year Anniversary show and book release celebrating the infamous punk club THE MASQUE

Music (reprinted from the LA WEEKLY 11/9/07 edition)

The Basement Photos

Lighting the Masque

By FALLING JAMES

“I don’t wanna go down to the basement/There’s something down there.” —The Ramones

It was just a stripped-down basement under the Pussycat Theater in an alley off of Cherokee Avenue in Hollywood, but the Masque was a literal hothouse in which about a hundred punks briefly bloomed, with their messy assignations and brash experiments in volume and nihilism in the late-’70s merging into one great big purifying brushfire that consumed the worlds of music, art and fashion. The Masque was just a few steps down from Hollywood Boulevard, across from Boardner’s, but it might as well have been a million miles away from the bewildered tourists looking for the tracks of long-vanished movie stars on the scuzzy Walk of Fame. The club was hidden in plain sight — at least for a little while, until the growing numbers of freaks, loners, CalArts students, glam refugees and leather-jacketed punks attracted the less-than-protective nightstick interventions of the LAPD. “What we wear is dangerous gear/It’ll get you picked up anywhere,” as the Clash once sang about their own “City of the Dead.”

X-Exene Cervenka, Billy Zoom, John Doe, D.J. Bonebrake (Photo by Frank Gargani)

Brendan Mullen was a self-described “dirty, hapless schmuck from Scotland” looking for a place to live and bang on his drums when he “tumbled into the basement of the Hollywood Center Building.” As he recounts in the massive new photo book Live at the Masque: Nightmare in Punk Alley (Gingko Press/R77 Publishing), which he compiled with Roger Gastman, he ended up managing the 10,000-square-foot space and hosted his first parties with the Skulls and the Controllers in August 1977. Despite ongoing hassles with the L.A. police, fire and building & safety departments and eventual relocations to other sites, Mullen was able to keep the Masque operating until December 1979, booking most of the major early L.A. punk legends (the Weirdos, Screamers, the Alley Cats, Germs, X, the Go-Go’s, the Dickies, U.X.A., Black Randy & the Metro Squad), simpatico San Franciscan visitors (the Avengers, Dead Kennedys) and the first wave of the burgeoning suburban pop-punk and hardcore invasion (the Crowd, Suburban Lawns, Flyboys, Middle Class, the Last, Black Flag).

The Bags: Marc Morbid, a.k.a Marc Moreland, Nickey Beat, Pat Bag, Alice Bag, Craig Lee (Photo by Jenny Lens)

Mullen calls the book a “narrative by image,” and the cumulative effect of its flood of photographs, fliers, scraps of reviews, band contracts and other ephemera is nostalgically thrilling yet rarely sentimental, with some artfully dramatic and iconic photos from Melanie Nissen, Ann Summa, Herb Wrede, Donna Santisi, Frank Gargani, Jenny Lens, Al Flipside, Jules Bates and the Flesh Eaters’ Chris D., among others. Beyond revealing charismatic performers like the Screamers’ Tomata du Plenty, Alice Bag, the Germs’ Darby Crash and the other “red-eyed legends of the night before” (as Crash put it) in their prime, Live at the Masque also documents L.A.’s twisted mutation of cut-&-pasted-&-sewn-together DayGlo fashion. Punks were considered “ugly” with their butch haircuts and ripped-up clothes, but the photographic evidence here reveals how alluring scene queens Trudie Arguelles, Patricia Morrison, Pleasant Gehman and Exene Cervenka looked in their repurposed vintage frocks, torn fishnets and lavishly overdone Cleopatra makeup — especially when compared to the blandly ubiquitous earthy hippie fashions of the time. Even as the musicians were transforming themselves into “colorful thrashed parrots,” as Beck (who visited the Masque as a 7-year-old) later described it, the tome reminds us that many of the kids in the crowd still had shaggy hair and boogie-rock attire in those semi-innocent days before the punk fashion rules were firmly codified.

Geza X (Photo by Michael Yampolsky)
{LAW_PAGE_BREAK} To celebrate the Masque’s 30th anniversary and the book’s publication, the Echoplex is presenting an all-day marathon with more-than-slight returns from many of the Class of ’77’s survivors, including extremely rare reunions by the Plugz (whose original lineup will reprise their sardonically brilliant and criminally out-of-print debut LP, Electrify Me, which was the first indie studio album released by an L.A. punk band), the Eyes (with Joe Ramirez trading off zippy, wickedly witty tunes like “Disneyland” with the comparatively seedy kidnap-victim rant “Don’t Talk to Me” from guitarist Charlotte Caffey, later of the Go-Go’s), pop-punk-surf dazzlers the Flyboys, Billy Bones’ reincarnation of the Skulls, the Controllers, the Deadbeats and others.

The Masque Anniversary Party at the Echoplex, 1154 Glendale Ave., Echo Park; Sun., Nov. 11, 3 p.m.; all ages.

Bruce Barf (Photo by Michael Yampolsky)

Bryan Gregory and Lux Interior of the Cramps (Photo by Frank Gargani)

The Go-Go’s: Jane Drano, Margot Olaverra, Charlotte Caffey, Belinda Carlisle, Elissa Bello (Photographer unknown)

{LAW_PAGE_BREAK}

John Curry, a.k.a. Jon Boy, of the Flyboys (Photographer unknown)

Alice Bag (Photo by Jenny Lens)

Lorna Doom and Darby Crash of The Germs (Photo by Ladd McPartland)

{LAW_PAGE_BREAK}

Billy Bones, a.k.a Steve Fortuna, Marc Morbid, a.k.a. Marc Moreland (Photo by Michael Yampolsky)

Craig Lee (Photo by Al Flipside)

Exene Cervenka and Trudie  Arguelles performing as the Metro Squad’s backup singers, The Blackettes. (Photo by Ladd McPartland)

Backstage at the Whisky (Photo by Jenny Lens)

Center: Rik L. Rik of F-World (Photo by Jenny Lens)

Belinda Carlisle (Photo by Jenny Lens)

Curated by Brendan Mullen

Schedule:

3:30pm – 4:30pm: Classic live footage of the Avengers, The Weirdos,
F Word, Screamers
4:40pm – 5:00pm: The Diffs covering The Germs
5:10pm – 5:25pm: The Dogs
5:40pm – 6:00pm: Wild Weekend does The Zeroes
6:10pm – 6:25pm: Deadbeats
6:40pm – 6:55pm: Billy Bones – original singer from The Skulls
6:55 pm- 7:25pm: Shock / Holly Vincent
7:35 pm -7:55pm: The Crowd
8:00pm – 8:20pm: The Flyboys
8:30pm – 8:45pm: Controllers
9:00pm – 9:30pm: The Eyes featuring Charlotte Caffey, Dj Bonebrake
and Joe Ramirez
9:40pm – 10:15pm: The Plugz featuring Tito Larriva, Charlie Quintana
and Barry McBride performing “Electrify Me”
10:30pm – 10:50pm: The Stitches
11:00pm – 11:30pm: The Gears

Schedule Subject to Change

@ Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, Ca 90026

3pm / $18adv, $20 dos / all ages

Friday 11.09.07: JESU @ Echoplex

Jesu || Listen

Justin Broadrick’s ongoing quest to spend the metal-cred capital he earned in Napalm Death and Godflesh like so much blood money has been both compelling and damaging to purists’ psyches. The noisy yet stubbornly melodic shoegaze anthems he creates as Jesu mercilessly drag his audience to an appreciation of a densely layered, deliberately emotional sound. For a good time, fire up some message boards and watch partisans tie themselves in knots over Conqueror’s decidedly pop bent and feather-light vocals. Broadrick floats all over the place, but even the outraged can’t help but worship the heft that keeps his whole production aloft. – Pitchfork

with:
These Arms Are Snakes || Listen
Oxbow || Listen

@ Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

8:30pm / $14 / 18+

Thursday 11.08.07: WITCHCRAFT

Witchcraft || Listen

Compared to their self titled debut and Firewood, their 2005 sophomore release, The Alchemist is definitely the band’s strongest effort. The band’s no longer so reliant on Bobby Liebling for inspiration that you feel the need to check the songwriting credits. Sure, I doubt the band will ever be able to fully shake the influence of their elders (“Hey Doctor” is almost scary the way it channels Sabbath so effectively), but they compensate with superior songs that don’t fit neatly in the “stoner” or “doom” categories. There’s a grace and fluidity to tracks like “Walk Between the Lines,” “If Crimson Was Your Colour” (previously released on the limited edition split of the same name), and the three-part title track, and the band often plays with an almost progressive melody. That comes to a head with “Samaritan Burden,” the fifth song and highlight of The Alchemist. Here the band (vocalist/guitarist Magnus Pelander, guitarist John Hayes, bassist Ola Henriksson, and new drummer Fredrik Jansson) lays into a low simmering groove that’s accented by some great guitar accents and an overall masterful push-pull dynamic. With a song like this, you’d expect it to build up and then cut loose with a bombastic outro, but Witchcraft goes the opposite direction, ending in an almost folk-like manner. The interplay between the two guitars is simply beautiful. – Stonerrock.com

with:
Danava
Saviours || Listen

Due to a film shoot on Sunset Blvd, there will be no parking on Sunset. There will be street parking on side streets around the Echo and in the pay lots on Lemoyne. Also, Valet parking is available at 1154 Glendale Blvd.

8:30pm / $10adv, $12dos / 18+

Friday 11.02.07: REDD KROSS @ Echoplex

Redd Kross || Listen
Redd Kross rank among the Iron Chefs of Rock ‘N Roll; able to take any secret ingredient, master it, and make it their own. Their reputation for originality, rich flavor and stunning presentation has been praised by such peers as Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Stephen Malkmus (Pavement), Stone Temple Pilots, The Mayor of Sunset Strip – Rodney Bingenheimer, and yes even Joe Elliot of Def Leppard. Ever evolving and changing, their music has been described as punk rock, power pop, experimental, glam, performance art, British Invasion, bubblegum, grunge, and heavy metal; and while it’s been part of all of these, it’s also most importantly, been something all of it’s own. Hailing from Hawthorne CA, home of the Beach Boys, Redd Kross began playing shows and releasing records before attending high school. Founding Brothers Jeff and Steven McDonald have always understood and openly embraced the obscure common threads of their influences and inspirations. Where most people see differences, the McDonald Brothers find quirky commonalities and artistic piety in both high-brow and low-brow pop culture.

with:
The Willowz || Listen
Ari Shine || Listen

@ Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

8pm / $15 adv, $16 dos / All Ages

Saturday 11.17.07: TURN OFF THE RADIO 4 / HANG THE DJS

TURN OFF THE RADIO PRESENTS:

Chana

DJ Sets by:
DJ Nando
DJ Santi
Plus special guest DJ

HANG THE DJS  & KCRW PRESENT:

The Parson Red Heads

DJ Sets by:
Maurice De La Falaise
Supercrass
Royal Rumble

FMI:
Hang The DJs on Myspace
Turn Off The Radio on Myspace

9pm / $12 before 11pm / $15 after / 18+

Sunday 11.04.07: DO MAKE SAY THINK @ Echoplex

Do Make Say Think

“More than 10 years and five albums into their career, Do Make Say Think remain one of the most consistently interesting rock bands working today. Like many instrumental rock bands, their music derives from influences scattered across a number of different genres – jazz, punk, psychedelic and electronic music – but they’ve processed their influences in such a way that their songs sound more like a natural assembly of different instrumental and compositional styles than a conscious nod to any one genre or predecessor. Their last album, Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn was a great, sprawling record, notable for its long and complex song structures and textured production (although it also had a great pop moment in the surf music-inspired finale, “Hooray! Hooray! Hooray”). Their new album, You, You’re a History in Rust, is a much more straightforward effort than Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn: The songs are generally shorter, with identifiable hooks (two songs even have vocals). But the album is also marked by the inventiveness the band has displayed throughout its career, and the result is a lot of fun to listen to, and perhaps the most successful Do Make Say Think album yet.” – Dusted Magazine

Plus special guest:
Apostle of Hustle || Listen

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

8pm / $17 / 18+

Saturday 11.03.07: ENON

ENON || Listen
“John Schmersal, formerly of Ohio’s Brainiac, provides the brains (ha!) and the wacky energy, not to mention voice, keys, and guitars. Toko Yasuda has brought her smooth voice, keys, and bass guitar from a stint with Blonde Redhead. Matt Schultz (formerly of the Lab Partners), meanwhile, is credited with batterie (percussion) and legerdemain (sleight of hand). Ha, funny guys, clearly.

The balance achieved on Hocus Pocus is the band’s most even yet (coming as it does after 2000’s frenzied, unhinged Believo! and 2002’s more focused High Society). This increasingly taut and successful fusion of jerky art-punk with a prettier synth-pop sensibility can almost certainly be attributed to Yasuda’s growing prominence in the band. Somehow her butter churn voice manages to sound both girlishly winsome and sensual, and it is one of the keys to Enon’s unique sound.” – Popmatters

with:
Love of Diagrams || Listen
The Deadly Finns
Model/Actress

8:30pm / $10 adv, $12 dos / 18+