Monday 07.27.09: Monday Night Residency – JAPANESE MOTORS / THEE MAKEOUT PARTY / THE BLANK TAPES / GOLDIGGERS! @ echoplex

Japanese Motors || Watch

Japanese Motors are the most exciting band to emerge from Orange County since the heyday of Social Distortion and TSOL. Hailing from Costa Mesa, the Japanese Motors are made up by main vocalist Alex Knost, guitarist Nolan Hall, bassist Daniel Michicoff, and drummer Andrew Atkinson, the band is known around Southern California for the insane, all-night blowouts they put on as much as for the driving, raucous garage pop they set the partying to.

Rather than fight the influence of their surroundings like so many of their So Cal contemporaries, Japanese Motors have channeled it into their music, making tunes every bit as sun-baked and laid-back as their coastal environs and rife with positive imagery. “Most bands from here are trying to sound like they’re from London or New York,” Nolan says. “We embrace where we’re from.”

With:
Thee Makeout Party
Sweaters || Listen
Goldiggers!

@ Echoplex
enter at
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Monday 07.20.09: Monday Night Residency – JAPANESE MOTORS / THE GROWLERS / SWEATERS / GRAND ELEGANCE @ echoplex

Japanese Motors || Watch

Japanese Motors are the most exciting band to emerge from Orange County since the heyday of Social Distortion and TSOL. Hailing from Costa Mesa, the Japanese Motors are made up by main vocalist Alex Knost, guitarist Nolan Hall, bassist Daniel Michicoff, and drummer Andrew Atkinson, the band is known around Southern California for the insane, all-night blowouts they put on as much as for the driving, raucous garage pop they set the partying to.

Rather than fight the influence of their surroundings like so many of their So Cal contemporaries, Japanese Motors have channeled it into their music, making tunes every bit as sun-baked and laid-back as their coastal environs and rife with positive imagery. “Most bands from here are trying to sound like they’re from London or New York,” Nolan says. “We embrace where we’re from.”

With:
The Growlers || Listen
Sweaters
Grand Elegance

@ Echoplex
enter at
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Monday 07.13.09: Monday Night Residency – JAPANESE MOTORS / DIRT DRESS / UV LIGHTS / CORREATOWN @ echo

Japanese Motors || Watch

Japanese Motors are the most exciting band to emerge from Orange County since the heyday of Social Distortion and TSOL. Hailing from Costa Mesa, the Japanese Motors are made up by main vocalist Alex Knost, guitarist Nolan Hall, bassist Daniel Michicoff, and drummer Andrew Atkinson, the band is known around Southern California for the insane, all-night blowouts they put on as much as for the driving, raucous garage pop they set the partying to.

Rather than fight the influence of their surroundings like so many of their So Cal contemporaries, Japanese Motors have channeled it into their music, making tunes every bit as sun-baked and laid-back as their coastal environs and rife with positive imagery. “Most bands from here are trying to sound like they’re from London or New York,” Nolan says. “We embrace where we’re from.”

With:
Dirt Dress || Listen
UV Lights
Correatown || Listen

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Saturday 07.11.09: DRAGSTRIP 66 @ echoplex

Drag is never required – but it’s gets you $5 Admission all night!
___________________________________________________

Dragstrip 66 is LA’s longest running, underground dance club.
January 2009 marked its 16th Anniversary, and the club now
happens on the 2nd Saturday of the month, quarterly at The Echoplex.

Each Dragstrip has a different theme as a touchstone to inspire
its patrons to dress in any form of drag, masquerade, or self-expression.
The crowd is a totally fun, friendly mix of gay, straight, bi, and in-between!

So come on – get your kicks, at Dragstrip 66!

@ Echoplex
enter at
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

FMI:
http://www.dragstrip66.com/
Dragstrip 66 on Myspace
Dragstrip 66 on Facebook

9pm / $15 / 21+

Monday 07.06.09: Monday night Residency – JAPANESE MOTORS / MY PET SADDLE / AUDACITY / GESTAPO KHAZI @ echo

Japanese Motors || Watch

Japanese Motors are the most exciting band to emerge from Orange County since the heyday of Social Distortion and TSOL. Hailing from Costa Mesa, the Japanese Motors are made up by main vocalist Alex Knost, guitarist Nolan Hall, bassist Daniel Michicoff, and drummer Andrew Atkinson, the band is known around Southern California for the insane, all-night blowouts they put on as much as for the driving, raucous garage pop they set the partying to.

Rather than fight the influence of their surroundings like so many of their So Cal contemporaries, Japanese Motors have channeled it into their music, making tunes every bit as sun-baked and laid-back as their coastal environs and rife with positive imagery. “Most bands from here are trying to sound like they’re from London or New York,” Nolan says. “We embrace where we’re from.”

With:
Audacity || Listen
My Pet Saddle
Gestapo Khazi

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Friday 07.03.09: Club Underground, Hang The DJs, Transistor & Cafe Bleu present COME TOGETHER @ echoplex & echo

4 of your favorite indie clubs come together for 1 massive event!

with all the original DJs from all the clubs:
Chris B
Dia
Larry G
Mark
Clifton
Dorian
Alex
Scarlett
Maurice De La Falaise

spinning Indie * UK Pop * 60s * Soul * Mod * Shoegaze

enter at Echo
1822 Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

9pm / $10 before 10:30pm with flyer, $15 after / 18+

Friday 07.31.09: Filter & Loudvine present DEERHOOF / BUSDRIVER / AVOCET @ echoplex

Deerhoof || Listen || Watch || MP3

And sure enough, within the first three songs Offend Maggie revels in its playful, welcoming nature. Leaping from urgent, almost foreboding intro chords in ‘The Tears’ and ‘Music Of Love’ to the hopscotch melodies of ‘Chandelier Searchlight’ would be a fantastic feat for any other band, but we’ve come to accept this sort of thing as the Deerhoof norm.

How, though, can a band so rhythmically and melodically skewed envelop you so wholly? The answer can be found on the title track where Satomi Matsuzaki’s spindly, delicately fey voice winds its way around touching, finger-picked guitar refrains: it resonates by retaining a punch even when bursts of violence punctuate the music. More than ever, their tenth album continues to place emphasis on this intertwining of chiming vocals and elaborate, delicate musical orienteering.

Deerhoof’s world, then, remains something of a mystery as they end the fourteenth year of their recorded career. It’s still overflowing with all kinds of aural fauna and sonic life; incomparable and often hard to describe. The best way to approach this band is to stop comparing them to the usual reference points – instead, it’s far more rewarding to accept Offend Maggie as a land of its own making, something to be indulged, explored and, finally, cherished. – Drowned in Sound

With:
Busdriver || Listen
Avocet

8pm / $12.00 advance, $14 day of show / all ages

Thursday 06.25.09: LES BLANKS / THE FLING / THE VOYEURS / FOMA @ echo

Les Blanks || Listen || Watch

Los Angeles indie trio Les Blanks brings the bravado in droves with this most recent LP, Shoot the Horse, a sing/speak-styled effort vocally reminiscent of Fu Manchu’s Scott Hill or Frank Black of Pixies fame.

After trademark issues sprang up over the band’s original name, Muso, the group settled on naming itself after critically lauded documentary filmmaker Les Blank. Just as The New York Times described Blank as “a documentarian of folk cultures,” Shoot the Horse chronicles a seemingly Southerly-raised youth coming to understand and criticize the world, juxtaposing Bible Belt-bred piety and God-fearing reverence with implied hypocrisy. Most apparent in the Wurlitzer-driven “Grand Kickstand,” lead singer Joshua Caldwell croons, “Strong hand commands in holy land / Brain brand the kid with Judas tan.”

Nothing if not dynamic, the album’s sound runs the gamut — the tinny, rapid-fire thrashing coming from Caldwell’s Telecaster on “Starry Tilting Sizzle” invites the swagger and sway of hips and boots on crowded dance floors, while the ragtime-tinged piano found in “La Reina” calls for a laidback saloon-style listening session. – Performer Mag

with:
The Fling
The Voyeurs
Foma

8:30pm / $5 / 18+

Saturday 06.27.09: MUSTACHE MONDAYS presents MALUCA / MYNX / DJS JOSH PEACE & TOTAL FREEDOM @ echoplex

with:
Maluca
Mynx

Plus DJs:
Josh Peace
Total Freedom

@ Echoplex
enter at
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

RSVP at http://www.mustachemondays.com/

10pm / FREE with RSVP before 11pm, $10 after / 21+

Thursday 07.02.09: KROQ LOCALS ONLY presents “Kick Out The Clots” – Benefit for Jennifer Tefft with SHE WANTS REVENGE / LADIES CHOIR / GREAT NOTHERN AND MORE @ echoplex

with:
She Wants Revenge || Listen || Watch
Moving Units || Listen (DJ SET)
Dead Meadow || Listen
LA Ladies Choir (with Becky Stark, Eleni Mandell & more)
Great Northern || Listen
The Honorary Title (solo set)
Rocco DeLuca || Listen
Nico Stai
Useless Keys || Listen

DJ sets from Kevin Bronson, Dia and Sylvia

Enter at Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

7pm / $25 / 18+

Saturday 07.25.09: STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS / THE FRESH & ONLYS / RED CORTEZ @ echoplex

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks || Listen || Watch

Stephen Malkmus fans divide into Pig Lib fans or Face the Truth fans, the same way Pavement fans split into Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain or Wowee Zowee partisans: Either you like the guy best when he zones out on the guitar for hours at a time, mumbling and rambling and diddling around, or you prefer his brief, quirky song fragments. Last time, on 2005’s Face the Truth, he offered a bunch of cute freak-folk ditties — a timely career move yet not such a memorable album. But Real Emotional Trash is a fantastic psychedelic feast, full of cosmic guitar crackle and electric piano and batshit poetry. It’s the album Malkmus has been driving at ever since he learned how to rip off the Velvet Underground and Quicksilver Messenger Service at the same time — a full-body baptism in John Cipollina’s bong water.

Guitar reveries like “Baltimore,” “Dragonfly Pie” and the road-tripping title jam ramble on for six or seven or even ten minutes; the only one that drags, “Gardenia,” is the only one under three minutes. The Jicks add the flesh-and-blood band interaction that was so key to Pig Lib, including ex-Sleater-Kinney drum goddess Janet Weiss. “Out of Reaches” revamps early Pavement’s elegiac hum; “We Can’t Help You” is a Basement Tapes-style ballad with perfect femme harmonies; “Elmo Delmo” fuses the Grateful Dead’s “Cryptical Envelopment” with Sonic Youth’s “Karen Koltrane.”

In “Dragonfly Pie,” when Malkmus sings, “Of all my stoned digressions/Some have mutated into the truth,” it’s notable as (1) the opening couplet on the album and (2) the last halfway coherent thing he says for the next hour or so. But that’s for the best, as Malkmus hasn’t taken the lyrics too seriously since Pavement broke up, and any statement heavier than the throwaway jokes here (“Made it back to Frisco in the vanity chest/To the painted ladies on house arrest”) would just get in the way. All he wants to do is surrender to the lightheaded rush of the music, and the results are downright glorious. – Rolling Stone

With:
The Fresh & Onlys || Listen
Red Cortez

@ Echoplex
Enter at
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

8pm / $19adv, $22dos / All ages

Wednesday 07.29.09: ADAM MARSLAND’S CHAOS BAND / THE JANKS / FAT CITY REPRISE / GOLDEN YEARS / J.P. CREGAN / COCA-COLA @ echo

Adam Marsland and his Chaos Band || Listen || Watch

Adam Marsland has been active in the Los Angeles – and national – music scene for well over a decade now, bringing his own brand of passionate, punky, soulful rock and roll to the masses. From the critically acclaimed years with his band Cockeyed Ghost, to the heady sophistication of the current Adam Marsland’s Chaos Band, to the dozens of DIY tours across North America , Marsland has continued to evolve as a musician, vocalist and songwriter, all the while maintaining his unique musical persona. A gifted multi-instrumentalist, Marsland also lends his musical talents to such acts as The Negro Problem/Stew and Jeff Merchant, as well as remaining a tireless, enthusiastic supporter of the LA music scene.

Marsland’s most recent project has been an ambitious undertaking: recreating the oft-overlooked music of the Beach Boys’ Carl and Dennis Wilson. Overshadowed by older brother – and acknowledged genius – Brian, brothers Carl and Dennis set out to regain control of the Beach Boys after Brian began suffering severe bouts of depression and mental instability in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Although the results were often mixed, the lesser-known Wilson brothers created an amazingly deep body of work, displaying an astonishing stylistic breadth that proves musical talent in the Wilson family wasn’t limited to Brian.

With the Chaos Band at his side – Evie Sands (lead guitar/vocals); Teresa Cowles (bass/vocals), John Perry (keyboards/vocals), and Kurt Medlin (drums) and guest, Beach Boys archivist Alan Boyd (keyboards/vocals)– Marsland set out on yet another self-promoted, self-organized tour in support of this heartfelt tribute to the “forgotten” Wilson brothers, recording a fine document of the event on his album “Long Promised Road (the Songs of Carl and Dennis Wilson Live)”; the band also played the recent dedication of the Beach Boys Historical Landmark (the childhood home of the Wilson brothers in Hawthorne, California), as well as performing with original Beach Boy Al Jardine. – Ear Candy Mag

The Janks
Fat City Reprise || Listen
Golden Years
J.P. Cregan
Coca-Cola

7pm / $8 / 18+

Friday 07.31.09: Club Underground presents ANAVAN / DAZZLER @ echo

Anavan || Listen || Watch

“Equally in debt to their noise-rock contemporaries and mid-80’s synth-electro, Anavan throw pop music into a big noisy blender and deliver the results with a ferocity rarely seen in an electronic music trio. After breaking through with their 2006 debut on GSL, the band’s three-piece synth-punk attack was honed via relentless touring and further exploration of their three-person dynamic. Anchored by Aaron Buckley’s drums, the bass and synth attack of Bret Berg and Molly Williams lock in with a sound that defies their less-is-more lineup.” – CJAM

With:
Dazzler

9pm / $8 / 18+

Thursday 07.30.09: BARRIO TIGER / ANGUS KHAN / JESSIE DELUXE / THUNDERDIKK @ echo

Barrio Tiger || Watch

Barrio Tiger is an LA 4 piece whose gimmick is Rock and Roll. Their lineup on any given night may include former or current members of Qui, The Hangmen, The Starvations, or even Guzzard and Helmet. Formerly known as Thee L.A. Gentlemen Callers, Barrio Tiger recalls the song craft of Paul Weller, Robert Pollard, and Uncle Tupelo and filters it through the bombast of bands like Dead Boys, Jawbreaker, and Dinosaur Jr. – Hum City Blogger

With:
Angus Khan || Listen
Jessie Deluxe || Listen
Thunderdikk || Listen

8:30pm / $5 / 18+

Saturday 07.25.09: SATURDAYS OFF THE 405 with CUT CHEMIST / WE ARE THE WORLD @ getty center

Cut Chemist || Listen

Fridays Off the 405 are now Saturdays Off the 405! The free outdoor performance series is back on Saturday nights this summer with a lively mix of today’s most exciting emerging bands and DJ sets to open and close the night. And starting this summer, parking is free at the Getty Center on Saturdays after 5pm.

Fans of DJ Shadow, RJD2, Jurassic 5, and masterful recent instrumental opuses from J-Dilla and Madlib would be wise to check out The Audience’s Listening (Warner Brothers), the major-label solo debut from longtime J5 mainstay Cut Chemist. Chemist takes audiences on an invigorating sonic journey that skips deliriously from genre to genre and is animated throughout by an infectious sense of rhythm and a prankish sense of humor. Strap on some headphones and enjoy the ride… – AV Club

With:
We Are The World

Getty Center Courtyard
1200 Getty Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90049

6pm / FREE / all ages

Wednesday 07.22.09: Spaceland Under The Stars with VOXHAUL BROADCAST / THE FRENCH SEMESTER @ pershing square

Voxhaul Broadcast || Watch

Outta the OC, Voxhaul Broadcast, flavored a whole lot like Cold War Kids and Kings of Leon, already moves with the poise of a well-embraced band, apparently settled comfortably in a working groove and enjoying their gig of life as successful rockers. Maybe they’ve had a look in a crystal ball. Let’s hope that forecast is accurate. The band’s general sound is psychedelic haze, heavy on sedative properties of dope or Robitussin, pavement inside your shoes when the wind’s gusting, or suspension in a vat of sticky warm molasses with your very special someone. I personally vote for the last of the three…an interesting dilemma that would take time to navigate. But I digress. Voxhaul Broadcast comes across wavy. Listening is satisfying at all levels of effort. From a nonchalant low-scale effort, the vibe is fuzzy with enough variation and effects to maintain the awareness of an interesting flow of appeasing music in the background. At a more engaged level, the song construction is far from lazy – each tune is spackled with hooks from great to small and doused with memorable, effective repetition. Lyrically, Voxhaul Broadcast’s songs call for an active stretch of the imagination: rather than feeding you the story, they ask you to make the story your own by connecting the dots and coloring in the background. – Luxury Wafers

With:
The French Semester || Listen

Pershing Square
532 South Olive Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013

7pm / FREE / All ages

Saturday 07.11.09: SATURDAYS OFF THE 405 with MAS EXITOS / DOMINGO SIETE @ the getty center

Mas Exitos (DJ Collective)

Fridays Off the 405 are now Saturdays Off the 405! The free outdoor performance series is back on Saturday nights this summer with a lively mix of today’s most exciting emerging bands and DJ sets to open and close the night. And starting this summer, parking is free at the Getty Center on Saturdays after 5pm.

Mas Exitos, the legendary twice-a-month event held at the Verdugo Bar in Highland Park, comes to the Getty! The DJ collective—featuring Lengua, Hoseh, Ganas, and Enorbito—unfold their international music selections and transform the Museum Courtyard into a hot spot south of the border.

Think of it as a National Geographic documentary on sound that takes you from the Andes of Peru to the streets of Mexico City to the East Side of L.A.—cumbias, low-rider music, tropicalia, funky jazz oddities, y más. Listen as the crew plays their heritage on turntables.

With:
DJ Hoseh
DJ Lengua
DJ Exorbito
DJ Ganas
Domingo Siete || Listen

Getty Center Courtyard
1200 Getty Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90049

6pm / FREE / all ages

Sunday 06.28.09: ROCK ‘N ROLL ‘N RESCUE – A Benefit for Sante D’Or Pet Rescue with GLISS / DEATH TO ANDERS / RAINBOW ARABIA / ARMY NAVY / THE POLYAMOROUS AFFAIR / EXITMUSIC @ echoplex

Rock ‘n Roll ‘n Rescue
a benefit event for Santé D’Or pet rescue

with:
Gliss || Listen
Death to Anders || Listen
Rainbow Arabia || Listen
Army Navy
The Polyamorous Affair || Listen
Exitmusic
and many more

@ Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

FMI: http://www.rocknrollnrescue.com/

1:30pm / $20 Advance, $25 Day Of Show / All Ages

Wednesday 07.15.09: FOL CHEN / 60 WATT KID @ pershing square

Fol Chen || Listen || Watch

“We are cryptic and joyful and we would like you to dance,” claim the enigmatic Fol Chen, likening themselves to the mysterious black monolith on the cover of Zep’s Presence – a complete red herring as regards the group’s musical approach, which favours synths and strings rather than rock and riffs.

One aspect they do share with the former rock gods is a careless attitude to personal responsibility, with the protagonist of “Cable TV” trying to lure the object of her affections to some dubious motel, while the singer of “You and Your Sister in Jericho” offers her temptations more bluntly: “Fuck your friends, they don’t care/ Smoke too much, and dye your hair,” she murmurs enticingly, while guitar, pedal steel and horns perform a slow, slurred waltz over an enervated drum-machine pulse, before it all dissolves into a blur of drums and thunderous distortion. It’s impossible to pin the sextet down to a specific area of the musical map: one moment they create a kind of quirky electro-pop, as on the funky “No Wedding Cake”, but elsewhere, disparate elements – lumbering, brusque drums; lap steel; prepared-piano; calliope-textured synth lines; various horns – are mingled in intriguing combinations that avoid definition. – The Independent UK

With:
60 Watt Kid || Listen

Pershing Square
532 South Olive Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013

7pm / FREE / All ages

Sunday 06.28.09: KIDROCKERS present LOCAL NATIVES / SAINT MOTEL @ echo (day show)

with:
Local Natives || Listen
Saint Motel

KiDROCKERS is a concert series that began in January 2007. These All Ages shows are designed to bring families together to experience some of the most engaging and vital artists in indie music and comedy. Artists perform original (not specifically made for children) songs in a manner that is both authentic and kid-friendly. Past artists include Tad Kubler (and members of the Hold Steady), Matthew and Ira of Nada Surf, Ra Ra Riot, Langhorne Slim, The Jealous Girlfriends, Harlem Shakes, Rogue Wave, The Subjects, Looker, Bishop Allen, The Spinto Band, Locksley, Phonograph, Palomar, Pela, Los Campesinos!, Chris Baron and LEVY.

Hosted by Seth Herzog & Matt Dwyer

Ages 3-13 recommended. Adults must be accompanied by a kid and vice versa.

1pm- 2:30pm / $9 in advance $12 at the door / All Ages

Thursday 07.02.09: AMAZING BABY / BAND OF SKULLS / DAZZLER @ Hammer Museum

Amazing Baby || Listen
Band of Skulls || Listen
Dazzler || Listen

Hammer Museum
10899 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90024

8pm / FREE / all ages

Tuesday 06.30.09: Echo & 826LA present TINY VAUDEVILLE @ echoplex

826LA’s hilarious Tiny Vaudeville returns on Tuesday, June 30th with comedy, magic, music and more!

Enjoy house band Dan Bern & Common Rotation and the always hilarious Gut-Busting Side-Splittery by Acker and Blacker and Ginsburg and McIntyre. Don’t miss audience favorite, readings of 826LA student material by real actors!

Brian Baumgartner
John DiMaggio
James Urbaniak
Dave (Gruber) Allen
Kat Parsons (music)
Derek Hughes (magic)
Sean Watkins (music)
Joel Spence (host)
Dan Bern & Common Rotation
Brendon Walsh (comedy)

The first 200 to rsvp and donate to 826LA with the purchase of Tiny Vaudeville Tickets are offered a “radiohead model” flexible ticket price. All others are $15 CASH ONLY at the door.

RSVP @ http://www.eventbrite.com

Online donations to this event are tax-deductible, confirmation and receipt are sent automatically.

* One person per transaction.
** $10 minimum suggested, plus eventbrite fees. Receipts are issued only for pre-sale online donations – confirmation and receipt are sent automatically. All other tickets are $15 CASH ONLY at the door.

8pm / RSVP with donation in advance, $15 at the door / 18+

Saturday 07.04.09: BOOTIE LA @ echoplex

BOOTIE on the 4th OF JULY!
LA’s monthly mashup bootleg party

Mashup fireworks with DJs:
DJ PAUL V.
DJ SHYBOY

Bootie LA’s resident dance crew:
R.A.I.D. (Random Acts of Irreverent Dance)

Free Bootie mashup CDs for the first 75 people!

Bootie celebrates the 4th of July, bootleg-style! This month, resident DJ Paul V., along with special guest DJ Shyboy, bring the mashup fireworks to the dance floor. Bootie’s 15-person dance crew R.A.I.D. (Random Acts of Irreverent Dance) will hit the Echoplex stage around midnight in their trademark gold suits, ready to do a special Independence Day performance! Don’t miss it!

Launched in 2003, Bootie was the first club night in the United States dedicated solely to the burgeoning artform of the bootleg mashup — and is now the biggest mashup event in the world, with monthly parties in eight cities on three continents. Mixing and matching every conceivable musical genre, era, and style into one big dance party where everyone feels welcome, Bootie provides the soundtrack for the A.D.D. generation — with free mashup CDs given away like candy!

Bootie’s resident DJs keep your brain guessing and body dancing with creative song combinations, celebrating — and satirizing — the many different forms of music. Resident dance crew R.A.I.D. (Random Acts of Irreverent Dance) performs a mashed-up dance number nearly every month. Bootie showcases the best in mashup productions from around the globe and delivers them on the dance floor … because one song at a time just isn’t enough!

@ Echoplex
enter at
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

FMI: http://www.BootieLA.com

9pm / $5 before 10 pm, $10 after / 21+

Wednesday 07.08.09: Myspace Records presents ROOTBEER / U-N-I / BOOMBOX NINJAS @ echo

Rootbeer || Watch

The simple shortcut to that Rootbeer descriptive word puzzle could be something like “MGMT injected with some N.E.R.D and A Tribe Called Quest”. As clearly evident in their lyrics and style, Flynn Adam and Pigeon John are unapologetic purveyors of popular culture. Rather than making an escape attempt on this debut to something that was some subtle artistic departure from the Lost Angels-flavored West Coast underground laid back rap that raised them, the duo has grown more apt to fully open their arms and embrace a vast array of what is relative to their own contemporary culture consumption today.

With an even more upped-tempo vocal cadence dancing on top of beatscapes that awaken even the hippest of skeptics, the music will make you jump up like a chimpanzee. An unbelievably charismatic live show, mixed with the most infectious hooks you’ve wrapped your ears around in quite some time, Rootbeer slaps a smile on your face that you simply can’t contain. Like some of the lyrics remind you: “It feels so good, feels so great, feels so wonderful,” so tune in and dig it!

with:
U-N-I || Listen
Boombox Ninjas

8pm / FREE / all ages

Thursday 07.09.09: DUSTY RHODES AND THE RIVER BAND / THESE UNITED STATES / OLIN AND THE MOON @ echoplex

Dusty Rhodes and The River Band || Listen || Watch

Difficult to classify, but easy to like, Dusty Rhodes and his merry clan are a refreshing antidote to the world of easy-to-label pop, rock and indie groups. This, their second full-length album, brings songs steeped in multiple influences from jazz and blues, to country and classic rock‘n’roll. Thanks to three distinct vocalists, a classically trained fiddler, and a hyperactive keyboard frontman, it really works. High-energy, experimental fun. – Daily Express

with:
These United States || Listen
Olin & The Moon

@ Echoplex
enter at 1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

8pm / $10 / 18+

Tuesday 09.22.09: PINK MOUNTAINTOPS / THE PACK A.D. / XU XU FANG @ echo

Pink Mountaintops || Listen || Watch

A valentine “for the hunters and the hunted / and the wild and the hoods and the thieves,” Outside Love—in its portrayal of a world where the honesty of lust is as beautiful as the purest of hearts—feels like gospel music for non-believers. A bit more raucous and a hell of a lot more cohesive than 2006’s Axis of Evol, Outside Love finds frontman Stephen McBean (who also leads Black Mountain) continuing to rewrite the 1960s, with much improved results. The Phil Spector-meets-Pink Floyd vibe remains, though the hippie-esque feel of such songs as “The Gayest Of Sunbeams” is matched by the fuzzed-out bliss of album opener “Axis: Thrones Of Love” and the follow-up track “Execution.” It’s as if McBean realized that the worlds that he inhabits in both Pink Mountaintops and the more hard-rocking Black Mountain—his primary songwriting outlet—are not mutually exclusive (and watch for the sly Sabbath reference in the album’s title track). It’s a realization to be thankful for. – The Onion AV Club

with:
The Pack A.D. || Listen
Xu Xu Fang || Listen

Save Money when you order tickets by mobile phone
text mountaintops to 467467

8:30pm / $10 advance, $12 day of show / 18+

Saturday 07.11.09: FUNKY SOLE @ echo

with DJs:
Music Man Miles
Clifton AKA Soft Touch

FMI: Funky Sole on Myspace

10pm / FREE / 21+

Saturday 07.04.09: FUNKY SOLE @ echo

with DJs:
Music Man Miles
Clifton AKA Soft Touch

FMI: Funky Sole on Myspace

10pm / FREE / 21+

Wednesday 07.29.09: 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

9pm / $5 / 21+

Wednesday 07.22.09: DUB CLUB presents THE MIGHTY DIAMONDS Backed by YELLOW WALL DUB SQUAD Horn Section Mixed by SCIENTIST @ echoplex

The Mighty Diamonds

The Mighty Diamonds, Donald “Tabby” Shaw, Fitzroy ”Bunny” Simpson and Lloyd “ Judge” Ferguson formed in 1969 in the Trenchtown area of Kingston, Jamaica and for the past 39 years have been entertaining and educating the world with their sweet harmonies and conscious lyrics.

They quickly became known as the young group with the Motown sound with their soulful harmonies and polished performances. They first hit singles “ Country Living” and “ Hey Girl” were recorded on the Channel One label. Their debut album “ Right Time”, released on the Virgin has become a classic. This is an album that belongs in every serious reggae collection. “ Right Time’ is probably their most requested song when they perform.

“ Pass the Kouchie” also became an international hit when first released and then again when it was covered by the “ Musical Youth” and released as “Pass the Dutchie”

Tabby, Bunny and Judge have produced over 45 albums in their long career and it would be hard to select just one album as a favorite but if I were asked to pick the definite Mighty Diamonds album I would have to say “ Deeper Roots”. This album proves that the Mighty Diamonds are truly the best in the business.

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

9pm / $10 advance, $10 day of show before 10pm, $15 after / 21+

Wednesday 07.15.09: DUB CLUB presents TRINITY / TIPPA LEE + screening of the new Documentary Film RETURN OF THE RUB-A-DUB STYLE @ echoplex

TRINITY
with special guest Tippa Irie || Listen

backed by Echodelic Sound

plus a screening of the new documentary film
Return of the Rub-A-Dub Style
film starts at 9pm

check out the trailer for the film:

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

9pm / Free before 9:30pm, $5 after / 21+

Wednesday 07.08.09: 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

9pm / $5 / 21+

Wednesday 07.01.09: 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

9pm / $5 / 21+

Friday 08.21.09: THE SONICS / PRIMA DONNA / JAPANESE MOTORS @ echoplex

The Sonics

The Sonics walked on stage to some seriously deafening applause. The atmosphere was so intense that you could have struck a match in the air and watched the vapor explode. That guitar sound hunched over everyone, scowled, started to feedback, raised a claw then knocked everyone over like dominoes with the riff of ‘He’s Waiting’. 100mph start… and yup, these old guys dressed all in black, were in London taking names. And guess what? The screaming was gooo-oooo-ood.

The set blistered through Strychnine, Have Love Will Travel (which was met with a predictably riotous response from the entire contents of the building including stationary objects), Louie Louie (“we’re going to play rock ‘n’ roll’s national anthem”), Shot Down, Maintaining My Cool, Boss Hoss, Like No Other Man, Money, Lucille, Cinderella, Dirty Robber, You’ve Got Your Head On Backwards… you get the idea. The best two tunes of the evening, both in crowd response and performance were Psycho and The Witch. Psycho, at times, was completely terrifying, with demented screams and howls coming from the contorted Roslie who was possessed by his younger self, with shoulder cocked like a trigger and his throat producing broken glass. Larry Parypa gunned down front and back of house with ferocious guitar work… which he can whip into shape as good as he ever did. Rob Lind, ‘im on sax, provided that rasp that give the ground that full audio assault.

Defying everything I’d thought about the gig (that The Sonics were going full tilt), it seemed that they’d managed to store up enough energy to really dish up some sonic savagery. The Witch was brutal, coarse, mental, twitching, incredibly loud and aggressive. No lies here… it was probably the greatest moment of any gig I’ve ever been too. So hot was the belting of The Witch that people in the front row started to spontaneously combust, with the people at the back toppling inward like dried skeletons whilst everyone in the middle had a mini-riot and screamed along until their voices snapped and lassooed round each other, leaving everyone in some tangled blooded knot. With that, The Sonics hollered farewell and left everyone with their various injuries. – Electric Roulette

with:
Prima Donna || Listen
Japanese Motors || Listen

@ Echoplex
enter at
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

Save Money when you order tickets by mobile phone
text boom to 467467

8:30pm / $22 advance, $24 day of show / 18+

06.16.09: LANDy / THE FRENCH SEMESTER / SPLEEN UNITED / RUSTY ANDERSON @ echo

LANDy || Listen || Watch

with:
The French Semester || Listen
Spleen United
Rusty Anderson

8:30pm / $5 / 18+

Thursday 07.16.09: LA (heart) SF with THE MONOLATORS / FRENCH MIAMI / THE FLYING TOURBILLON ORCHESTRA / KISSING COUSINS @ echo

The Monolators || Listen
French Miami
The Flying Tourbillon Orchestra || Listen
Kissing Cousins

Presented by Flavorpill / Radio Free Silver Lake / Indie Online Radio

8:30pm / $5 / 18+

Friday 08.28.09: OS MUTANTES / DJ NOBODY / BUYEPONGO @ echoplex

Os Mutantes || Watch

When the members of the legendary “Tropicalia” band Os Mutantes took the stage before an audience of thousands at the Hollywood bowl a few years back, it seemed one of the greatest secrets in modern music was finally out. The seminal band whose ethereal absurdist pop music had inspired so many prominent musicians since their breakup decades before, were back. This time the world seemed ready. Now this influential band has reemerged with a brand new much anticipated album entitled Haih or Amortecedor on Anti-records, their first new album in over three decades. On it Sergio Dias has collaborated with two of the founders of Tropicalia, renowned songwriter and multi instrumentalist Tom Ze and Jorge Ben who wrote the band’s first hit Minha Menina. But don’t expect anything like nostalgia from Haih or Amortecedor. The end result is a record that brilliantly updates the band’s legendary “Tropicalia” sound, propelling it out of the sixties and into an uncharted but undeniably exotic future. As expected, the songs utilize a startling assortment of instrumentation, from austere violins to distorted metallic guitars and something called a crazy flute, lending an underlying theatrical power to their genre defying music. The song Bagdad Blues, with its tinkering old piano and seductive horns, conjures an otherworldly cabaret while Querida Querida is modern rock music unlike anything you’ve heard before.

With:
DJ Nobody
Buyepongo

@ Echoplex
enter at
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

Save Money when you order tickets by mobile phone
text mutantes to 467467

8pm / $28 advance, $30 day of show / 18+

Thursday 08.27.09: CONOR OBERST & THE MYSTIC VALLEY BAND / DUNGEN / KURT VILE @ echoplex

Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band || Listen || Watch

Last year, Conor Oberst set aside his long-standing Bright Eyes moniker and made a run for the border, decamping to a Mexican mountainside to record his first album under his own name. Conor Oberst was laid-back folk rock in love with the road and far from Bright Eyes’ rep for indoors-y shame sharing. Now, Oberst is covering more unknown territory by splitting songwriting duties for the first time in his 15-year career. Written on tour with the band he took to Mexico, these 16 songs are full of the freewheeling possibility and, at times, errant indulgence you can get when bros hang out in hotel rooms passing around guitars and massaging each other’s muses. Even the drummer gets two cuts.

Oberst’s songwriting has always been first–thought–best–thought, so the loose communal vibe usually fits nicely. On “Slowly (Oh So Slowly),” an ode to taking it easy that the Eagles might appreciate, Oberst lounges in a swimming pool languidly watching life pass by. Fans of Bright Eyes’ white-knuckled miserablism might find that image of suntanned bliss about as likely as Jay-Z rolling around in a used Pinto. But there’s still introspective angst here, from the scared lover’s acoustic plea “White Shoes” to the apocalyptic lefty rant “Roosevelt Room.”

No one in the Mystic Valley Band is an undiscovered genius, but no one is a charity case either; guitarist Nik Freitas’ rollicking country paean to paranoia, “Big Black Nothing,” and guitarist Taylor Hollingsworth’s speedy indie-pop ode to van sex, “Air Mattress,” could even be decent Bright Eyes throwaways. Predictably, however, this six-piece are best at backing their boss with a road-seasoned mix of meaty jangle and whirring Sixties-Dylan organ. They’re also pretty good at proving what a nice guy he is. Many things may weigh on Conor Oberst’s mind, but on this record, ego isn’t one of them. – Rolling Stone

With:
Dungen || Listen
Kurt Vile || Listen

@ Echoplex
enter at
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

7pm / $25 / All Ages

Thursday 08.06.09: JOHN DOE WITH THE SADIES / JILL SOBULE @ echoplex

John Doe & The Sadies || Listen || Watch

Punk rock has produced few singers with the strength and chops of X’s John Doe, and the force and presence of his vocals (and songwriting) on albums like Wild Gift and Under the Big Black Sun rank with the most satisfying rock & roll of the 1980s. But on Doe’s recordings with X’s acoustic incarnation, the Knitters, and on his debut solo album, Meet John Doe, he showed he was every bit as gifted with country-influenced material, and for years a handful of X fans has been patiently waiting and wishing for Doe to cut a straight-ahead country album. It took a while, but Doe has finally done it, and he’s done it right; Country Club is a collaboration with the great Canadian roots rock combo the Sadies in which they interpret a handful of classic country sides in a style that fuses the moody late-night atmosphere of Nashville’s countrypolitan era with the straightforward guitar-based sound of vintage Bakersfield acts like Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. As musicians, the Sadies are as tight and as capable as anyone walking into a recording studio these days, and their touch on these songs is all but flawless, fusing Prairie soul with a high lonesome sweetness and a subtle but expressive sense of aural adventure that turn their interpretations of “Night Life” and “Till I Get It Right” into something truly special. And Doe’s vocals are a wonder; he never forces false melodrama or histrionics into these performances, but uses his rich, roomy voice to explore the spaces within these tunes with patience and a heart as big as all outdoors. Most country fans have heard “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” “Detroit City,” and “I Still Miss Someone” a few hundred times (at least) from dozens of artists, but Doe makes the heartache in their lyrics real and genuine, and few performers of the Nash Vegas era can match the innate understanding of classic country weepers that Doe reveals on this set. Doe and the Sadies contribute one new song each to these sessions (the band also tosses in two brief instrumentals), and “It Just Dawned on Me” and “Before I Wake” are good enough that you wouldn’t guess they weren’t copyrighted in the 1960s if you didn’t read the credits. Plenty of rock singers have tried to honor the sound and traditions of period honky tonk music over the years, but you’d be hard-pressed to find one who sounds as ineffably right singing this stuff as John Doe, and Country Club is a casual, no-frills masterpiece. – All Music

with:
Jill Sobule || Listen

@ Echoplex
enter at
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

8pm / $12 advance, $13 day of show / 18+

Monday 06.15.09: LASSIE FOUNDATION / AMUSEMENT PARKS ON FIRE / MAGIC MIRROR / THE BROKEN REMOTES Hosted by Buzz Bands LA @ echoplex

About nine months ago, to no fanfare whatsoever, I used my laptop and some change rescued from under the seats of my car to launch BuzzBands.LA, a blog that, in a manner, continued the column I did for the Los Angeles Times for seven years. I’ve been flattered by the attention and support BuzzBands.LA has received, and on Monday, June 15, I’d like to celebrate a little. Please join me for four great bands and an equally great DJ at the Echoplex for a free night of music. Doors at 8:30, enter on Sunset — get there early for some surprises.

With:
The Lassie Foundation || Listen
Amusement Parks On Fire || Listen
Magic Mirror
The Broken Remotes || Listen

@ Echoplex
enter at 1822 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Thursday 06.18.09: DOWN & DERBY ROLLER DISCO @ echoplex

@ Echoplex
enter at 1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

RSVP at www.downandderby.org

9pm / $5 with RSVP / 21+

Friday 07.10.09: Echo & Club Underground present THE RURAL ALBERTA ADVANTAGE / JONNY TAYLOR @ echo

The Rural Alberta Advantage || Listen

The next band up, The Rural Alberta Advantage, were a complete surprise. I had never come across the name, and didn’t bother tracking down any songs beforehand; the eMusic honcho who introduced them said we were “in for a treat,” and it turns out he was right. The Canadian trio (“rural Alberta” isn’t just a clever name, apparently) makes a sort of rustic, scorched-earth Americana not unlike Centro-Matic, though far heavier on the percussion—and way livelier, thanks to the antics of Manic Pixie Indie Girl Amy Cole, who spent most of the set bouncing from place to place, banging on tambourines, whipping out the occasional glockenspiel solo, and adding the cooling undercurrents to singer Paul Banwatt’s ragged ruminations. Things started a bit slow with more run-of-the-mill country-ish numbers, but they won me over the minute Banwatt ended a song by beating on his acoustic guitar, then sheepishly pronouncing that it now had “a big SXSW crack in it.” (I feel like I’ve been on SXSW crack for a couple days now.) At set’s end, the three of them filed off stage into the middle of the aisle to play “Good Night” acoustically, which they said they’d always wanted to perform in a church. The sparse, mournful number was ridiculously quiet and intimate but still filled up the chapel—really, you could have heard a proverbial pin drop—and you could even see faces starting to mist; it was one of those “special” concert moments that are far too rare these days, and it’s safe to say RAA won quite a few new fans in that moment. – The Onion AV Club

with:
Jonny Taylor

8:30pm / $8 Advance, $10 day of show / 18+

Tuesday 07.28.09: Aquarium Drunkard presents MAGNOLIA ELECTRIC CO / THE DONKEYS / DAVE GLEASON & OLD CALIFORNIO @ echo

Magnolia Electric Co || Listen || MP3

Record Store Day brought a welcome treat in the form of a new Magnolia Electric Co. 7″, but that was just a tiny tributary to the relative flood of awesomeness that Jason Molina has cooked up with Josephine, his band’s first album in three years. It’s out this July. Which is such good news. This morning Pitchfork posted a lengthy Q&A with the Songs: Ohia/Magnolia great, discussing details and touch points for the forthcoming Secretly Canadian release: inspired by the tragic Oakland-fire death of touring bassist Evan Farrell, recorded once again by Steve Albini, “sonically more on the minimalist side,” although “heavier” in that there’s a “gravity to the playing.” Read it. As for the listens, today we get a snatch at “Josephine,” the set’s title track. It sounds like a Jason Molina song, which is to say it sounds great. There’s Jason’s reedy, bleeding quaver delivering a heart-aching confessional, cathartically castigating himself “a fool” while the chords pull him up. It’s spare, dense, and to the point — try not to love it. And it’s just the start with this album. – Stereogum

with:
The Donkeys || Listen
Dave Gleason & Old Californio

8:30pm / $10 advance, $12 day of show / 18+

Monday 06.08.09: Manimal Vinyl presents CORRIDOR / PAULO ZAPOLLI / AVI BUFFALO / ADDIQUIT / TELEPATHIC LIBERATION ARMY @ echoplex

CORRIDOR (RECORD RELEASE PARTY)

PAULO ZAPOLLI (PALL JENKINS OF BLACK HEART PROCESSION/3 MILE PILOT)

AVI BUFFALO

ADDIQUIT

TELEPATHIC LIBERATION ARMY

@ Echoplex
enter at
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

8pm / FREE / 21+

Friday 06.19.09: TILT and Binary Present THIEVES LIKE US / NIGHTWAVES / ESSER @ echoplex

@ Echoplex
enter at
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

RSVP to get in for $10 at: Going.com

9pm / $10 with RSVP / 18+

Wednesday 06.24.09: SCION A/V presents TROUBLE & BASS CREW / DROP THE LIME / AC SLATER / STAR EYES / THE CAPTAIN / DJ SKEET SKEET @ echo

Scion A/V presents

Trouble & Bass (CD Release Party)

with:
Drop The Lime
AC Slater
Star Eyes
The Captain
DJ Skeet Skeet

RSVP at http://www.scion.com/avrelease/

10pm / FREE with RSVP / 18+

Tuesday 06.30.09: KSPC and Loudvine present THE STRANGE BOYS / SHIRLEY ROLLS / THE GROWLERS @ echo

The Strange Boys || Listen || Watch

The Austin-via-Dallas based Strange Boys are a young garage rock act whose loose, somewhat rootsy approach to the style brings to mind the old Doug Sahm adage “you just can’t live in Texas / If you don’t have a lot of soul.” The Strange Boys blend Nuggets garage, punk, R&B, blues and country without getting pinned down by any one of those styles. It’s as if those terms are used only as vehicle to create a musical feeling rather than a particular genre.

But where the Black Lips sound entirely of these times, marinating their retro tendencies with Gangsta Grillz swagger, the Strange Boys evoke a sound not unlike that heard on Bob Dylan’s Basement Tapes, or at least a younger garage punk version of that album. That’s not to say the Strange Boys recall the Old Weird America, or the new one for that matter, yet both the Strange Boys and Dylan (and the Band) work a similar kind of magic, the end result being a rock ‘n’ roll sound plucked from numerous influences yet utterly unto itself. In the case of the Strange Boys, however, the Nuggets box set replaces Harry Smith’s Anthology as a blue print.

While Sambol noted that he one day hopes to outgrow any influences, the band’s official debut full-length, The Strange Boys and Girls Club, already finds the band standing solidly on its own. It’s the sound of high school dances stomped out on gymnasium floors long since abandoned; cold nights and warm whiskey; bad decisions and trouble. The jangling guitars are punctuated with strategic bursts of fuzz; the drums provide a laconic shuffling rhythm that pushes the band along just so without ever rushing things. Sambol’s strained bleat sounds simultaneously desperate and elated. The album’s recording history, however, is a somewhat tumultuous one, despite the album’s almost insouciant feel. – Dusted Magazine

With:
Shirley Rolls || Listen
The Growlers || Listen

8:30pm / $7 / 18+

Tuesday 06.09.09: GASLAMP KILLER / BIG MOVES / POLLYN @ echo

Gaslamp Killer || Listen || Watch

For the uninitiated, Gaslamp Killer could be lumped in with the deep diggin of folk like Andy Votel, Cherrystones, and David Holmes… His difference is combining these nuggets of old with forgotten beat heavy gems from the last 20 years, new psych influenced material, and even dipping in to bass heavy dubstep tunes. What gets spat out the other end hits hard, big drums, booming bass, eastern influences and tripped out psychedelic moods, all mixed, cutup and segued together flawlessly, using spoken word creatively to set the mood.

Released on the Obey label, originally in a luxurious box accompanied by a split 7” featuring two Gaslamp Killer and Free The Robots tracks apiece, and the rather impressive embossed artwork, but it is available to purchase without the box and inclusions (well, it is the only way to buy it as the limited box has sold out, you may find it on eBay at a ridiculous price!). If you like a drum heavy ride, I can’t recommend this more, and although there is no track listing included, you’ll recognize some tracks in the mix, snippets of some, and others will amaze. After recognizing tracks by Portishead, Earthling, Danny Breaks, MHE/MRR-ADM, Malcom Catto, and Alexanders Dark Band (a lesser known Depth Charge side project) to name just a few, it got me looking back through some older records to rediscover some much underrated material.

The Gaslamp Killer knows how to excite, making all that hear him look back to the past, and simultaneously projecting us to the future. Keep a look out for future collaborations, most recently with vocalist Gonja Sufi, and appearing on the latest Flying Lotus album. Get to hear him any way you can. – Cyclic Defrost

With:
Big Moves
Pollyn || Listen

8:30pm / $10 / 18+

Saturday 06.13.09: SMOG SESSIONS @ echoplex

SMOG SESSIONS
los angeles dubstep event

JOE NICE
DUB WAR, BALTIMORE, NYC

XI
SUBTRAC, LOETECH, TORONTO

JUAKALI
DUB WAR, SUB SWARA, NYC

THE SPIT BROTHERS
FULL MELT, DUBS ALIVE, SF

DLX
SMOG, DUBS ALIVE, LA

KEMST
SMOG, LA

VISUALS BY: MEKANIX

@ Echoplex
enter at
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

FOR MORE INFO:
WWW.SMOGLA.COM
WWW.DUBFREQUENCY.COM

9pm / $10 PRESALE, $15 DOOR / 21+

Saturday 06.27.09: TELEKINESIS / THE BOAT PEOPLE / ONE TRICK PONY @ echoplex

Telekinesis || Watch

I didn’t listen to the Telekinesis record when it first arrived at my house. Then I heard the song “Coast of Carolina” on a radio show and waited around to see who was responsible for this infectious little beast. When I realized that it was Telekinesis, I pulled the CD out of its resting place and haven’t stopped listening to it since; it accompanies me in my car, as I write at my desk and on airplanes. At first, I treated the album like I do a lot of other pop records: as a showcase for one standout song. Consequently, I continued to listen to “Coast of Carolina” as if it were the wunderkind and every other song merely runners-up in some imagined talent show. I approached the rest of the album with skepticism and reserve. And, though I never grew tired of “Coast of Carolina” (and still haven’t!), eventually I wanted to know the rest of the story.

And that’s how it came to be that Telekinesis’ self-titled album is my current favorite. My summer sun long before the light and long days actually get here.

Telekinesis is really the work of one man, at least on record, and that man is Michael Lerner. One thing I like about him is that, in addition to being a great singer and songwriter, he’s a good enough drummer — quite a fantastic one, really — to know that you can’t just give that job up to anyone. So he drums and sings on stage, throwing off both the audience’s balance and one’s ideas of symmetry and pop, not unlike his songs themselves.

Lerner sings about water, place, time and ephemera, which are all sneaky and slippery topics. So while the impressionistic approach to lyrical content provides fleeting, oblique images, the catchy music is grounding and indelible. If Telekinesis were a dance, it would be the pogo: with the leap into the air — that hint of uncertainty, of possibility, of letting go — being the words, and the driving, perfectly crafted melody (as sturdy as anything) being the feel of your feet as they touch the ground. Sometimes it’s nice to have a band provide both the lift-off and the landing. – NPR

with:
The Boat People
One Trick Pony || Listen

@ Echoplex
enter at
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

7pm / $10 / All Ages

Thursday 06.04.09: KCRW presents FOL CHEN / KARIN TATOYAN / POST FOETUS / WAIT. THINK. FAST @ echo

Fol Chen || Listen || Watch

“We are cryptic and joyful and we would like you to dance,” claim the enigmatic Fol Chen, likening themselves to the mysterious black monolith on the cover of Zep’s Presence – a complete red herring as regards the group’s musical approach, which favours synths and strings rather than rock and riffs.

One aspect they do share with the former rock gods is a careless attitude to personal responsibility, with the protagonist of “Cable TV” trying to lure the object of her affections to some dubious motel, while the singer of “You and Your Sister in Jericho” offers her temptations more bluntly: “Fuck your friends, they don’t care/ Smoke too much, and dye your hair,” she murmurs enticingly, while guitar, pedal steel and horns perform a slow, slurred waltz over an enervated drum-machine pulse, before it all dissolves into a blur of drums and thunderous distortion. It’s impossible to pin the sextet down to a specific area of the musical map: one moment they create a kind of quirky electro-pop, as on the funky “No Wedding Cake”, but elsewhere, disparate elements – lumbering, brusque drums; lap steel; prepared-piano; calliope-textured synth lines; various horns – are mingled in intriguing combinations that avoid definition. – The Independent UK

With:
Karin Tatoyan
Wait. Think. Fast.
Post Foetus

8:30pm / $7 / 18+

Friday 06.26.09: AIR SEX COMPETITION @ echoplex

Air Sex Competition || Trailer || Photos || Twitter

After a year of sold out shows at the Alamo Drafthouse and the Paramount theater in Austin, TX, the Air Sex World Championships are taking to the road and touring fifteen U.S. cities in the search for this year’s Air Sex Champion. Air Sex is sort of like Air Guitar, except instead of pretending to play an invisible guitar on stage, contestants get up there and pretend to have sex with someone who isn’t there. With their clothes on, typically. They pick a song to perform to and then have two minutes to impress the judges with their overall Airness.

The concept for Air Sex originated in a small club in Japan, and YouTube clips of a Japanese oddity TV show from Britain burned up the Internet two years ago. When that video landed on League’s desk, he knew it was a show that had to be brought to America. The first Air Sex Championship season took place exclusively in Austin, with semi-monthly competitions at the Alamo Drafthouse and a finals performance, pitting all the winners of previous rounds against each other, in the historic Paramount Theater as part of the opening night of Fantastic Fest.

To find a new champion for this year, we are taking the Air Sex crew on the road across North America for three weeks, bringing along emcees, judges, and performers that wowed the crowds in Austin last year. In each city, they’ll be inviting local Air Sexers up to the stage at rock club venues, and the winner of each round will be flown to the Air Sex World Championship Finals later this summer. – Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Blog

For any and all potential participants please email chris@airsexworldchampionships.com

@ Echoplex
enter at
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

7:30pm / $10 adv, $12 at the door / 18+

Friday 06.05.09: FIRST FRIDAYS with Z-TRIP / DAMFUNK @ Natural History Museum

with:
Z-Trip || Listen
Dam-Funk || Listen

plus Dublab DJs:
The Phatal DJ
Gaslamp Killer

@ Natural History Museum
900 Exposition Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90007

FMI: http://www.nhm.org/firstfridays/

5:30pm / $9 / All Ages

Thursday 06.25.09: Puma, Turntable Lab, and Terrorbird Present The “Friends of Friends” Label Launch Party w/ DAEDELUS (live) / PEANUT BUTTER WOLF (A/V set) / JOGGER / MEXICANS WITH GUNS @ echoplex

Daedelus || Listen || Watch

Alfred “Daedelus” Darlington is a proponent of Edwardian dandyism for the Internet age, and his electronic whimsy has been influenced equally by Coldcut’s chopped-up beats and Bernard Herrmann’s orchestral Vertigo. But on Love to Make Music To, the L.A. producer unveils a nocturnal soundtrack toughened up by booty bass (“My Beau”), hardcore techno (the astringent “Hrs:Mins: Secs”), and coked-out club rap (the slurry “Touchtone” with Paperboy and Sa-Ra’s Taz). Daedelus’ furious stylistic shifts are engrossing (if challenging), and when he closes the album with the glowing predawn ballad “You’re the One,” it sounds like hard-won catharsis. – Spin.com

with:
Peanut Butter Wolf || Listen || Watch

PB and a cadre of DJ’s and Stones Throw affiliates crowd the DJ cabinet, and the mob from inside assimilates into the patio’s mob, an army of hip, unhip, dread-locked, fro-hawked, fedora topped anticipation. PB did not disappoint, after some tech stall, up comes the video projection to the immediate left. DJ Rhettmatic (Beat Junkies/ Visionaries) handling hype duties, the music video mixing was a new experience for me. One might assume that the somewhat younger crowd may not appreciate “oldies night”, and I would have to Homie The Clown their asses across their crown, everyone was sold. 50’s to early 70’s, funk to hippie-rock, the mixes of the videos and the music was audio/video ecstasy. I dug, they dug, it was a good time. – Urb

plus:
Jogger
Mexicans With Guns

@ Echoplex
enter at
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

9pm / $8 advance, $10 Day of Show / 18+

Monday 06.29.09: Monday Night Residency – OLIVER FUTURE / CASXIO / ALL WRONG AND THE PLANS CHANGED / RADARS TO THE SKY @ echo

Oliver Future || Listen

In Oliver Future’s new configuration, Lit will remain out front, his brother will man a bank of keyboards affectionately called “rig-zilla” and Raver will drum. “Sam just went out and bought a kit and said, ‘I’m going to be your drummer and we’re going to be a three-piece,’” Noah Lit says. “So the story is we just downsized because of the economy.” Lit says the trio “locked ourselves into an antique storage warehouse” and thrashed out new songs. “If you like the more epic and weird stuff on the first record, you’ll like his,” he adds. “There’s no feeling anymore that we have to write a single. But in a weird way, when there’s just three people playing — even though the songs are out there — everything just sounds more simple. “Before we were like an aircraft carrier. But there’s something to be said for being minimalistic.” – Buzz Bands

with:
Casxio || Listen
All Wrong and The Plans Change
Radars to the Sky

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Monday 06.22.09: Monday Night Residency – OLIVER FUTURE / CAPSHUNS / HORSE THIEVES / DIVISIBLE @ echo

Oliver Future || Listen

In Oliver Future’s new configuration, Lit will remain out front, his brother will man a bank of keyboards affectionately called “rig-zilla” and Raver will drum. “Sam just went out and bought a kit and said, ‘I’m going to be your drummer and we’re going to be a three-piece,’” Noah Lit says. “So the story is we just downsized because of the economy.” Lit says the trio “locked ourselves into an antique storage warehouse” and thrashed out new songs. “If you like the more epic and weird stuff on the first record, you’ll like his,” he adds. “There’s no feeling anymore that we have to write a single. But in a weird way, when there’s just three people playing — even though the songs are out there — everything just sounds more simple. “Before we were like an aircraft carrier. But there’s something to be said for being minimalistic.” – Buzz Bands

Capshuns
Horse Thieves
Divisible || Listen

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Monday 06.15.09: Monday Night Residency – OLIVER FUTURE / GLISS / ALEXANDRA HOPE / DEAR OR THE DOE @ echo

Oliver Future || Listen

In Oliver Future’s new configuration, Lit will remain out front, his brother will man a bank of keyboards affectionately called “rig-zilla” and Raver will drum. “Sam just went out and bought a kit and said, ‘I’m going to be your drummer and we’re going to be a three-piece,’” Noah Lit says. “So the story is we just downsized because of the economy.” Lit says the trio “locked ourselves into an antique storage warehouse” and thrashed out new songs. “If you like the more epic and weird stuff on the first record, you’ll like his,” he adds. “There’s no feeling anymore that we have to write a single. But in a weird way, when there’s just three people playing — even though the songs are out there — everything just sounds more simple. “Before we were like an aircraft carrier. But there’s something to be said for being minimalistic.” – Buzz Bands

with:
Gliss || Listen
Alexandra Hope
Dear or the Doe

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Monday 06.08.09: Monday Night Residency – OLIVER FUTURE / OTHER LIVES @ echo

Oliver Future || Listen

In Oliver Future’s new configuration, Lit will remain out front, his brother will man a bank of keyboards affectionately called “rig-zilla” and Raver will drum. “Sam just went out and bought a kit and said, ‘I’m going to be your drummer and we’re going to be a three-piece,’” Noah Lit says. “So the story is we just downsized because of the economy.” Lit says the trio “locked ourselves into an antique storage warehouse” and thrashed out new songs. “If you like the more epic and weird stuff on the first record, you’ll like his,” he adds. “There’s no feeling anymore that we have to write a single. But in a weird way, when there’s just three people playing — even though the songs are out there — everything just sounds more simple. “Before we were like an aircraft carrier. But there’s something to be said for being minimalistic.” – Buzz Bands

with:
Other Lives

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Monday 06.01.09: Monday Night Residency – OLIVER FUTURE / USELESS KEYS / SUPERHUMANOIDS / THE DELTA MIRROR @ echo

Oliver Future || Listen

In Oliver Future’s new configuration, Lit will remain out front, his brother will man a bank of keyboards affectionately called “rig-zilla” and Raver will drum. “Sam just went out and bought a kit and said, ‘I’m going to be your drummer and we’re going to be a three-piece,’” Noah Lit says. “So the story is we just downsized because of the economy.” Lit says the trio “locked ourselves into an antique storage warehouse” and thrashed out new songs. “If you like the more epic and weird stuff on the first record, you’ll like his,” he adds. “There’s no feeling anymore that we have to write a single. But in a weird way, when there’s just three people playing — even though the songs are out there — everything just sounds more simple. “Before we were like an aircraft carrier. But there’s something to be said for being minimalistic.” – Buzz Bands

with:
Useless Keys || Listen
Superhumanoids
The Delta Mirror

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Tuesday 06.02.09: OLIN & THE MOON / LESLIE & THE BADGERS / DEEP SEA DIVER / EAGLE & TALON @ echo

Olin & The Moon || Watch

Three Idaho boys bring their rural charm to the Los Angeles scene with a little help from a pretty face along the way. Olin and the Moon’s self-titled album is a promising start for these old friends as they attempt to stand out from the crowd they’ve chosen to surround themselves with.

Drummer Marshall Vore allows the band to reside confidently in between the overtly fast and the unconsciously mellow, while singer David LaBrel shines with storytelling skills that stand up to the likes of Bright Eye’s Conor Oberst. Invoking images of a rock star retiring to the moon, “Moon Man” is like a monotone ballad version of “Ziggy Stardust.” In “Home,” the band conjures up fond memories of simple farm life protecting innocent love: “I wanna take you to the trees / Where the forest and the farm lands meet … Where you can lay out on the grass all day / Where it is safe.” Songs like these benefit from acoustic guitar strums, heavenly bells and sweet piano undertones.

Tracks like “Oh Bells” and “Song of the Summer” are focused more around the band’s own experiences on the road as musicians, referencing sound guys and getting drunk while singing. Olin and the Moon’s adolescent drive comes via David LaBrel’s brother Travis and his powerful lead guitar. His chord formations draw in ears to his trickling melodies — most notably on “Changin’“ and “Take It To Hell” — but they often overtake the songs, drowning out Erica Wheeler’s bass and David LaBrel’s vocals.

Olin and the Moon desperately strive to engage listeners in music that expresses their love for the art form; with an album like this, they just might succeed. – Performer Mag

with:
Leslie & the Badgers
Deep Sea Diver
Eagle & Talon || Listen

8:30pm / $5 / 18+

Friday 06.05.09: CLUB SUICIDE ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY BASH @ echoplex

SuicideGirls Presents…
CLUB SUICIDE’s One-Year Anniversary Bash!

with:
DJ Scotty Boy (Voted # 5 DJ in America by DJ Times)
&
DJ Erick Neutron (Bang & Heist)

Electro, remixes, mash-ups, pop, indie, rock, ’80s, ’90s, and more…

plus:
SEXY SUICIDEGIRL GO-GO DANCERS
HULA HOOP BURLESQUE BY XIOLITA SUICIDE
SUICIDEGIRLS MERCHANDISE GIVE-AWAYS
TICKET GIVE-AWAYS
FREE GLOWSTICKS FOR THE FIRST 50 TO ENTER

LOTS of photography!
-Photo booth by Drew Yoon-
*Check out pics @ ClubSuicide.net

@ Echoplex
enter at
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

Buy advance tickets at: ClubSuicide.net

10pm / $8 advance, $10 day of show for 21+, $15 day of show for under 21 / 18+

Saturday 06.06.09: BOOTIE LA 4-YEAR ANNIVERSARY PARTY with SMASH-UP DERBY / ADRIAN & the MYSTERIOUS D / DJ PAUL V. / R.A.I.D. @ echoplex

BOOTIE LA 4-YEAR ANNIVERSARY PARTY
LA’s monthly mashup bootleg party

At 11 PM — From San Francisco, the world’s first mashup rock band:

SMASH-UP DERBY

Resident Bootie DJs:
ADRIAN & the MYSTERIOUS D
DJ PAUL V.

Bootie LA’s resident dance crew:
R.A.I.D. (Random Acts of Irreverent Dance)

Free 20-track Bootie Anniversary CDs for the first 300 people!

Dress like a pirate!

This month, Bootie celebrates four years of mashing it up, LA-style! Since launching at The Echo back in 2005, Bootie has grown quite a bit, becoming the epicenter for mashups in Southern California. To mark it’s 4-Year Anniversary, Bootie is proud to bring back Smash-Up Derby, the house band at Bootie SF, and the world’s first mashup rock band. They’re back from doing several gigs in Beijing, China, and they’ll be hitting the stage with their own rockin’ brand of live mashups at 11 PM . Also performing will be Bootie LA’s resident dance crew R.A.I.D. (Random Acts of Irreverent Dance) and of course, your resident DJs, Adrian & the Mysterious D and Paul V. It’s an anniversary party, so dress up like a pirate! We’ve also got special 20-track Bootie LA Anniversary CDs for the first 300 people, featuring tracks from every guest DJ we’ve featured over the past year!

Launched in 2003, Bootie was the first club night in the United States dedicated solely to the burgeoning artform of the bootleg mashup — and is now the biggest mashup event in the world, with monthly parties in seven cities on three continents. Mixing and matching every conceivable musical genre, era, and style into one big dance party where everyone feels welcome, Bootie provides the soundtrack for the A.D.D. generation — with free mashup CDs given away like candy!

Resident DJs Adrian, Mysterious D, and Paul V. keep your brain guessing and body dancing with creative song combinations, celebrating — and satirizing — the many different forms of music. Resident dance crew R.A.I.D. (Random Acts of Irreverent Dance) performs a mashed-up dance number nearly every month. Bootie showcases the best in mashup productions from around the globe and delivers them on the dance floor … because one song at a time just isn’t enough!

FMI: http://www.BootieLA.com

9pm / $6 before 10 pm, $12 after / 21+

Saturday 06.20.09: SATURDAYS OFF THE 405 with CHAIRLIFT / DJ FROSTY @ Getty

Chairlift || Listen || Watch

Plus:
DJ Frosty (Dub Lab)

Fridays Off the 405 are now Saturdays Off the 405! The free outdoor performance series is back on Saturday nights this summer with a lively mix of today’s most exciting emerging bands and DJ sets to open and close the night. And starting this summer, parking is free at the Getty Center on Saturdays after 5pm.

Starting off the new series in June is Brooklyn-based trio Chairlift. They are best known for their hit single “Bruises,” which was featured in the latest iPod Nano commercial. Band members Aaron Pfenning, Caroline Polachek, and Patrick Wimberly perform a unique blend of synth-pop that weaves together keyboards, guitar, bass, drums, and tambourines. The night includes sets from Dublab DJs Frosty and Ale.

Getty Center Courtyard
1200 Getty Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90049

6pm / FREE / all ages

Sunday 06.28.09: PART TIME PUNKS with ST. CHRISTOPHER / THE TARTANS / SEA LIONS@ echo

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

With:
St. Christopher
The Tartans || Listen
Sea Lions

FMI:
Part Time Punks on Myspace

10pm / $5 / 18+

Sunday 06.21.09: PART TIME PUNKS – ROUGH TRADE RECORDS NIGHT@ echo

PART TIME PUNKS
presents a tribute to
ROUGH TRADE RECORDS
DJs Michael & Benny spin The Fall, Liliput, Delta 5 and
the rest of the Rough Trade Records label all nite long

FMI:
Part Time Punks on Myspace

10pm / $5 / 18+

Sunday 06.14.09: PART TIME PUNKS with THE URINALS / GESTAPO KHAZI @ echo

resident DJs Michael Stock and Benny Shambles spinning Post-Punk, DIY & Indiepop

With:
The Urinals
Gestapo Khazi

FMI:
Part Time Punks on Myspace

10pm / $8 / 18+

Sunday 06.07.09: PART TIME PUNKS @ echo

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

FMI:
Part Time Punks on Myspace

10pm / $5 and a can of soup / 18+

Friday 06.26.09: CLUB UNDERGROUND & Echo present PAPERCUTS / PORT O’BRIEN / SEAN BONES @ echo

Papercuts || Listen || MP3

Jason Quever’s one-man (plus guests) band makes blurred-edge music with damp organs, milky guitars, reverbed vocals, and sticky, half-familiar melodies seemingly snatched from some collective unconscious. And the album’s opening couplet, “Once we walked in the sunlight/ Three years ago this July 4th”, sums up Papercuts’ temperamental pitch with tweet-like brevity. Their 2007 LP was titled Can’t Go Back, but as a songwriter Quever can’t help but indulge nostalgia, including its bitter constituents, regret and remorse.

Papercuts, however, aren’t agoraphobic shut-ins exorcising romantic demons and venting life’s inequities. A backward– and inward—looking predilection actually serves the band artistically. Quever crafts his aesthetic from the raw materials of Zombies, Velvet Underground, and Galaxie 500 appreciation, Phil Spector worship, and an indie rock gospel that equates modest ambitions with really, really meaning it. And the Bay Area singer-songwriter has buffed this sound to a rose-colored finish playing in and touring with 60s-rock fetishists Vetiver and pop deconstructionists Beach House and Grizzly Bear– folks who consider musicological context. – Pitchfork

with:
Port O’Brien || Listen
Sean Bones

with resident DJs spinning the best in Brit / Indie / Soul / Twee / Madchester / Punk / Glam

FMI: ClubUnderground.net

7pm / $10 / 18+

Friday 06.05.09: CLUB UNDERGROUND @ echo

with resident DJs spinning the best in Brit / Indie / Soul / Twee / Madchester / Punk / Glam

FMI: ClubUnderground.net

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

Saturday 06.27.09: FUNKY SOLE @ echo

with DJs:
Music Man Miles
Clifton AKA Soft Touch

FMI: Funky Sole on Myspace

10pm / FREE / 21+

Saturday 06.20.09: FUNKY SOLE @ echo

with DJs:
Music Man Miles
Clifton AKA Soft Touch

FMI: Funky Sole on Myspace

10pm / FREE / 21+

Saturday 06.13.09: FUNKY SOLE @ echo

with DJs:
Music Man Miles
Clifton AKA Soft Touch

FMI: Funky Sole on Myspace

10pm / FREE / 21+

Saturday 06.06.09: FUNKY SOLE @ echo

with DJs:
Music Man Miles
Clifton AKA Soft Touch

FMI: Funky Sole on Myspace

10pm / FREE / 21+

Wednesday 06.24.09: DUB CLUB presents THE HEPTONES @ echoplex

The Heptones || Listen
backed by The Lions

The Heptones were a Jamaican rocksteady and reggae vocal trio most active in the 1960s and early 1970s. Leroy Sibbles, Earl Morgan and Barry Llewelyn first came together as “The Hep Ones” in 1965 in Kingston but they soon changed their name to “The Heptones”. They recorded for the major Jamaican record producers at the time, beginning their career , after one unsuccessful single for Ken Lack’s “K Calnek” label, under the watchful eye of Coxsone Dodd of Studio One. The Heptones had a number of Jamaican hits for Studio One, beginning with “Fattie Fattie”, their first Studio One single in 1966. They remained at Studio One well into the reggae era, where they cut tunes such as “Message from a Black Man”, “Love Won’t Come Easy”, “I Love You” and a very successful cover of “Suspicious Minds”, then went on to record with Joe Gibbs, Harry J, for whom they cut the classics “Country Boy” and “Book of Rules” (itself based on an American poem called “A Bag of Tools” by R.L.Sharpe, written early in the 20th Century) in 1973, Rupie Edwards (re-recording “Give Me the Right”) and former journalist Danny Holloway.In 1977, they revived their career by returning to work with Lee “Scratch” Perry, having issued a number of singles (including a cover of Billy Stewart’s “I Do Love You” on his Justice League imprint five years previously, and released the album, Party Time one of Perry’s finest productions, which included a remakes of some tunes originally cut at Studio One, including Bob Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released”, along with newer compositions such as “Sufferers’ Time”. The original trio reunited in 1995, and released Pressure!, produced by Tapper Zukie.

special 18 and over Dub Club

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

9pm / $10 advance, $10 before 10pm day of show, $15 after / 18+

Wednesday 06.17.09: 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

9pm / $5 / 21+

Wednesday 06.10.09: 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

9pm / $5 / 21+

Wednesday 06.03.09: 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

9pm / $5 / 21+

Tuesday 06.23.09: OCCIDENTAL BROTHERS / THE BLASTING COMPANY @ echo

Occidental Brothers || Listen || Watch

If you are looking for classic Central and West African dance music or just a raucous good time Chicago’s Occidental Brothers Dance Band International fits the bill. The band specializes in soukous (a style akin to Rumba), Highlife (a genre characterized by jazzy horns and multiple guitars), and Dry Guitar (a distinctively Kenyan style), among other genres. Peter Margasak, a music writer for the Chicago Reader, has declared Occidental Brothers to be the Best World Music Band (and their self-titled release a “top 10″ for 2007). The band was featured in Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music’s Afrofolk series and the quintet has performed alongside such acclaimed artists as Oliver Mtukudzi and Andrew Bird. Guitarist Nathaniel Braddock, a teacher of African guitar at Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music, leads the group and is joined by Greg Ward on alto saxophone, Kofi Cromwell on trumpet and vocals, Daniel “Rambo” Asamoah on traps and hand drums, Josh Ramos on upright bass, and-occasionally-congero Jean LeRoy. As band members explain, Occidental Brothers began by covering the songs of “Congolese greats” Mwenda Jean Bosco, Franco, and Bantous de la Capitale. Now, however, the group is “writing original songs that incorporate their mastery of the old style with the singing of Ghanaian Kofi Cromwell.” Their monthly gigs at Chicago’s Charleston have become legendary dance parties. – KEXP

with:
The Blasting Company || Listen

Save Money when you order tickets by mobile phone
text bosco to 467467

8pm / $8adv; $10dos / 18+

Thursday 06.18.09: CHAIRLIFT / LUKE TOP / THE FREQUENCY @ echo

Chairlift || Listen || Watch

In 2007, Chairlift moved from Colorado to Brooklyn to pursue a strangely common 21st-century dream — to create a thoroughly modern indie-pop album inspired by ’80s synth-goth kitsch. The result is the trio’s startlingly impressive debut: astute, melodic evocations of plinky new wave (“Bruises,” “Evident Utensil”) and the Cocteau Twins’ smeary dreams (“Planet Health”) that achieve a timeless emotional resonance. The lyrics can be ungainly (“The most evident utensil is none other than a pencil”? Really?), but when Caroline Polachek’s exquisite vocals pierce the fog belt of keyboards and rumbling bass on “Home Alone” and “Make Your Mind Up,” the future starts to come into focus. – Spin Magazine

With:
Luke Top
The Frequency || Listen

Save Money when you order tickets by mobile phone
text bruises to 467467

8:30pm / $10 / 18+

Friday 06.12.09: Oh My Rockness presents LOVE IS ALL / STILL FLYIN’ / SHARK TOYS @ echoplex

Love Is All || Listen || Watch

There’s an irresistible hysteria in Josephine Olausson’s voice that recalls a young Björk — an amphetamine perkiness that’s easy to crush-out on and probably scary to live with. But dancing to it is no problem: The New Wave rush of her band’s second album rarely lets up. Sure, there’s the melodica-frosted breakup ballad “A More Uncertain Future” and the Phil Spector-cum-Jesus and Mary Chain drone of “When Giants Fall.” But otherwise, it’s party time, with a crazed sax upping the ante. “I’m bored to death of all this shit!” Olausson hollers on “Sea Sick.” Or is it “aboard this ship”? Either way, you feel her hangover. Olausson’s solution? Sweat it out on the dance floor. – Rolling Stone

With:
Still Flyin’ || Listen
Shark Toys

@ Echoplex
enter at
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

Save Money when you order tickets by mobile phone
text sweden to 467467

8:30pm / $14adv; $16dos / 18+

Sunday 06.28.09: Grand Ole Echo with SIMON STOKES / 50 CENT HAIRCUT / HANG JONES @ echo

Simon Stokes
50 Cent Haircut || Listen
Hang Jones || Listen

5:00pm / FREE / All Ages

Sunday 06.21.09: Grand Ole Echo with STEVE CASPER / DAVE GLEASON / NICOLE GORDON @ echo

Steve Casper

Back porch:
Dave Gleason || Listen
Nicole Gordon || Listen

5:00pm / FREE / All Ages

Sunday 06.14.09: Grand Ole Echo with MIKE STINSON / DOGWEED / ELLIOT RANDALL / BIRD AND MOON @ echo

Mike Stinson || Listen
Dogweed
Elliott Randall || Listen

Back porch:
Bird and Moon

5:00pm / FREE / All Ages

Tuesday 06.23.09: SUNSET RUBDOWN / ELFIN SADDLE / WITCHIES @ echoplex

Sunset Rubdown || Listen

Throughout all his instrumental pageantry, Krug’s vocal presence is strong, both as a stylist and a lyricist. There’s more than a whiff of obscure mysticism and archaic vocabulary in his lyrics, which might turn off more literal listeners. But Krug has a knack for couching his baffling imagery in compelling, repetitive syntax that shapes a narrative from his procession of characters– courtesans, jackals, virgins, and stallions.

Insofar as I can boil down Sunset Rubdown to a single moment, it’s one near the end of “Up on Your Leopard, Upon the End of Your Feral Days”. The song’s maniacal carnival music, which until this point has rocketed through a rollercoaster’s worth of peaks and valleys, settles into barren dirge where Krug’s lyrics come clear. “Because you’re the one who’s riding around on a leopard,” he sings with his usual creaky splendor. “You’re the one who’s throwing dead birds in the air.” This moment doesn’t compartmentalize Sunset Rubdown; it traces out the broadest contours of their allure: The striking image that sticks in the mind, unfathomable but heavy with meaning, for days; the carefully contrasted song structure, and the sense that this is a band uncompromising in its vision, making music with more depth and longevity than its stubborn relegation to “side project” merits. – Pitchfork

With:
Elfin Saddle
Witchies

@ Echoplex
enter at 1154 Glendale Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA, 90026

Save Money when you order tickets by mobile phone
text rubdown to 467467

8:00pm / $13 adv; $15 doors / All ages

Friday 06.05.09: CLUES / GRAHAM FOREST @ echo – EARLY SET TIMES

Clues || Listen

While countless new bands have imitated the pop sounds made famous by Montreal’s music export, Clues counts among its members originators of that sound. Alden Penner (Unicorns) and Brendan Reed (Arcade Fire) continue pioneering music, expanding Montreal’s pop music lexicon with reference to the post-punk and experimental music traditions. The band’s shows are frenetic and theatrical: multiple drummers, unique instrumentation, and a bent Commodore 64. In 2008, the band was rounded out by regulars of the Montreal music/art scene’s, Ben Borden, Lisa Gamble, and Nick Scribner. During shows and on recordings, the band share and trade off on their collection of instruments, creating grand versions of experimental pop songs. – The Trip Wire

with: Graham Forest

Set Times:
Graham Forest – 7:30pm
Clues – 8:15pm
Followed by Club Underground

Save Money when you order tickets by mobile phone
text Clues to 467467

7pm / $10 / All Ages

Sunday 06.21.09: Echo Presents SHELLAC / ARCWELDER @ echoplex

Shellac || Listen

In a week when indie bands are falling over themselves to get their music onto tacky television commercials (cough, Wilco, Deerhoof, Architecture In Helsinki) three snarky curmudgeons from the cold Midwest can still be relied upon to fly the flag for rock’s awkward, anti-commercial underground. Arriving in its own sweet time (every song here has been honed over seven years of sporadic live sets), Excellent Italian Greyhound is vintage Shellac: stark, razorous and blackly comic, lurching into whatever time signature happens to possess drummer Tod Trainer.

Opener, The End Of Radio, which takes up nearly a quarter of the record, is the most remarkable thing they’ve ever done. An abrasive three-chord march, it sees Steve Albini imagining the apocalypse from the position of an AM disc jockey, broadcasting his catchphrases into the void – BBC

with:
Arcwelder

@ Echoplex
enter at
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

Save Money when you order tickets by mobile phone
text greyhound to 467467

8pm / $13 advance, $15 day of show / all ages

Saturday 06.20.09: Echo presents SHELLAC / ARCWELDER @ echoplex

Shellac || Listen

In a week when indie bands are falling over themselves to get their music onto tacky television commercials (cough, Wilco, Deerhoof, Architecture In Helsinki) three snarky curmudgeons from the cold Midwest can still be relied upon to fly the flag for rock’s awkward, anti-commercial underground. Arriving in its own sweet time (every song here has been honed over seven years of sporadic live sets), Excellent Italian Greyhound is vintage Shellac: stark, razorous and blackly comic, lurching into whatever time signature happens to possess drummer Tod Trainer.

Opener, The End Of Radio, which takes up nearly a quarter of the record, is the most remarkable thing they’ve ever done. An abrasive three-chord march, it sees Steve Albini imagining the apocalypse from the position of an AM disc jockey, broadcasting his catchphrases into the void – BBC

with:
Arcwelder

@ Echoplex
enter at
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

Save Money when you order tickets by mobile phone
text park to 467467

4pm / $13 advance, $15 day of show / all ages

Friday 06.12.09: JAY REATARD / THEE OH SEES / EARTHMEN & STRANGERS @ echo

Jay Reatard || Listen || Watch

Any newcomers to Jay Reatard are met with a dauntingly huge back catalogue. This is a man who produces a hell of a lot of material and by our count has released a staggering 24 albums and 34 EPs and 7″s since 1998 (the merch stand is well stocked this evening). Tonight’s show helpfully focuses mainly on 2008’s releases: the Matador records compilation and the 06/07 Singles collection released on In The Red.

Jay emerges on stage with little flair or fanfare, setting the tone for the evening. It’s a fast ‘n’ furious speed-punk blitz, play fast, play hard, leave quick. That’s not to say it’s not entertaining, quite the opposite in fact. The stage is filled with Reatard and his two accomplices, both Jay and his guitarist sport flying V Gibson guitars, and from the offset the three of them create a blend of sing-along ‘Beck meets The Ramones’ style good time rock ‘n’ roll that leaves feet tapping and teeth showing. – Drowned in Sound

with:
Thee Oh Sees
Earthmen & Strangers

Save Money when you order tickets by mobile phone
text trapped to 467467

8pm / $12 advance, $14 day of show / 18+

Wednesday 06.17.09: VIVA VOCE / CUT OFF YOUR HANDS @ echo

Viva Voce || Listen || Watch

Kevin and Anita Robinson live the kind of life they make TV shows out of, a married couple making music in their home together and touring the country to promote it. Maybe some day they’ll have kids and groom them into band members, but for now just the two of them make plenty of noise, and Get Yr Blood Sucked Out is confident, psychedelic, hard-hitting, and the best noise they’ve made yet.

The duo’s sound has sharpened, with more spacious production, simpler arrangements, and more refined songcraft: Where their three previous records all took a little time to marinate, this one is strikingly immediate. It opens with a beat and feel reminiscent of Blur’s “Tender”, but the harmony is much more tense, and rather than a gospel choir, “Believer” has two voices harmonizing, calm to the point of sinister, and Anita’s screaming lead guitar. Her guitar is one of the album’s biggest trump cards– in an era when flashy leads are hard to come by it’s something of a relief to hear economical fretboard fireworks like the squawking, melodic solo on “From the Devil Himself”.

Not that her husband gives her much slack to pick up. His drum parts are engaging and frequently memorable as hooks in their own right. If nothing else, it seems clear that touring has honed their skill as musicians to a fine point, and this may be why they’ve had the confidence to keep the arrangements more basic this time out. Whatever the reason, it works beautifully. “Faster Than a Dead Horse” is a masterful pop song, with Kevin providing killer “bah bah” backing vocals for Anita’s double-tracked lead. She can’t wait to sling her guitar, cutting loose after just one verse and sending up a distorted torrent after the second.- Pitchfork

With:
Cut Off Your Hands || Listen

Set Times:
Viva Voce – 9pm
Cut Off Your Hands – 8pm

Save Money when you order tickets by mobile phone
text Voce to 467467

7:00pm / $10 advance, $12 day of show / All Ages

Wednesday 06.10.09: CONSTANTINES / CRYSTAL ANTLERS / I WAS A KING @ echo

Constantines || Listen || Watch

Though The Constantines have no doubt streamlined some of the abrasive punk rock edges of their sound, Kensington Heights proves that they can still erupt with the same ferocity that has long been a hallmark of their sound. Before getting into the savory nooks and crannies deep within their epic songcraft, The Cons kick off with some good old-fashioned rock stomp with the bombastic single “Hard Feelings.” Over wailing guitars and blazing organ, vocalist Bry Webb bellows “you can tell by the way we walk/ We’ve got hard feelings,” as if to introduce their ragged posse’s entrance, and it’s an impressive entrance at that. Slower, but bearing just as much weight is “Million Dollar Hotel,” a gut-puncher of a song that reaches “When The Levee Breaks” levels of heavy-as-fuck blues. The verses tease, slinking along slowly and slyly, but when the chorus kicks in, the group comes firing on all pistons, powerful but composed. – Treble

With:
Crystal Antlers
I was A King || Listen

Save Money when you order tickets by mobile phone
text heights to 467467

8pm / $10 / All ages

Friday 06.19.09: Echo & Club Underground present ART BRUT / THE BLOOD ARM @ echo

Art Brut || Listen || Watch

It’s hard to fathom it’s already been almost four since Art Brut somehow managed to both celebrate and poke fun at the music industry with its stellar debut, Bang Bang Rock & Roll. However, at the time, many critics wondered how far the English outfit’s tongue-and-cheek style could take them – after all, pretty soon they would run out of stuff to make fun of, right?

Well, come four years and two albums later, Art Brut is still running on full-force, as evident by the band’s latest creative endeavor, Art Brut Vs. Satan, officially due out May 12th via Downtown Records. Produced by Frank Black – you know, Frank Black, the Pixies frontman turned solo artists? – the 11-track effort was recorded during what the band described as a “punk-as-fuck two weeks in Salem, Oregon.”
Sound wise, Art Brut has remained fairly tight lipped about Art Brut Vs. Satan, but did not in an interview with Pitchfork that it will include an “eight-minute song.”

As for what’s up with the title, it’s simple as Argos revealed in the same interview: “Satan is everybody that’s against us. [laughs] If you are not for us, then you are Satan, and I am against you.” – Consequence of Sound

With:
The Blood Arm || Listen

Save Money when you order tickets by mobile phone
text Brut to 467467

9pm / $13 advance, $15 Day of Show / 18+

Saturday 06.06.09: RALPH’S WORLD / LISA LOEB @ echoplex (morning show)

Ralph’s World

A tap-dancing elephant, a cowgirl pig, a rock ‘n’ roll finger band and a new girl in math class named Polly Hedron (“a non-Euclidean lass”) are fanciful performers in “The Rhyming Circus,” the latest album from Ralph Covert and his Ralph’s World band, a family music star attraction.

It’s the first all-new Ralph’s World album on the Disney Sound label, and the band is celebrating with a concert for kids at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Echoplex in L.A.

The album’s humorous through line, Covert says, was inspired by the title track — at one point it rhymes “fish,” “squish” and “Lillian Gish.”

“I sat down and wrote that song and giggled the whole way through.”

The bespectacled rocker who gained an adult following during his years as frontman for Chicago indie-rock band the Bad Examples, shifted gears with his first children’s CD in 2001.

Adults are still part of Covert’s audience, not least because Ralph’s World songs are traditionally infused with inside musical jokes and tributes to the band’s heroes.

Johnny Cash meets preschool, for instance, in “Folsom Daycare Blues.” “Finger Is the Singer” includes a hint of Ziggy Stardust and a dash of the Beach Boys. Covert’s “Polka Dot Shirt” pays homage to Prince’s “Raspberry Beret” and to 1970s Irish hard-rock band Thin Lizzy. – LA Times

with Special Guest:
Lisa Loeb || Listen

@ Echoplex
enter at
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

Save Money when you order tickets by mobile phone
text world to 467467

10:30am / $15.00 advance, $17.00 day of show, $50.00 advance for family of four / All Ages

Thursday 06.11.09: HANDSOME FURS / THE CINNAMON BAND / THE MONOLATORS @ echoplex

Handsome Furs || Watch

It’s a well-known curio of pop history that the synth-led sound of Springsteen’s wilderness years was directly indebted to the skeletal drum machines of electro-duo Suicide. Face Control, the new record by Handsome Furs (Alexei Perry and Dan-from-Wolf-Parade), sounds like Born in the USA, if the Boss had allowed a little more evil in the mix, and tried replicating Alan Vega’s demented yelps. Yeah, it’s THAT good…

What comes across immediately, is Dan Boeckner’s urgency. After all, it’s been less than a year since Wolf Parade’s magnificent second record, and only a little over a year since the Handsome Furs’ own debut. The drum-machines and handclaps, here, are what you’d expect on home demos, there only ever seems to be one guitar growling behind the keyboards, and the lyrics and three-chord melodies are patched together with clichés and hand-me-downs from a dozen well-loved pop-songs. Thing is, it’s the opposite of lazy; it becomes clear you just don’t need that much going on, if you’re a great tunesmith. The old line about great vocalists is that they can sing the phonebook; in Dan’s case, he’d howl like this if he were ordering pizza. – Drowned In Sound

with:
The Cinnamon Band || Listen
The Monolators || Listen

@ Echoplex
enter at
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

Save Money when you order tickets by mobile phone
text furs to 467467

8:30pm / $13 advance, $15 day of show / 18+