Sunday 10.03.10: DEAD MEADOW @ echoplex

DEAD MEADOW || LISTEN || WATCH

Stoner-rock avatars Dead Meadow have slimmed down to a power trio, but their fat, rubbery sound hasn’t lost any of its bluesy bombast in the process. They seem oblivious to the passage of time, still riding the heavy train that Iron Butterfly, Cream, Sir Lord Baltimore, and Hawkwind set in motion. That doesn’t mean they’re oblivious for the need for new product, though—their most recent studio album is still last year’s Old Growth, but they’re working on an old-fashioned feature-length concert film called Three Kings. (They’ve moved from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles, so maybe they think they have to make a movie now.) There’s a trailer up on their MySpace page, and I’m getting a distinct Song Remains the Same vibe, probably mostly from the footage of the band wandering around in hooded druid robes. Despite all the vintage-­colored self-indulgence and the whiffs of 70s hippie neopagan cheesiness, Dead Meadow’s hazy, smoky, languidly violent music can achieve an eerie beauty that transcends era, and onstage they’re a fiercely disciplined rock machine—in other words, don’t hold your breath for a dwarf trampling a miniature Stonehenge. – Chicago Reader

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

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

Friday 11.05.10: YELLE @ echoplex

YELLE || LISTEN || WATCH

Despite finding fame with the very public ridiculing of a fellow musician’s manhood (MySpace hit “Short Dick Cuizi,” which cut Parisian rapper Cuizinier down to size), Yelle’s all about relentless Euro-electro charm. The dance world’s been thoroughly seduced by French acts of late (Daft Punk, Justice et al.), and here comes another one. Almost defiantly singing in her native tongue only ups Yelle’s coy joy as she wraps genuine melodies and nursery-rhyme refrains around squelchy/fuzzy Radio Shack synths and migraine-inducing megakicks. “Je Veux Te Voir” (the finalized version of “Short Dick Cuizi”) bounces all over Toni Basil’s “Mickey” with help from Human League, Ace of Base and flurried déjà views of Neneh Cherry’s “Buffalo Stance,” while “A Cause des Garçons” could be the analog-driven incidental music from some early-’80s movie, weaving fake-for-fake’s-sake beat-box cascades around textured stop/start science-project stabs. Yelle’s performance at the Music Box in November had even the bar-hugging +1 posers moving — you’re next. – LA Weekly

@ Echoplex
enter at
Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

9pm / $15 advance, $17 day of show / 18+

Friday 10.15.10: TILT 3 YEAR ANNIVERSARY with JAMAICA / NIGHTWAVES / PARALLELS / FRENCH HORN REBELLION AND MORE @ echoplex

TILTmag.com Presents

TILT 3 Year Anniversary

Live Performances by:

Jamaica
Nightwaves
Parallels
French Horn Rebellion
and friends!

DJ Sets By Residents:
Short Circuit
Killed By Synth
Mike Woodward
B.R.

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

for more info: TILTmag.com

9pm/ $12 / 18+

Tuesday 09.28.10: ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER / SUN ARAW @ echo

ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER || LISTEN

Though it sometimes feels like drone music will be forever relegated to the fringes of the indie world, an impressive batch of bands and labels have sprung up recently to counter that idea. Alongside bigger acts such as Sunn O))) and Grouper (not true drone, but plenty drone-y), artists like Emeralds, Black to Comm, and Yellow Swans are each tugging the style into intriguing directions. Daniel Lopatin, who records as Oneohtrix Point Never and shares a label with Emeralds, could plausibly be lumped into this group but also exists outside of it. Where others bring to bear a wide range of instrumentation in creating these glistening, open-ended sounds, Lopatin does so using only electronics (synthesizers and arpeggiators, primarily) and as a result, his music is arguably more distinctive and often more difficult to pin down.

Because he’s worked outside the label structure and released albums on limited-run cassette and CD-R until now, Lopatin’s music also hasn’t been easy to find. But Rifts, a 2xCD collection of his material since 2003 (including all three Oneohtrix Point Never full-lengths– Betrayed in the Octagon, Zones Without People, and Russian Mind), seeks to correct that by compiling just about everything he’s recorded as OPN to date. At two and a half hours long, it’s a dizzying amount of music and virtually impossible to absorb in one sitting but for anyone with a passing interest in drone or ambient music, it’s worth setting aside the time. – Pitchfork

With:
SUN ARAW || Listen

8:30pm / $10 / 18+

Saturday 10.30.10: NINJATUNE 20TH ANNIVERSARY @ ECHO & ECHOPLEX

9PM / $20 ADV; $25 DOS / 18+

Friday 10.01.10: The Echo & Club Underground present: FOSTER THE PEOPLE / SUPERHUMANOIDS @ echo

Foster The People || Listen || Watch

We got word about this LA group last week called Foster the People who only formed in autumn 2009, but because of the speed with which information is disseminated these days, their song Pumped Up Kicks, which has yet to see an official release, is already being talked about as one of the sure-fire surprise hits of the summer. It’s one of those lo-fi indie tracks that, like Peter Bjorn and John’s Young Kids, has “alternative anthem” written all over it. Its crossover potential is confirmed by the simple, shuffling beat, the buoyant Brian Wilson bassline, and the outrageously catchy melody. The tune is sung through some muffling device that merely serves to make you strain even harder to hear the words, and after a verse or two the melody is bolstered by some whistling. And if that wasn’t enough to ingratiate itself into the heads and hearts of festivalgoers this summer, the lyrics are well chant-worthy. The verses aren’t easy to make out, but the chorus, even if it doesn’t mean much, does the trick: “All the other kids with the pumped-up kicks/You better run, better run, faster than my bullet.” It’s MGMT’s Kids meets Young Kids, with a hint of Empire of the Sun’s We Are the People. Quite clearly, Foster the People are into people power, and they’re doing it for the kids. – Guardian

With:
Superhumanoids || Listen

8:30pm / $10 / 18+

Tuesday 10.19.10: SCOUT NIBLETT @ echo

Scout Niblett || Listen || Watch

On a surface level, this music can resemble PJ Harvey on Rid of Me or Nirvana on In Utero, both of which were also engineered by Niblett’s collaborator Steve Albini. The substance is closer to Cat Power’s Moon Pix and the early albums by the reclusive songwriter Jandek. Like them, Niblett has a way of making you hang on her every note, and making her guitar strings sound like some kind of fragile tether to sanity. Her voice is expressive and raw, shifting between wounded soulfulness and unhinged fury. Her songs are not uninviting, and tracks like “I.B.D.” and “Duke of Anxiety” have strong, memorable melodic hooks, but the starkness and intensity of it all makes for a very difficult and challenging record. However, on the occasions when the music connects, it is mesmerizing and uncanny whether you are directly relating to her or having a more voyeuristic experience.

The extreme intimacy implied by the recording is both fascinating and uncomfortable, but that isn’t necessarily a complaint. This is an excellent document and a successful expression of something that is clearly personal to the artist. Our comfort level and patience is beside the point, but not unimportant. Niblett’s music is very much an acquired taste, and there are few ways to enjoy this other than on her terms. She’s not oblivious to this, and she has a sense of humor about it. The black and white photograph on the cover is a sly, on-the-nose bit of dark comedy: She’s standing there waving and smiling at us as she holds up a welding torch, presumably about to set herself on fire. It’s her odd little way of welcoming an audience to what she describes on the title track as her “self-made sweat box.” It’s grim and indulgent, but not lacking in style and wit. – Pitchfork

8:30 / $8 in advance, $10 doors / 18+

Friday 09.10.10: Echo & Club Underground present: HELEN STELLAR / SAUCY JACKS @ echo

Helen Stellar || Listen || Watch

While that’s quite a lofty title, it’s also an apt description of the sonic direction in which Helen Stellar are headed. Having already proven themselves virtuosos of spiraling, explosive and ethereal dream-rock, the LA-based trio have given their huge sound a sense of urgency on their first official full-length release. In doing so, vocalist/guitarist Jim Evens, drummer Clif Clehouse, and bassist Dustin Robles expanded from trio to quartet with the addition of second guitarist Eli Lhymn, amping up the energy of Helen Stellar’s carefully crafted and densely-layered sound. With melodies and textures that soar high into the ether, unrelenting drumbeats that thunder from earth below, driving bass lines, and Evens’ lyrical obsession with the battered heart of the human condition, Helen Stellar have successfully exchanged beautifully dripping rock ambience for a head-on swirling sonic attack of bittersweet melodies. Clehouses’ deft bombastic percussion propels the hooks and melodic twists of “Joseph” and “From Here On” at a breakneck pace while Evens sings passionately about overcoming emotional blindness through the thick, gritty pulse of “Hyper-aware.” “The Disappearing Twin” careens out of control like a psychedelic freight train without brakes as the gorgeous heavenly noise freak-outs wrap around sky-bound “Hopeless Romantic” like a warm blanket. – Under The Radar

With:
Saucy Jacks || Listen

8:30pm / $8 / 18+

Thursday 11.11.10: KURT VILE @ echoplex

Kurt Vile || Listen

“Kurt Vile (real name, no gimmicks) has seemingly absorbed a lifetime’s worth of FM rock, and the ghosts of Springsteen, Seger, and others glimmer under the surface of his woozy, homemade bedroom pop.” –Pitchfork

There’s a bunch of clowns all over the USA, all around around the world, cluttering up the rock n’ roll stage with studied talent and recycled tunes. Hobbyists and hacks with guitars, eager to churn out a limp performance to kill a night and earn a couple free drinks. And then there’s Kurt Vile (the handle his mother gave him) out of Philadelphia. A wild-eyed, baby-faced long-hair who’s spent the last 12 years climbing up the stage or setting up in the back of a bookstore to stand, hunched over and giving breathless crowds from 5 to 500+ a string of bona-fide HITS that transcend genre or some passing aesthetic ghetto. He’s remained a step outside any scene that’s tried to claim him. Whether performing solo or backed by a first class American rock band called the Violators, he’s dextrous and confident on the neck of an acoustic or electric, both relaxed and full of life at the microphone.

8:30pm / $12 / 18+

Tuesday 09.21.10: THE PARSON RED HEADS @ echo

The Parson Red Heads || Listen || Watch

If you’ve spent any time in the Silver Lake/Echo Park axis over the last half decade, chances are you’ve seen the Parson Red Heads. They’re hard to miss, an all-white-costumed crew who have, over the years, swelled to as many as eight people, looking like a cross between Danielson Famile and the Partridge Family, and playing sun-soaked and serene tunes that touched on the Beachwood Sparks and the usual Laurel Canyon suspects (The Byrds, Fleetwood Mac, CSNY).

Their live shows ran the gamut between drowsy folk-tinged acoustic sets and unruly psychedelic guitar workouts. The band played early, often and everywhere, with residencies at Spaceland, the Echo, and Silverlake Lounge that evidenced a visible joy that distinguished them from the often ultra-serious swarm of indie bands. Lamentably, the jubilation and jams will be far less frequent in these parts, with the band’s core trio of Evan Way (guitars, vocals), his wife, Brett Marie Way (drums, vocals), and Sam Fowles (guitar, vocals) announcing that they will be relocating back to their native Oregon. – LA Times

8:30pm / $5 / 18+

Sunday 10.17.10: HOLY FUCK / INDIAN JEWELRY / CLIP’D BEAKS @ echoplex

HOLY FUCK || LISTEN || WATCH

For most of their history, Holy Fuck have operated as the augmented duo of Brian Borcherdt and Graham Walsh, surrounding themselves with a rotating cast of bass players and drummers (sometimes more than one at a time). Over the last few years, though, a consistent lineup has solidified, with bassist Matt McQuaid and drummer Matt Schulz holding down the rhythm section. And as one might expect, the consistency has affected the band’s sound, making Latin, the band’s third album, leaner and funkier than its predecessors.

Borcherdt and Walsh have refined some of their more aggressive noise, and here they use their arsenal of tone generators, guitars, and keyboards to create washes of tone that wrap around the rhythm section like a scratchy blanket. The occasional stab of melody flashes out from the maelstrom, before following the band on its next rhythmic turn. In fact, the album opens with a long ambient wash that builds in volume and intensity before peeling back to reveal the skeletal dance groove of “Red Lights”, a highlight that makes the most of the strange interplay between untethered ambient sound and insistent rhythm.

Even in its new, tighter state, the band can still bring the noise, as on the crunching closer “P.I.G.S.”, whose melodic synth patterns culminate in a vicious stop-time coda that ends the album on its roughest, most brutal note. Holy Fuck’s original mission was essentially to use a live band to create electronic, techno-informed music, and it’s a goal they remain wedded to here. Single “Latin America” in particular seems to pattern its rhythmic breakdowns and buildups on modern dance music.

Holy Fuck have carved out a unique and identifiable sound of their own, and as the band itself has solidified, it’s made their identity even stronger. – Pitchfork

with:
INDIAN JEWELRY
CLIP’D BEAKS

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

8:30pm / $12 advance, $14 day of show / 18+

Friday 11.12.10: THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART / WEEKEND @ echoplex

THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART || LISTEN || WATCH

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart had quite a 2009, and 2010 is shaping up to be even better. They released their self-titled debut last February to universal acclaim, racking up features in magazines like Spin, Rolling Stone and NME, earning Best New Music status from Pitchfork, and touring the US and Europe non-stop. They began 2010 with a month-long tour of Japan, New Zealand and Australia, but somehow managed to take a breath to record this fantastic new single.

Say No To Love is a big step forward for the band, combining The Pains’ now-trademark youthful energy and infectious song craft with a more considered approach to the studio. The result is what we think is the best Pains single yet, a peerless slice of pure pop just right for the summer.

Says the band’s Kip Berman: “It’s got 3 chords, a fuzz pedal and lots of feelings. But instead of recording in the basement like we did for our album and both EPs, we recorded in an actual studio (Stratosphere Sound in New York). We tried hard to make it sound, as Peggy would say, ‘life affirming’ and we’re pretty excited about how it turned out.”

with:
WEEKEND

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

8:30pm / $15 advance, $17 day of show / 18+

Friday 10.22.10: OWEN PALLETT / LITTLE SCREAM @ echoplex

OWEN PALLETT || LISTEN || WATCH

If you’re lucky, you might already know this guy as Final Fantasy. His reasons for dropping that name are probably boring and copyright-related, but still: The name change seems healthy on whole other extra-legal levels. I’ve never known anyone not to be wowed by Final Fantasy’s live show, and Final Fantasy’s live show is just Owen Pallett: the guy himself, a violin, and a loop pedal. It’s about as solo as anything gets– a performance, not a project. Stepping out under his own name feels like an acknowledgement of this, as if Pallett’s ready to cast aside the modesty of having a “project”– it’s just this thing I’ve been working on– and present himself, fully upright, as an artist.

And there are a lot of things about Heartland that feel like Pallett is presenting himself more and more fully as an artist; the scope of breadth and mood of it are all grander, more assured, making ever more of a case that the guy shouldn’t be viewed as a side note (string arranger for the Arcade Fire, the Pet Shop Boys) or a minor interest (D&D enthusiast, guy who titled an album He Poos Clouds). After all, one of this album’s closest cousins in the indie world is a notable, well-regarded one: Joanna Newsom’s Ys. Both are ambitious, classicist, cleverly arranged, lyrically high-concept, dense with possible meaning– and, yes, a little strange. – Pitchfork

with:
LITTLE SCREAM

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

8:30pm / $12 advance, $14 day of show / 18+

Tuesday 11.02.10: STEW AND THE NEGRO PROBLEM @ echoplex

Stew and The Negro Problem

The XXL African-American gent who fronts pop-rock smarties the Negro Problem and records alt-cabaret songs under the chummy moniker Stew has an incredibly, er, black sense of humor for someone whose songs often recall lite-rock icon Bread. But Stew’s latest finds his heart overtaking his sense of absurdity. “Love is not the instrument of pain,” he advises on the song of the same name, “it’s your own mind,” while “The Statue Song” turns a high school English exercise (“Write from the perspective of an inanimate object”) into a blue ballad about stasis and homesickness. YES, HE’S GOOD EW named Stew’s last two LPs Albums of the Year; how many times must you be told? A-

-Will Hermes
Entertainment Weekly

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

8:30pm / Seated: $25 advance, $28 day of show / Standing: $20 advance, $23 day of show / 18+

Thursday 09.02.10: MARIJUANA DEATHSQUADS (featuring P.O.S., Ryan Olson of Gayngs, Har Mar Superstar, Isaac Gale, and former members of Cows) / HOLLOYS / WOAH HUNX @ echo

MARIJUANA DEATHSQUADS (featuring P.O.S., Ryan Olson of Gayngs, Har Mar Superstar, Isaac Gale, and former members of Cows)

Marijuana Deathsquads began as a collaboration between P.O.S and his Building Better Bombs bandmates and has since evolved into one of the most progressive and sprawling noise bands in the Twin Cities. Their Wednesday-night house gigs at Nick and Eddie are notorious for featuring a revolving crew of musical luminaries from around the Twin Cities and for showcasing bombastic and unpredictable sets of improvised mania. Which is no surprise; spearheaded by emerging producer Ryan Olson, Marijuana Deathsquads’ band members and collaborators weave a tangled web of overlapping side projects that span from Minneapolis to Eau Claire and beyond. The band’s set in the park will feature a live collaboration with P.O.S (pictured) and members of Olson’s internationally renowned recording project Gayngs. – Citypages

with
WOAH HUNX
HOLLOYS || Listen

8:30pm / $5 / 18+

Tuesday 10.05.10: Filter and Echo Present TALVIN SINGH @ echoplex

TALVIN SINGH

Talvin Singh born 1970 in Leytonstone, east London is an accomplished Tabla player, electronic musician, music theorist, record producer and DJ.

As a solo artist, he is perhaps best known as the father of modern Asian electronica music, though he is also a highly celebrated tabla player, record producer and visual practitioner.

Drawing inspiration from the classical Indian arts, Singh first came to prominence as tabla percussionist in the 1980s London music scene.

Whilst still in his mid teens, Singh traveled to India to earn pupilage from Acharya Pandit Laxman Singh, master tabla maestro of the Punjab school. This period made an indelible mark on the young artist and he has since continued to practice and perform the art form internationally. Singh’s collaborations with Indian classical musicians include Ustad Sultan Khan, Rakesh Churasia, Ustad Imrat Khan and Ustad Amjad Ali Khan amongst scores of others.

Singh also became involved in experimental music collaborations beginning in the late 1980s, working with Sun Ra and Courtney helping to popularize the burgeoning Asian underground sub-culture movement. Singh has collaborated with several musical pioneers in various genre’s including Bjork, Blondie, Sioux & the Banshees, Madonna, DJ Spooky, The Master Musicians of Jajouka, Jay Z and Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

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

8:30pm / $15 advance, $17 day of show / 18+

Tuesday 09.07.10: Buzz Bands & Al Borde Present WAIT. THINK. FAST – Album Release Show / LIGHT FM / MARVELOUS TOY / FUTURE GHOST @ echo

WAIT. THINK. FAST || Listen || Watch

Singer-pianist Jacqueline Santillan shifts between Spanish and English vocals with an inviting casualness, an approach to contemporary pop that takes a multi-ethnic view for granted. Rare indeed is a band that so comfortably executes West Coast traditions, be it the SoCal country of “Trouble,” the working-class guitar vamp of “Covina,” the Latin lament of “Jornaleras” or the orchestral, Hollywood-ready grandeur of “Bad Night.” Think of it as the musical equivalent of Los Angeles sprawl — without the headaches. – LA Times

with
LIGHT FM
MARVELOUS TOY
FUTURE GHOST

plus DJ:
Neil from Origami

8:30pm / Free for 21+, $5 for under 21 / 18+

Tuesday 08.24.10: HENRY WOLFE / CHARLIE WADHAMS / SUNDAY SOUNDTRACKS / THE HORSE THIEVES @ echo

HENRY WOLFE || Listen || Watch

Henry Wolfe had the crowd weeping and holding themselves. Almost any word he says cuts straight to the core. His dreamy voice and lyrical conciseness just about rip your chest open, but gently. – LA Weekly

with:
CHARLIE WADHAMS
SUNDAY SOUNDTRACKS
HORSE THIEVES

8:30pm / $5 / 18+

Thursday 08.26.10: VAUD AND THE VILLAINS / LIL GIZZELLE / RT N THE 44S @ echoplex

Vaud & The Villains || Listen || Watch

Vaud & his ragtag band of villains are on the run from the long arm again. This time, they’ve landed just up river from the Creseent City. They come there to find Big Daddy’s…a speako disguised as a church. They are more at home in a dark, back room rollin’ dice and making music than in the schoolhouse or in the stockyards. They’re a bit on the wild side but they won’t hurt you none. The boys play with dynamite and the girls like to buck and bite. But you don’t have to worry. They like new folks. They got a reputation for being mean as a snake, and as sweet as an apple on Christmas day. They got scruples but they often misplace ‘em. They are everything your mama and papa warned you about and they are every bad thing that feels so good to do. If you got a secret, if you’re someone good who’s ever done something bad, if you got the man standing over you every day squeezin’ every ounce of spirit out of you…you have some villain in you. See what they do is they rock you 1930s style. They got a smokin’ hot horn section, leggy dames to match, rock steady rhythm, and soaring gospel harmonies. They are not your grandma’s depression era revival show, they are a big, bad, bawdy, good time band. They are gonna fill up the speako with music and spirit and noise…and you gonna bring the noise. And at the end of the night, when you are burning with the fever they’ve left you with…you’re gonna go out in the world and villainize it. You’re never gonna be the same.

with:
Lil Gizzelle
RT n’ The 44s

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

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

Friday 09.17.10: PANTHA DU PRINCE / THE SIGHT BELOW @ echoplex

Pantha Du Prince || Listen || Watch

Though he lacks the crossover name recognition of producers like the Field, Burial, and Lindstrøm, Germany’s Hendrik Weber is one of the leading figures in modern techno. As Pantha du Prince, he has up until now released two albums of meticulous, minimal-inspired house music. The last, 2007′s This Bliss, found the rare balance between ambient sweep and dancefloor bounce, and it’s only grown in stature since its release. In part because of a move from the smaller Dial Records to Rough Trade and guest spots from some indie heavyweights, his new LP, Black Noise, is being met with more excitement this time around. And with good reason: Said to be born out of a period of musical exploration in the Swiss Alps, the record is both a stylistic departure for Weber and an extension of what he already does well.

Weber is unlike most minimal techno producers in that he doesn’t look to locate one groove and ride it for the course of a track. His songs open up, unfurl, and regularly change course. With Black Noise he develops this to incorporate a wide range of sounds– field recordings, atonal noise, and stray percussion all populate the album. Above all, here he aims to reproduce sounds already in nature, and where This Bliss was airy and celestial, this record is gritty and earthbound. It’s darker, more forceful, and more chaotic. – Pitchfork

with:
The Sight Below

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

8:30pm / $12advance, $14 day of show / 18+

Friday 08.20.10: MISHKA LA FALL RELEASE PARTY @ echoplex

Los Angeles, we’re to announce our Fall 2010 release party on Friday, August 20th at The Echoplex. Our LA store opening party was such a blast we decided to do it all over again with another huge bash for all of our left coast family and fans. As with the last party it’s free if you RSVP in advance and only a measly $5 if you don’t.

We’ve booked an incredible line-up for the event featuring performances by Pictureplane, Blessure Grave, Puro Instinct (formerly Pearl Harbor) and Tearist. And if that wasn’t enough there’s going to be some balls to the wall DJ sets from Acid Girls, The Captain and Star Eyes (of Trouble & Bass) and Killing Spree (Zane & Gibby). I can assure you it’s going to be on hell of a night!

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

RSVP at rsvp@mishkanyc.com

8pm / Free with RSVP, $5 without / 18+

Saturday 10.23.10: THE OCTOPUS PROJECT / STARF*CKER @ echoplex

THE OCTOPUS PROJECT || Listen || Watch

Drums vs. drum machines. Samplers vs. guitars. Take these oppositional elements, add a willingness to start a band first and learn how to use the gear later, crank it up to 25,000 and under certain laboratory conditions another band like The Octopus Project might emerge. The Octopus Project has created a unique sound perhaps best described as “ambidextrous equipment failure junk-tronica,” merging the experimentation of progressive post-rock, the blips and bleeps of electronica and the raw, human ROCK of rock.

Toto Miranda, Josh Lambert and Yvonne Lambert play with un-self-conscious joie de vivre. They create irresistible music – a feat all the more amazing considering none of their songs follow anything close to a rote pop, rock or dance structure. You can only call what they do happiness.

with:
STARF*CKER

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

8:30pm / $12 advance, $14 day of show / 18+

Wednesday 10.13.10: THE ACORN / LEIF VOLLEBEKK @ echo

The Acorn || Listen || Watch

The Acorn displayed a knack for writing simple melodies stretched out over the bones of indie-folk, afrobeat, crooked rock and a hint of something more epic. It was never quite clear how the shapes fitted together or how the spell was cast, but there was no disputing the wondrous results. For anyone who fretted that Glory Hope Mountain might have been a beautiful fluke, No Ghost confirms The Acorn’s credentials, building thrillingly on the band’s ability to access a variety of moods and textures. It veers from plangent ballads via scrubby experimentation to conventional rock dynamics, and it’s not incidental that No Ghost was recorded in a cottage in the back of beyond in Quebec, the kind of place where phone signals peter out into static. On occasion the songs here are almost hypnotically hushed. At other times they’re both louder and more unhinged than ever before. There’s always been muscle in The Acorn’s music, now it’s simply more pronounced. It’s most evident on the abrasive “I Made The Law”, a minor-key march that unravels like a curse, and the title track, which kicks off like REM’s “Finest Worksong”, the crunchy riff dodging a maze of harmonics before breaking into a sun-dappled chorus. – UNCUT

with:
Leif Vollebekk

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

Tuesday 10.05.10: FIRST AID KIT / FERRABY LIONHEART / BASIA BULAT @ echo

FIRST AID KIT || Watch

First Aid Kit’s debut is all delicate picks and humble strums, where many girls its makers’ age – they were born in 1990 and 1993 – match their pulses to the skip-along sounds of the pop Top 40. Though the Söderbergs once sang along to Britney hits, their original fare is of the world-weary, heavy-hearted variety; disregard acknowledgment of their age and one could assume these voices sing from experience, not fanciful imagination.

It’s also tough to trace the roots of this material to Scandinavia’s fertile musical soil, as its primary touchstones are artists exclusively of stateside lineage – the bruised, soul-exposed lo-fi Americana of Bill Callahan; Cat Power’s spare, smoke-trail-detailed evocations; the soft-focus dynamics of Midlake and Fleet Foxes. As such questions can be posed, as to the ‘authenticity’ of First Aid Kit’s repertoire; but so finely accomplished is the sisters’ execution that doubts are soon dismissed.

While songs are, at times, little more than sketches – embellishments are at a premium, much on offer bare-boned and probably better for it – there’s only ever one element that’s properly illuminated: the vocals. And the sisters can sing, wonderfully so, uncommon richness wrapping itself around syllables drawled with all the ache of an individual battered by the conflicts of love, but stubbornly still standing. They can hold the listener in a trance-like state, the grip only broken when a sharp acoustic cuts the cord to mark the arrival of another song. – BBC

with:
FERRABY LIONHEART || Listen
BASIA BULAT || Listen

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

Wednesday 11.17.10: IDLEWILD @ echo

Idlewild || Listen

Both a leap forward artistically as well as conceptually, Idlewild’s sixth studio LP, Post Electric Blues, will be released stateside October 12 via Nice Music Group. The revered Scottish folk-punk septet will follow this up with their long-awaited return to the U.S. this fall, for the first time in five years. The tour will launch with a two-night stand at The Echo in Los Angeles on November 16 and 17 and snake its way up the West Coast for several dates before heading east to New York for back-to-back nights at the Bowery Ballroom on November 22 and 23, then finally wrapping in Chicago.

This album was an experiment for the veteran band, who after more than a decade of having the support of a record label, found themselves in 2007 on their own. Not wanting to continue down the same perilous path they’d walk before, they took a chance; instead of chasing a deal, they turned to their fans. The gamble was a triumph – both emotionally and financially – and an outpouring of fan support energized the band. Thousands of fans pre-ordered the album via the band’s website and facilitated its creation. The result is an album that pays tribute to the group’s 15-year history while pushing their sound into new directions.

Post Electric Blues finds the band with a rejuvenated spirit, as the Boss-like-bombast that pours out of the speakers attests. Formed in 1995 in Edinburgh, Idlewild has consistently churned out albums oozing of melodic, hook-driven pop-rock and for their latest, they leap from Fleetwood Mac epic folk/rock/pop peaks to joyous Loch-side sing-alongs with the same devil-may-care attitude that put the band on the map. It’s the sound of a deft and defiant group, comprised of frontman Roddy Woomble on vocals; Rod Jones on guitar, backing vocals, keyboards; Colin Newton on drums, percussion; Allan Stewart on guitar and Gareth Russell on bass.

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

Tuesday 11.16.10: IDLEWILD @ echo

Idlewild || Listen

Both a leap forward artistically as well as conceptually, Idlewild’s sixth studio LP, Post Electric Blues, will be released stateside October 12 via Nice Music Group. The revered Scottish folk-punk septet will follow this up with their long-awaited return to the U.S. this fall, for the first time in five years. The tour will launch with a two-night stand at The Echo in Los Angeles on November 16 and 17 and snake its way up the West Coast for several dates before heading east to New York for back-to-back nights at the Bowery Ballroom on November 22 and 23, then finally wrapping in Chicago.

This album was an experiment for the veteran band, who after more than a decade of having the support of a record label, found themselves in 2007 on their own. Not wanting to continue down the same perilous path they’d walk before, they took a chance; instead of chasing a deal, they turned to their fans. The gamble was a triumph – both emotionally and financially – and an outpouring of fan support energized the band. Thousands of fans pre-ordered the album via the band’s website and facilitated its creation. The result is an album that pays tribute to the group’s 15-year history while pushing their sound into new directions.

Post Electric Blues finds the band with a rejuvenated spirit, as the Boss-like-bombast that pours out of the speakers attests. Formed in 1995 in Edinburgh, Idlewild has consistently churned out albums oozing of melodic, hook-driven pop-rock and for their latest, they leap from Fleetwood Mac epic folk/rock/pop peaks to joyous Loch-side sing-alongs with the same devil-may-care attitude that put the band on the map. It’s the sound of a deft and defiant group, comprised of frontman Roddy Woomble on vocals; Rod Jones on guitar, backing vocals, keyboards; Colin Newton on drums, percussion; Allan Stewart on guitar and Gareth Russell on bass.

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

Saturday 08.07.10: BIANCA’S BROKENFOOT BENEFIT with VENUS ILLUMINATO / BLACK MARKET SOUND SYSTEM / FERSURELITZER / LYSOLGANG / LAST ROUND DOWN @ echo

Venus Illuminato
Black Market Sound System
Fersurelitzer
lysolgang
Last Round Down

3pm / $10 / 18+

Thursday 08.12.10: HIT + RUN presets SOUNDCRASH with BLU / BLACKBIRD / THAVIUS BECK / RAS G / ZACKEY FORCE FUNK / KOFI / TEEBS and Surprise Guests @ echo

with:
BLU
BLACKBIRD
THAVIUS BECK
RAS G
ZACKEY FORCE FUNK
KOFI
TEEBS
and Surprise Guests

9pm / $5, free if you wear a Hit + Run shirt / 18+

Thursday 10.21.10: FILM SCHOOL / LOVELIKEFIRE @ echo

FILM SCHOOL || LISTEN || WATCH

Los Angeles post-shoegaze outfit Film School have been together for nearly a decade, and with their fourth LP ‘Fission’ coming out on July 20, the band is more congealed than ever, serving up a melodic, fervent, hazy and deeply collaborative effort. Instead of mourning the separation from their label, the band gleaned new inspiration from the change. “It’s like any breakup — you either bury your head in the sand or you use that energy to create something,” lead singer Greg Bertens tells Spinner. “This band’s creative fuel always seems to come from a mix of the freeing energy you get from separation and the challenge to prove you’re still worthy.”

Their new single, ‘Heart Full of Pentagons,’ showcases a shift in sound as bassist Lorelei Plotczyk contributes vocals. With music born of band-practice jam material and idea sprung forth by a friend’s Facebook status, ‘Heart Full of Pentagons’ is an ode to a five-way love triangle — a love pentagon, if you will. It’s a “good, messy” story and a tease of what’s more to come. – Spinner

with
LOVELIKEFIRE || LISTEN

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

Wednesday 09.29.10: AN EVENING WITH THE FELICE BROTHERS @ echo

THE FELICE BROTHERS || Listen

The Felice Brothers and their long time friends and band mates Greg Farley and Christmas Clapton, come to us from the Catskill Mountains, where a homegrown sound has been working its way through the bloodlines for generations. Their rambling journey so far has brought them from busking in New York City subway stations, to tours across the world that have included enthusiastically received performances at major music festivals including Bonnaroo, All Points West, Outside Lands, and Langerado.

Titled with a phrase drawn from the pages of Mark Twain, Yonder Is The Clock is a nod to all of the American ghosts that lend their narrative and characters to the Felice Brothers’ April 7th release. Their studio was built from the remains of an abandoned chicken coop and it was there over the summer and fall of 2008 that they wrote and recorded this new collection of songs. Presented by Team Love Records, Yonder Is The Clock is teaming with tales of love, death, betrayal, baseball, train stations, phantoms, pandemics, jail cells, rolling rivers and frozen winter nights. This is music that hasn’t lost sight of the history of the land from which it came, and that quality alone makes The Felice Brothers the next great American band.

8:30pm / $15adv; $17dos / 18+

Thursday 09.09.10: WE BARBARIANS / SUPERHUMANOIDS / TIJUANA PANTHERS @ echo

We Barbarians || Listen || Watch

So, there’s this We Barbarians album called There’s This There’s That and it has some things I should probably tell you about. For example, in order to review it properly I would have to tell you of all of the comparisons that come to mind while listening to the album, or at least that I’ve gathered from the six times I perused it. Some of the songs remind me a tiny bit of their Long Beach neighbors Cold War Kids while other songs portray elements of War-era U2, with anthemic drum beats and precise, cutting distortion. Other songs make me think echoey, orchestral pop, which can be found on “Trickle Down”. “War Clouds” is a pertinent song asking poignant questions about war and the state of the turbulent world around us… but I’m not going to tell you all of that because I mostly just want to say that it is a really great album and that you should listen to it, and re-listen to it again and again. – IndieRockReviews

with:
Superhumanoids
Tijuana Panthers

9pm / $8 / 18+

Thursday 09.23.10: JIM JONES REVUE / THE BELLRAYS / COASTING @ echo

Jim Jones Revue || Watch

The Jim Jones Revue wants to save your soul. Former Thee Hypnotics and Black Moses veteran Jim Jones’s screaming vocals and Elliott Mortimer doing indecent things to the piano combine with Rupert Orton’s guitar, Gavin Jay’s bass and Nick Jones’s drums for an unholy orgy of rock ‘n’ roll idols from Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis to the MC5 and the Sonics. – Spinner

With:
The BellRays || Listen
Coasting

8:30pm / $12 advance, $14 day of show / 18+

Sunday 09.26.10: PART TIME PUNKS with FRANKIE ROSE [Slumberland Records LP release party] + HUNX & HIS PUNX @ echo

FRANKIE ROSE [Slumberland Records LP release party]
HUNX & HIS PUNX

resident dj Michael Stock spinning mutant disco * Postpunk * indiepop

FMI: Part Time Punks on Myspace

10pm / $8 / 18+

Sunday 09.19.10: PART TIME PUNKS @ echo

resident dj Michael Stock spinning mutant disco * Postpunk * indiepop

FMI: Part Time Punks on Myspace

10pm / $5 / 18+

Sunday 09.12.10: PART TIME PUNKS with THE PROCEDURE CLUB / SWEATER GIRLS / DJ Mike Schulman from SLUMBERLAND RECORDS! @ echo

THE PROCEDURE CLUB [Slumberland Records LP release party]
SWEATER GIRLS

Guest DJ Mike Schulman from SLUMBERLAND RECORDS!

resident dj Michael Stock spinning mutant disco * Postpunk * indiepop

FMI: Part Time Punks on Myspace

10pm / $8 / 18+

Sunday 09.05.10: PART TIME PUNKS – SMITHS/MORRISSEY NITE with guest DJ JOSE MALDONADO @ echo

Guest DJ:
Jose Maldonado (from The Sweet And Tender Hooligans)

resident dj Michael Stock spinning mutant disco * Postpunk * indiepop

FMI: Part Time Punks on Myspace

10pm / $5 / 18+

Sunday 11.14.10: MARGOT AND THE NUCLEAR SO AND SO’S @ echoplex

MARGOT AND THE NUCLEAR SO AND SO’S || LISTEN

Margot & the nuclear so and so’s third album Buzzard is primal and truculent, going straight for the vitals. Opener “Birds” finds the band going to places they haven’t before – lovely, languid verses progressing into fuzzed out, howling choruses throughout the song’s twists and turns – while still holding to the guitar-based ethos on which the album is founded. “Lunatic, lunatic, lunatic” may be familiar sonic territory for singer/guitarist Richard Edwards, but the (very) dark humor that slowly unveils is something that he has only flirted with (innocently) in the past. “New York City Hotel Blues” and “Claws Off” distill Margot’s music to its essence: melody-driven pop music with teeth, set adrift against Edwards’ surreal and emotional, if slightly twisted lyrical tendencies. Similarly, “I Do” refines the evocative chamber-pop for which the band is known to its most heart-rending fundamentals, supported by simply Richards’ plaintive voice and an acoustic guitar.

And there is, of course, an intriguing path that led Margot towards this evolution in sound, which contrasts the lively optimism of 2008’s Animal! (and/or Not Animal, simultaneously released after contention with former label Epic). Buzzard was recorded over one freezing month last winter in an abandoned movie theater in Chicago’s Ukrainian Village neighborhood. Edwards had taken up residence there after leaving his hometown of Indianapolis, when the house where he and the previous seven members of the band had lived was damaged in a fire last summer. Once settled, he began writing a collection of songs loosely inspired by the 8mm ‘nudie cutie’ films unearthed in the theater’s basement, and the youthful reaction of mixed emotions that the films evoked.

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

8:30pm / $14 advance, $16 day of show / 18+

Friday 09.24.10: CLUB UNDERGROUND @ echo

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

FMI: Club Underground on Facebook

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

Friday 09.17.10: CLUB UNDERGROUND with MEN @ echo

MEN || Listen

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

FMI: Club Underground on Facebook

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

Friday 09.10.10: CLUB UNDERGROUND @ echo

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

FMI: Club Underground on Facebook

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

Thursday 08.26.10: JULIETTE COMMAGERE / PAPERCRANES / LUKE RATHBORNE / ESTELLE RASKINA @ echo

Juliette Commagere

Lately I’ve been so knocked out hearing these great and gorgeous pop tunes created and performed by the lovely Juliette Commagère. You might know her as the Keytar-slinging, charismatic front woman for the adventurous indie-rock band Hello Stranger, which she formed with drummer Joaquin Cooder; or you might have heard her singing and playing on recent endeavors by Avenged Sevenfold and Puscifer. That varied batch of interests hints as to the unclichéd gifts of the multitalented Commagère, which are given a fuller flowering on her new solo album, Queens Die Proudly (Aeronaut Records). A vividly orchestrated pop-art project veering from the wistful and elegiac to the epic and otherwordly, Queens is like a No. 1 chart-topper from another dimension, where remarkably memorable songs are given evocative musical twists via her classically designed song structures and sensual ’70s synth stylings. On her recent cross-country residency stints, Commagère has assembled local orchestras (via Craigslist!) of strings and horns, which brings a radiant gleam to her superb material. – LA Weekly

with:
Papercranes
Luke Rathborne || Listen
Estelle Raskina

8:30pm / $7 / 18+

Tuesday 08.24.10: GZA / FREDDIE GIBBS / KENDRICK LAMAR / TOKS / ABCNT @ echoplex

GZA

As the members of the Wu-Tang Clan enter their 40s, that old line about old(er) dogs and new tricks seems less and less relevant. Take GZA, who got his start rapping at Brooklyn block parties in the mid-’80s. The crucial Wu Clansman released a bona fide classic in 1995, Liquid Swords, and followed it up with a series of solid albums and guest spots that consistently qualified his title within the crew as “The Genius,” a lyricist whose every couplet displays a serious mastery of street smarts and poetic device — exactly the kind of thing that makes for great crossover appeal. GZA has been smart enough not to change up his winning style, but he’s also proved his savvy in reaching out to his more rock-oriented fans — hipsters, specifically — not only performing Liquid Swords from beginning to end at Pitchfork’s 2007 festival, but collaborating with garage punks Black Lips last year. But the Genius in Echo Park? That’s both a surprise and a New Year’s gift. – LA Weekly

With:
Freddie Gibbs || Watch || MP3
Kendrick Lamar || MP3

DJs:
Toks
Abcnt

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

8:30pm / $16 advance, $18 day of show / 18+

Thursday 08.05.10: Proximal Records release party for “Proximity One: Narrative of a City” with BENEDEK / LAWRENCE GREY / SAHY UHNS / DAEDELUS @ echo

Proximal Records release party for “Proximity One: Narrative of a City”

Anyone holding onto the notion that the L.A. beat scene is a lil’ hometown secret probably also thinks sailboarding with baby is a good idea.

So before you go and cry foul that a greenhorn indie label, Proximal Records, has announced its arrival with a compilation celebrating the local scene, listen to the actual product, and be thankful that it’s local folk who are tending this latest flame.

On August 10, Proximal will release Proximity One: Narrative of a City, an 18-track collection of music from Low End Theory-familiar beat musicians like Dâm-Funk, Daedelus, Baths (as [Post-Foetus]), Shlohmo, Tokimonsta, Dr. Strangeloop and Teebs, alongside tracks from Proximal’s own promising stable: BearClaw, Benedek and Wake among others.

Also included in that lineup is Sahy Uhns, a.k.a. Carl Madison Burgin, who co-founded Proximal with Grammy-winning composer/producer Jeff Elmassian. (Bonus trivia: Elmassian made his orchestral debut with the L.A. Phil at the age of 12.)

Also, mark your calendars: The release party for Proximity One goes down August 5 at The Echo, featuring Daedelus, Tokimonsta, Lawrence Grey, Benedek and Say Uhns himself. – LA Weekly

Featuring performances by
Benedek
Lawrence Grey
Sahy Uhns
Tokimonsta
Daedelus< /strong>

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

Tuesday 08.03.10: IPO presents NEW MAXIMUM DONKEY / COLA-COLA / MOOSTACHE / THE ACTIVE SET / LOCH AND KEY / PUPPIES AND KITTENS / JEREMIAH STREETER @ echo

New Maximum Donkey

“New Maximumdonkey is poised and ready to make a charge at the world of music with a brand of power-pop that is all their own, fueled by a wry sense of humor and rich melodies that have you singing along by the 2nd time through the disc. ”
-Jeff Johnson, CDReviews.com

“Loud, brass and in your face, this American trio from the States offers an infectious, edgy punk-rock. NMD certainly knows how to start a party! Highlights include Good Time, the swinging 60’s pop of Radio Friendly and the energetic guitar heavy stand-out track Swing which would sound amazing live”
-Chris Anderson, Buzz Magazine

with:
COLA-COLA
Moostache
Joel Cristofer
The Active Set
Loch & Key
Puppies and Kittens
Jeremiah Streeter

7pm / $8 / 18+

Tuesday 10.26.10: REIGNING SOUND @ echo

Reigning Sound || Listen || Watch

The Reigning Sound was born in Memphis, TN. Its daddy was a Flash & The Memphis Casuals 45 and its mother a Barbara Pittman single. Life was not easy for this musical what-not. Kids shunned it for its rock`n’roll sensibility and obvious lack of polished shtick. In true stepchild fashion though, the band continued to develop a unique sound all it’s own that didn’t really focus on any of the preconceived genres. Within weeks they found their audience and were shakin’ down the house at clubs all over town. “Hail, Hail Rock ‘n’ Roll and fuck your prefab garage” appears to be some sort of battle cry for them. This from their leader Greg Cartwright whose previous bands The Oblivians & Compulsive Gamblers were so closely linked to the “Garage Punk” stereotype of ten years ago. “We were never really like most of the other bands” says Greg.” I covered R&B, gospel or country songs with absolutely no regard for any 60′s aesthetic or sound, I just enjoyed finding an obscure song and breathing some new life into it.” This same instinct for a truly inspired cover or a genius original can be found in the Reigning Sound. Greg is aided by bass player Jeremy Scott, organist/guitarist Alex Greene and drummer Greg Roberson.

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

Friday 07.30.10: SMOG, MEDIA CONTENDER, IHEARTCOMIX present KASTLE / LOL BOYS / KNYPHY @ echoplex

KASTLE
Seclusiasis (aka B. RICH) Pittsburgh

LOL BOYS
Nightshifters, Idiot House, Los Angeles

KNYPHY
Smog, Los Angeles

@ ECHOPLEX
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

Presented by:
SMOG
MEDIA CONTENDER
IHEARTCOMIX

If you purchased tickets in advance at $10, we will honor the ticket as 2 for 1

9pm / $5 / 18+

Tuesday 07.27.10: Ah Ritualism and LA Record Present JESUS MAKES THE SHOTGUN SOUND / GENEVA JACUZZI / WEAVE! / ENOCHIAN KEYS / EXTRAVAGASMA DJS @ echoplex

Jesus Makes the Shotgun Sound

“This band should be playing Disney Hall with the combined force of the L.A. Philharmonic behind them. Listen to this album soon.” -The LA Record

“Since 2004, the group has come to encompass the ideals of D.I.Y. culture.” – BMI Indie Spotlight

“Rather than attempting to impress elitists with their aural exposition, the band focuses on weaving a tight, intricate web of harmonic progressions, and haunting melodies that convey raw, unprocessed, unrefined emotion.” – Inland Empire Weekly

“Once Jesus Makes The Shotgun Sound’s louder as in really, really, deafeningly loud songs start, I feel less ashamed of my near-tears. I almost can’t resist the urge to start writhing a bit myself; it’s obvious that my emotions aren’t being manipulated by any run-of-the-mill dudes in their 20s.” – Anthem Magazine

“One of the forefront bands in a tremendously tight-knit and fertile young scene centered in L.A. Jesus Makes The Shotgun Sound make music that exists on the perpetual frontier of maximum rock epicness.” – The Stranger

with:
Geneva Jacuzzi || Listen
WEAVE!
The Enochian Keys

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

8:30pm / $8 / 18+

Thursday 07.22.10: BARRIO TIGER / NEIGHBORHOOD BULLYS / STAB CITY @ 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:
The Neighborhood Bullys || Listen
Stab City

Plus DJ Cuz’n Roy

8:30pm / $5 / 18+

Thursday 09.30.10: JAMIE LIDELL / TWIN SHADOW @ echoplex

JAMIE LIDELL || Listen || Watch

If you’ve ever seen electro-soul whiz Jamie Lidell live, you know the guy can deliver ample amounts of ecstatic joy. It just feels good to be in the same room as him. So it makes a lot of sense that talented people including Beck, Feist, Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor, Daniel Rossen, and Chris Bear, Wilco’s Pat Sansone, legendary R&B drummer James Gadson, soul belter Nikka Costa, Beck keyboardist Brian LeBarton, and producer/songwriter Gonzales would want to help out on Lidell’s new album. That album is titled Compass and due out May 18 courtesy of Warp.

This isn’t the first time Lidell has worked with Feist (he contributed to The Reminder sessions) or Beck, who got Jamie (and Feist and Wilco and Gadson) to sing and play on his most recent Record Club covers project. Compass was recorded at Hudson Studios in Los Angeles (where Beck and Lidell teamed up to write and produce some songs), Hollywood’s Ocean Way Recording, New York City, and Feist’s ranch in Ontario’s Niagara Escarpment (where Feist helped write and sang background vocals, while Chris Taylor did some producing, mixing, and bass clarinet playing). – Pitchfork

with:
TWIN SHADOW

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

8:30pm / $20.00 advance, $23.00 day of show / 18+

Tuesday 08.31.10: BOBBY BARE JR. / BLUE GIANT / STEPHEN BROWER AND THE SILENT MAJORITY @ echo

Bobby Bare Jr. || Listen || Watch

You know when an album’s opening track is titled “Your Goat Is On Fire,” it’s going to be awesome.

What makes that prospect even more awesome is that the album is from veteran Nashville rocker Bobby Bare Jr., who will be releasing his sixth album—his first album in nearly four years—this summer.

Bare and David Vandervelde co-produced the album, titled A Storm- A Tree- My Mother’s Head. Special Guest Stars on the album include Tom Blankenship, Carl Broemel and Patrick Hallahan from My Morning Jacket and Bare’s musician father, Bobby Bare Sr., who co-wrote a few songs on the album. – Paste

with:
Blue Giant || Listen
Stephen Brower & The Silent Majority

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

Thursday 07.15.10: TEEN INC / THE SAMPS @ Echo

Teen Inc

Walking into Eagle Rock’s Showcave recently to see the first-ever performance of Teen Inc. was a little like being in the audience during that scene in Back to the Future when Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly riffs on Chuck Berry’s guitar stylings. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was hearing: There were hints of something familiar, plaintive vocals reminiscent of Prince, with traces of pop, funk, R&B and club-esque Balearic beats layered with the production styles of a D’Angelo or Dam-Funk. But one thing was clear: The heartfelt, complex sound is completely cutting edge. To date, the still unsigned quartet—fronted by brothers Andrew and Daniel Aged, both former studio musicians for Raphael Saadiq, Steve Miller, Cee-Lo and Pharrell Williams—has only a two-song EP, Fountains/Friend of the Night, which they produced, mixed and recorded themselves. With a full-length album in the works, it’s a lock that their current limited output is a temporary condition. – LA Times Magazine

with:
The Samps

9:30pm / $5 / 18+

Thursday 07.15.10: Threadless West Coast Social with special guest DJ GREG DULLI (of The Twilight Singers) @ echo

Threadless West Coast Social

featuring special guest DJ
Greg Dulli of The Twilight Singers

RSVP at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=105036706215945

7:30pm / FREE / 18+

Friday 07.16.10: TRANNYSHACK LA @ echoplex

Back at our fabulous LA venue, Echoplex for our summer edition!

With performances by:
Lady Bear
Squeaky Blonde
Rhea Litre
Hoku Mama
Fade-dra
Raya Light
Ethel Merman
Monistat
Shenana Iggins
Phyllis Navidad
and your hostess Heklina!

Special guest Kembra Pfahler (Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black)

DJ’s Hotne$$a & David Banjela

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

9pm / $10 / 21+

Thursday 09.09.10: CRACKER / CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN @ echoplex

Cracker || Listen || Watch

Cracker, the group that veritably introduced brash irreverence and irony into alt-rock, are back and in top form on their 429 Records debut, Sunrise In The Land Of Milk And Honey.

This rich new trove of sharp-witted songs showcases a bristling, late 70’s – early 80’s power pop punk aesthetic which hits as hard as it did at the band’s formation 17 years ago. Eight albums (one platinum and three gold) and a barrel full of anthemic hit songs later, Cracker endures, using their ability to weave decades of influences into an album that is seamlessly riveting.

In Sunrise…, long-time partners David Lowery and Johnny Hickman, 12-year Cracker drummer Frank Funaro and bassist Sal Maida (since 2006), train a watchful eye on the current socio-musical landscape as they weave an eerie yet strangely soothing story of escapism, apocalypse and renewal. Friends John Doe, Patterson Hood and Adam Duritz (whose mega-band Counting Crows was once produced by Lowery) make spirited guest appearances. The recording was helmed by Athens, GA-based producer/engineer David Barbe, a longtime friend of Lowery who has manned consoles for the likes of Son Volt and the alt-Southern rock band Drive-By Truckers.

The explosive title track that wraps the 11-song collection is thematic, belying its seemingly cheery title to take a tough-edged look at the precarious times we live in. Ever the observant storyteller, Lowery calls it like he sees it: the affluence and wealth America seemed to have these past decades was built on a mirage. The sun shines a harsh light on a landscape of decay. The golden age, the promised land, the land of milk and honey, never materialized.

with:
Camper Van Beethoven || Listen

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

8pm / $18 advance, $20 day of show / 18+

Tuesday 08.17.10: Aquarium Drunkard Presents COTTON JONES / THE PARSON RED HEADS / ROADSIDE GRAVES @ echo

Cotton Jones || MP3

“Glorylight And Christie” is the first single off Cotton Jones upcoming LP, Tall Hours In The Glowstream. While always a commendable tunesmith, under the Cotton Jones moniker Michael Nau has truly grown into his craft. Aesthetically, he’s found himself. Nau’s brand of dreamy Americana, while firmly rooted in the 21st century, is surrounding by ghosts, fever dreams…past lives. Look for it August 24th via Suicide Squeeze. – Aquarium Drunkard

with:
The Parson Red Heads || Listen
Roadside Graves || Listen

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

Sunday 10.10.10: Echo & Filter present TOM TOM CLUB / PAUL RYDER @ echoplex

TOM TOM CLUB || Watch

In 1981, during a break from their band Talking Heads, Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth recorded the first Tom Tom Club record down in Nassau, Bahamas. Creating a funky hybrid of dance, soul and reggae with a completely different sound from Talking Heads, it was their first gold album. The first single from that album, “Wordy Rappinghood,” was an international smash. The second single, “Genius Of Love,” was one of the very first hip hop hits and has been recorded and sampled by more than fifty different artists from Grand Master Flash to P Diddy, and Mariah Carey. Tom Tom Club has recorded six albums. The band has always been made up of great friends and family. Tina and Chris were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2002.

with:
PAUL RYDER

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

8pm / $20 advance, $23 day of show / 18+

Saturday 08.14.10: HERCULES AND LOVE AFFAIR / TEEN INC / DJ PAUL V. @ echoplex

HERCULES & LOVE AFFAIR || Listen

1978 was a pivotal year in the evolution of dance music. Saturday Night Fever had hijacked disco from the gay, black and Latino underground scene and turned it into a strutting global pop phenomenon spurring DJs like Frankie Knuckles in Chicago and Larry Levan in New York to push the expansive, electronic dreams of Gorgio Moroder (I Feel Love) and Walter Gibbons (Ten Percent) towards what would eventually become House and Garage.

1978 was also the year that Andy Butler was born. Exactly 30 years later, with a little help from his vocalist friends Antony (of Antony and the Johnsons), Kim Ann Foxman and Nomi, Andy is reviving the spirit of real disco and the house sounds it spawned with enough passion and finesse to ignite both the underground and the pop world all over again.

In its name, sound and romantic, heroic spirit, Hercules And Love Affair is the result of Andy’s dedication to the Classics: both the myths and legends of Ancient Greece and Rome that captured his imagination as a child, and the timeless club tracks that soundtracked the euphoria and delirium of his adolescence and adult life.

with:
TEEN INC
DJ PAUL V.

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

9pm / $18 advance, $20 day of show / 18+

Friday 08.27.10: CLUB UNDERGROUND with LITTLE ONES / DOWNTOWN/UNION / KISSING TIGERS @ echo

Little Ones || Listen
Downtown/Union
Kissing Tigers

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

FMI: Club Underground on Facebook

8:30pm / $8 / 18+

Friday 08.20.10: CLUB UNDERGROUND with MNDR / CHAIN GANG OF 1974 / KISSES (DJ set) @ echo

MNDR || Listen || MP3

Brooklyn’s Amanda Warner makes dynamic electro-pop under the moniker MNDR, and she’s been building buzz with her project while also working with folks like Mark Ronson. “I Go Away”, a major highlight from the her debut EP, E.P.E., is filled with distinctive synths that melt all over a spare, echoing drum beat like a candy house left out in the hot sun. It’s a serious slow-dance pop confection, but Warner keeps a clear head lyrically. “I Go Away” initially sounds like a post-relationship-fallout slow burner, as she asks, “How did I get here/ Without feeling anything”. Soon, though, you realize that she isn’t calming down– she’s getting pumped up. “This is my anthem/ I know it like I know everything”, Warner softly declares, as if she’s getting ready to step out in front of the curtain, before letting out titular squeaks during a chorus that favorably evokes Santigold as the track builds to its cathartic peak. – Pitchfork

with:
CHAIN GANG OF 1974 || Listen
KISSES (DJ SET)

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

FMI: Club Underground on Facebook

9pm / $8 Advance, $10 day of show / 18+

Friday 08.13.10: CLUB UNDERGROUND with TORCHES IN TREES / GO WEST YOUNG MAN / WATERLASO @ echo

Torches In Trees
Any band that plays a guerrilla gig in Chinatown after being told they were too young to play at the venue they had been booked at, is an instant favorite in our book. The surreal combination of beautiful music, rent a cops on bikes and LAPD’s finest searching frantically for the power outlet, while suprised shoppers and wanderers looked/cheered them on one night in Chinatown square, is something one cant easily forget. One of our favorite gigs of the year.” -Club Underground
“The talented multi-instrumentalists manages to produce sounds that blend together to create what can be described as the musical equivalent of a drug injected directly to your brain as sound waves through those aural receptors we call ears. -Radio 23

Go West Young Man
“Melody merchant Damin Suarez (ex-the Fictions) has crafted an homage to classic pop that pushes the same buttons as the likes of Elvis Costello, Ben Folds and a host of ’60s and ’70s hitmakers who used horns and harmonies to sweeten their piano arrangements. Whether guitar- or keyboard-based, Suarez’s tunes are as memorable as anything contemporaries such as the 88 or the Little Ones have made, and GWYM’s frisky rhythms punctuate the bite in his lyrics. In an era so many artists feel compelled to deconstruct pop to make it interesting, Suarez has built himself a castle. Recommended.” – K. Bronson, Buzzbands

Waterlaso
A band that is somewhere in between happy sweet pop sunshine and tender sadness. –ectomag.com

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

FMI: Club Underground on Facebook

9pm / $7 before 10.30pm, $5 After / 18+

Friday 08.06.10: CLUB UNDERGROUND vs. CLUB ZIZEK (Buenos Aires) @ echo

Club Underground

vs.

Club ZIZEK

Zizek is a new club from Buenos Aires, Argentina dedicated to the emerging sounds of Hip Hop, Dancehall, Reggaetón, Cumbia, Bastard Pop, Mashups, and more.

From the beginning, Zizek has been a club where genres clash and cross over, making you dance, while still providing fresh and innovative sounds rarely heard before.

“I suggest you go see Zizek is you are ever in Buenos Aires on a Wednesday Night, It’s a Movement!” -Diplo

“Mixing cumbia melodies with way out electro sounds and samples artists, [Zizek] is bringing the new sound of Argentina to the world.” -Sxsw.com

“The most daring DJs and musicians create a digital alchemy, fusing cumbia, reggaetón, zamba, chacarera and carnavalito with dancehall and hip hop to create nights of endless dancing.” -La Razón

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

Friday 07.30.10: CLUB UNDERGROUND with THE ANSWERING MACHINE / ATLANTIC LINE / LA GHOST @ echo

THE ANSWERING MACHINE

Manchester’s The Answering Machine have been playing together for around three years and get compared a lot to Los Campesinos! but owe more than a little to The Strokes and Maximo Park as well. Though if you’re read their blog, frontman Martin Colough is clearly into more obscure indie like The Radio Dept. and ’80s cult act The Brilliant Corners. One of my favorites the year. – Brooklyn Vegan

The Answering Machine contain enough manic energy and enthusiasm to fly you to the moon. – B.B.C.

ATLANTIC LINE
LA GHOST

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

FMI: Club Underground on Facebook

9pm / $8 / 18+

Friday 07.23.10: CLUB UNDERGROUND presents JARED DREAMS OF FAR OUT THINGS / JOHN CARPENTER / KISSES (DJ SET) @ echo

Jared Dreams of Far Out Things
John Carpenter
Kisses (DJ SET)

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

FMI: Club Underground on Facebook

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

Tuesday 11.16.10: LEGENDARY PINK DOTS @ echoplex

Legendary Pink Dots || Listen

Few bands polarize listeners quite like the Dots and they are secretly delighted about this. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, ignoring them or remaining indifferent is just not an option. Critics will accuse them of being a bunch of terminal hippies spouting nonsense and nothing to do with rock ‘n’ roll at all, and perhaps they have a point. Even so, singer Edward Ka-Spel’s lyrics
do seem to have an uncanny knack of foreseeing future events in vivid and sometimes uncomfortable combinations of images. The music moves in tandem, peculiar, enthusiastic and extremely psychedelic.

And as for rock ‘n’ roll… what is it by now anyway? You may dance to the Pink Dots if you choose. The melodies will stick in your head and there are moments when their sound is as “industrial” as raining tanks on Detroit, as gentle as
whispering leaves on Venus….

The following is young and old, male and female and borderless in a World seemingly obsessed with frontiers. The Pink Dots are coming to liberate you with color. No escapism, no religion. They come as they are, and so should you.

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

Click to buy tickets!

8:30pm / $18 advance, $20 day of show / 18+

Monday 07.26.10: Monday Night Residency – MISSISSIPPI MAN / THE PITY PARTY / FIM / PIZZA! @ echoplex

Mississippi Man || Watch

“…the music takes us somewhere else all together with its blend of vocal harmonies, nicely balanced guitars, keys, big-beat influence, and spot-on song structure” – LA Record

“This group’s hooky pop and roots tunes are unleashed with unbounding energy and a wealth of creative twists and turns” -PURGe

“Dylan and Young with bigger balls and more wattage” – The Deli Magazine

“American infused… earnest folk-pop” – Buzzbands LA

“The band’s live sound references the past while simultaneously looking to the future” – SPIN Earth

“Mississippi Man deliver a fresh and original album that deserves multiple listens” – Performer Magazine

with:
The Pity Party || Listen
FIM
PIZZA!

8:30pm / Free for 21+, $7 under / 18+

Monday 07.19.10: Monday Night Residency – MISSISSIPPI MAN / BIG WHUP / BUDDY / WIRES IN THE WALLS @ echo

Mississippi Man || Watch

“…the music takes us somewhere else all together with its blend of vocal harmonies, nicely balanced guitars, keys, big-beat influence, and spot-on song structure” – LA Record

“This group’s hooky pop and roots tunes are unleashed with unbounding energy and a wealth of creative twists and turns” -PURGe

“Dylan and Young with bigger balls and more wattage” – The Deli Magazine

“American infused… earnest folk-pop” – Buzzbands LA

“The band’s live sound references the past while simultaneously looking to the future” – SPIN Earth

“Mississippi Man deliver a fresh and original album that deserves multiple listens” – Performer Magazine

with:
Big Whup || Listen
Buddy
Wires in The Walls

8:30pm / Free for 21+, $7 under / 18+

Sunday 08.29.10: PART TIME PUNKS with BATWINGS CATWINGS + DADFAG + PHONES @ echo

BATWINGS CATWINGS
DADFAG
PHONES

resident dj Michael Stock spinning mutant disco * Postpunk * indiepop

FMI: Part Time Punks on Myspace

10pm / $5 / 18+

Sunday 08.22.10: PART TIME PUNKS – THE CURE NITE with guest DJ Lol Tolhurst @ echo

Guest DJ Lol Tolhurst

resident dj Michael Stock spinning mutant disco * Postpunk * indiepop

FMI: Part Time Punks on Myspace

10pm / $5 / 18+

Sunday 08.15.10: PART TIME PUNKS with SWAHILI BLONDE + BLACK FLAMINGO @ echo

SWAHILI BLONDE
BLACK FLAMINGO

resident dj Michael Stock spinning Post-Punk, DIY & White Dub

FMI: Part Time Punks on Myspace

10pm / $5 / 18+

Sunday 08.08.10: PART TIME PUNKS with W.A.C.O. + THY SQUID + NO HABLO @ echo

W.A.C.O.
THY SQUID
NO HABLO

resident dj Michael Stock spinning mutant disco * Postpunk * indiepop

FMI: Part Time Punks on Myspace

10pm / $5 / 18+

Sunday 08.01.10: PART TIME PUNKS with ZOLA JESUS @ echo

ZOLA JESUS || Listen

There’s plenty of non-urban college girls with slightly hip parents, girls who felt “weird” in high-school and embraced the costumes of goth, the bleakness of Joy Division and the rants of Nietzsche, automatically declaring “French and philosophy” as majors upon arriving on campus. What makes Nika Danilova stand out from her absynthetic cohort is that she talked her parents into opera singing lessons early on and used those skills to record a really interesting lo-fi album (The Spoils) a couple of years ago as Zola Jesus. The indierati loved it and so Danilova has now graduated to proper studios (the recent Stridulum EP) and touring a mesmerizing stage act, invoking the ghosts of Lydia Lunch, Diamanda Galas and even a little Grace Slick. Those who wish Gaga was actually weird and We Are the World a little less drum-circley should find much to like in La Jesus.- LA Weekly

with
FANCY SPACE PEOPLE
GARBAJ KAETZ

resident dj Michael Stock spinning Post-Punk & Dark Wave

FMI: Part Time Punks on Myspace

10pm / $10 / 18+

Thursday 08.19.10: JOGGER / MATTHEWDAVID / SUN ARAW / M. GEDDES GENGRAS @ echo

Jogger

Los Angeles-based alt-pop band Jogger is the brainchild of singer-songwriting duo Amir Yaghmai and Jonathan Larroquette. Their ambitious debut album, This Great Pressure, couples soft, synthesized timbre and throttling DJ Shadow-esque breaks with bright-eyed alternative/indie rock flair. Sharing vocal duties, Yaghmai and Laroquette’s whispery phrasing better resemble the calm, reticent delivery of Samuel Beam, the one-man band behind Iron and Wine. The bold album opener “Napping Captain” feels unfettered and serves as a brilliant example of what a collaboration between folk-rockers Crosby, Stills & Nash and the Chemical Brothers might sound like, while “Falling” sees the pair merge quaint, wobbly, whirring synths with a sleepy guitar-driven backdrop—the culmination of the two seem reminiscent of Radiohead’s spacious-sounding opus “Worrywort”. The mesmerizing live recording of the subterranean-like closer “Superman” fires on all cylinders, as Laroquette applies dizzyingly layered smash-down beats to Yaghmai’s cohesive, complex, and darkly-accented wah-wah guitar riffs, resulting in a musical finale that goes far beyond scope or definition. Jogger’s immediate sound on This Great Pressure is, indeed, difficult to confidently categorize, as it borrows from a number of different musical genres, but one thing’s for certain: It’s an album that many artists, years from now, will have wished they themselves had made. – Popmatters

with:
Matthewdavid
Sun Araw || Listen
M. Geddes Gengras

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

Monday 07.12.10: Monday Night Residency- MISSISSIPPI MAN / SUPERHUMANOIDS / DAHGA BLOOM / USELESS KEYS @ echo

Mississippi Man || Watch

“…the music takes us somewhere else all together with its blend of vocal harmonies, nicely balanced guitars, keys, big-beat influence, and spot-on song structure” – LA Record

“This group’s hooky pop and roots tunes are unleashed with unbounding energy and a wealth of creative twists and turns” -PURGe

“Dylan and Young with bigger balls and more wattage” – The Deli Magazine

“American infused… earnest folk-pop” – Buzzbands LA

“The band’s live sound references the past while simultaneously looking to the future” – SPIN Earth

“Mississippi Man deliver a fresh and original album that deserves multiple listens” – Performer Magazine

with:
Superhumanoids
Dahga Bloom
Useless Keys || Listen

8:30pm / Free for 21+, $7 under / 18+

Monday 07.05.10: Monday Night Residency- MISSISSIPPI MAN / RUMSPRINGA / JEFFERTITI’S NILE / PAPA / DJ A/J Jackson (Saint Motel) @ echo

Mississippi Man || Watch

“…the music takes us somewhere else all together with its blend of vocal harmonies, nicely balanced guitars, keys, big-beat influence, and spot-on song structure” – LA Record

“This group’s hooky pop and roots tunes are unleashed with unbounding energy and a wealth of creative twists and turns” -PURGe

“Dylan and Young with bigger balls and more wattage” – The Deli Magazine

“American infused… earnest folk-pop” – Buzzbands LA

“The band’s live sound references the past while simultaneously looking to the future” – SPIN Earth

“Mississippi Man deliver a fresh and original album that deserves multiple listens” – Performer Magazine

with:
Rumspringa || Listen
Jeffertiti’s Nile || Listen
Papa
DJ A/J Jackson (Saint Motel)

8:30pm / Free for 21+, $7 under / 18+

Sunday 07.04.10: PART TIME PUNKS with MAGIC BULLETS LP RELEASE PARTY/ THE TARTANS/ HUNGRYBEAT DJs @ echo

Magic Bullets || Listen
The Tartans
Hungrybeat DJs

resident dj Michael Stock spinning mutant disco * Postpunk * indiepop

FMI: Part Time Punks on Myspace

10pm / $5 / 18+

Friday 07.02.10: BEARRACUDA @ echoplex

After a FANTASTIC debut party in May, Bearracuda returns to LA for another night of fun, furry dancing! Our last party had SO many hot guys of all shapes and sizes.

We’ve received awesome feedback from our last LA event and will be adding a couple of go-go bears, beefing up the visuals and handing out some giveaway at our future events.

Returning to LA from Bearracuda Portland, we welcome back DJ SAM STORICKS. Sam played our first Bearracuda New Year’s Eve party in 2006 and has been a big part of the club ever since. He also makes guest appearances at our San Francisco & Seattle parties and will be flying down for another night of great music. http://www.djsamstoricks.com/

From Bearracuda San Francisco, we bring you the LA debut of DJ Medic! Medic is our resident DJ back in San Francisco and he fills our dance floor full of beefy guys every month. He’ll be kicking off the evening’s festivities at 9pm.

It’s all about the dancing, beard rubs and socializing at Bearracuda, but we’ve also got an extra special live performance at 10:30pm from San Francisco duo: EJECTOR! They’ll be doing a short, but very sweet 3 song set. Check out their FB fan page at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/ejector/26614420226?ref=ts

Bearracuda is the largest attended bear dance party on the West Coast w/regular parties in San Francisco, Seattle & Portland + one-offs in New Orleans, Atlanta & Sydney. Voted “Best club for queer men” in 2008 & 2009 by the San Francisco Bay Guardian. We’ve got beards, bears, cubs, pups, chubs, beefcakes, furballs and other wildlife!

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

FMI: BEARRACUDA.COM/LA

Join the Bearracuda LA Facebook group!

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

Tuesday 06.29.10: JOHNNY O’DONNELL’S PRATFALL EFFECT / MACK WINSTON AND THE RELFECTIONS / DANTE VS ZOMBIES @ echo

Johnny O’Donnell’s Pratfall Effect || Watch

with:
Mack Winston & The Reflections || Listen
Dante vs Zombies

8:30PM / $7 / 18+

Thursday 06.24.10: Echo, Grand Ole Echo and Music Menagerie present CARLENE CARTER / DAVE ALVIN / EXENE CERVENKA / SYD STRAW / TONY GILKYSON / SEASPIN / THE DAMN SONS / DJ TRAVIS KELLER – To benefit Musicares Nashville Flood Relief Fund @ echo

Carlene Carter || Listen

With:
Dave Alvin
Exene Cervenka
Syd Straw
Tony Gilkyson
Seaspin
The Damn Sons
DJ Travis Keller

To benefit Musicares Nashville Flood Relief Fund

Nashville and its surrounding communities were unexpectedly struck by a major disaster on Saturday, May 1. Many in this music community experienced significant loss — homes, cars, equipment, and rehearsal space — ruined by the unprecedented flooding in several communities. It has been estimated that only a fraction of those who experienced significant loss have adequate flood insurance to cover their damages. MusiCares understands the effects of this disaster in a unique way. Since our inception in 1989, it has been our mission to assist music industry people facing unexpected crises. MusiCares is poised and ready to help the Nashville music community get through this crisis.

MusiCares has established the MusiCares Nashville Flood Relief Fund to assist music people affected by the Middle Tennessee Floods. MusiCares’ initial assistance will provide funds for food and clothing, gasoline and transportation, cleanup efforts, relocation costs, medicine, and other critical supplies.

7pm / $20 / 18+

Thursday 07.29.10: NITE JEWEL / MEMORYHOUSE / BATHS / KISSES (DJ set) @ echoplex

Nite Jewel || Listen || Watch

It’s an El Niño year, and clots of kidney-colored rain clouds are deluging Los Angeles. A thunderclap sends Ramona Gonzalez’s cat scurrying underneath a nearby table inside the Mt. Washington aerie she shares with her husband and collaborator, Cole M. Greif-Neill. The city might have inspired a spate of warm weather-influenced art of late, but Gonzalez’s music — released under the Nite Jewel name — stands starkly apart.

Nite Jewel’s alchemy of swirling noirish vocals, refulgent analog synthesizers and funky drum samples is best heard after-hours. Often labeled disco, partly because of her association with the dance-oriented Italians Do It Better imprint, Gonzalez’s moody meditative songs bear lingering traces of Roxy Music, freestyle legends Lisa Lisa and Debbie Deb, ’90s R&B performers such as Jade and SWV and hip-hop. – LA Times

Memoryhouse
Baths
Kisses (DJ SET)

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

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

Thursday 07.08.10: AU REVOIR SIMONE / ALEXA WILDING / GEORGE SARAH @ echoplex

Au Revoir Simone || Listen || Watch

When it comes to decorum, Brooklyn’s Au Revoir Simone makes Judith Martin look like Don Rickles. They have three voices, three keyboards, and a drum machine in their arsenal, yet each element stands out from the gleaming propulsion with razored precision, as if the band were constantly saying, “No, after you.” They deliver inspirational-kitten-calendar platitudes that would make Whitney Houston blush with disarming directness, their plain yet dulcet voices arranged in fussy group harmony– excessive melisma being, after all, simply immodest. The band’s egalitarian and mutually supportive dynamic pays off on the harmonious Still Night, Still Light, their third and best album. It’s feather-light electro-pop that’s not to be taken lightly. – Pitchfork

with:
Alexa Wilding || Listen
George Sarah

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

8:30pm / $12 advance, $14 day of show / 18+

Thursday 06.17.10: DOWN AND DERBY ROLLER DISCO ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY @ echoplex

It’s hard to believe that One year ago the very first Down & Derby went off at the EchoPlex. Down & Derby has seen over 60 productions, three music festivals and now has events in more than six cities. I’m pretty sure we are responsible for a handful of regrettable decisions, and most likely, a few babies.

This months Derby is for the hundreds that fit their yoga class in, break out their spandex and get silly at our jam. And to show our appreciation here is what we have instore for you.

The first 100 attendees through the Echoplex door will receive a Down & Derby American Apparel tank-top created by Family Industries. The following 50 partygoers to arrive will receive a custom branded Down & Derby fanny pack with a can of Colt 45 inside.

Resident skate guard DJ SHR3D will be joined by Ra Ra Riot and Discovery lead singer Wes Miles, controlling the backbeat of disco-inspired party anthems.

More than 200 roller skates available to rent or bring your own. All wheels accepted, even blades.

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

RSVP at www.downandderby.org

9pm / $10 with RSVP / 18+

Sunday 07.25.10: PART TIME PUNKS – SMITHS/MORRISSEY NITE @ echo

resident dj Michael Stock spinning mutant disco * Postpunk * indiepop

FMI: Part Time Punks on Myspace

10pm / $5 / 18+

Sunday 07.18.10: PART TIME PUNKS- FACTORY RECORDS NIGHT with DJ TIM BURGESS (of The Charlatans) @ echo

with guest DJ Tim Burgess [of THE CHARLATANS]

spinning JOY DIVISION, NEW ORDER, HAPPY MONDAYS

and the rest of Tony Wilson’s Factory Records, 1978-92

resident dj Michael Stock spinning mutant disco * Postpunk * indiepop

FMI: Part Time Punks on Myspace

10pm / $5 / 18+

Sunday 07.11.10: PART TIME PUNKS with Hugh Cornwell (front man from THE STRANGLERS) & Clem Burke (BLONDIE) & Steve Fishman (THE CONTORTIONS) / FULL FRONTAL / MANICORN @ echo

HUGH – CLEM – FISH
Post-Punk supergroup featuring Hugh Cornwell (frontman for THE STRANGLERS),
Clem Burke (BLONDIE) & Steve Fishman (CONTORTIONS)

plus
Full Frontal
Manicorn

resident dj Michael Stock spinning mutant disco * Postpunk * indiepop

FMI: Part Time Punks on Myspace

10pm / $8 / 18+

Sunday 06.20.10: PART TIME PUNKS with WARLOCKS / THE MEEK / GREEN EYES [ex-Midnight Movies & Hole] @ echo

resident dj Michael Stock spinning mutant disco * Postpunk * indiepop

FMI: Part Time Punks on Myspace

10pm / $10 / 18+

Sunday 06.13.10: PART TIME PUNKS eith THE ICARUS LINE + ACOCALIPS [aka Vice Cooler/XRXBX] + Guest DJ ROY CORDUROY @ echo

THE ICARUS LINE
ACOCALIPS [aka Vice Cooler/XRXBX]
Guest DJ ROY CORDUROY

resident dj Michael Stock spinning mutant disco * Postpunk * indiepop

FMI: Part Time Punks on Myspace

10pm / $5 / 18+

Sunday 06.27.10: PART TIME PUNKS with FUXA + LSD & THE SEARCH FOR GOD + SUKI EWERS @ echo

FUXA
LSD & THE SEARCH FOR GOD
SUKI EWERS

resident dj Michael Stock spinning mutant disco * Postpunk * indiepop

FMI: Part Time Punks on Myspace

10pm / $8 / 18+

Monday 07.26.10: MIDNIGHT JUGGERNAUTS / WHITE APPLE TREE / BARON VON LUXXURY @ echo

MIDNIGHT JUGGERNAUTS || Listen || Watch

Following the 2007 release of their debut full-length Dystopia, Australian synth-rock trio Midnight Juggernauts are set to return with their sophomore release, The Crystal Axis. The follow-up record is said to follow a path previously untraveled by the band: one littered with elements of psychedelia, Italo, prog, Krautrock, and free-form jams all re-focused to fit a solid pop format. Siberia Records, the Juggernauts’ own label, will release The Crystal Axis May 28, with a European and US tour to follow soon after, but you can stream the whole album on the band’s MySpace page now. – XLR8R

with:
White Apple Tree
Baron Von Luxxury

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

Saturday 07.10.10: Manimal Vinyl Presents SWAHILI BLONDE / WE ARE THE WORLD / WEAVE! @ echoplex

SWAHILI BLONDE || MP3

Swahili Blonde began with Nicole Turley (ex-WEAVE! drummer & vocalist) sitting in a little room amidst a bunch of instruments and recording equipment she didn’t know how to use. After many long nights, she still didn’t completely understand how everything worked, but was happy with the unconventional sounds and compositions she was able to make. She ended up being so happy with the result of her efforts, that she decided to record and release a collection of songs for a full-length album, humorously called Man Meat. The album consists of multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Turley giving a recorded voice to paralleled realities, vibrant visuals, and mismatched rhythms and patterns, musical and otherwise. Woven throughout the 7 songs are lucid and eloquent performances by violinist Laena Myers-Ionita, guitarist John Frusciante, bassist John Taylor, and multi-instrumentalists Stella Mozgawa & Michael Quinn. An 8 member live version of Swahili Blonde will be playing shows in Los Angeles during summer 2010.

with:
WE ARE THE WORLD || Listen
WEAVE!

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

8:30pm / $10.00 / 18+

Friday 06.04.10: TILT with CLASS ACTRESS / NEON INDIAN (DJ Set) / CFCF / LEXICONDON / SHORT CIRCUIT / B.R. @ echoplex

TILT Summer Concert Series by TILTmag.com
in association with Binary & Blowup LA
Present

Class Actress
(NYC / Terrible Records)

Neon Indian DJ Set
(NYC / Green Label Sound)

Los Angeles DEBUT!
CFCF
(Montreal Canada / Paper Bag/Acephale Records)

LexiconDon
(L.A. / Binary )

Resident DJ’s:
Short Circuit (Binary)
B.R.

Live Art by Demonbabies

Photobooth By http://www.Youngandsleek.com/

@ THE ECHOPLEX
1154 Glendale Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA

FMI: TILTmag.com

8:30pm / $10 advance, $15 day of show / 18+

Tuesday 06.01.10: PROP 15 Benefit with JEREMY DAWSON FROM SHINY TOY GUNS (DJ Set) / WHITE APPLE TREE / BUDDY AKAI @ echo

Jeremy Dawson from Shiny Toy Guns (DJ Set)
White Apple Tree
Buddy Akai

This show is brought to you by the Yes on Proposition 15 campaign. Prop 15 will change the way we finance election campaigns so politicians stay focused on the job we sent them to do. Plus, it’ll help open up the political process so more young people can run for and win elected office. Help make sure this happens! Get involved in the campaign at www.yesfairelections.org.

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

Thursday 07.29.10: NATHANIEL RATELIFF / PEARLY GATE MUSIC / INFANTREE @ echo

Nathaniel Ratecliff || Listen

It had been rough on all of their bodies, there’s no doubt about it, but Nathaniel Rateliff, the main songwriter and leader of The Wheel, looked like he’d been in a prize fight or two the night before he came in for this session in the summer, with his eyes red and nearly swollen shut from the lack of sleep and consistent burning through nights as if his time was running out. It’s not just the way that Rateliff, a native of Missouri wine country (as odd as that is to say) and a resident of Denver, Colorado these days, acts on the road when the behavior isn’t just expected, but encouraged. It’s how he thinks about his miniscule allotment of time and he ruminates on the lack of tenure that all of us are faced with here, working these potentially wasted aspirations and the hollowed out but booming and thundering heart of a man who knows that there’s no way that