Xiu Xiu || Listen || Watch

The seventh full-length record for these Oakland, Calif., art-rockers on long-time label home Kill Rock Stars is their first since the departure of long-time member Caralee McElory and follows the 2008 release of Women As Lovers. New recruit Angela Seo joins percussionist Ches Smith and Jamie Stewart, the groups’ founder, principal songwriter, and sole constant member (who moonlights in Former Ghosts). Dear God I Hate Myself follows other provocatively titled Xiu Xiu releases like Fag Patrol and features a number of songs composed on the Nintendo DS. – Prefix

with:
Tune Yards || Listen
Noveller || Listen

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

The Los Angeles event is set apart from Down and Derby parties in other cities by its authentic 70s feel. The resident DJs don’t just spin popular tunes for which the era has become known—they reach into the depths of 70s music to bring partiers the obscure hits that may not be recognizable by most, but are truly indicative of the culture and lifestyle of the era.

Down and Derby, is a retro-inspired roller-skating party created and designed to give attendees a unique nightlife experience. The interactive throwback events combine décor reminiscent of a 70s roller disco with attendees participating through wearing fashion attire evocative of the era. DJs known for pushing the limits of mixing and music production are procured, adding vibrant energy to the event with both underground and popular mixes.

The entry fee is $5 with RSVP, $10 at the door and quad skates of every size will be available to rent for another $5. Guests are welcome to bring their own roller skates to the event.

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

RSVP at www.downandderby.org

9pm / $5 with RSVP, $10 at the door / 21+

High Places || Listen || Watch

“I Was Born” feels like an especially personal statement from High Places. Mary Pearson loves the bassoon, her primary instrument: She spoke about taking classes and teaching lessons when we did a Quit Your Day Job in early ‘08, but this is the first High Places song to feature the instrument. Rob Barber adds a little straight-up guitar, which reminds you he grew up listening to hardcore, punk, and other guitar-based music. Speaking of growing up, the first-person lyrics involve Pearson remembering the day she was born, thinking about being born again, channeling that moment, etc. That, and they self-directed, shot, and edited the beautifully eerie video of themselves alone and washed out in the desert. Adding to the solitary feel, the “I Was Born” single’s out today without a second track, via Thrill Jockey. – Stereogum

with:
Nite Jewel || Listen
Dunes

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

with:
BEN OPRSTU [DANCEiSM]
PANCE PARTY
AVI D
ILLIMENTAL [DANCEiSM]
THE KiD [SHIFTY RHYTHMS]

Plus:
Body Paint
Live Kinetic Lighting by DANCEiSM
Artifact01 (v.4)
Roaming by YoungANDSleek
More Surprises

Dress Code: FUN + Creative

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

Buses from USC + LMU. Check back for details.

RSVP @ http://DANCEiSM.COM

9pm / $10 with RSVP, $20 without RSVP / 18+

Beth Hart || Listen || Watch

The first time I heard/saw Beth Hart was at an electronics show a few years ago. I was strolling down the aisle ways minding my own business and there she was, a dirty rock n’ roll chick seducing me with her hypnotic banshee songs on a big screen flanked by a towering pair if speakers. I stood there mesmerized watching this rock n’ roll dream until I was forced to move on when those at the booth changed the DVD.

I immediately sought out every CD she had produced and tracked down the live DVD she had released. I was and am enthralled by Beth Hart and her music. This photo gallery captures her moments and her dangerous beauty. You can’t capture the power and beauty of her music in photos, for that you will have to track down a CD or two. Never mind which one, they all have their merits. Get them all if you can and the must have DVD, Live at the Paradiso.

Many have compared her to Janis Joplin, and I think that is fair, but don’t be mistaken, this girl has her own identity. Someone over at Amazon described her something like this: Her creation was a collaborative work between God and Satan. They combined the best of Janis Joplin, Tina Turner, Otis Redding, and John Lee Hooker then added a bit of spice like atomic energy, several forces of nature such as hurricanes and tornadoes, the pure unapologetic sexuality of the most sensual of strippers, the humanity of mankind, and coated the whole mess with nitro glycerin, then dropped it from the sky…waiting to see what would happen. The result was Beth Hart. – Rock N Roll View

7pm / $15.00 / all ages

with:
DATABASE From Brazil
STRETCH ARMSTRONG Plant Music Records, NYC
THE GLASS live: Plant Music / NYC
featuring DJ WOOL & DOMINIQUE
THE PENELOPE(S) live: PARIS, FRANCE

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

FMI:
TILT
Blow Up LA

9pm / $10 advance, $12 at door / 18+

with DJs:
Music Man Miles
Clifton AKA Soft Touch

FMI: Funky Sole on Myspace

10pm / FREE / 21+

FRANK ALPINE
KILLING SPREE

resident dj Michael Stock spinning mutant disco * Postpunk * indiepop

FMI: Part Time Punks on Myspace

10pm / $5 / 18+

The Frequency || Listen || Watch || MP3

Haven’t posted a 15 minute plus track on here in ages – actually, come to think of it I’m not sure I ever have, which is a travesty as most of the best songs stretch to a good quarter of an hour.

LA’s The Frequency aren’t afraid to take you on a pyschedelic meander and this opus clocks in at 17′34″, rinsing your ears with woozy slide guitar for a quick four minutes before taking you off to planet pachouli for an epic trip that’s by turns Jonestowny, Floydy and Spiritualizedy.

So slow down, stop, turn off Twitter and shut out the outside world for a bit. Or play Battleships. – NME

with:
Horse Stories || Listen
Last Man Standing

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

The Asteroids Galaxy Tour || Listen

The current fascination with mid-60s soul isn’t just confined to British performers. The Asteroids Galaxy Tour are a Danish duo, with additional musicians for gigs, who give the sounds of Stax and Motown a sort of sunny, summery, almost psychedelic air. The rhythms are basic, direct and insistent, the melodies so instantly infectious you’ll probably think you’ve heard them before, and there is a horn section (including trumpet and sax) to give the songs that all-important soul-revue feel – the group’s name even sounds like a cosmic version of one of those 60s soul package tours. – Guardian

with:
Wallpaper

8:30pm / $15.00 / 18+

Cymbals Eat Guitars || Listen || Watch

Let’s give some respect to Staten Island, home of Cymbals Eat Guitars. It’s a fledgling indie-rock quartet, but Joseph D’Agostino, its 20-year-old guitarist, singer and principal songwriter, seems like a one-man shop. He fits a lot into his music. The songs on the band’s self-released first album, “Why There Are Mountains,” which served as the basis for Thursday’s set, contain ecstatic passion; wordy, lyrical precision; hazy, drifting instrumental interludes; chiming, mechanistic, clean-toned strumming; wild, dirty, stuttering solos. The sources for his inspiration can be obvious — Pavement, Built to Spill, Dinosaur Jr. — but so are his ambition and passion. And with “Tunguska,” a new song played near the end of the set, he’s made that most difficult thing in self-consciously smart music: a ballad, one strong enough to make young women near the stage look at him with big eyes. Seeing the band live drove home the full effect of guileless catharsis: Mr. D’Agostino wears himself out for you. (Like a clutch hitter between swings, he ritually composed himself after every song, wiping down his guitar neck, adjusting his capo, taking a deep breath.) – NY Times

with:
Bear in Heaven || Listen
Freelance Whales

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

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+

Tobacco || Watch

In 2008, Black Moth Super Rainbow frontman Tom Fec released Fucked Up Friends, the first album from his alter-ego Tobacco. And Fec hasn’t quit Tobacco yet. (Get it? You get it.) On May 25, Anticon will release the vividly titled Maniac Meat, Fec’s second album as Tobacco. And Fec’s roped a big-name collaborator into this one: Beck, who must’ve been unable to resist working with someone whose name rhymes with his.

Beck guests on two Maniac Meat tracks: “Fresh Hex” and the awesomely named “Grape Aerosmith”. Perusing the Maniac Meat tracklist, many of these song titles sound like the kind of things Beck could’ve come up with circa Midnite Vultures: “New Juices From the Hot Tub Freaks”, anyone? “TV All Greasy”? “Motorlicker”? If Fec can get Beck back into his M.V. pimp-stride, there’s a special place in heaven reserved for him.

Tobacco will spend March and April touring the U.S. – Pitchfork

with:
The Hood Internet || Listen

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

The Deadly Syndrome || Listen || Watch

Well, the long wait is finally over–after releasing their excellent debut, The Ortolan on Dim Mak records in 2007 and playing a slew of shows, tours, and sweater festivals, The Deadly Syndrome have finally returned with a new disc of their frenetic and hook-charged rock. Nolens Volens (Latin for “whether willingly or unwillingly”) will be independently released by the band on March 23rd–meaning you’ll be able to purchase digital copies from the usual gang of distributors like iTunes and Emusic, or you can buy a physical copy from the band’s website.

Produced by the band and co-mixed with Kennie Takahashi, Nolens Volens‘ sound, according to the band, promises “less ghosts, and less wolves. We tried to be as honest as we could. Hopefully we succeeded.” And, from the sound of “Wingwalker,” a preview track on the band’s website, it may well have been worth the wait. – Web In Front

with:
Signals
Rabbits

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

8:30pm / $10 / 18+

YACHT || Listen || Watch

Jona Bechtolt– founding member of YACHT, former member of the Blow– is a huge talent, something that may not have been readily apparent on any of his three previous LPs. Those albums, created largely as solo endeavors, will not have prepared listeners for See Mystery Lights. Now an official partnership between Bechtolt and Claire L. Evans, who performed on several songs on 2007’s I Believe In You, Your Magic Is Real, YACHT finally feel like a full-fledged band with direction and vision, particularly given the added weight (or rather, levity) of Evans’ influence.

The songs on See Mystery Lights– from the bouncy, burbling you-can’t-take-it-with-you screed “The Afterlife” (which plays like a less spastic companion piece to the Mae Shi’s “Run to Your Grave”) to the roller rink-ready vocoder vocals of “I’m In Love With a Ripper”– represent YACHT at their most poppy. It’s a collection of stone jams that finds the band finally as hellbent on experimenting and expanding the boundaries of its sonic scope as it is on having fun. Built on electronic foundations– laser effects, skittering computerized beats, and spacey synth lines (or guitar riffs that have been tuned or distorted to sound like synths)– these new songs are giddy with creative freedom while remaining tethered in service of their melodies. The vocal melodies are bright and buoyant, but delivered (by either band member, or in unison) in a chanted, oftentimes detached monotone that plays up the repetitive lyrics’ mantra-like feel and adds a welcome undercurrent of slacker cool to their otherwise sugary optimism.- Pitchfork

with:
Bobby Birdman || Listen
Small Black || Listen
Washed Out || Listen
Pictureplane || Listen

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

8pm / $12 advance, $14 day of show / All Ages

Foreign Born || Listen || Watch

Foreign Born are an L.A. indie rock outfit that exist further west and outside of the Smell or Silver Lake, a band that seems to have germinated over the years outside all semblances of scene in a city whose guitar music rarely sounds genuinely Californian. I’m writing from the opposite coast, but Foreign Born have made a record that feels like a conversation with the Pacific coastline and sounds like endless summer. – Pitchfork

with:
Jail Weddings || Listen

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

Aquarium Drunkard is pleased to be teaming up with Spaceland Productions to present WAVED OUT: an all ages – two room festival at The Echo and Echoplex in Los Angeles on Saturday March 27th. 

The first of more to come, WAVED OUT will showcase the best of new music with performances by
Surfer Blood
Best Coast
Turbofruits
Active Child
The Coathangers
Dirt Dress
Gamble House
The Po Po
Moon Duo
Sandwitches

and more to be announced

Plus:
KXLU
Origami Vinyl
Hit & Run
Ice Cream Man

Hosted by:
Matt Dwyer
Matt Braunger

Enter at
Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Aggeles, CA 90026

3:30pm / $10 / All Ages

with DJs:
Music Man Miles
Clifton AKA Soft Touch

FMI: Funky Sole on Myspace

10pm / FREE / 21+

with:
The Standells
The Zeros
Peter Case
Pierced Arrows
Giant Drag
Ty Segall
Lords of Altamont
Sean Wheeler & Zander Schloss
Lullabye Arkestra
Gestapo Khazi
Le Face
Charlie and the Moonhearts
Rough Kids
Okie Dokie
The Spurts
Luxury Sweets
The Jones Act
Volapike

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

12pm / $20 / All Ages

HENRY’S DRESS
BOYRACER
THE HOW
GO SAILOR
BROWN RECLUSE
PANTS YELL
SUMMER CATS
DEVON WILLIAMS
NEVEREVER

resident dj Michael Stock spinning mutant disco * Postpunk * indiepop

FMI:
Part Time Punks on Myspace

7pm / $15 / All Ages

Nellie McKay || Listen || Watch

What could notoriously eccentric young New York singer-songwriter Nellie McKay have in common with notoriously normal Hollywood icon Doris Day? The comparison only begins with McKay’s new album, Normal as Blueberry Pie: A Tribute to Doris Day.

McKay first declared her love of Doris Day in a 2007 book review she wrote for The New York Times. McKay wrote of the exemplary pop singer, whose wholesome persona made her Hollywood’s biggest female draw: “Her music is uncluttered, sensual and free, driven by an irrepressible will to live.”

But while Normal as Blueberry Pie wouldn’t be a Nellie McKay album if it weren’t a little kooky, McKay’s arrangements find a graceful midpoint between her postmodern cabaret and Day’s popped-up big-band singer with chops for miles. It emphasizes the purity McKay’s voice shares with Day’s. It, too, is uncluttered, sensual and free. – NPR

Alex Theatre
216 North Brand Boulevard
Glendale, CA 91203

FMI: The Alex Theatre

9pm / $23 advance, $26 day of show / All Ages

The Delta Mirror || Listen || Watch || MP3

A certain strain of recent indie rock seems to be taking an unusual interest in illness and death. You could blame Arcade Fire, the sad loss of whose family members only happened to lead to one of the most universally acclaimed independent releases of the past decade. Last year, the Antlers’ Hospice focused an entire album on the subject of a man with terminal bone cancer. Now L.A. trio the Delta Mirror’s upcoming Lefse debut, Machines That Listen, sets each of its nine songs in a different room of the hospital.
This slow, layered ballad “He Was Worse Than the Needle He Gave You” stands out not for its pathos-ridden subject matter– I’m still not sure I know exactly what it’s about– but rather its restrained emotional gutpunch, which it achieves with a simple but catchy tune and dramatically expansive production. Imagine the Big Pink’s electro-shoegaze explosions sounding vulnerable. “I’ve got too much time on my hands,” goes a gothy male vocal, and before long we find out the reason why– and the guy responsible won’t fucking be held responsible. The next time the Delta Mirror sing those words, at the end of the song, their meaning has changed. Damage done. – Pitchfork

with:
Spirit Vine || Listen
Borneo

8:30pm / FREE / 21+

Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt || Listen

Lead singer Neil was dressed in his usual stuffed animal suit, and we were able to score some amazing hats from the communal costume box. Mr. Sparkle, and Ms. Hamburgler, respectively. In a world where bands have been taking themselves seriously for far too long, this show gave me hope that the people can be unabashedly silly and passionately serious at the same time. We sang, we danced, we cried…fine, no one cried, but it was an emotional experience. Neil and the band, er, ipod, played five or six songs, each one with more lust than the last. It’s impossible not to get wrapped up in the commotion – the costumes, the lights, the screaming – you could walk into on of their shows completely sober and moments later feel like you’re tripping balls. It’s craziness in the best sense of the word.

Tromping up and down the narrow hallway, falling on himself and everyone around him, scaling benches and tables, Neil sang and screamed and sweat. Backed by the Grrrrl Police,( Neil’s entourage of backing singers dancers and performance lighting artist’s wearing a vest of balloons) this show turned into something out of a pre school mad house, full of ADD generation kids who just want to dance, be silly, and bang on the drum all day. – Quiet Color

with:
The Polish Ambassador || Listen
The Shakes
Jesse Cooper

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

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+

The writers and editors behind The A.V. Cluband The Onion are emerging from our fortified subterranean bunker to celebrate the release of our books: Inventory, which gathers new lists from the popular A.V. Club feature, and Our Front Pages, the new compendium of 20 years of front pages from The Onion.

Join editors from The A.V. Club and The Onion along with special guests Thomas Lennon, Robert Ben Garant (Reno 911!, The State), comedian and former Onion writer Megan Ganz, and more special guests TBA in a multimedia extravaganza.

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

7:30pm / $10 / 18+

We Are The World || Watch || MP3

Yeah, it’s bold and a little silly calling yourself We Are The World when there’s that other “We Are The Word” in its various forms. The song and the phrase claim a cartoonish “It’s A Small World” unity + Manifest Destiny-esque spirit, but true, it’s also a culturally resonant title to give your Los Angeles electro dance band/troupe. To their credit, WATW’s intriguing enough visually (the Bruised Man Group?) and musically to own it. We showed you the video for Clay Stones‘ title track with its burnt forest, bodysuits, and the aggro nature worship these things inspired. You get to create your own visuals for “Fight Song,” the collection’s next single. – Stereogum

8:30pm / $8 / 18+

Gram Rabbit || Listen || Watch

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

with:
Andy Clockwise || Listen
Crooked Cowboy and The Freshwater Indians

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

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

TORCHES IN TREES
“Anchored by solid melodies with a poignant melancholy edge, the band plays unhurried, hazy psychedelia that lured me right into the middle of the atmosphere they set out to create. It’s a heady, intoxicating mix, and I think in fairly short order this band could have a large following…The smooth, insinuating vocals are treated as another of the instruments and as such, perfect pitch is required and this band does that with a remarkable concentration that appears easy for them. They are well represented on their first EP, released last January, New Blood, New Sight, and I look forward to a full length from them.”
-feedyourheadtoday

“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

SWEATER GIRLS
Sweater Girls are not all girls and are infact 2/5 boys (one of which is former Siddeley Allan Kingdom!). They play catchy indiepop with nice female vocals and twinkly leads aplenty. The demos on their MySpace page are wonderful and I’d highly recommended listening to them all, perhaps a few times. Indiepages described them as a “full band Softies” a little while back, which not only sounds a bit like a dream, but is also relatively accurate! They’ll be heading off the New York City Popfest Thursday, May 20 at the Cake Shop. I would definitely consider them a “don’t miss”.- skatterbrain

TREMELLOW
Reminiscent of the shoegaze bands from the eighties at times, but fresh enough to bring some flair to the table, Tremellow played a strong set with a lot of energy. – LA Record

with CLUB UNDERGROUND DJS spinning the best in Brit / Indie / Soul / Twee / Madchester / Punk / Glam

FMI: Club Underground on Myspace

9pm / $5 advance, $8 day of show / 18+

BOOTIE LA
LA’s monthly mashup bootleg party

Direct from the UK! Britain’s best mashup producer:
THE KLEPTONES

Resident Bootie DJ:
DJ PAUL V.

Special guest DJ:
DJ SHYBOY

Midnight Mashup Show:
ANNA KONDA as Lady Gaga

Direct from the UK, Bootie LA is proud to present a rare Stateside appearance from The Kleptones, one of Britain’s best mashup producers. Since 2003, they’ve released six full-length mashup albums — all for free on the internet — including the seminal Queen bootleg album, “A Night At The Hip-Hopera.” Their recently-released double album — their first in two years — immediately blew up the blogosphere with its dual sides: “Uptime” provides the Bootie dance floor bangers, while “Downtime” plays the role of a chilled-out after-party.

Special guest DJ Shyboy joins resident DJ Paul V. on the decks throughout the night, and for the Midnight Mashup Show, it’s the return of Anna Konda, who will be channeling a mashed-up performance of Lady Gaga.

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.

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. And free mashup CDs will be given away like candy!

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

FREE Bootie CDs to the first 100 people through the door!

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

with DJs:
Music Man Miles
Clifton AKA Soft Touch

FMI: Funky Sole on Myspace

10pm / FREE / 21+

NON (Boyd Rice)

plus resident dj Michael Stock spinning mutant disco * Postpunk * indiepop

FMI: Part Time Punks on Myspace

10pm / $10 / 18+

Miles Kurosky’s old band Beulah, was always the one Elephant 6 act somewhat tethered to the earth-writing and delivering relatively straight forward love songs, even as its more mind-expanded peers sang dreamily of kings of carrot flowers and birds with candy-bar heads. The Desert of Shallow Effects is Kurosky’s first solo effort since dissolving Beulah five years ago, and, happily his singular gift for melody-rich pop hasn’t deserted him. – Paste Magazine

with:
PANCHO-SAN
SEXY JAIL

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

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+

We Are The World || Watch || MP3

Yeah, it’s bold and a little silly calling yourself We Are The World when there’s that other “We Are The Word” in its various forms. The song and the phrase claim a cartoonish “It’s A Small World” unity + Manifest Destiny-esque spirit, but true, it’s also a culturally resonant title to give your Los Angeles electro dance band/troupe. To their credit, WATW’s intriguing enough visually (the Bruised Man Group?) and musically to own it. We showed you the video for Clay Stones‘ title track with its burnt forest, bodysuits, and the aggro nature worship these things inspired. You get to create your own visuals for “Fight Song,” the collection’s next single. – Stereogum

with:
We are The Wolves || Listen

8:30pm / $8 / 18+

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+

DJs:
Paul V.
Matt Cornwall

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

9pm / $5 til 10:30pm, $10 after / 21+

Saint Motel || Listen || Watch

With white flowers attached to their microphone stands and dressed in their best black and white variations, they launched into things with a contagious energy that would spread to the outermost corners of the venue. Unique to the performance wasn’t just the visuals projected as their onstage backdrop – we’re talking alternating cuts/edits of live visuals of the audience, close-ups of the band members, clips from music videos and film in (what else) black and white.

What was more so unique was how difficult it was to discern who in attendance was a virgin to the Saint Motel experience or well-versed in their rhymes and lyrical reasonings. The majority of the crowd, if not clapping, whooping, or smiling in sheer interest, was singing along and dancing almost inherently. “Feel Our Wrath”, making their way to particular favorites “Butch”, “Do Everything Now”, “To My Enemies”, and “Show Me Where You Want It”. You name it, it was a fan favorite.

With slight revision, we should have instead said that if you haven’t yet been to a Saint Motel show and you currently live in the Los Angeles area, there’s really no excuse. You’ve no idea what you’re missing. – BeatCrave

with:
Voxhaul Broadcast
The Pity Party
Mississippi Man

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

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

with DJs:
Music Man Miles
Clifton AKA Soft Touch

FMI: Funky Sole on Myspace

10pm / FREE / 21+

resident dj Michael Stock spinning mutant disco * Postpunk * indiepop

FMI: Part Time Punks on Myspace

10pm / $5 / 18+

Crystal Castles || Watch

Crystal Castles played a typically raucous show at the Leeds Festival this afternoon (August 29), with singer Alice Glass leaping into the crowd and spending much of the set propped up by audience members as she sang.

The electronic duo – with Ethan Kath on keyboards and effects and a live drummer – were playing on the NME/Radio 1 Stage on the second day of the event.

It wasn’t long into the set before black-clad Glass began her high-octane stage antics, mounting the drum kit to sing during ‘Courtship Dating’.

Then, during ‘Reckless’, she leapt into the front row, still singing as fans and security guards held her aloft.

She eventually clambered back onto the stage, grabbing a strobe lamp during ‘Crimewave’ and spitting into the photo pit.

She later returned to the front row, where she spent most of the final 20 minutes of the set.

The band ended their set with ‘Intimate’, Glass curling up onstage to rest, before leaving the arena clasping a bottle of whisky to huge cheers. – NME

with:
DJ Paul V.

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

9pm / $20 / 18+

The Ruby Suns || Listen || Watch || MP3

On March 2, sunny New Zealand psych-pop outfit the Ruby Suns will release Fight Softly, the follow-up to the BNM’ed 2008 LP Sea Lion, on Sub Pop. (It’s out March 8 in the UK on Memphis Industries.) That’s the space-bar-averse cover art above.

Talking to Pitchfork back in October, frontman Ryan McPhun described Fight Softly as “probably the opposite” of Sea Lion: “I used a lot more synths. And there’s a shitload of effected guitar on it. But I didn’t use a lot of live drums. Going into it, I wanted to use organic sounds but I didn’t want them to sound organic, which is the opposite of what a lot of people do. It’s safe to say the new stuff is more bass-y.”

Right now, we’re getting our first taste of how the more bass-y Ruby Suns sound. Click below to stream or download “Cranberry” from Fight Softly. (UPDATE: The album version has been replaced with the radio edit.)

Shortly after the album hits, the Ruby Suns will tour North America, bringing glo-fi youngster Toro Y Moi along for the ride. – Pitchfork

with:
Toro Y Moi || Listen

8:30pm / 18+

Mad Professor

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 / 21+

We Are The World || Watch || MP3

Yeah, it’s bold and a little silly calling yourself We Are The World when there’s that other “We Are The Word” in its various forms. The song and the phrase claim a cartoonish “It’s A Small World” unity + Manifest Destiny-esque spirit, but true, it’s also a culturally resonant title to give your Los Angeles electro dance band/troupe. To their credit, WATW’s intriguing enough visually (the Bruised Man Group?) and musically to own it. We showed you the video for Clay Stones‘ title track with its burnt forest, bodysuits, and the aggro nature worship these things inspired. You get to create your own visuals for “Fight Song,” the collection’s next single. – Stereogum

8:30pm / $8 / 18+

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+

jj || Watch || MP3

0101, 0103, 0107, 0108, 0113, and 0115. Since all jj choose to show of themselves is their music, video, and occasional blood-spattered merch, then those Sincerely Yours catalogue numbers represent the sum total of what we know about them. Hell, we wouldn’t even know jj were a “them” had the group’s Gothenburg, Sweden-based, Tough Alliance-owned label not confirmed that. So… they’re mysterious– but not inscrutable: Despite a brief discography that’s already geekily byzantine enough for anybody who ever bought into the legend of Factory Records, jj’s full-length debut is as easy to enjoy as whatever the last CD was you brought home with a giant cannabis leaf on the cover. They’re as naive as they are cynical– or is it the other stupid way around?– and they manage to be pretty, touching, funny, and motivating, in different ways, in all the right places, for nine songs lasting 28 minutes. – Pitchfork

with:
Delorean
Bachelorette

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

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

with DJs:
Music Man Miles
Clifton AKA Soft Touch

FMI: Funky Sole on Myspace

10pm / FREE / 21+

Love Is All || Listen || Watch

The jittery, hooky Swedish postpunk crew Love Is All are back. The band has moved from longtime home What’s Your Rupture? to new label Polyvinyl. And on March 23, they’ll release their third album, the topically titled Two Thousand and Ten Injuries.

Love Is All recorded the follow-up to 2008’s A Hundred Things Keep Me Up at Night at their Gothenburg studio last summer. The Aislers Set’s Wyatt Cusick and the band themselves serve as producers. That image above is the cover art, and you can hear the album track “Kungen” below.

As well as CD and download, the album will be available on 180-gram vinyl, in three different versions. There’s the classic black vinyl version, but you’ll also be able to cop it on white vinyl (limited to 500 copies) and yellow vinyl (limited to 500 in Europe). – Pitchfork

with:
Love Grenades

10pm / $10 / 18+

Earth || Listen || Watch || MP3

Earth, the older of the two, has refined itself over almost 20 years. Formed by Dylan Carlson, still its leader, it once favored aggression and chord changes that felt like rock, even at a ritual crawl and without singing. But recently its music sounds more like a film background, with a scent of Miles Davis’s “In a Silent Way.” On Tuesday Mr. Carlson played a Fender Stratocaster with a clean tone; Adrienne Davies played drums, applying each slow beat carefully; Don McGreevy’s bass notes, reverberating in the hall, massaged the soles of your feet; and Steve Moore warmed up the chords with electric piano. Earth doesn’t really do peaks and valleys; it makes its case without a fuss and leaves you wanting more. – NY Times

with:
Wolves in the Throne Room || Listen
Lori Goldsten

@ the Echoplex
1154 Glendale Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026

8PM / $10 advance, $12 day of show / All Ages

Michael Rose

backed by
Dubtonic Kru

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

9pm / $10 advance, $15 at the door / 21+

Japandroids || Listen || MP3

what makes Post-Nothing such a thrill is the manner in which Japandroids hold absolutely nothing back. As contagious as any of the lyrics, melodies, riffs, or drum fills are, their energy and lack of self-consciousness is every bit as equally lovable. Opening mission statement “The Boys Are Leaving Town” could be seen as a goof on Thin Lizzy, but the response, “Will we find our way back home?”, is delivered with such conviction that between those two lines, “Boys” displays a palpable desperation. Six tracks later, the question is still unresolved– amidst the cyclical thrum of “Sovereignty”, they observe: “It’s raining, OH-OH! in Vancouver/ But I don’t give a fuck/ ‘Cause I’m far from home tonight.”

Where it all comes together best is “Young Hearts Spark Fire”. Almost a flipside to LCD Soundsystem’s “All My Friends”, it’s thematically similar, trading wistful reminiscence for drunken defiance and pulsing electro for chaotic garage rock. The five minutes go by in a blur, and amidst the guitar heroics and cymbal-bashing, King lets his guard down on Post-Nothing’s key line– “We used to dream/ Now we worry about dying/ I don’t want to worry about dying.” It would be so easy to view this sort of musical and lyrical directness with suspicion, but “Young Hearts” is life-affirming stuff– if only it affirms that, even in these times, life doesn’t need to be as complicated as we tend to make it. – Pitchfork

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

8pm / $12 advance, $14 day of show / all ages

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+

with DJs:
Music Man Miles
Clifton AKA Soft Touch

FMI: Funky Sole on Myspace

10pm / FREE / 21+

resident dj Michael Stock spinning mutant disco * Postpunk * indiepop

FMI: Part Time Punks on Myspace

10pm / $5 / 18+

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+

Heartless Bastards || Listen || Watch

Erika Wennerstrom’s enormous voice typically dominates discussion of this Ohio trio, and for good reason. Hers is a mighty blues holler, projecting self-conflict not just to the rafters, but to the rafters in other states. As distinctive as Wennerstrom sounds, however, her confident guitar work and the tight rhythm section of Mike Lamping and Kevin Vaughn do just as much to color these songs. On their third album, the Bastards stray further and further from the monolithic blues-rock of their 2005 debut while sharpening the soft focus of 2006’s All This Time. The guitar-heavy title track certainly lives up to its name, sloping steeply to a psychedelic peak. “Nothing Seems the Same” and closing track “Sway” jam more sparsely, but The Mountain sounds best when the Bastards explore unlikelier textures, like the sinister acoustic jangle of “Be So Happy” or the banjo-spiked ramble of “Had To Go.” This album isn’t merely a single peak, but a whole mountain range. – Paste Magazine

with:
Hacienda || Listen
Amy Cook || Listen

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

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+

Dosh || Listen || Watch || Mp3

Minneapolis-based electronic/ambient electronic musician Martin Dosh returns with his fifth album, which will feature a guest vocal by collaborator Andrew Bird (who used a track from Dosh’s last CD as a rhythm track on his Noble Beast CD). The CD is the follow up to 2008’s Wolves & Wishes and is touted as being more improvisational and instrumentally full than that effort. Along with sampled sounds, 15 musicians were employed, chiming in on everything from acoustic bass to pedal steel to Mini Korg. The album’s title isn’t a reference to the Who’s rock opera; instead it’s a tribute to Dosh’s longtime soundman and friend, Tom Cesario, who died two years ago. – Prefix Mag

with:
White Hinterland || Listen

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

Red Sparowes || Listen || Watch

There has never been as pronounced of a leap in style and scope as with Red Sparowes’ latest offering. The Fear is Excruciating, But Therein Lies the Answer maintains their layered arrangements and swirling amplified crescendos, Americana noir soundscapes (punctuated by the extended pedal steel on “In Every Mind”), and gloriously triumphant melodies (“Giving Birth to Imagined Saviors”). Earlier records focused on the larger scope of the album, but the new album is song-centered, with the individual tracks harboring stronger independent identities. And where previous endeavors found the band propelled by enormous walls of sound, they now temper their monolithic progressions with distinct passages of separated and soft-spoken instrumentation. Red Sparowes were suspiciously absent from the playing field over the last three years, and now it’s apparent that they were busy drafting the grandest statement and finest achievement of their existence.

Thunderheads storming across the prairie, outraged students taking to the streets, migratory herds stampeding along the tundra–any number of images could describe the grandiose scope of Red Sparowes’ lush vignettes. Wielding both a master’s sense of nuance and an outsider artist’s unhindered expressionist zeal, the Los Angeles quintet created a catalog of haunting and hallucinatory guitar orchestrations over the course of the millennium’s opening decade. With two albums, a string of split releases, multiple U.S. and European tours, and a number of line-up changes under their belt, Red Sparowes are currently poised to release their third album and most impressive creation to date, The Fear is Excruciating, But Therein Lies the Answer.

with:
Fang Island || Listen

@ Echoplex
enter at 1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90036

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