Video Free Silver Lake: Sea Wolf, Midnight Movies, The Littles Ones, & Great Northern

Kudos to Indie 103.1's New Music Showcase at The Hammer Museum this month, which saw performances by great local acts like Sea Wolf, Midnight Movies, The Little Ones, and Great Northern. Here are some clips from the events.









Many thanks to Jeff "Koganuts" Koga for posting them. (Oops. That last video is from their performance at Little Radio Summer Camp, which was also rad.)

The Monday Show Low Down (Or "The Smoke Machine Gave Me A Sore Throat")

I'm still way behind with the site's show calendar beyond this week, but will catch up by Thursday's concert post. Sorry... The nice weather, the wonder that is The Gold Room, helping friends move, and God of War II can all dogpile up to do that to you.

Here's what this week is looking like:

Monday, July 30
- Eskimo Hunter, Deep Sea Diver, & The Pity Party @ Spaceland (FREE)
- The Preacher's Son, Simon Stokes, & Gabriel Hart @ The Scene (FREE)
- 5 O'Clock Somewhere, Ollin, Hello Dragon, & Visions of Hildegard @ The Echo (FREE)
- Lo Fi Sugar, The Stevenson Ranch Davidians, Sons & Lovers, & Nightfur @ The Viper Room
- The Mae Shi, Treasure, Mammal, Bon Voyage, & Bob Bellerue @ Pehrspace
- Eastside Mondays w/ Thailand, The Health Club & The Natural Disasters @ Royale
- Eastern Conference Champions @ Safari Sam’s
- Jesse Harris @ Hotel Cafe
- Franklin For Short @ Tangier
- Vomit Bomb @ The Knitting Factory
- Echo & Ass & Titties present M.I.A. @ Echoplex
- Light FM, Miniature Tigers & Owl Owl @ The Silver Lake Lounge (FREE)

DECISION
It's your last night to see the free residencies for Light FM, Eskimohunter, and 5 O'Clock Somewhere, and the noteworthy Thailand and Lo Fi Sugar are also playing out.

Last minute addition: The Spinto Band are joining the crew at The Silver Lake Lounge tonight.

Tuesday, July 31
- Bat For Lashes, Tara Busch, Lion of Panjshir, & Magick Daggers @ Spaceland
- Bishop Allen, Page France, & Castledoor @ The Echo
- Carina Round @ The Key Club
- Abe Vigoda, Talbot Tagora, We Quit, & John Thill @ The Smell
- The Last Town Chorus @ Amoeba Music
- Casxio, Calls After Midnight, Iglu and Hartly, Le Rev, & Spacekitti @ The Silver Lake Lounge
- Astra Heights & Oliver Future @ The Troubadour
- Wallpaper Airplanes @ The Roxy
- Michael Penn & Patton Oswalt @ Largo
- Echo & Ass & Titties present M.I.A. @ Echoplex
- Who Rides the Tiger, The Black Fuzz, & Iron of Odra @ The Scene
- Peter, Bjorn, & John w/ Fujiya & Miyagi @ The Henry Fonda

DECISION:
The line-up over at Spaceland seems pretty strong on Tuesday night... The UK's Bat For Lashes with two bands I've been meaning to check out for awhile, Tara Busch and Lion of Panjshir.

We're giving away a few pairs of tickets to the show. Write us here with your full name to be entered in the drawing.



Wednesday, August 1
- Signal Hill Transmission, Ianrajproj, & Fenn Fenn Rangers @ The Silver Lake Lounge
- Lily Marlene, Nora Keyes, & Dirtbird @ Bordello
- The Swell Season @ The El Rey
- Dub Club @ Echoplex
- Indie 103.1 presents CLUB NME w/ Great Glass Elevator & Houseguest @ Spaceland
- Fear Before The March Of Flames @ The Troubadour
- The Automatic Music Explosion, Backwoods Payback, Hurt Model, & Last Holy Fools @ The Scene
- The Violent Femmes @ House of Blues Anaheim
- The Stevenson Ranch Davidians @ The Echo

DECISION
I dunno for Weds night. (I thought Signal Hill was playing, but it's Signal Hill Transmission.) Who do you recommend?

Thursday, August 2
- Electric Children @ The Cocaine at Live Jazz
- Filter Magazine’s Revenge of the Sunset Strip w/ Pop Levi, Grand Ole Party, The Shys, The Procession @ The Roxy
- Jill Sobule & Jesse Denatale @ Largo
- Le Face, Vomit Bomb, NASA Space Universe, & ThExamples @ The Smell
- Lil' Band O' Gold @ Spaceland
- Marnie Stern @ The Echo
- The Section Quartet, The Minor Canon @ Pershing Square
- Light FM, Foolproof , The Pacific, Route7, The Power Cords, & Leave @ The Knitting Factory
- Street Dogs & The Tossers @ The Troubadour
- Thee LA Gentlemen Callers, The Fresas, Tommy Peacock & the Gas, & Burlesque @ The Scene
- Marni Stern @ The Echo
- The Chaser & Kelly Demartino and James Combs @ Tangier
- Sabrosa Purr, nadaContra, & Secret Six @ The Silver Lake Lounge

DECISION:
People have been saying good things about the live show for San Diego's Grand Ole Party.

Friday, August 3
- The Monolators, I Make This Sound, E>K>U>K, Mister Loveless, & Dirty City Brothers @ Mr T’s Bowl
- Nymph @ El Cid
- Hornet Leg, Jeremy Jay, Dietra Kruschev, & The Zookeepers @ The Smell
- Big Business & Tweak Bird @ Spaceland
- The Slits & The Icarus Line @ The El Rey
- Grand Ronde @ The Troubadour
- Rick Springfield @ The Gibson Ampitheatre
- Gravy Train!!!!, Mika Miko, Sugar & Gold, DJ Rudy @ Echoplex
- Theodore Meredith Meyer, Charles Mansfield, Matt Eckel, Liz Pappademas, Beth Thornley & Rob, Barbara Gruska @ Pehrspace
- Lucid Sound, Casper, Repeater, & The Great Gleaming Sea @ The Scene
- VHS or Beta @ The Troubadour

DECISION
You read our recent interview with The Monolators and were wondering when you could see them play? Here you go.



Saturday, August 4
- Radars To The Sky, Rademacher, Bedroom Walls, & Death to Anders @ Spaceland
- GWAR & Suicidal Tendencies @ The Verizon Wireless Ampitheater
- Billy Bob Thornton @ The El Rey
- Captain Ahab, Tik///Tik, & I.E. @ The Smell
- Subtle @ The Troubadour
- Andy Palacio and the Garifuna Collective @ Amoeba Music
- The New Ship Pres. - Benefit for Ferdie (400 Blows) w/ The Locust, The Bronx, Qui @ Echoplex
- Sleeping People, Tenebre, Signal Hill, & Nephews @ Pehrspace
- Indian Jewelry, Nymph, Softboiled Eggies, & Pterodactyl @ The Scene
- St Vincent, Josh Haden, & Death Vessel @ The Echo
- Carina Round @ Coco De Mer
- 8-Bit @ The Airliner

DECISION:
You can't go wrong with the lineup of Radars To The Sky, Rademacher, Bedroom Walls, and Death to Anders all together ... And apparently Spaceland agrees because they're taping the show for their Spaceland Recordings series.

And if you didn't get a chance to catch Signal Hill at last Tuesday's Let's Independent!, they're playing this Saturday night.

Sunday, August 5
- Tara Busch @ Tangiers
- The New Room, Bullet for Dali, Patient Patient, & The Monthlies @ The Scene
- Sacred Fools @ Spaceland
- After Hours featuring DJ Phil B @ The Henry Fonda
- Eagle Rock Bowling & Drinking Club Presents Underwater City People, The Leviathan Brothers, & Sonadora @ All-Star Lanes
- Echo & Part Time Punks Present 1990s plus special guests @ The Echo
- The French Semester @ Mr T’s Bowl

DECISION
The Eagle Rock Bowling & Drinking Club is always a good time. Just read the cover feature in this week's upcoming Pasadena Weekly. (I'm quoted twice in it. Woo!)

That's it. Did I miss anything? Please lemme know.

Farewell To Summer Camp

Hey, we just got that word that Little Radio Summer Camp's last event for the summer was last weekend. Not sure why it closed up early since it had been set to run until August 12th, but I just wanted to say thanks to Dave, Jimmy, Scott, Tim, and everyone else at Little Radio for the many, many great times -- both out in the sun and with the numerous excellent bands indoors.

Mini-Interview: The Prix

Local garage pop act The Prix really exceed at crafting upbeat tracks that make even the most wooden, arms-crossed LA show-goers hop up and down. Basically, if you can stand still for songs of theirs like It's All In The Way That You Trip, St. Domino, and The Chevalier, then you should check to see if you've been nailed into place...

The group just finished up a weekly residency at El Cid where they debuted their new St Domino EP last Wednesday. We'd meant to check in with them before that to help spotlight the new release instead of a week after, but our timing appears to be off a bit.

Hi, Cashew. Hows it going? Whats new?

Hey, Joe. I’m alright. What's new? Too much to bored your readers with, but I’m always juggling several projects while handling life. Crazy California lifestyle, I guess.

How did the residency at El Cid go for you?

Wonderful. We’ve made a lot of new friends, pulled out a lot of old tunes that we’ve shelved, performed oddball covers, and to our surprise ratcheted up some really healthy merchandise sales!

So, you guys have a new EP that came out last week. How did that come together? Who did you record it with?

We found a distributor who we’ve partnered with to put out any release we wish, so after we cobbled together songs for our first EP late last year, we decided to just put music out every six to nine months. Blake and I wanted to make a quick, direct recording with the stuff we wrote at last year’s end. We ended up partnering up with our old pal, Raymond Richards. He’s a pretty hot steel pedal guy who built an incredible studio. If you’ve listened to any of the California psych stuff in the past six or seven years, like the Brian Jonestown Massacre, Hope Sandoval, or even the new Frankel CD, you have heard his work.

Anyway, he hooked us up with Dan Long to produce our sound. He’s a Brooklyn whiz that came to work at Raymond’s studio. He’s worked with TV On The Radio and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and all that. Now he’s in town working with some of our fave LA acts like Ferraby Lionheart and Eagle and Talon, so he's building a loyal local following. He was able to rough some scratchy gems out of us into some nice shiny jewels in a remarkably short span of working time. He’s got that something.

How do you feel like its different from your earlier work? (And who did you record that with?)

Hard to say. It all sounds like us but sonically, I guess this one has a different feel, be it sequencing or a bit more acoustic instrumentation this time.

Our first demo single Baby Babylonia/Wind To Blow in 2005 was produced by our mentor and guru, Emitt Rhodes. He still lives on the street he grew up on in Hawthorne and we bonded with him and became great friends. What a joy that was! We used the harmonium and plucked away at the instruments he recorded his three LPs with in the early 70’s.

Our first EP last year was basically self-produced. We won’t do that again!

How did the band come together in the first place? How long have you been a band?

The Prix came together originally as a side project for Blake and I when we were in other bands. Just as a way to bang out our songs that we couldn’t do with them. We hooked up with a fantastic rhythm section in Zack Zeigler and Stevie Mills in 2004 and we just came to the conclusion that we should maybe focus a bit more on it since this gave us more joy than our other gigs.

What bands were you guys in before?

Blake was in a real cool, spacey shoegaze act Sunstorm and I was doing some production and DJ stuff in Burgundy Jones. Ambient, chill, and ethereal stuff. Very different from the high energy stuff The Prix does.

You guys don’t fit into any set pre-existing niche in the local music scene. What are the up and down sides to that?

Well, I guess the upside would be that there really isn’t anyone doing what we’re doing. How many top-hatted Hammond B-3 players are there in this town?

Blake and I grew up here in the city, so whether we are aware of it or not, we are squeezing out local, Southern California sounds. We're all rooted in the same, trippy musical drug everyone on the eastside is high on, but I suppose we are a little bit more giggly and rambunctious about it.

What’s next for you?

We’re shooting a video for the song St. Domino in a couple weeks and we’ll probably pile the gear in a van and take off somewhere. I’m also producing a new collective of folk and classical psychedelia music. A conceptual piece celebrating Old California.

Last question: What local bands have you been enjoying the most lately?

I’ve been really enjoying Castledoor and The Little Ones. We’ve been digging The Poor Excuses, the new Weather Underground stuff. The Digs, In Waves, all great music. And we will always love The Warlocks.

That's it. Thanks much for your time.

The Prix's next shows are at Spaceland on Tuesday, August 7th and The Viper Room on Monday, September 3rd.

DOWNLOAD:
- St. Domino MP3
- The Chevalier MP3

Now Blog This! 2.0 Announced

I need to put in some serious catch-up on the concert calendar because I'm so far behind. But in the meantime, I wanted to mention the recent announcement of the second Now Blog This! event at The Scene in Glendale...

If you remember the last one, the folks at The Scene had asked Little Radio, You Set The Scene, Rock Insider, and RFSL each to pick one band to play -- The Pity Party, The Clean Prophets, The Valley Arena, and The Western States Motel, respectively -- and the venerable Kevin Bronson and Sea Level Sylvia DJed.

The new event will take place on Thursday, August 23rd at The Scene and feature The Deadly Syndrome (presented by Passion of the Weiss), Le Switch (presented by Aquarium Drunkard), Aushua (presented by The LA Times Buzz Bands blog), and Phoenix and The Turtle (presented by LA Underground). And DJ duties will be handled by Jax from Rock Insider and myself.

I'm not familiar with all of the bands playing the show quite yet, but The Deadly Syndrome and Le Switch are among my favorite live acts in town, so I'm sure it's going to be a fantastic night. Mark your calendars.

Pics & Video From Let's Independent!: Xu Xu Fang, In Waves, & Signal Hill

Last night's show is going to be pretty hard to top. Xu Xu Fang, In Waves, & Signal Hill all nailed their sets and the crowd was really fun and into it. Many thanks to everyone who came and performed. You are the wind beneath my wings and stuff.

Here are pics and of from the proceedings from Lawyer Jed.

Tuesday New Releases: Manic, John Vanderslice, Tegan & Sara, & Yeah Yeah Yeahs

By this point, you gotten the point that tonight is our FREE show with Xu Xu Fang, In Waves, and Signal Hill over at Boardner’s, but what you might not have known is that the EP release event for LA act Manic is also going on over at Cinespace a few blocks away with Flostradamas, Dead Ponies, and Chromeo. Luckily, our show usually wraps up relatively early and they start up fairly late, so you could ostensibly catch both tonight...

Other new releases this week include:
Alamo Race Track - Black Cat John Brown
Circus Devils - Sgt. Disco
The Lovemakers – Misery Loves Company (Enhanced)
Oliver Future - Pax Futura
Prince - Planet Earth
Robbers on High Street - Grand Animals
Will Stratton - What The Night Said
Tegan & Sara - The Con Vapor
Tiny Vipers - Hands Across The Void
UNKLE - War Stories
John Vanderslice - Emerald City
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - The Is Is EP
Hans Zimmer – The Simpsons Movie Soundtrack

The Monday Show Low Down (Or “Good Times Have Come For You, My Friend”)

Morning. Salutations. Hi. So, every month Radio Free Silver Lake puts on an event at Boardners of Hollywood where we try to spotlight some of the best independent music this town has to offer.

Each time, we attempt to assemble the perfect line-up out of the numerous fantastic live acts in LA and sometimes … like when we had Great Northern, The Movies, and The Western States Motel play together or Division Day with The Happy Hollows and Thailand … it comes together so well that I’m just happy to have been among those in attendance.

This Tuesday night's line-up promises to be particularly memorable (besides being FREE, to boot)… If you’ve heard Xu Xu Fang, In Waves, and/or Signal Hill before, you know what I mean. If you haven’t, you should come because each of them have got people talking separately, but together? It’s going to be some amazing Voltron kind of #$%@.

What exactly have people been saying about the bands? Kevin Bronson from The LA Times’ Buzz Bands Blog has advised “See Xu Xu Fang now, before we lose them” and Scott McDonald from Little Radio marks them on his “20 LA bands you need to get acquainted with” list.

Bronson also had this to say about our second act, "Ambient music can make you feel as if you're enveloped by fog, torn between the comfort of its womb-like sonics and the anxiety over what might lie beyond the shroud. The aptly named L.A. band In Waves wratchets up the tension considerably, with furious, melodic drums punctuating distortion-laden guitar and reverb-heavy vocals. Ethereal, meet ghostly."

And Signal Hill? Make sure to show early for them because after seeing their live set earlier this year, I’ve been evangelizing them ever since. If you like “wave crashing” post rock acts like Mogwai and Explosions In The Sky, you won’t want to miss it.

That’s it. Hard sell over. Read all the details and hear track from all three bands right here. Really hope you can make it. Now let’s take a look at everything else going on this week.

Monday, July 23
- Eskimo Hunter, Mezzanine Owls, The Coral Sea, & Solare @ Spaceland (FREE)
- Divison Day, Moving to France, & St. Motel @ The Viper Room
- Light FM, The Amateurs, The Pulsars, & ARP @ The Silver Lake Lounge (FREE)
- 5 O'Clock Somewhere, Princeton, & Aloha Mr. Hand @ The Echo (FREE) - Glacier Hiking @ The Troubadour (FREE)
- Slint @ The Henry Fonda
- Nightfur @ The Knitting Factory
- Outsider Folk, Cabinet of Natural, Old Shoes, Missincinatti, Voice on Tape, Zombelle, & Mycroft Holmes @ Pehrspace
- Teenage Frames, Sioux City Pete, The Crystelles (w/Gitane DeMone), & Gabe Hart @ The Scene
- Shelley Short w/ Tom Brosseau, Charlie Wadhams and The Harmony Brothers, & Cat Hair Ensemble @ Bordello
- Snow Patrol @ The Greek

DECISION:
Tough calls all around. Division Day? One of the best bands in town and they always nail it live. The Amateurs? Nightfur? Coral Sea? Been meaning to see them all play for awhile now. But they’re all at different venues!

Tuesday, July 24
- Let's Independent! Presents Signal Hill, In Waves, & Xu Xu Fang (FREE)
- Manic CD Release Party w/ Dead Ponies @ Cinespace
- Dappled Cities. Eulogies, Maneja Beto, & Die! Die! Die! @ The Echo
- Daniel Johnston @ Henry Fonda
- Snow Patrol @ The Greek
- The Cribs @ The Troubadour
- Asher & United By Sound @ The Mint
- Brian Grosz @ The Cat Club
- Martin Rev, LSD and The Search For God, Fuxa, New Collapse, & Alison Chesney @ The Silver Lake Lounge
- Tegan and Sara @ Amoeba Music
- Exitmusic, Adeline, Karpov, & China Room @ Bordello
- The Faraway Places & The Blank Tapes @ Spaceland
- Midnight Snake, Die! Die! Die!, & Phantom Family Halo @ The Smell
- Who Rides the Tiger, Pangolese, Longpig, The Kite-Eating Tree @ The Scene

DECISION:
Um, see above or something. Our show will wrap up early enough where you can still make it over to Cinespace for Manic and Dead Ponies.

Wednesday, July 25
- Die! Die! Die!, The Lights From Here, And The Furies Say, & CJ Boyd @ The Silver Lake Lounge
- The Flying Tourbillon Orchestra & The Vacationeers @ Tangier
- Saint Motel @ The Three of Clubs
- Daniel Johnston @ Henry Fonda
- Brian Grosz @ Crane’s
- The Rapture & Foreign Born @ The Mayan
- Alarma, The Gaslight Anthem, Signal To Noise, Del Toro, DJ Ali MacLean @ The Scene
- The Prix @ Alex’s Bar (Long Beach)
- Dub Club @ The Echo Plex
- Restaurant, I Make This Sound, Bollweevil, & More @ Safari Sam’s
- CLUB NME Presents The Nice Boys & The Amazements @ Spaceland
- Death To Anders & The Karabal Nightlife @ Molly Malone’s
- Matin Rev, LSD and The Search For God, & Fuxa @ The Knitting Factory
- Jesse Sykes and The Sweet Hereafter, The Moaners, Bolero, & Helen Money @ Bordello
- Patton Oswalt @ Amoeba Music
- Tokyo Police Club & Dappled Cities @ The Troubadour

DECISION:
The Prix’s residency is still going strong at El Cid and The Flying Tourbillon Orchestra play their auspicious first live show at Tangiers.

Thursday, July 26
- Patrick Park, The Afternoons, The Temporary Thing, & Frankel @ Spaceland
- Say Hi To Your Mom & The Knitting Factory
- The Henry Clay People, Kissing Tigers, Divisadero, & Service Group @ The Scene
- Suki Ewers, Craig Mceldowney, The Sheers, & Ghost Town @ Tangier
- Buffalo Tom @ The El Rey
- The Rapture & Foreign Born @ The Mayan
- Casxio & The Pants Party @ The Airliner
- Bodies of Water Record Release Show @ Pershing Square
- Hecuba, Lion of Panjshir, Uh, & Hysteria Dancers @ Bordello
- Electric Children @ Mal’s Bar
- Portugal The Man @ The Troubadour
- Ivy Walls & By The By @ The Silver Lake Lounge
- The Nice Boys & Thee Makeout Party! @ Pehrspace
- Buckfast @ The Gig
- Novosak, +Dog+, Debaser, & Raven Chacon @ The Smell
- Hell Ya! Presents: Low End Theory & Echo present Chromeo & Flosstradamus @ Echoplex
- Sea Wolf & Midnight Movies @ UCLA Hammer Museum
- Filter Magazine’s Revenge of the Sunset Strip w/ J*Davey, Pacific Davision, Wallpaper @ The Roxy
- Tegan & Sara @ The Malibu Performing Arts Center

DECISION:
Another crazy night… Sea Wolf and Midnight Movies are an impressive pairing and who knew Say Hi To Your Mom were coming to town? And we’ve got tickets for Patrick Park, The Afternoons (a great side-project from members of Irving), and Frankel at Spaceland. (Oop -- they're all gone.)

Friday, July 27
- Jessica Fichot @ Bordello
- Tables and Chairs, Secret Alphabet, & Adeline @ Pehrspace
- High Places, Soft Circle, Eplieptinomicon, & Polar Goldie Cats @ The Smell
- Steve Barton (formerly of Translator), Moris Tepper, & The Broken Letters @ The Scene
- Club Underground @ The Echo Plex
- Jeremy Jay @ Bow & Sparrow Gallery
- The Melvins @ The Troubadour
- Cowboy Mouth @ The Roxy
- Sam Sparro, John Ruf and Mr The Teeh, The Awkward Stage, & Spider Problem @ El Cid
- Trans Am @ The Beauty Bar
- Signal Hill Transmission @ Molly Malone’s
- Maximo Park, The Oohlas, & Monsters Are Waiting @ The El Rey
- Tegan & Sara @ The Malibu Performing Arts Center
- Madonna Tribute Party with the Prayers, Winter Flowers, Mountain Party, The Chapin Sisters, & more @ Spaceland

DECISION:
I dunno about you, but I’m catching the Zach Galifianakis comedy show over at Largo that night…

Saturday, July 28
- The Fucking Champs, Earthless, & Titans @ The Echo
- Gliss & The May Fire @ Vertigos Bar
- The Reigns @ The Airliner
- The Husbands & Rock And Roll Adventure Kids @ The Scene
- Outre @ Pehrspace
- The Flash Express, Geisha Girls, Bad Dudes, & Hundreds and Thousands @ The Smell
- Let’s Go Sailing, Amnion, Sara Lov, & Libbie Linton @ The Hotel Café
- Marvelous @ The Cobalt Café
- The Rentals, Goldenboy, & Gwendolyn @ Spaceland
- The Husbands, The Rock and Roll Adventure Kids, Ghost Buffalo, & Machine Gun Blues @ The Scene
- Soundlessons @ The Echoplex
- The Tomorrow Show w/ The Monolators @ The Steve Allen Theater
- The Ditty Bops @ The Henry Fonda

DECISION:

If you love power chords, we’ve got tickets for The Fucking Champs at The Echo. (Oop -- they're all gone.) If not, the show at The Hotel Café with Let’s Go Sailing, Amnion, Sara Lov, and Libbie Linton sounds great.

Sunday, July 29
- Little Radio Summer Camp w/ TBA @ The Little Radio Downtown Warehouse
- The Poor Excuses, Cue The Moon, & Muso @ The Scene (FREE)
- LA Record Release Show w/ Dead Meadow, Darker My Love, Phantom Family Halo, & Entrance @ The Echo Plex
- Hiasakite, The Albrights, & Simone White @ Spaceland
- Grand Ol Echo w/ Johnny Kaplan & The Lazy Stars @ The Echo
- Alice Smith @ The Troubadour
- Guru & Jazzmatazz @ The El Rey
- Anaban, Team Robespierre, Eyes and Ears, Foot Village, & Laco$te @ The Smell
- Wulf Anderson, HT Heartache, Bougarelli, & Saurabh @ Tangier
- The Northern Two @ The Eagle Rock Bowling & Drinking Club at All-Star Lanes

DECISION:
At night? We’ve got tickets for the LA Record Release Show w/ Dead Meadow, Darker My Love, Phantom Family Halo, & Entrance at The Echo Plex. (Oop -- they're all gone.)

That's it. Did I miss anything? Please lemme know.

Mini-Interview: The Monolators

If you reside within the LA city limits and catch live music regularly, you've probably heard of and/or seen The Monolators before. If you haven't, this is probably a pretty decent introduction to the group, who are equal parts entertaining and ubiquitous.

But, either way? By the end of this interview, we'll have all learned something... [Puts hand on chin.]

Hi, Eli. How’re you doing today?

Eli: Just dandy. Mary’s here too.

Mary: I’ll put my two cents in here and there.

How long have The Monolators been around? How did you start? You began as a three-piece, correct?

Eli: We started as a three-piece back in, let’s see, 2002. We were very, very different then. I was the bass player, and a friend of ours, Mike, played guitar. He was big into rockabilly and we had much more of a retro/surf kind of sound. We recorded our first record (in our garage) with Mike and it very much had that sound.

Later on, in about the summer of 2005, Mike left, so I switched (reluctantly, with lots of whining and complaining) to guitar and Mary and I started playing as a duo, and we’ve done two tours since then as a two-piece. But now we’ve got Andy, who also plays in 8-Bit, and he’s on bass, so we’re back to a trio again, which is great.

Mary: Man, you should have heard the complaining. Of course, you should hear me complain when it comes to drum practice.

And you’d say your main influences as a group are Buddy Holly, Television, and The Modern Lovers?

Eli: Ah, that list is so old, we’ve got to update it! I think we did have quite the Modern Lovers sound there when Mike was with us, but as much as I love that first record of theirs we’ve gradually moved away from that towards other things; and Television, I should have put down that we enjoy and appreciate Television, but probably sound nothing like them. Certainly I can’t play guitar like those guys. We played this Television tribute night a while back and a heckler told us that we “didn’t sound enough like the records,” so there you go.

Buddy Holly is still a big hero of mine, and I’m still fascinated by schmaltzy 1950's pop, but Mary and I are also both heavily into Pulp, and Mary especially is influenced by dance music–-which is tricky, since we don’t especially want to jump on the disco/punk bandwagon, but we try to make sure that people can dance to all of our songs.

Mary: I would move Pulp, The Lovemakers, plus CBGB’s bands Blondie and Talking Heads further up the list. It will be really interesting to see what influences Andy brings into the band. I’m very excited about this.

Eli: Okay, so we’ll change that list one of these days.

What do you think are the pluses and minuses of being a band in LA?

Eli: It’s hot and our garage doesn’t have a decent AC unit, so we’re sweating all the time. Um, the big minus is that there are eighty skillion bands here and all of them, without exception, can play better than we can. So competition is fierce and it’s taken us years to establish ourselves.

The big plus is that, ignoring the Sunset Strip stuff, I really honestly believe that Los Angeles has some of the best local bands in any scene anywhere and I feel very lucky to be a part of that.

But then there’s the ants. They’re everywhere in the summer. They drive us crazy!

What’s it like playing in a band with a spouse?

Mary: Generally, it’s great. We are both really busy so it’s important that we do the band together. We have a role model in Eli’s parents: they are both archaeologists. Eli’s whole family would go out on the digs together and then his parents would write books. Instead of digs, we’ll be doing tours.

Eli: Yeah, it’s really helpful to be married to your drummer especially -- drummers are hard to find. I recommend that everyone marry their drummer if possible.

What the hell's a monolator?

Eli: A monolator...well, when we were looking for band names years ago, I decided I really liked the word “modulator.” But of course there already is a band called The Modulators, so I started changing letters until I came up with ‘Monolators,’ which had a nice ring to it. It was a made-up nonsense word.

Later, I found out that it is indeed a real word, but you can only find it in theological dictionaries, and it didn’t occur to me to look in one of those at the time... so that was unintended. It basically means ‘monotheist,’ which isn’t very rock and roll, unfortunately.

Sometimes I think that ‘Monolators’ is a bit too garage-punk a name to cover all the different kinds of music we’re interested in, but it stuck. I am quite taken with the name we came up with for our acoustic side project, which is Cobra Lilies.

You two seem to perform as much as humanly possible. Why?

Eli: We play about 3-4 times a month, which seems kinda normal to me; I was watching The Kids Are Alright and it said The Who played almost every night when they were starting off, so in comparison I feel like we don’t play nearly enough!

But really what it comes down to is that we all love playing shows, even the crummy ones when we’re on tour and it’s two in the morning and there’s nobody there.

The video you made for the song Strawberry Roan looks like it was really fun to make, what with all the ninjas and everything. Was it?

Mary: That was a really fun shoot. John Duarte and the cast and crew were really great. It was generally a big party. Half the footage wasn’t even used which is too bad. I’m dying to see more of the Ninja-Pirate dance sequence. It looked awesome when we were shooting it. There was also a break dancing Rabbi that didn’t make the cut.

Eli: I also got this incredibly great cowboy shirt for free when we did that. I wear it all the time. It has these sort of pseudo-lacy things all over it–I’m very interested in investigating lace in everyday clothes now. If it’s good enough for the 17th Century Dutch, it’s good enough for me.

Let's take a look...



Eli: Our previous video, the black and white fascist one Locke Webster directed for We Fell Dead, that was tremendous fun to make too.

Mary’s hair took a long time to recover from that. She looks amazing.

Let's take a look at that one, too...



What’s next for you? More recording, a residency, more videos, or what?

Eli: A residency would be great, and I hope one presents itself soon.

We’re going to record some new songs soon so that we can keep the EP’s coming! We’ve also got some people working on dance remixes of We Fell Dead, and I’m very excited about that. Oh, and we’re going to play a few dates next month in Tennessee and Alabama, so that’ll be fun too.

Final question: What other current LA bands are you listening to these days?

Eli: That’s a tough question to answer because there’s so many--most of the records I listen to now are from local bands. We like listening to our friends, bands we play with: 8-Bit, Castledoor, The Mormons, Henry Clay People, Airborne Toxic Event, The Sweet Hurt, Idaho Falls, E>K>U>K, The Transmissions, Wait Think Fast, I Make This Sound, Tenlons Fort, Ema And The Ghosts, The Breakups, Summer Darling, The Amateurs, Kissing Cousins, The Shark That Ate My Friend... I know I've skipped some...

There’s lots of other local bands that I admire and would love to play a show with someday. My fingers are crossed.

That’s it. Thanks for your time, Eli.

Eli: You’re welcome. Thanks for talking with us! Gotta get back to fighting the ants now.

The Monolators will play next at... well, you should click here because they have a lot of shows and then you can see the full list.

DOWNLOAD: Strawberry Roan MP3

Video Free Silver Lake: Xu Xu Fang, Signal Hill, & Much More

As a prelude to our next Let's Independent! night at Boardner's next Tuesday with Xu Xu Fang, In Waves, and Signal Hill, I've snagged some videos of each band performing live of Teh Interweb. Though nothing can really prepare you for how much fun this FREE event is going to be...

The first is a clip of Xu Xu Fang playing an extended version of their song Good Times and the crowd rushing onto the stage to bang on any vaguely percussive item the could find. Good Times, indeed.



The second is from post rock act Signal Hill at The Scene in Glendale back in April. Make sure to watch until the end.



And I couldn't find any video of In Waves, unfortunately, so here's Great Northern's video for the song Home, instead. (They played the first Let's Independent! and were fantastic, so it's still vaguely topical.)



You can find all the details for the event and hear tracks from all three bands right here. Hope to see you there.

Band of the Week: Eskimohunter

Wake up. Abre los ojos. You've only got two chances left to catch local shoegaze superstars Eskimohunter at their free Monday night residency at Spaceland.

Besides putting on a great live performance with a rad light show (nope, it's not reminiscent of Zeppelin or Floyd), it's got to be said that they also have some of the best fliers around, which you can see a collection of right here.

Their show next Monday at Spaceland sound particularly noteworthy, what with Mezzanine Owls, Solare, The Coral Sea, and all. And after their residency, they're playing some little thing called Sunset Junction...

DOWNLOAD: Walking Tour Of Space MP3

New Releases: Eastern Conference Champions, Editors, Magic Numbers, & More

Hey, so Eastern Conference Champions’ CD release event has changed venues for tonight. Instead of performing at Cinespace, the guys will now join the crew over at The Silver Lake Lounge that include The French Semester -- who I’ve wanted to check out after hearing their Sebadoh-ish album recently -- and NYC's Vampire Weekend, who my friend George swears will be playing The El Rey next time they come to town.

Here are a few other albums that are debuting nationally today:

The Chemical Brothers – We Are The Night
Editors – An End Has A Start
A Fine Frenzy – One Cell In The Sea
Garbage – Absolute Garbage
Magic Numbers – Those The Brokes
Meat Puppets – Rise To Your Knees
Rooney – Calling The World
Suzanne Vega – Beauty & Crime

Am I missing anything notable? Lemme know.

The Monday Show Low Down (Or “Don’t You Think That We Should Kiss While The Husker Du Is Playing?”)

The birds around Silver Lake sing in distinct shifts every morning, like some sort of avian factory workers straight out of a Pixar movie.

At dawn’s first light, you can hear the sparrows (or at least, some kind of bird that sounds distinctly small and sparrow-like) start twittering lightly. By seven, the morning doves begin cooing. And around eight, the crows commence cawing jocularly to themselves.

But there’s always one mystery bird that doesn’t get with the program. He’s an insomniac and is usually up, as Lionel Ritchie says, all night long.

At first, it’s kind of charming to hear him singing in the dark at two or three as you come home from some late show, party, or date. A few drinks in you, it’s nice to know that the rest of the world isn’t completely put to sleep.

But later on right outside your window when you’re in bed with a pillow over your head? Not so much...

Anyway, let’s take a look at the shows going on in town this week.

Monday, July 16
- Eskimo Hunter, Minutes Til Midnight, & Christopher Blue @ Spaceland (FREE)
- Spoon & John Vanderslice @ Little Radio Downtown Warehouse
- Vampire Weekend, Delta Spirit, & Grand Ole Party @ The Troubadour
- Hearts of Palm UK, The Happy Hollows, Good On Paper, & Thailand @ The Viper Room
- Black Lips @ Amoeba Music (6PM)
- Anavan, Attractive And Popular, Lipstick Terror, & Coaxial @ The Smell
- 5 O'Clock Somewhere, Thee Gentlemen Callers, Morris Tepper, & The Scrips @ The Echo (FREE)
- Walking Bicycles, Death To Anders, Palms To Pines, & 12 Dirty Lovers @ The Troubadour
- Suki Ewers @ Bordello
- High Society, Honeypot, & The Futhamuckas @ The Scene
- Death To Anders @ The Knitting Factory
- Ferraby Lionheart, The Spires, The Karabal Nightlife, & Franklin For Short @ Tangier
- I See Hawks In LA, Pistolera, Fosforo, Wait Think Fast, & Everybody @ Bordello
- Light FM, Tigers Can Bite You, Yes Me To Death, & Vice Versa @ The Silver Lake Lounge (FREE)

DECISION:
I couldn’t possibly be more torn up about what show to go to on Monday. There’s the Spoon and John Vanderslice show at the Little Radio Downtown Warehouse, which is a great opportunity to see either band in a small venue. There’s The Happy Hollows, Thailand, and Hearts of Palm UK over at The Viper Room. Then Light FM and Tigers Can Bite You are for frees at The Silver Lake Lounge. Notable out-of-towners Vampire Weekend and The Grand Ole Party are at The Troubadour. And last, but not least, are Ferraby Lionheart, The Spires, The Karabal Nightlife, and Franklin For Short at Tangiers.

Suffice to say, you need to go out somewhere on Monday night. Because staying home when there’s this much great live music going on isn’t an option.

Tuesday, July 17
- Vampire Weekend, Faker, & The French Semester @ The Silver Lake Lounge
- Crowded House @ The Troubadour
- The Black Watch, Adam Franklin (from Swervedriver), & Benni Hemm Hemm @ The Echo
- Lady Party @ the Echoplex
- Adam Franklin (Swervedriver). The Black Watch, Benni Hemm Hemm @ The Echo
- Horses, Who Rides the Tiger, Gort, & Lady Sinatra @ The Scene
- Raul Malo @ The El Rey
- She’s Your Sister, Shiloe, The Scene, & OK Stranger @ Spaceland
- The Lonely Years, Robert Francis, Heartstring Symphony, & Angela Correa is Correatown @ Bordello

DECISION:
This night is down to notable out-of-towners Vampire Weekend at The Silver Lake Lounge and notable LA indie country act The Lonely Years at The Bordello.

Wednesday, July 18
- The Prix @ El Cid
- Club NME w/ Suicide Club, Pink Enemy, & Blackmarket
- Die! Die! Die!, The Youngs, Ghost of the Russian Empire, Sabertooth Tiger, & Meho Plaza @ The Silver Lake Lounge
- Lavender Diamond, Redcar, & Emily Wells @ The Echo
- The Polyphonic Spree & Jessica Hoop @ The El Rey
- Dub Club @ Echoplex
- Knight Rider @ Pehrspace
- Flexx Bronco, The UVs, Naughty Bird, & Tatonka @ The Scene
- Flight of the Concords @ The El Rey
- The Young Goodman Browns & Hello Menno @ Molly Malones

DECISION:
We’ve got a few pairs of tickets for Lavendar Diamond, Redcar, and Emily Wells at The Echo for Thursday night... Oop. They're all gone. Sorry!

Thursday, July 19
- The Shout Out Louds & The Grand Ole Party @ The El Rey
- Patrick Park, Whispertown 2000, War Paint, & Michael Runion @ Spaceland
- Filter Magazine’s Revenge of the Sunset Strip w/ Carina Round & Kenna @ The Roxy
- Ryan Adams @ Wilshire Theater
- Broke Til Thursday, The Breakdowns, Junkload, & Adam West the Bat @ The Scene
- Castledoor & Low vs. Diamond @ UCLA Hammer Museum
- Hecuba, Lion of Panjshir, Carrie Bell, & Hysteria Dancers @ Bordello
- Jesse Deluxe, The Dirty Hearts, & Geisha Girls @ The Silver Lake Lounge
- Dos & Team Dresch @ The Echo
- Aa, Health, Foot Village, Cougar Den, & Crime Novels @ The Smell
- Oh No! Oh My! @ The Troubadour
- Outfest & Echo Present: Team Dresch , We Float, & Vivek Shraya @ The Echo
- The Western States Motel, Wrongway Driver, & Frankel @ Tangier

DECISION:
Suffice to say, The Western States Motel and Frankel are two of my favorite indie pop acts in town...

Friday, July 20
- The Devil-Ettes, The Fuxedos, E>K>U>K>, Le Oui Underground, & Mini-Skirt Mob @ Spaceland
- Pigeon John @ The Troubadour
- Jonathan Rice, Whispertown 2000, & Everest @ The Echo
- The Cribs @ Amoeba Music (6PM)
- The High Society, Dirty Kings, & Sun’s Lungs @ El Cid
- The Dwarves, Time Again, The Uprising, & More @ Safari Sam’s
- Dirt Dress, A Viewing, & Stab City @ Pehrspace
- Child Pornography, Yvonne, & Laco$te @ The Smell
- Check Yo Pony Tail w/ Plastic Little & Thunderheist @ The Echoplex
- The Bird and The Bee & Mike Andrews @ The El Rey
- Sonic Youth @ Greek Theatre

DECISION:
I can’t tell you how much Sonic Youth’s Daydream Nation changed everything for me musically when I first heard it in -- no joke -- Helsinki, Finland nearly twenty years ago… but I can say that sometimes I really regret how bad I am at remembering to buy tickets before key shows sell out.

But we’ve got a few pairs of tickets for Jonathan Rice, Whispertown 2000, and Everest at Spaceland for Friday night. Message me here with your full name to be entered in the drawing.

Saturday, July 21
- Emma Burgess @ The Echo
- One Trick Pony @ The Airconditioner
- My Brightest Diamond & Rasputina @ The El Rey
- The Switch, The Transmissions, & The Black Kites @ Pehrspace
- Daft Punk, Sebastian, & Kavinsky @ The LA Sports Arena
- Theo & The Skyscrapers, The Start, & Static Age @ The Echo
- Hang The DJs @ The Echo
- The Night Watchman @ The Troubadour
- Press Fire & Masterslave @ The Scene
- Magic Bullets, Softboiled Eggies, The Prayers, & The Muslims @ The Smell
- The Rentals, Goldenboy, & Dead Sea Scrolls (Josh Haden) @ Spaceland

DECISION:
It’s all about The Switch, folks. I can’t say enough good things about their live set.

Sunday, July 22
- Little Radio Summer Camp w/ The Black Pine, Dead Meadow, & Spindrift @ The Little Radio (3pm)
- The Northern Two & The French Semester @ The Eagle Rock Bowling & Drinking Club at All-Star Lanes
- Totally Radd!!, Qui, & more @ Safari Sam’s
- Hank III & Assjack @ The Roxy
- Grand Ol Echo w/ Cousin Lovers, Grant Langston @ The Echo
- Part Time Punks w/ Magic Bullets & The Tartans @ The Echo
- Bad Acid Trip, Anger As Art, Hell Hath No Fury, & Eve's Downfall @ The Scene
- Amnion, Karpov, Monster of Sunshine Park, & Helen Money @ Tangier
- ATP, Don’t Look Back, & Girls Against Boys @ The El Rey
- Snow Patrol @ The Greek

DECISION:
You can possibly resist the line-up at Little Radio Summer Camp? It’s been one of the most consistently fun events of the year. Better get over there before the last one in mid-August or you’ll be kicking yourself in the face…

That’s it. Did I miss anything? Please lemme know.

Mini-Interview: Frankel

While the rest of the country catches up to the likes of Great Northern, The Silversun Pickups, and Sea Wolf, audiences here have been enjoying the next wave of great new LA bands –- acts like The Switch, Radars to the Sky, The Deadly Syndrome, Frankel, and more.

We recently spoke with Frankel’s lead Michael Orendy, who has been playing out several dates in town in support of his new album, Lullabies For The Passerby.

Hey, Michael. How are you doing today? Hot enough for you?

Hey there, Joe. I’m doing just fine, thanks. This heat is dreadful. I’m counting the days until my beloved sweater weather returns. Perhaps Al Gore might be onto something.

Flavorpill recently called you a "staple of the local indie scene." What bands were you in the past?

My last band was called Meow Meow, which was a local noise-pop band. We made a record called Snow Gas Bones and then recorded enough material for two more albums that has yet to see the light of day. We all sang and switched off on instruments. Those guys are supremely talented musicians and great friends of mine.

Before that, I played bass in a three-piece shoegazer called Athalia with Paul Larson, who now has a very good band called The Minor Canon.

Then how and why did you start up Frankel?

I'd been writing songs and 4-track recording as long as I can remember. It’s always been my preferred way to spend time rather than watching television or completely tuning out. The cassette tapes were starting to block the exits and it got to the point where I no longer had a choice in the matter. I had some kind encouragement from those around me to start getting this stuff out there. It started as a recording project, where I was playing all the instruments.

You began just as a one-man band, correct? And then added a backing band more recently?

Yep, it’s been a solo operation until these past few months. For the last two years, I’ve been doing solo shows playing guitar and/or piano. For awhile I was doing a lot of on-the-fly looping with my voice and a couple of instruments.

Now, I’m fortunate enough to have some good friends playing this music with me. It’s been great to hear other people interpret the songs and see it all come to life. We’ve been doing a bunch of shows to promote new LP and it’s really coming together.

Why the name "Frankel?"

When I was in grade school, I had to wear this giant piece of orthodontia called a frankel. To say it was awkward is the understatement of the year.

Any attempts to speak while wearing it sounded like Kenny from South Park. I’m sure it’s illegal now-a-days (except for Texas) and kids are no longer subjected to such cruel devices of torture. (I think I hear small violins playing right now).

Anyway, I think naming my project Frankel is some sort of weird therapy.

How did your first EP come together?

A few years ago I put together the bare essentials of a recording studio. I took some 4-track ideas and dumped them into my computer to expand on them.

That said, I kept it fairly simple with acoustic guitar and piano being the focus point of each song. Everything was done with one inexpensive microphone and a few instruments and toys around my apartment. I put six songs on a CD and sent it out to a few friends. Nyles Lannon (Film School, N. Lannon) passed it along to Three Ring Records, who asked if they could put it out. Um, sure.

You recorded your new album Lullabies for the Passersby that with Earlimart's Aaron Espinoza at The Ship, right?

Actually, I recorded the bulk of this album with Raymond Richards at Red Rockets Glare. It’s a very cozy studio in Rancho Park with a bunch of vintage gear.

Aaron mixed the entire record at The Ship, which was a great experience. He has a patient ear for detail and was able to find places for all of my little noises/loops. We got along like peas and carrots. He also introduced me to Dave Trumfio (Wilco, Grandaddy), who mastered the album.

How's the new material different from the EP?

The new album is, sonically, much bigger. I had more confidence this time and was more adventurous with the arrangements and production. Also, Norm Block (Plexi) played the drums, which really brought these songs to life.

Musically, there’s more of a range between upbeat and the moody stuff. I’m still very proud of the EP, but it was written and recorded during a darker time of my life.

What next for you, now that the album is out?

We’ve been concentrating on playing out as much as possible around town. It’s been a good chance to play shows with friends and figure out what songs translate best in a live venue. We’ll be stretching out to some other cities toward the fall.

Last question: What other current LA bands are you enjoying right now?

The Parson Redheads, Nico Stai, Mezzanine Owls, Everest, The Spires, Amnion, Angela Correa, Western States Motel, The Broken West...I’m forgetting a bunch.

That's it. Thanks for your time.

Thank you, good sir.

Frankel will play next here in LA at Tangier on July 19th with Western States Motel, at Spaceland on July 26th with Patrick Park, and on August 13th at Bordello with I Make This Sound.

DOWNLOAD:
- Thermostat MP3
- Tooth Decay MP3

Newly Announced Shows: Let’s Independent!, Interpol, Air, Spoon, The Buzzcocks, & More

We've recently nailed down the full line-up for our next Let's Independent! event at Boardner's on Tuesday, July 24th. This time promises to be a little louder with the triple threat of Signal Hill, In Waves, and Xu Xu Fang. Three great bands playing together for free. Mark your calendars and come on out to help support our excellent local music scene. Go here for more info and to hear all songs from three bands.

Filter Magazine also starting up a regular night of mostly LA bands with Revenge of the Sunset Strip at The Roxy… Highlights include performances by Grand Ole Party, The Deadly Syndrome, Let’s Go Sailing, and The Western States Motel. Click here for more details.

And tickets go on sale on Friday for the surprise Monday night party with Spoon and John Vanderslice at Little Radio. (Note: Only one hundred tickets are available.) See all the details here.

The following bands have also just announced shows for here in town – just check out the right-hand column for dates and venues: Interpol, Air, The Buzzcocks, Stars, The Cary Brothers, Stars of Track And Field, Great Northern, The Comas, Eastern Conference Champions, Fionn Regan, Jesse Harris, Tegan And Sara, Dappled Cities, Christopher Blue, J*Davey, Pacific Davision, Wallpaper, Pop Levi, Grand Ole Party, The Shys, The Procession, The Redwalls, Augie March, Mark Mallman, Bang Lime, The Deadly Syndrome, Let’s Go Sailing, Western States Motel, The Afternoons, The Temporary Thing, Frankel, The Devil-Ettes, War Paint, Michael Runion, Suicide Club, Whispertown 2000, Bat For Lashes, Magick Daggers, The Black Watch, Adam Franklin (from Swervedriver), Benni Hemm Hemm, Dos, Team Dresch, Lavender Diamond, Emily Wells, Bishop Allen, Page France, Castledoor, Earthless, Titans, Marni Stern, Gravy Train!!!, Plastic Little, Thunderheist, Crowded House, Pete Yorn, Die! Die! Die!, The Lights From Here, And The Furies Say, CJ Boyd, John Vanderslice, The Black Lips, Caribou, Final Fantasy, Solare, The Violent Femmes, The Little Ones, & Ingrid Michaelson, Au Revoir Simone, The Beastie Boys, Junior Senior, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, She’s Your Sister, Shiloe, The Scene, & OK Stranger, Marvelous, St Vincent, Castledoor, Low vs. Diamond, Sea Wolf, Midnight Movies, Daniel Johnston, and Ryan Adams.

Pic by Braedon Photography.

Band of the Week: Hearts of Palm UK

You'd think with all the electronic bits in LA indie pop duo Hearts of Palm UK's songs that they might sound better on your stereo or in your car than in-person at some music venue, but you know what? They're pretty amazing live. Lead singer Erica Elektra's voice is as clear as a fucking bell and, you know, who isn't a complete sucker for the glockenspiel?!

Hearts of Palm UK's next show is at The Viper Room with RFSL favorites The Happy Hollows and Thailand, and the new-to-me Good On Paper. (It's free if you message them in time to get on the list. Otherwise, it's $10.)

After that, the band is heading on a mini-tour of Northern California and back into the studio to work on a full album, so this'll be your last chance to see them play out in town for awhile.

Here are four free MP3s that should inspire you to brave the lames of the Sunset Strip next Monday to catch them.

DOWLOAD:
- I Flow MP3
- Jonathan (That Fucking Motherfucker) MP3
- Portugal MP3
- People & Logistics MP3

New Releases: The Smashing Pumpkins, Interpol, Spoon, St Vincent, & More

The big day has arrived and we finally have our first new Smashing Pumpkins record in seven years. And everyone is...well, seemingly underwhelmed. The majority of the reviews seem to back up our own limited impression from listening to the free album stream last week; it doesn't suck by any means, but it just doesn't grab you.

With all the Punkins hysteria lately, it was almost easy to forget that Interpol also has a big release out today, their major label debut Our Love to Admire. Using the same non-partisan Metacritic scale, the New York boys seemed to have faired much better in living up to expectations than Billy. Of course, it probably helps that they've retained all four original members and aren't trying recapture the magic of a scene that peaked about twelve years ago.

Also out this week are new albums from:

* The Icarus Line
* Bad Religion
* Buffalo Tom
* Crowded House
* Justice
* St Vincent
* Ulrich Schnauss
* Spoon
* They Might Be Giants

Stolen from Radio Free Chicago.