From a concert in Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona with his son Tao RodrÃguez-Seeger
(thank you calmosca).
No, don’t worry, everything’s fine (so far as I know). I’m not typically turned on by bouncy electro-pop—just not a bouncy sort of girl, ya know? But Little Earthquake, from Australia, have a sound that’s so bright and yes, upbeat, that it’s difficult not to be drawn in. It’s based around brothers Mathew and Justin Hyland and as is the case with siblings, their voices work very well together. Add to that percolating synth lines, sharp percussive blasts and ah, youthful enthusiasm. The two toured across the U.S. with indie rock band Lydia and then returned home to create Little Earthquake just last year. Their forthcoming EP, Universal Mind, produced by Lacklan Mitchell (The Jezabels, Pnau), is due out in April. “Planets” is the first single, and it’s available as a free download.
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Here’s part two of my “flashback posts.” Though I’m writing this in March, it was actually sent to me, lo and behold, on January 22! Sometimes things do work out, I suppose.
The Space Project (due out on April 19, Record Store Day, on Lefse Records) is actually a pretty cool concept. Featuring bands like Spiritualized, Beach House, The Antlers and Youth Lagoon, it’s a collection of 14 songs that incorporate sound recordings from space, recorded by the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 space probes, that were launched in 1977. These individually unique sounds are actually “electromagnetic radiation fluctuations in the magnetosphere of the planets, moons and large asteroids.” The songs are inspired by particular celestial bodies (see track listing below).
This music and satellites relationship isn’t exactly new. On each Voyager, there’s a time capsule that is intended to “tell our story” (as if the extraterrestrials will give a flying f***, right?). The Golden Record (a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk) includes music assembled by a committee led by Carl Sagan. Their chosen pieces? Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F, “Johnny B. Goode,” Australian Aboriginal songs, Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, a recording of “Melancholy Blues” by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven, and more. What, no Ramones?
Space Project Track Listing
Jupiter:
A: Porcelain Raft, “Giove”
B: The Antlers, “Jupiter”
Miranda:
A: Mutual Benefit, “Terraform”
B: Anna Meredith, “Miranda”
Neptune:
A: Spiritualized “Mississippi Space Program,” “Always Together With You (The Bridge Song)”
B. The Holydrug Couple, “Amphitrites Lost”
Uranus:
A: Youth Lagoon, “Worms”
B: Blues Control, “Blues Danube”
Saturn:
A: Beach House, “Saturn Song”
B: Zomes, “Moonlet”
Earth:
A: Absolutely Free, “EARTH I”
B: Jesu, “Song of Earth”
Io:
A: Benoit & Sergio, “Long Neglected Words”
B: Larry Gus, “Sphere of Io (For Georg Cantor)”
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It’s not particularly deep, nor will it answer any of life’s pressing questions. It’s just good ol’ “Old School Garage Psychedelia” in the proud tradition of those Boston bands of bygone days. The Needy Visions are a gathering of noisy and dirty guitar jamming glory. Three years after their debut album, the not titled LP, they’ve finally released their follow up, Deuce. The band features Boston Hassle founders Dan Shea and Sam Potrykus, and I guess the delicious guitar licks I’m hearing might well be the guest appearance of Arian Shafiee (Guerilla Toss), who appears on the new album. My guess is that they’d be a lot of fun live, so if you’re in the Boston area, keep a lookout for them.
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Los Angeles-based Sea Wolf has been a favorite since 2008, and I’ve written about them often, attempting to keep up with their exploits. Back in September, they embarked on a Kickstarter campaign so they could record a special limited release “experimental stripped-down album.” Having exceeded their goal, they’re now set to release this recording.
Alex Brown Church will be performing intimate solo acoustic performances in several cities across the U.S. He’ll be playing acoustic versions of songs from the entire Sea Wolf catalog, from Leaves In The River (2007) through White Water, White Bloom (2009) and his latest album, Old World Romance (2012).
Yeah, I missed this. Hopefully they’ll have some copies of the album at the shows.
The tour begins *tonight* in Los Angeles, at the Masonic Lodge, with a “stripped down” album release party. This one show will also feature bandmates Lisa and Scott. You can listen to a little taste of this project, “Bergamot Morning,” on the Kickstarter page.
If you’re in or around NYC, Jukely is currently running a VIP table giveaway contest for for 4 to ABC’s solo acoustic show at (le) poisson rouge in New York on Feb 14th.
Upcoming shows
Jan 11 – Los Angeles, CA @ Masonic Lodge# (‘Stripped-down’ Album Release Party)
Jan 15 – Orlando, FL @ The Social*
Jan 16 – Jacksonville, FL @ Jack Rabbits*
Jan 17 – Atlanta, GA @ Eddie’s Attic*
Jan 18 – Nashville, TN @ The High Watt*
Feb 12 – Baltimore, MD @ Metro Gallery*
Feb 13 – Wilmington, DE @ World Cafe Live at the Queen*
Feb 14 – Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe*
Feb 15 – New York, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge*
Feb 16 – Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall*
Feb 17 – Hamden, CT @ Spaceland Ballroom*
Feb 20 – Houston, TX @ Fitzgerald’s
Feb 21 – Austin, TX @ Lambert’s
Feb 22 – Dallas, TX @ Three Links
Feb 23 – Little Rock, AR @ Juanita’s
* solo acoustic
# special ‘stripped down’ set with Lisa and Scott
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Summer Darling almost disbanded in 2012, but happily they’re back and will be releasing a new album called Abandoner on January 14. For now, we can all listen to “Outer Dark” and read their interview with Kevin Bronson of Buzz Bands.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/119816574″ params=”color=000000&show_artwork=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
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In the early morning hours, the howling wind and crazy drifting bands of driven snow. This does nothing to ease the ominous feeling of the new year that’s rushed in upon me. I was left, in all honesty, feeling weary and battered from the last one, and where I could have used a warm and hopeful ray of sunshine, instead I was greeted harshly by a cold wind, contracting, closed. The world shuttering its doors and hiding its secrets from me, dark and mysterious.
And the shrouded moon sheds no light on the situation. All I can do is wait.
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(clockwise from upper left): A blessing to see all my favorites this year - The Henry Clay People, The Happy Hollows, Malcolm Sosa's 123Death and The Airborne Toxic Event
I’ll be honest — 2013 was a bitch of an “all work and no play” year, but the times I did get to cut loose with some fine music were pretty spectacular. There were a few really nice festivals (not a format I’m typically fond of), an intimate backyard deck show in Echo Park and the swan song of a beloved L.A. band. What might have lacked in quantity was well compensated in quality. Due to my work circumstances, I had to select carefully, so what you’ll find here are mostly old favorites. As the year winds down, it does so on a rather ominous note, and I’m not entirely certain what the future holds. Ok, no one is ever certain; I’m especially not certain. If there’s anything in a musical vein that I hope for in 2014, it’s that however my life changes, it does so in a way that I can experience a wider range of musical delights in the new year. For a comprehensive overview of top recordings released in 2013, visit Ryan’s Smashing Life for his ’50 Best Albums of 2013.’ Meanwhile, here are six of my personal live performance highlights, in chronological order.
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Echo Park Rising - The Echo, Los Angeles, 8/17/13
Yes indeed, it’s high time we checked into our favorite Los Angeles bands and see what everyone’s been up to and has coming up, in these final days of 2013. We begin with the glam rock fun of Black Hi-Lighter, whom I had the great pleasure of seeing in person back in August during Echo Park Rising. They released a new single, NU4NYC, back in November and were recently featured in a few podcasts — Straight To Your Head (in the UK) and the first podcast from new label Phaedra Records.
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It was early evening as she made her way slowly across the Massachusetts Turnpike, an an uneven and halting pace after the long holiday weekend. There was an edgy aggressiveness of harried, anxious motorists eager to get home from stressful family obligations. This unholy angst rose up from the dark pavement like a thousand jagged-edged knives cutting. Hostile Boston-bound drivers are nothing new, but this was worse than usual, she thought. The surly ones darted in between those more frightened and cautious, resulting in a dangerous dance, a bubbling cauldron.
She stayed in the middle lane, steady and watchful though the tedious start/stop motion had caused her restless mind to wander. The pace had quickened somewhat and traveling now at about 30 miles per hour, it was nearly too late when she saw the stopped line of cars in the left lane just ahead. A car darted out manically ahead of her from the left, unaware. Instinct took over, which caused her to veer wildly to the right as she saw out of the corner of her eye the crash, and heard metal on metal.
So close to disaster, she felt the debris hit the side of her car. She kept driving with her eyes riveted straight ahead, unhurt but not untouched, her thoughts back at the site of the crash, in the aftermath.
In her mind’s eye, even as SUVs moved past her, uncaring and unseeing, like a heartless robot battalion, she saw twisted metal and injuries, frightened children and families who faced an all-night ordeal, who would not be warm in their beds for hours, if at all. But for a second earlier, an inch this way or that, she would be there with them in their shock and fear. It all felt like haphazard chance. Who gets caught up in the twisted metal, and who gets to cruise by unscathed?
As she tried to calm her rattled nerves, she thought of one particular SUV she saw zooming past haughtily. She imagined its driver and occupants, an upper middle-class family, shielded in their armored vehicle, secure in their certainty, protective and insular. They watch their sanitized version of the news, make the requisite donations to charities at Christmas time, and consider themselves to be enlightened and well-informed. But did they stop on that darkened stretch of highway to be of assistance? She didn’t stop either, and the thought made her feel ashamed.
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