Sonic Youth

The '90's returned yesterday for 2 hours, and two encores last night at The Wiltern where Sonic Youth played. Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore and the rest of Sonic Youth rocked the stage with their grungy fuzz noise that increased in volume throughout the show so that by the end of the night everyone went - did it get louder??! I heard one guy in back of me say loudly "Oh my god" cause he was in grunge heaven.

There were no complaints after the show except for the heckler. The "Play Goo" guy. PLAY GOO he kept screaming. PLAY GOO. Play Goo guy was standing right in front of me and looked like he stepped out of Clerks with his stringy hair and foot long goatie that was braided. I am NOT joking. Goo, the title of the 1990 album, and song titled "My friend Goo". I don't think they played it.

Am I a magnet for jackasses at shows? At the Julian Casablancas show I was standing next to a group of Frat boys who kept boo-ing. AND at the Jarvis Cocker show the heckler that kept screaming PLAY PULP was standing in back of me. Why do people go to shows and get so demanding? If you want to hear something specific, go put the album on at home. You go to a show to see the band perform as they are. If you don't like it, please don't go.

But if you are like me and my friends - we really dug the show. My favorite tracks from the newest album, The Eternal are Antenna and Anti-Orgasm.

http://www.myspace.com/sonicyouth

Download:
Sacred Trickster

Active Child

I didn't expect to be so connected at first listen to Active Child. Sent to me for consideration in a future spot, I gave it a go. The sender mentioned the album had gotten a few nods of approvals from Sterogum, Guardian and RCRDLBL, and the album wasn't coming out til April. Amazing - naturally this buzz sounded very enticing.

So What's I'm about to share with you is Active Child. Moody atmospheric tracks blending tones of some of my favorites - Joy Division/Interpol, Animal Collective and Bon Iver. Click away to the links below to download some of the tracks - It's not on playlist.com yet, so I can't add it to my player, but you can listen yourself in your itunes after you click on the free downloads. You can thank me later.

The most surprising part of the band to me is that he's from LA. Know what that means for me and all of you LA fans? More opportunities to catch him live. Too bad I noticed this evening that he was playing at Bar Lubitsch. That would have been a great space to see him.

rcrdlbl
stereogum
http://myspace.com/activechild

Surfer Blood

OK. I posted about Surfer Blood two weeks ago. I professed my love for the album. I did.

Naturally, I had to go see them play at The Echo even though I swore no more shows there. Their sound there has turned me off to great bands in the past....but I just HAD - TO - GO, and I am so glad I did!

I changed my mind on who they remind me of. I'm revising my original notes. I still think they have a little Modest Mouse but more Weezer mixed with Silversun Pickups and a dot of Vampire weekend.

These young guys are going to be big with more shows. They are so catchy! It was their first time in Los Angeles, and it was the lead singer's 19th birthday - what a way to celebrate. My favorite touch of the show was when they brought the big drum down to the audience and gave sticks to the fans to drum with. Loved it. Hoorah!

Julian Casablancas

On August 12 NME announced information on Julian Casablanca's solo tour. I remember reading this quote from Casablancas: "Ideally, I'm going to try to put on some over-the-top, amazing, Disney shows." Naturally, I was intrigued to find out what that meant.

Albert Hammond, Jr. and Fabrizio Moretti (Little Joy) already have released albums outside of The Strokes, and they are distinct. Casablancas who was the primary writer for The Strokes, is the only one of the bunch to have maintained the The Strokes sound.

So - the show - awesome. I was so curious what this Disney like show would be like - and it wasn't about animal costumes like The Flaming Lips - but it was more like a large art installation continuously changing in the background, setting a look to Casablanca's demanding vocals. Instead of a encore performance, Casablancas announced they were taking a 10 minute intermission - when they returned there was a costume change from black leather to white suits and a whole set change. That was a first!

While the Palace theatre downtown was decadent in it's own time - the owners have let it down. I'm not sure if it was the acoustics of the old building or the beginning of the tour but Casablanca's vocals were especially muffled and buried under the instrumentation.

One thing is for sure - the show as a whole was a entertaining piece to watch, even though the frat I guys I was next to kept yelling BOO.

www.myspace.com/juliancasablancas
http://www.juliancasablancas.com/

Julian Plenti

Julian Plenti is Paul Banks of Interpol. In his solo album Julian Plenti Is...Skyscraper, Banks has not abandones his Interpol sound. It's familiar yet a bit more simplistic in some of the lyrics - sometimes a bit too simplistic and repetitive. What makes Julian Plenti so appealing is his voice. It's so distinct and controlled. It's a solid album I just became so aware of the minimalism in the lyrics when I saw him live. The best part of the show was the encore. Not because it was the end, but he sang a verse of Let It Snow and then covered America's Horse With No Name. Try not to think about it and just enjoy it.

Favorite songs - Only If You Run, Fun That We have, Games For Days, Girl On The Sporting News, Madrid Song, No Chance Of Survival, Only If You Run, Unwind

Download
Fun That We Have
Games For Days

www.myspace.com/julianplenti

The Big Pink

The Big Pink has a big sound. No joke. Loud. My first instinct on the original posting a few months ago held up. The dark, gothic like band was just as large and present as I imagined they would be. For their first official tour in the US, the band kept the stage dark with dramatic back lights to enhance the songs. Overall good show, but the band delayed making the crowd anxious and then waited until the last song of the night to play their hit Dominos.



Download:
Velvet
Dominos
Too Young To Love

http://musicfromthebigpink.com/
http://www.myspace.com/musicfromthebigpink

Vampire Weekend - Cousins Video

Landon Pigg

Seeing Landon Pigg was not on my radar two weeks ago. I had no idea who he was, nor had I ever heard of him. I was dying to see Whip It, and there he was. This adorable guy playing opposite Ellen Page. I developed a school girl crush on him. A week later I received an invite to see him play at The El Rey...and well...I had to see him live. I still hadn't even heard his music. As I started researching his album and listening to the tracks, I heard a very familiar tune - Falling In Love At A Coffee Shop from the AT&T spot that has been in heavy rotation. Even though that spot plays like crazy with such a memorable track, I still liked it. So, the adventure of finding out about Landon Pigg continues.

I find out that a new friend knows him from growing up in Nashville, so we went to the show together, and yes girls, he is just as dreamy in person as he was in Whip It. Sigh. His set was short and sweet, but he worked it. Chatting up the audience asking what they want to hear - Rock or Folk...and he decided to split up the set.

Influenced by Rufus Wainwright, The Beetles and Radiohead....I heard some Bono in his vocals. It's sweet. I enjoyed it.

Tracks I like from the album: Blue Skies, A Ghost, Falling In Love At A Coffee Shop

Download:
A Ghost


http://www.myspace.com/landonpiggmusic

The Mountain Goats

When I told my parents I was going to see The Mountain Goats my dad asked me if that was a title of a movie..um, he was confusing it with Men Who Stare At Goats. A few differences..like The Mountain Goats were actually enjoyable!

The Mountain Goats have been around since 1991. And they have proven they aren't going anywhere. Once known as a lo-fi band they are now growing as a full band, even incorporating a violin into songs and their stage set.

Their live set was long. I'm not going to lie. And their newest album The Life Of The World To Come isn't in my top list, but the history of their work still holds a dear place for me. AND - they happen to have a great stage vibe which is a huge plus for me. Seeing too many shows I really appreciate the effort a band puts in to connect with their fans. Front man Darnielle works the audience into a giggle fit with his stories of how his songs came to be, and just really seems to feel at home on that stage, even though they appear like they are the nerd crew that happened to stumble upon a very cool group of listeners.

Download:
Genesis 3:23

http://www.myspace.com/themountaingoats

Wale

With influences like Big Daddy Kane, Jay-Z,Rakim, Camp Lo, Mark Ronson, Common and Digable Planets among many others, Wale is making a splash with music geeks everywhere. Seriously - he is getting written up from everything from rap magazines and blogs to the indie music reviews and The New York Times. The Washington, D.C.-based rapper Wale (pronounced "wah-lay") was born Olubowale Victor Akintimehin.

It's hearing a album like this that makes me want to incorporate more rap into my music diet.

My favorite tracks: 90210, Chillin, Let It Loose, World Tour, Momma Told Me

Download Some Of His Mixtape Gems:
Back To The Feature
Mixtape About Nothing


http://www.myspace.com/wale