The xx have snagged the prestigious British music award called the Mercury Prize for their prolific self-titled debut album at the Grosvenor House hotel in London tonight.
The south London trio’s ethereal, sensual distinct sound has impressed critics and new fans all around the world in just one year since the albums release. Thus, the Mecury Prize, a $31,000 prize (which also means a huge boost in sales) limited to 1 musical act each year has been rightfully awarded to them.
It was an almost unanimous decision welcomed with open arms by top players in the music industry. The members (Romy Madley Croft, Oliver Sim, and Jamie Smith) stepped onto the stage to graciously thank the wildly excited audience for the money which they said will go towards building their first studio (their first album had been made in a converted basement the size of a bathroom).
Previous top musical acts to win this award include the Klaxons, Arctic Monkeys and Elbow. Catch the xx at the Hollywood Palladium September 22nd!
New York punk/funk scenesters: The Rapture, Panda Bear and local indie acts: Best Coast, Local Natives, and Dead Man’s Bones (complete with a children’s choir) were among the top shining stars of the 35 strong lineup at this year’s FYF festival.
Defying hour-long waits for booze and toilets (even the Cha Cha Lounge’s VIP section was jam-packed), a crowd of around 10,000 braved the dust, heat and chaos on Saturday at the Los Angeles State Historic Park, to dance, sing, bond and parade an assortment of fashion statements.A few highlights greeted the eager sea of mustaches, oversized hats, vintage boots, lots of lace, denim cutoffs, and how could we leave out the hipster fox tail trend (wtf?).
Panda Bear (Noah Lennox of Animal Collective) completely reinterpreted his usual song structure and onstage dynamic, embracing all things abrasive and discordant over the band’s trademark fluttering melancholia of “Merriweather Post Pavilion.”
Also pulling a rabbit out of their hat were the ever-so-eccentric Dead Man’s Bones, who brought a fully-costumed kids choir (who called themselves the ”Warm Glass of Milk” of the Silverlake Children’s Choir) on stage as a creative addition to their eagerly anticipated set. Ryan Gosling (whose voice proved to be exceptional live) charmed a huge enthusiastic crowd, some seeming a little miffed by the choir.
The Rapture always has the ability to get the legions on their feet, and this wasn’t an exception on Saturday. Despite New York’s finest having been laying low in a live context for several months working on new material in their Brooklyn studio, The Rapture was in full affect as they closed FYF with the likes of “Get Myself Into It,” “Killing,” and “Sister Saviour.” Frontman Luke Jenner’s vocals were off the charts as he belted out the cowbell-ridden ”House of Jealous Lovers” to a wildly excited crowd.
The Rapture concluded their hour-long set with a long overdue new song (their last album release being “No Sex for Ben” in 2008) entitled ‘Sail Away,’ presenting the bands new sound which moves on from their punk rock proclivities and moves into the new wave world. There’s no album release date as of yet, but we will keep you posted!
Local Natives originated in Orange County, California…but don’t let that fool you. Their sound is distinctly Silver Lake, where they moved shortly after forming. Give a listen to their debut album, Gorilla Manor, and you will hear driving, rough-around-the-edges grit and complex melodies and harmonies reminiscent of other Silver Lake indie bands (such as Silversun Pickups), rather than the clean, poppy Orange County sound of, say, Something Corporate. The band, consisting of members: Taylor Rice, Kelcey Ayer, Ryan Hahn, Andy Hamm, and Matt Frazier, collaborates together on every aspect of their album, down to the artwork…and the results show it.
It’s difficult to put a label on Local Natives. At times their sound is mellow, almost ambient, the kind of music you have on but don’t actively listen to. At other times, their music pours out of the speakers and demands your attention with energetic percussion and wild melodies.
Drummer Matt Frazier’s work is especially impressive, from the intense syncopation of “Wide Eyes” to the complete cacophony of “Shape Shifter”, in which seemly random snares, crashes, and the jingle of tambourines somehow mesh together into a unified structure. The band also does a lot with their vocals, using unconventional harmonies that sometimes break into three or more parts. Local Natives has been compared to Vampire Weekend, Fleet Foxes, and Grizzly Bear (and a bit of Dr. Dog too), but make no mistake: this sound is distinctly theirs.
If you choose to download a digital copy of Gorilla Manor directly from their website, you will also get videos of live performances and other extras. If you want to see them live yourself, you’ll have to do a bit of traveling (or craigslist searching)…Local Natives will be in Los Angeles at the Henry Ford Theater on September 17th and 18th (with The Love Language and The Union Line), but both shows are sold out. You can still get tickets for their shows in Solana Beach and Santa Barbara. But, by the looks of things, you’d better hurry. You can also follow them on Twitter @localnatives.
If there’s one thing you can say about Arcade Fire, above all else, it’s that they know how to construct an album. The Suburbs, which entered the Billboard Top 200 albums chart at No. 1, is less an album and more a symphony, with interludes, songs divided into parts I and II, and repeating themes. Oh, and the music is damn good, too.
Given the band’s propensity for making statements with their music, the title “The Suburbs” should immediately give you an idea of what you’re in for. The message of husband-wife duo Win Butler and Régine Chassagne isn’t hidden in these lyrics; they’re sung out loud and unabashed, determined to warn us of the impending loss of our freedom as we resign ourselves to punching the clock and living behind our white picket fences.
In “Sprawl II” (one of a few multi-part songs on the album), Régine sings “They heard me singing and they told me to stop, quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock”, and repeats through the chorus, “Dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains, and there’s no end in sight, I need the darkness someone please cut the lights.” These images of the wasteland of the suburbs, darkness and light, freedom and the search for the place where we belong are the spine of this album. But the message isn’t to avoid this next stage in life at all costs: in the title track, Butler asks “So can you understand/Why I want a daughter while I’m still young/I wanna hold her hand/And show her some beauty/Before this damage is done.”
The tension in the lyrics between having to grow up and “fit in” and trying to avoid becoming “wasted” come through in the music as well. As the first track (“The Suburbs”) begins, the swinging beat and piano sound almost jaunty, and even in the desolation of “Sprawl II”, the melody rises and falls, ending each line with a pleasant major resolve.
But at times throughout the album, the melody will fall to a cold minor tune…a mirror of the idea that no matter what suburban life might look like on the surface, there’s a different story going on underneath. These major and minor tensions keep you on edge for the entire album and kick you every time you start to get comfortable, until finally you reach the reprise of “The Suburbs” and hear a defeated echo of the opening melody.
So, it’s not exactly easy listening, but the intricacies of this album will draw you in and keep you playing it on a loop. It’s difficult to top the award-winning predecessors Funeral and Neon Bible, but The Suburbs does come close to doing so.
Make sure you check out Arcade Fire’s newly released ultra inventive viral video for The Suburbs single, ”We Used To Wait.” (If you don’t have Google Chrome, take a minute of your time to download it and welcome to the future.) The band will be making a short trip down the west coast of the U.S. in October, so be sure to catch them at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Oct. 7th and 8th!
With the balmy days dwindling, so are your chances to bare flesh publicly while bands play outdoors. For those not burnt out by the recent plague of local festivals, including Sunset Junction, Sunset Strip Festival, or Outside lands, get to Fuck Yeah Fest this weekend for another chance to don your denim cutoffs.
Nestled downtown just beside Chinatown, LA State Historic Park plays host to a plethora of indie outfits on Saturday, including UK dance hybrid scenesters The Rapture as well as !!!, New York’s Panda Bear of Animal Collective, L.A.’s very own overnight phenomenon Local Natives, actor Ryan Gosling’s band Dead Man’s Bones, and a huge collection of local groovers.
Others include Sleep, Unbroken, Man Man, 7Seconds, Thee Oh Sees, The Mountain Goats, Ted Leo + Pharmacists, Delorean, Cold Cave, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Washed Out, Wavves, School of Seven Bells, AA Bondy, The Blow, Best Coast, Davila 666, Titus Andronicus, The Soft Pack, Abe Vigoda, Warpaint, Off!, Vetiver, Ceremony, Big Freedia, Screaming Females, Magic Kids, The Growlers, Lower Dens, Let’s Wrestle, Cults and more.
Now in its seventh year, FYF 2010 will offer three stages to host the 30+ acts booked for the day. To top this big bash off, FYF will offer vegan food, DIY silk-screening, a record swap meet, local comics and ultimately provide the perfect venue to wear vintage wayfarers, stripe or plaid shirts, and various accoutrements of the hipster uniform (not?)
While Katy Perry purrs about suntans and popsicles, there’s one band delivering the grit, volume, and utter frivolity of a whole different teenage dream. Sleigh Bells, the barely two-year-old Brooklyn-based duo of vocalist Alexis Krauss and writer/guitarist/producer Derek Miller, soared from obscurity to become a new darling of the indie music scene with their hard-rocking, electric-jolted, genre-mashing first album, “Treats.”
Signed to M.I.A.’s N.E.E.T. Recordings, (the electro-pop queen, herself, discovered the band while Miller was still waiting tables) the band nabbed coveted gigs at SXSW and Coachella where they generated major buzz for their massive sound and raw stage presence.
It’s no wonder Sleigh Bells has catapulted into the limelight; Krauss and Miller pull off a formidable feat with “Treats.” Their sound manages to be both identifiably their own and stylistically diverse; consistent while spanning a range of genres. Their inspiration? “Kids these days.”
“Tell ‘Em” rips open the album with classic metal guitar riffs and gun-like drum beats. Krauss’ voice floats in above the chaos, her featherweight vocals balancing out Miller’s hard-hitting masculine sound. Their juxtaposition is harmonious as it is irreverent. From there, the album turns funky with “Kids,” the cheeky remake of their earlier demo, “Beach Girls.” How can you not love a song that blends an emergency siren with inane, teen babble: “Wait. Did I forget my sunglasses? Nope. Got ‘em!” Their lyrics (when you can make them out) so authentically capture modern youth you feel like they were written in emoticons.
If you’re looking for riotous, mosh-worthy punk, Sleigh Bells brings it with “Straight-A’s.” The heavy-hitter stands opposite “Rill Rill.” The summery tune is the album’s most likely to rematerialize in the background of an Apple commercial. It’s through their intuitive musical finesse Sleigh Bells manages the series of hand-break turns from screamo to hip-hop to rock to pop within this one ambition debut album.
When you’re listening to “Treats,” do yourself a favor: turn the volume up– way up. Listening to it softly is an exercise in frustration and confusion. Sleigh Bells pushes past comfortable and into an ear-splitting, buzzing tangle of sound, and you can only throw your hands up and go along for the ride. Be sure to check out two of the album’s bests, “Crown on the Ground” and “A/B Machines.”
Eels frontman Mark Oliver Everett has come a long way from the addictive—though dark and depressing—single “Novocaine For The Soul” off of 1996’s “Beautiful Freak”. Or has he? Fourteen years have passed, but the tone of the past two Eels albums have been almost as down and defeated as when Everett pleadingly sang “You’d better give me something to fill the hole, before I sputter out”.
Those two recent albums, “Hombre Lobo” and “End Times”, were the first two installments of a trilogy of concept albums that now ends with the release of “Tomorrow Morning”. After all the grief and lamenting retrospection of “End Times”, something truly strange happens in this new album: though his voice is older and weathered, Everett actually sounds happy.
As the title of the album might imply, “Tomorrow Morning” rounds out the trilogy by looking at the future as a new beginning, with the kind of desperate optimism that only someone like Everett—whose past is marred by losses in his family and (apparently) failed relationships—can have. Any album that starts with a song titled “In Gratitude for This Magnificent Day” is either going to be from someone who spent a long time in the dark, or from a band full of hippies.
The album certainly tries to counter the woe-is-me attitude that Everett usually owns, and sometimes playfully: he even has a song about how he’s “the man”, and how everyone else thinks so too. It’s a far cry from the self-loathing that we have come to expect…though you get the sense that there might be a touch of irony in it.
As usual, the true strengths of Everett’s music lie less in the songwriting and more in the mixing. There’s still a lot of interesting stuff going on, like the grainy crackling set up against the deep, driving beat of “There Is Where It Gets Good” (which, perhaps not ironically, is where the album really does start getting good). The lyrics remain simple, with the same simple (albeit sometimes forced) rhymes, and the melodies and progressions still hold some of the twists and resolves of past classics. Eels fans will be happy to hear that despite the difference in Everett’s demeanor, some things never change.
To promote the release of “Tomorrow Morning” and the end of the concept trilogy, Eels launched a worldwide tour, currently in progress. Be sure to catch them at The Music Box in LA on October 12th!
Canada has a way of exporting music that feels familiar and accessible, yet somehow different, new, foreign. The Canadian band Stars is no exception: their sound is a clean, melodic electro-pop that’s easy on the ears, but orchestral layers and the occasional jarring synth makes you listen harder. And that’s a good thing.
Give a quick listen to Stars and you might hear echoes of another Canadian band, Broken Social Scene. You would be right…the members of Stars are all part of Broken Social Scene as well. Stars provides a softer sound, however, and tends to use vocalists Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan more often side-by-side. The two sound perfect together, and when they share a song it’s always more of a musical dialog than a duet. The result is music that tells a story from distinct points of view, like in “Your Ex-Lover Is Dead”, off of their sophomore release “Set Yourself On Fire”.
Sure, they can seem overly romantic or a little too neatly packaged, as in the title track “Heart” off of the 2003 album in which Amy Millan calls through the chorus, “All right, I’ll make it all up to you, I’m still in love with you”. But when you hear the angst of the epically-titled “One More Night (Your Ex-Lover Remains Dead)” off of “Set Yourself On Fire”…well, it’s hard not to feel the pain as Campbell sings “You’ll never touch him again, so get what you can”, punctuated by a loud, jarring sting on the guitar, jumping in for just a second lest the lilting piano give you a false sense of security. After all, loveless “ex sex” is never easy, is it?
Stars has been around for nearly a decade now, but they have avoided staying static and unchanging from album to album. Listen to their first full release “Heart”, and you’ll hear lighter, almost romantic electro-pop. Move to “Set Yourself On Fire”, and you’ll notice a new orchestral sound fused in, providing depth and maturity. By the time you reach their most recent release, “The Five Ghosts”, all of their previous experimentations will have meshed into a perfect balance of instrumental rock, orchestral lamentation, and electronic lift. That’s the really great thing about Stars: they know how to combine elements in a way that remains clean and uncluttered, but still sounds new and interesting. How many other bands do you know that combine cello with harmonica?
The band is currently touring in Europe, but will be returning to the US for a number of dates beginning in late September. Don’t miss their show at The Wiltern, Friday. Nov 12th!
It isn’t hard in today’s music industry to find quasi-talented artists who make headlines simply because of their outrageous behavior, versus their actual talent and work. And, in most cases, it’s rare for these outlandish attention seekers to actually produce a body of work that can silence the most condemning of critics. Ladies and Gentlemen meet the exception: Taylor Momsen and the Pretty Reckless.
The 17-year-old front woman of the band isn’t putting on wigs and singing to the pre-teens of the world about “climbing over mountains” and “parties in the USA”. Rather you can find her flippantly trotting around New York City, where her band originated and the hit show Gossip Girl is filmed (of which she plays the roll of Jenny Humphrey).
On any day you should expect to find Momsen in outfits (or lingerie, you decide) that would make even a young Britney blush. Typically she is knee deep in eyeliner and red lipstick, tossing out one-liners about masturbation, screwing a priest and of course a plethora of f-bombs. She isn’t necessarily America’s sweetheart, and nor does she want to be. Due to Momsen’s public behavior, and unwillingness to apologize for her, at times, crude words (and appearance), her band was initially labeled as somewhat of a teen-angst “we’re-hardcore-and-don’t-care” wannabe rock group. The band laughs off these claims, and we’re laughing with them.
From what the world has heard through single releases, viral videos, Internet leaks and of course MySpace, those initial inapt labels are quickly disappearing. Perhaps it was opening up for The Veronica’s last summer, or maybe it was the line-up changes (she replaced the whole band), but whatever the reason, The Pretty Reckless have delivered a taste of music that should quiet their naysayers. The two released singles “Make Me Wanna Die” (amazing) and “Miss Nothing” (check out the sacrilegious video) are part of the bands debut album entitled Light Me Up, due out August 31, 2010. With the songwriting primed by Momsen herself, she and her band capture a sound reminiscent of Hole, seamlessly mixed with lots of garage-grunge and hard rock. Taylor Momsen has taken the first steps to becoming what the alternative rock world hopes will be the next Courtney Love (less booze, less-ahem-extra curricular activities, more music).
As the album release approaches, Momsen and the rest of her band members: Mark Damon (bass), Jamie Perkins (drums) and Ben Phillips (guitar), are spending their summer on the road playing Warped Tour. While doubts may still linger about how successful The Pretty Reckless will be in the musical universe, we think the remainder of the album’s contents will speak for itself. As for those who disagree…well, as Momsen would say “Fuck you”.
Yes, we know November 6th is a long ways away, but the Florence and The Machine show at The Wiltern is almost sold out!!!
In case you have been living under a rock, Florence and The Machine is one of the highly-applauded bands of 2010, and for good reason. Front-woman Florence Welch’s inimitable voice intertwines seamlessly with harps, strings and drums making for down-right work of art masterpiece splendor-type music. You don’t want to miss the 22-year-old vivacious redhead as she performs chart-topping singles such as “You Got the Love” and “Dog Days Are Over” off of her musically mature and emotionally mesmerizing album, Lungs (released last year) as well as her Twilight: Eclipse Soundtrack addition entitled, “Heavy in Your Arms.”
This will absolutely make your personal Top 10 Concerts of all time list, so get yourself a ticket or two!
Longtime KCRW DJ and Eclectic24 programming curator Chris Douridas’ School Night at Bardot not only features Tom Freund, but a New Pornographers DJ set after their Henry Fonda show tonight! The Canadian indie rock band will be celebrating their release of “Together,” their new album that somehow succeeds on being totally catchy and bewildering all at once. Join us for what promises to be a truly entertaining and inspring night, all you have to do is click on the link for a FREE rsvp.
Ladies & Gentleman, this is what “sexy” looks and sounds like. The stunning, UK-bred Jade Williams is Sunday Girl, the latest addition to the wave of synth-loving go-getting female artists such as Alison Goldfrapp, Lykke Li, and Bat for Lashes. Her paradoxical, breathy sound that seems to be both melancholic yet uplifting all at once, is overwhelmingly bemusing.
Why “Sunday Girl,” you ask? It’s a nickname earned by working at a quaint pet shop before leaving to study Design at the Wimbledon College of Art. “I worked every Sunday but nobody knew my name so they just called me Sunday Girl. I loved that job and was devastated when I had to leave to go to university,” said Williams. “The best thing about the job was cuddling puppies and I fostered so many animals – kittens, guinea pigs, rabbits. Once I brought home a mastiff puppy and told my mum it was a small breed dog. She still didn’t let me keep it.”
The 22-year-old, who was recently signed to Geffen Records, also has her own blog that is as addicting as her music. There’s no LA show as of yet, but it’s only a matter of time as this electropop sensation continues to blow up! “Four Floors” is available on iTunes now.
“The Lost Weekend” aka Matador Record’s 21st birthday is a 3-day music festival celebration at The Palms in Vegas on October 1-3, 2010. The stellar lineup includes Pavement, Sonic Youth, Belle & Sebastian, Spoon, Yo La Tengo, Cat Power (pictured), The New Pornographers, and many more artists which will be announced in the next couple weeks. These tickets will go on sale Friday morning (TOMORROW) at 9am for $199.00 via ticketfly.com. We know it’s months away but we had to give you fair warning (the Palms “Pearl” venue isn’t huge and these babies will go fast)! Also starting Friday, you’ll have the opportunity to reserve standard rooms at the Palms for the discounted rate of $99 per night (the full 3 nights of the festival, only). Who says gambling, strippers, booze, and indie rock don’t mix?!
“The Swell Season” have easily established themselves as the quintessential 21st-century folk-rock twosome. Made up of angst-ridden Irish singer/songwriter Glen Hansard and Czech pianist/vocalist Markéta Irglová, the power-duo have been performing together since their rise to prominence in 2007 after starring in the new-age musical, “Once”, which scored them an Academy Award for Best Original Song.
To balance out Hansard and Irglova’s surplus of ‘love gone wrong’ songs is another folk-rock duo, “She and Him”, comprised of actress Zooey Deschanel and indie-rock master, Matthew Steven Ward (more commonly known as M.Ward). Newer to the scene than “The Swell Season”, “She and Him’s” musical eye-line is lighter in tone and theme. The pair spent the first year of their working relationship E-mailing tracks back and forth and finding days in between their respective schedules to record in Portland, Oregon. Finally after three years of toiling on the collaborative tracks, “She and Him” released their highly-acclaimed first album, “Volume One” in 2008, followed by “Volume Two” in March 2010.
Rounding out the night of male-female folk duos is “The Bird and the Bee”, the upbeat jazz-influenced electro-pop group comprised of feminine-rocker Inara George (the bird) and mega indie producer/singer/songwriter Greg Kurstin (the bee).
Although The Hollywood Bowl’s up-close and personal Garden & Terrace Seating is sold out, we suggest grabbing seats in one of the less-glamorous sections, popping open a bottle of summer wine and soaking up some of folk rock’s finest.
Check out Lady Gaga’s steamy 8-minute “Alejandro” music video, released today. Directed by Steven Klein, the sex-as-art portrayal features Gaga in various barely-there costumes (including a Madonna-”Vogue”-esque get-up) and is loaded with ripped men and tons of religious iconography. Rumor has it that Gaga has been talking up the idea of posing in an upcoming issue of the eternal men’s magazine, Playboy. Think that’s a smart career move?
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