Synopsis
While his former DFA 1979 partner is providing the pill-taking soundtrack for young people around the world, Sebastien Grainger is playing fun, danceable rock at small venues in the US and Canada. With his band The Mountains (Nick Sewell, Leon Taheny, Andrew Scott), Grainger played most of the songs off their self-titled release, with the addition of a new track “It’s a Living.” Personal highlights were an extended version of “I Hate my Friends” and bopping to “Renegade Silence”.

The crowd
Small, dedicated, mostly white, mostly male.

The drinks
Totally unavailable. All bars at the Knitting Factory were closed that night. Though, a helpful security guard did suggest that I go to nearby Long’s Drugs, pound a beer, and return.

Opening act
I saw the last few songs of The Show is a Rainbow (a solo multimedia experience performed by Darren Keen). I have not seen anything like this before: Keen eschewed the stage in favor of singing from the middle of the dancefloor, explained one song as having been inspired by being hit in the face with other men’s penises while his mother had sex with assorted partners while he was in utero, and used the phrase “buckle the fuck up” at least 10 times. Thank you, Darren Keen.

»continue reading Sebastien Grainger, Knitting Factory, 26 March 2009

Well, it’s been a while. I’ve stayed busy: I broke up with my boyfriend, moved, went to Israel, started smoking pot again, saw Robert Plant & Allison Krauss, Thievery Corporation, and went to the Playboy Jazz Festival. And, attended my very first Radiohead concert!

General synopsis: I think Radiohead was made for venues like the Hollywood Bowl. Large but not enormous, beautiful scenery, and a good backdrop for some aesthetic lighting choices. Though my seats were about as far away as you can be, I still felt very connected to everything happening onstage. This is in part due to Radiohead’s extremely tight production values and transcendent sound, but also the utmost respect with which most of their fans regard them. A few of my friends who saw them two nights earlier at Outside Lands complained that everyone was talking through the Radiohead set, but distracting chatter was at a minimum on Sunday, even up in the illegal smoking section where I was.

Crowd looked like: White people of all ages, who brought a few of their Asian friends. Not as many man-vests as I expected.

Opening act: I was in the bathroom or the beer line for most of The Liars set. I would describe them as art house rock, and are not my cup of tea. If I liked their music I would have been impressed by their show, but they would benefit from a smaller venue.

Security factor: Hit or miss at the gates. I was made to empty my Solo cup, but my bag wasn’t really searched. Inside, my friend was nicely asked to put out his cigarette, but smoking underneath the seat was (apparently) permitted. Dancing in the aisles was allowed, thankfully.

Set list here.

DIOYY: Best 30 minute set I have ever seen. Also, possibly the only 30 minute set I have ever seen. DIOYY stuck with the harder songs from You Have No Idea What You’re Getting Yourself Into, including Weird Science, Battle Royale, With a Heavy Heart (I Regret to Inform You), and hits Let’s Make Out and We Are Rockstars. I did not see them at Coachella so I don’t know how this set compared, but it was loud, fun, and I would definitely see them again. Just as Wolfmother was the closest I will ever come to seeing Led Zeppelin, I think DIOYY is the closest I will come to seeing DFA 1979.
»continue reading Does it Offend You, Yeah? + Yo Majesty @ El Rey Thursday May 2 2008

Synopsis: Those old guys in vests can still put on a good show. Tom, Tom, Randall, Mike, and Benmont took the stage shortly after 9, performing a set of old and new Mudcrutch tunes, a few bluegrass and rock classics, and two Bob Dylan covers. I am very anti-bloated-old-guy-reunion tour, and this show avoided those traps and remained true to the spirit of the Mudcrutch story: a few (albeit very talented and accomplished) buddies decided to hang out again and have some fun.

General vibe: Your dad got drunk at the best Fourth of July barbeque he has ever attended. I would estimate that 10% of the audience was under 30; most of the rest were in solid dad territory. Some were drunk dads, some were sober dads (lots of bottled water). Some were reminiscing hippie dads, who loved the inclusion of “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” in the encore. Whoever was in the control booth was a responsible dad, as the volume was not painfully loud. This was the first show I have been to in over a year where I have not been compelled to put in earplugs.
»continue reading Mudcrutch at Troubadour, Tuesday April 29 2008

Synopsis: Digitalism turned out a great set, with a brief encore, showcasing hits from Idealism and new material as well. Having attended a lot of electronic/dj shows, I am used to watching a couple guys stand on stage, play around with their MacBookPro, take swigs of Hennessy, and occasionally adjust their hats. Jens Moelle and İsmail Tüfekçi put them to shame. They took over the whole stage, with real turntables and mics (did you know that the vocals on their tracks are not computer-generated but are their own voices? I did not). Foregoing the aloofness that is typical of their peers, they jumped around, danced, sang, and engaged the crowd through a heavy German accent.

Audience looked like: Mid-late twenties white dudes who want to dance. I expected some Cobrasnake fashions, but there was not a lot of outlandish attire or superfluous posing (judging from Sung’s photos, all those people were too hungover from the Justice show to make it out). There was a small but noticeable gay contingent, and a few girls who looked like they got lost on the way to a Playboy audition. Overall, similar to the El Rey MSTRKRFT audience, but more polite and with less drug paraphernalia.
»continue reading Digitalism @ El Rey Theatre, Tuesday April 1 2008

While we were admittedly disappointed with the rampant, liberal use of vowels below, we are nonetheless pleased to bring you Erin’s recap of two recent MSTRKRFT gigs in Los Angeles.

Friday night at the Fonda [Feb 29] looked like some kind of cotillion after party gone terribly awry. Packs of pre-pubescent boys roamed the roof deck looking for floaters, girls in Cobrasnake-approved leggings and Wayfarers staged their own photoshoots, public makeout sessions abounded, and everywhere you turned, some poor overdosed soul was slumped on the floor, hanging over a railing, or just sitting in a chair, vomiting.

However, no number of underage hooligans could dim the flame of my excitement. Since the day Josh Homme led me to DFA 1979, which in turn led me to MSTRKRFT, I have been smitten. Their set at Coachella last year was my personal Sahara tent highlight. I like to dance, I like to sweat, I like to be surrounded by other people who are dancing and sweating. I do not like to be surrounded by people clearly having a bad Ecstacy experience, but some things can’t be helped.
»continue reading Two nights of MSTRKRFT: And the band raves on

Admittedly, my familiarity with the Editors prior to this show consisted entirely of the two songs I heard in the car en route to the Wiltern. I am slightly more knowledgeable about Hot Hot Heat, having purchased and enjoyed their 2002 release Make Up the Breakdown. However, I haven’t listened to that in a couple years. So, I went in without any agenda or expectations.

I arrived around 9:30. Louis XIV had already finished their set (which I wanted to see), and people were milling about to buy $14 large draft beers. The crowd was full of white guys in their 30s with hair product. Other prominent demographics included Latino and Asian guys in their 30s, with hair product. The women present were pretty unremarkable. As far as crowds go, this was one of the most conservative that I have seen in recent memory.
»continue reading Editors, Hot Hot Heat @ The Wiltern, Feb 9, 2008

Synopsis: Wednesday night at Royce Hall, Ryan Adams and the Cardinals turned in a great show, disappointing only in its lack of antics, breakdowns, and audience harassment. The show was comprised of two parts, the first being a mostly upbeat collection of Cardinals tunes (heavy on Easy Tiger), with a few old Ryan Adams songs (heavy on Heartbreaker), one Oasis cover and an impromptu faux-metal riff called “Sarcophagus.” After a brief intermission, the band returned for a second set of longer songs that included jam interludes, and one song featuring Neil Casal of the Cardinals on lead vocals. No encore, but the set was long enough not to warrant one.

Audience looked like: KCRW fundraiser date night. Not quite Silverlake, not quite Venice, the crowd was late-20s to mid/late-30s, co-ed, white, happy to be there. Notable exceptions included dad with approximately 8 year old daughter in front of me, and old dude in Canadian tuxedo with long white hair and matching beard.
»continue reading Ryan Adams and The Cardinals, Royce Hall, Wed. Jan 30 2008