You know how I said SPIN covered the shit out of Bonnaroo? Well, we completely crushed Lollapalooza. From front to back, destroyed it with epic aplomb. Really. You should check out the entire thing, but since this blog’s primary function is totally self-serving, you’ll find my cov’g indexed below:
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Posted in live reviews, SPIN
Tagged Black Lips, Bright Eyes, Cage the Elephant, Coldplay, Cool Kids, Daedelus, Fences, Lord Huron, My Morning Jacket, Reptar
Nosaj Thing wows the crowd at Coachella.
This is later than late, but better than never. The Spin Magazine fellers definitely know a good thing when it bludgeons them over the head with experimental beatwork, then nurses them back to health with a warm, enveloping beauty. That, combined with my incessant badgering, resulted in a gallery highlighting some of the Los Angeles electronic talent that made it out to Coachella 2011.
Posted in live reviews, SPIN
Tagged Coachella, Daedelus, Nosaj Thing, Ras G, Take, TOKiMONSTA
So many ninjas, so many tunes.
Holy smokes. Venerable electronic indie label Ninja Tune releases a big ole box fulla tunez, XX: 20 Years of Beats & Pieces. Featuring Coldcut, Amon Tobin, Flying Lotus, Kid Koala, the Bug and many more. Not for novices:
“Where oh where, for the love of Steinski, to begin?”
Find out over at The A.V. Club.
Posted in A.V. Club, album reviews
Tagged Amon Tobin, Daedelus, Flying Lotus, Mr. Scruff, Ninja Tune, The Bug
Kutmah's much needed passport?
Quick blog bits from around the L.A. underground (and up). Share ‘em.
(all stories via West Coast Sound, via L.A. Weekly)
* After being expelled from the U.S., DJ Kutmah delivers a fifty-minute mix featuring a ton of unreleased gems — including a Flying Lotus track and a Fugees remix by Jonwayne.
Tagged Alia Shawkat, Amanda Palmer, ASKA, Baths, covers, Daedelus, Dam-Funk, deportation, Dr. Strangeloop, Drive Thru Records, Dublab, Flea, Jess Weiss, Justin McNulty, Kutmah, L.A. beat scene, Low End Theory, Manimal Vinyl, Moonrats, Nick Zinner, podcasts, Proxiomal Records, Scarlett Johansson, Shlohmo, Steel Train, Stones Throw, Take, Teebs, Tegan & Sara, Terrible Thrills, TOKiMONSTA
A short list of recommended L.A.-area shows for the coming week (plus videos for instant gratification). Click “details” for descriptions.
Posted in event previews, LA Weekly
Tagged Daedelus, Dengue Fever, East Side, Echoplex, El Rey Theatre, Frosty, Haiti Relief, Hepcat, Joey Altruda’s Crucial Riddims, Jogger, live music, Los Angeles, Magic Bullets, Nosaj Thing, Still Life Still, The Lions, The Tuffingtons, Troubadour, Very Be Careful, West Hollywood, Wild Beasts
It’s true. Four more primes slabs of virgin wax from L.A.’s extremely fertile independent music scene. Among this week’s crop are my favorite release of the year, the Dublab super-project Secondhand Sureshots, some rabid avant blues courtesy of Oxbow (Hydra Head’s return to the column!), another dreamy psych offering from the kids at Not Not Fun (Topaz Rags), and some post-rock tastiness from Red Sparowes (on Sargent House).
Oxbow, 'Songs For The French'
Posted in album reviews, columns, LA Weekly, photography
Tagged Daedelus, DJ culture, Dublab, Hydra Head, indie music, J.Rocc, Kutmah, Los Angeles, MP3s, music crit, Nobody, Not Not Fun, Oxbow, Ras G, Red Sparowes, Sargent House, Secondhand Sureshots, Stones Throw, Topaz Rags, Vacation Vinyl, vinyl
It’s hard to know where to start with this one. At the end of the day, you could be the proud owner of: a DVD of the Secondhand Sureshots documentary (to be explained); a 12-inch picture disc featuring music by Daedelus, J-Rocc, Nobody, Ras G, and Kutmah; which itself comes packaged inside of a one-of-a-kind hand-screened LP sleeve; plus two slipmats. And all of that looks like this:
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Click below for the explanation, an MP3, a video clip, and purchase info…
Tagged cratedigging, Daedelus, documentary, Dublab, Frosty, hip-hop, J.Rocc, Kutmah, Morpho, Nobody, Ras G, sampling, Secondhand Sureshots, Stones Throw, thrift stores, vinyl
Just as Los Angeles’ musical profile has been rising over the last couple of years, so has the average youthful (“young” or otherwise) citizen’s interest in getting involved. Our scuzzy experimental pop, the “beat music” movement, and the D.I.Y. spirit that envelops them both make for a certain punk accessibility that extends beyond inspiring listeners to strum a detuned guitar or screen-print their own T-shirts. As it turns out, electronics are fair game too, and there are cheap, easy classes available locally — some taught by known artists, at institutions like Machine Project and The Public School — that offer novices the ability to harness an incredible spectrum of sounds. Circuit-bending workshops teach people how to modify thrift store finds (keyboards, toy instruments, Speak & Spells), while other classes focus on a particular computer programming language (Max/MSP) which is graphical, linear, and easy to experiment with.
The LA Weekly has just published my story on the topic, “Bend Everything,” which features insight from L.A.’s own Lucky Dragons and Daedelus, among others. Check it out here, and grab a copy if you’re local.
Also, watch Lucky Dragons blow some minds at Machine Project.
