Tonight in L.A. (December 10, 2012)

Its another week of holiday parties and scrambling to make sure you see everyone before they leave town and enter the entertainment industry dark weeks.  Perhaps you'll find them at the Hurricane Sandy comedy benefit going on downtown at Club Nokia with the likes of Will Ferrell, Aziz Ansari, Sarah Silverman and more.  Or maybe a local concert like Jhameel's residency at Bootleg with support from the feisty up and coming indie-dance act Mind The Gap?  Or maybe they'll be Robert Raimon Roy's record release party at The Standard Hollywood (listening begins at 10:15?  Or maybe they'll be somewhere else....

If its somewhere else I might recommend Eastern Conference Champions and Bixby Knolls at The Echo, because its free or Bonhom, Diwon, E-Train, Palter Ego and Neutron at The Central SAPC because its festive and lots of jewish artists will be celebrating with Hannukah performances.

For more recs - see below:

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• LOUD VILLAGE Presents…Comedy for the Holidays @ Troubadour

• Metal Shop w/ Little Miss Nasty @ Key Club

• Diamond Revival, Charming Liars, Beatrice Brigitte @ The Viper Room

• Bonhom, Purdue Avenue, Diwon, E-Train, Palter Ego, Neutron, DJ Danny Mentoly, Danika Daze @ The Central SAPC

• theKI, Like Clockwork, Mark Hildreth, Poppa’s Kitchen @ The Mint

• Jackie Does Joel, Brother Sal, Joe Purdy, Brian Wright @ Room 5 Lounge

• The Mixx @ Harvelle’s

• Jason Joseph & The Spectacular, Dominique Pruitt, Maria Del Pilar, IAMEVE @ The Hotel Café

• 4^th Annual Paul Scheer Sexy Christmas Spectacular @ Largo

• Steel Panther @ House of Blues – Sunset Strip

• Technocrat, Sir Sly, Brandon De  Le Cruz @ Detroit Bar (FREE)

• Lamps, Doses, MYNX, Roman Milk @ Pehrspace

• Handshakes, Wires in the Walls, Future Dancing, Bedcake, Orange Umbrella @ Silverlake Lounge (FREE)

• Willy Moon, Pop Levi, Madi Diaz, Harper Blynn @ Bardot (It’s a School Night)

• Jhameel, Young Hunting, Mind The Gap @ Bootleg Bar (FREE)

• Sons of the Damned, Orange Blossom Special @ Constellation Room

• We Hate Hurricanes: Hurricane Sandy Benefit w/ Aziz Ansari, Will Ferrell, Sarah Silverman, Chelsea Peretti & Special Guests @ Club Nokia

• Eastern Conference Champions, The Bixby Knolls, The Reflections @ The Echo (FREE)

• The Child, Hammered Satin, Young Girls, Fan-Tan @ The Echoplex (FREE)

• The Henry Clay People, Son of Stan, TS and the Past Haunts @ The Satellite (FREE)

• Robert Raimon Roy @ The Standard Hollywood

LA Talent Gets You Through Hump Day - VCC Debut & Far East Movement on the Strip

Tonight there are a handful of things to do in L.A., with lots of local buzzworthy talent hitting stages. Chart topping Far East Movement is performing on The Tonight Show and also on The Sunset Strip - but both of those are probably tough to get into at this point in the game. Another show featuring L.A. residents and artists, Voxhaul Broadcast and Eastern Conference Champions, still has tickets available. That show is at Spaceland.

You may remember ECC from their recent residency at Spaceland and you may be familiar with the name Voxhaul Broadcast because they have basically been playing everywhere in L.A. recently - and have another well publicized gig coming up at LA Weekly's show at Gibson Amphitheatre on Sunday. BUT, rather than see them at the Gibson, I'd advise going the intimate route and catching them inside tonight. The show will certainly be more intimate and definitely cheaper.

Not only are Voxhaul Broadcast and Eastern Conference Champions teaming up to deliver a presumably riveting indie rock performance for the eastside, they've also put out a cover of The Violent Femmes "Add It Up" which you can download here. Maybe if you're lucky they will play it tonight and if you're luckier - you'll have gotten to see them play it for FREE.

Enter our ticket giveaway contest by commenting here or mentioning the show and @supergoodmusic on twitter. Winner will be selected before 6 pm.

Local Band Puts A Fun Twist on Meet & Greet

Last night, I had the privilege of being invited to Spaceland for a meet and greet with Eastern Conference Champions, the current FREE Monday night residency headliner.

ECC, originally from Philadelphia, is an American indie-rock trio featuring Joshua Ostrander, Greg Lyons and Melissa Dougherty. They've been building a steady buzz recently after receiving some hype when word got out that they would be featured on The Twilight Saga: Eclipse soundtrack. The band has furthered that buzz with performances at a handful of local festivals, including Sunset Junction and their current Spaceland residency. Last night, they upped the ante even more when they invited bloggers, including myself, out for some beer and pizza before their show.

Calmly enjoying the tasty (and free) suds of a freshly poured Stone IPA, I got to meet the bandmates, chop it up with Buzzbands Kevin Bronson and talk to the bands publicity team. The soiree, which took place in the back room at Spaceland, became a healthy forum for blog blotter, indie band rumors and brief arguments over who is the next LA band to blow. Although some of the tangential conversation may have taken away from the focus of the event (I got pretty caught up explaining how exactly Foster The People had screwed over me and SUPERGOODMUSIC), I left the soiree thinking I'd made new friends (shout outs to the members of ECC, Buzz Bands Kevin Bronson, J.J. from LA Beets, the new LA Chapter of Owl City, and all the lovely ladies from Planetary Group) and excited to see a rising band perform.

Before ECC hit the stage, local indie duo, The Pity Party, were throwing down their eclectic blend of music. I paid close attention to the drummer, who is clearly talented - she plays drums, keys and sings simultaneously while her partner strutted his guitar and maintained an image of being not that into it. The guy girl duo reminded me a lot of a reversed version of Odd Modern (those two bands should play a show together). Pity also employs some live video streaming and editing, a la Saint Motel.

Post Pity Party the crowd swelled slightly for Eastern Conference Champions - who after the show were taking off to Madison, WI and Chicago, IL for performances later this week. Although not familiar with all of their tunes (they've been a band since about 2005), I was eager to catch the entirety of their show. I unfortunately had to dip out, so seeing their encore will have to wait until next week....

In toto, it was a great time; what struck me most about the evening gathering was that other bands aren't doing this. I thought it was a great way to pull me into the venue early and actually get some face time with the band. I'm not sure who had the brilliant idea - whether it was Planetary Group or Eastern Conference Champions - but cheers to that genius. The simple act of kindness got me to write an article AND I am going back next week to catch some more ECC!

Hope to see you there; it will be the last performance of the Champions' residency.