Show Review: METZ and more at The Echo (by Jake Cotler)

 

DAYUM.  That is how I will start this recant of the Metz show that I caught at The Echo in Los Angeles on Wednesday night.  

I wanted to see if the post-CMJ-hype was legit.  Since Echo Park is kind of a hike for me I brought my geologist friend as a failsafe plan...because having a geologist around will always lighten the mood.  As it turned out, I did not need him. 

We arrived in the middle of the Batwings Catwings set.  The room was semi-full, semi-enthused.  The lead singer reminded me of Tia Carrere in Wayne’s World.  Wayne’s chick who sings in the band…if you don’t know, you are probably way young, so stream that on a I-Pad and learn something.  

They were pretty tight.  Home-girl had edge.  She screamed hard, and bounced around with affect.  I give it a punk-rock salute.  The geologist dug it too, and he’s an OG punker.  He said “she’s hot,” which meant he dug it.

            So then Metz came on, and the music-blog reading-crowd came out of the woodwork, or rather, in from the smoking porch where they just butted their American Spirits.  Anyways, holy-yell-a-lot, Metz was legit.  

We had speculated earlier in the night on whether or not there would be a mosh-pit.  I assumed given the geographical location that there might be a rocking back and forth from one leg to another-pit, but I was wrong.  Metz handles biznass.   

            The drummer was ridiculously good.  I mean, dude was loud, dude was, BANG BANG BANG, and dude was sick.  It was a strong musical backbone, made your head shake.  Then on top of that you’ve got quick-ass guitar blended with quick-ass bass, and a lead singer who is sweating buckets and screaming his face off, jumping on the drums and like I said, dayum! 

It was a twenty-five, thirty minute set, quick and raging, like the tunes.  I figured if they played any longer the singer might have passed out.  Which is to say, I dug every minute of it.    

Show review by Jake Cotler via @jaminthevan

Rizzle Kicks - "Down With The Trumpets"

Basically my favorite song right now.



Star Slinger remix is good too. Anyone got some other great remixes to this dirty summer jam?

Stanton Moore's Female Competition? (Not Really...)

Alice Dellal: Bang Bang on Nowness.com.

Eli James - Spanking Skin....Drum Skins

If you've been hip to the underbelly of the L.A. scene, found yourself at the Sunset Jubilee in May (not the Silverlake Jubilee) or you've got a constant hankering for drums - you might be familiar with the artist Eli James. If not, you're response to an Eli James question might just be "Who the fuck is Eli James?"

Well, this below video should do a lot more justice to explaining that than the words I write - but suffice it to say James is part of a new breed of musicians. More than just a drummer - he is a multi-talented DJ, engineer, storyteller and performer. A one-man, skin beating, bass drum stomping, dance floor wrecking drummer.

With LED lights synched to his kit, a James performance is a total sensory experience. Its also a walk through pop nostalgia as he pops off personalized live remixes of chart toppers like Kanye West, Katy Perry, Nine Inch Nails and more. He takes his sensory overloading performance around the country this summer starting next week when he kicks off his Pump Up The Jam Tour 2011 in San Antonio, TX that ultimately delivers him to Los Angeles and the Sunset Strip for the esteemed Sunset Strip Music Festival where he will play Friday night at The Viper Room and Saturday on the main block.

PUMP UP THE JAM TOUR 2011

Date City Venue

July 19 San Antonio, TX Boneshakers

July 20 Austin, TX Beauty Bar

July 21 Houston, TX Super Happy Fun Land

July 22 New Orleans, LA TBD*

July 23 Birmingham, AL The Nick

July 25 Atlanta, GA Eastside Lounge

July 27 Worcester, MA Lucky Dog Music Hall

July 29 NYC, NY Pianos

July 31 Philadelphia, PA Dockside Bar

Aug 3 Madison, WI The Frequency

Aug 5 St Louis, MO 2720 Cherokee**

Aug 6 Warrensburg, MO 400 Bar

Aug 11 Denver, CO Moe's Tavern

Aug 13 Las Vegas, NV Artifice

Aug 19 West Hollywood, CA The Viper Room - SSMF

Aug 20 West Hollywood, CA Sunset Strip Music Festival

** playing with Freq Nasty

Check out these other drum driven remakes by James!

Lissie with Questlove on Jimmy Fallon

The Roots are my favorite band of all time. I've seen them around 40 times. More than anyone else. Ever since Fallon launched with The Roots as his backing band, I'm a frequent watcher of late night television. You get to watch ?uestlove crush the drums, Knuckles on percussion, James Poyser and Kamal on keys, Black Thought, etc. Each night is an amazing one-off performance with some new guest musician....last night it was Lissie and it did not disappoint at all.

Lissie opted to utilize mostly her own band mates, but the maestro ?uestlove held it down on the kit with her crew. Looking damn dapper in his suit, braided hair and bowtie - he drove the rhythm while Lissie rocked with her beautiful voice. I really can't say enough about how beautiful I think this performance of "When I'm Alone" sounds...you should just watch it:

Explosion of Dirty Detroit Rock at The Echo

Last night I had the pleasure of seeing one of my favorite Detroit rock bands - The Dirtbombs - (check out their various pages here, here and here) at the echo. On this Thursday night in LA, they were not victims of the Dirtbombs Curse, as they were the headliner. The band from the 248 and 313 did not disappoint - they delivered a riveting hour long set of the garage bluesy-soulful rock they've been perfecting over the years - including a handful of material from The Sermon's album "Articles of War" (The Sermon is a side project featuring many Dirtbombs members).

Mick Collins killed it as usual - fronting the quintet with his soulful, Richie Havens-ish voice. As the night progressed the vocals only seemed to improve - either Mick was getting more comfortable with the sound in the room or I was getting more intoxicated and not paying as close attention. Either way - he just kept getting better in my eyes.

Backing him up was the awesome stylings of Ko Melina, their cute, perky little asian bassist. She is a perfect example of how having a girl in a band can totally enhance your stage appeal and dynamic. She is good at her craft, but by no means is she Les Claypool. Nonetheless, she breaks it down, head bangs, plays slap and looks like she is having a good time. She gets Detroit dirty on that bass and I think I may have fallen in love with her. The other bassist, Zachary Weedon, is good himself - but, my attention was totally on Ko.

The dueling drums of Ben Blackwell and Pat Pantano also kicked ass. Beating away through most of the set - when it came time for the encore - one drummer brought his whole kit to the dance floor, played a song, only to be followed by the other drummer joining the floor frenzy. I've seen artists jump into the crowd and perform before - but this was better than average. It didn't seem choreographed, but they moved pretty seamlessly from one song to the next, despite moving their drums from the stage without stopping playing (I guess that is one of the many benefits of having two drummers). As the drummers rained down on their snares and kicked their respective bass drums, the mostly middle aged crowd swarmed around the beat duo and partied until the band called it quits....