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

New Hipster Music Exposure Vehicle: HBO's GIRLS

The increasingly funny and clever HBO show GIRLS isn't just good for visual entertainment and humor - its proving to be a pretty good vehicle for exposure to new indie music.  Take The Echo Friendly for instance.  Had you heard of them?  Or there "Same Mistakes"?  We admittedly had not.

I'm not boasting that "Same Mistakes" is infectious.  Its not.  But its good.  A solid time piece that makes a point and captures that post-college or post-grad school early adult crisis angst in a lo-fi indie rock pocket.  All the more reason why it was a perfect song to use on Girls.   The track resonates because we all feel or have felt that angst (or for our younger readers - will feel it sometime in the future) and despite trying to sort it all out - we still end up repeating bad behavior and/or making the same mistakes.  Its a cycle.  Sometimes a vicious one...but one that at least gets young artists to make palatable music.    

The Echo Friendly's video is lo-fi, with some cool effects.  Nothing visually outrageous to melt your face, but it compliments the music well.  Enjoy....

New Hipster Music Exposure Vehicle: HBO's GIRLS

The increasingly funny and clever HBO show GIRLS isn't just good for visual entertainment and humor - its proving to be a pretty good vehicle for exposure to new indie music.  Take The Echo Friendly for instance.  Had you heard of them?  Or there "Same Mistakes"?  We admittedly had not.

I'm not boasting that "Same Mistakes" is infectious.  Its not.  But its good.  A solid time piece that makes a point and captures that post-college or post-grad school early adult crisis angst in a lo-fi indie rock pocket.  All the more reason why it was a perfect song to use on Girls.   The track resonates because we all feel or have felt that angst (or for our younger readers - will feel it sometime in the future) and despite trying to sort it all out - we still end up repeating bad behavior and/or making the same mistakes.  Its a cycle.  Sometimes a vicious one...but one that at least gets young artists to make palatable music.    

The Echo Friendly's video is lo-fi, with some cool effects.  Nothing visually outrageous to melt your face, but it compliments the music well.  Enjoy....

Exploding Soon...Tic Tic Boom!

Local indie synth rock couple comprised of Leilani Francisco and Mike Delay, but better known as Tic Tic Boom! recently released this cute video starring their pseudo-child (their dog). The two Monday night, November 21st, at The Echo with the other members (drummer and bassist) of Tic Tic Boom! to continue their recent blitz of the local scene that has seen the act perform at Saint Rocke, Harvard & Stone, USC, The Central SAPC, Space 15 Twenty, Lot 1 Cafe and more.

Those who may have missed out on those - might have heard "Just Friends" on KROQ or caught it on Friend Zone or The Real L Word, where TTB music has recently been featured. Whether you're already hip to them or not - check out the cute video, as well as a live rendition of the same. If you like what you see/hear - you can get some more of that tonight at The Echo for FREE where the band is joined by K. Flay, Lesands and resident The Chain Gang of 1974!

You can check out all things Tic Tic Boom! on their website here, where you can pick up their recently released acoustic EP "Bare." They will also be playing the SUPERGOODMUSIC SUPERDOPE series at The Viper Room for our year end Mustache & Sweater Party on Wednesday December 14th!

Black Keys Debut New Dance with "Lonely Boy"

Black Keys dropped a little taste of their forthcoming record, "Lonely Boy." This low budget video is awesome mainly because the guy is killing it with the dance moves and the lip synching. Wonder if there is a Lonely Boy dance tutorial - because I want to learn it.

I also want to know where that office is? And who pokes their head in the window for a hot second?

Enjoy Black Keys latest....over and over and over.

Army Navy Stomps Familiar Grounds

Last week I managed to haul my exhausted body from Venice and all the way to Silverlake just to see Army Navy play the incredibly small hipster joint, The Silverlake Lounge. Was it worth it? Absolutely.

We rolled up at a quarter to 11pm, just in time to grab a drink at the cash only bar and say hello to a few familiar faces around the dimly lit room. Army Navy took the stage, setting up their own equipment, and seeming entirely pleased to play such cramped quarters. This band has played

Conan O’Brien, contributed two tracks to the movie Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, and opened for acts like The Dodos, yet these four LA-based guys seemed completely psyched to be playing their own familiar stomping grounds. (If this were Twitter, I believe a “#humblebrag”

would have gone right there.) They were out tonight to be with people who truly appreciate good music, and to promote their new and highly-anticipated album out July 12th.

If you haven’t heard of Army Navy, I need you to stop, take a minute, and give a listen; you will fall in love. Frontman Justin Kennedy’s whiney vocals make you wish he would croon in your ear all day. It’s a good kind of whiney, a uniqueness rarely executed well, except for maybe by the likes of Conor Oberst. If the vocals don’t get you, then guitarist Louie Schultz’s incredible talent and sheepish grin will. The boy can rock a guitar, a keyboard, and backing vocals in one song with an impeccable smoothness that can’t be faked. Drums your thing? By the end of their forty-five minute time slot, drummer Douglas Randall was completely drenched in sweat, and smiling from ear to ear. Their new bassist was really talented as well, though his skills were slightly overshadowed by my companion going on about how cute he was in my ear. Looks? Talent? Check, and check.

They’re a band that has fun with their music, and fun with each other, and this transfers over to the audience. Last week I brought four people who had never even heard of the band before, and by the end of the evening they had all been converted into fans. Army Navy played a perfectly varied mix of new stuff, as well as old stuff. My personal favorite? Their smooth transition from “Snakes of Hawaii” into a cover of “Get Right Back (Where We Started From)”, and then into the hit “My Thin Sides”.

Afterward we went across the street to The Thirsty Crow and sat around with a couple of whiskeys basking in the afterglow of what can best be referred to as Hipster Pop. Their new album is out July 12th and I strongly suggest you check it out. In fact, I suggest you check iTunes and see if you can pre-order it, I know they’re good for it.

Review written by Lauren Lomma @lomfry3

To Haiti With Love Tonight

Support Haiti by going to the Bootleg Theater tonight to see Vanaprasta, John Carpenter, John Isaac Waters and Mariah McManus. The musicians are donating their services - and you should donate your $$$. On top of the intimate show - you'll get a complimentary download card of the To Haiti With Love Compilation for your time, money and effort....so it is well worth it.

Sideways Media ladies Nicole and Mary will be in the house, you can expect to see Mr. Kevin Bronson of Buzzbands L.A. and I also believe the lovely ladies of Planetary Group may be there too. It's going to be one of the better indie hipster hangouts of the night - complete with hipster publicists and bloggers - so if you're in a local L.A. band you might consider going just to mingle with some of our local music voicesm and support your fellow local talent, Vanaprasta.

Dr. Dog

This post comes courtesy of one of the more avid music fans I know in L.A., Lauren Lomma. She's usually on the cutting edge of most things indie-rock and grade A hipster, and that was even before she worked at Filter.

So - Lomma, like many other followers, retweeted some @supergoodmusic tweet and won free tickets to the Dr. Dog show. She just happened to go out of her way to e-mail some thoughts:

When I first heard about Dr. Dog I thought, “oh this must be some super sweet hip-hop dude” - namely because I assumed “Dr. Dog” was some mash-up of Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. I was clearly mistaken. If you enter their name into Pandora Radio you’ll be greeted with a plethora of delectable rock n’ roll tunes, including that of The Beatles. The Beatles - who are, let’s face it, rock n’ roll legends. So that fact alone should lead you to believe that if they’re in that good of company then they've got to be some pretty cool dudes.

Anyway, I went to Dr. Dog Friday night at The Wiltern and had the fortune of standing behind the most wannabe hipsters in the world. They actually (and I saw this) pretended (yes, pretended) to shoot up heroin mid-dance. Naturally, I asked if they’d let me take a picture of their totally awesome dance moves (I’m rolling my eyes here), but they gawked at me, scowled and declined. Who is she? they said. Ugh, well hipster tool-ettes, I’m the chick who wants to plaster your photo all over the internet, so I can properly out you for being so lame.

But back to the music... Dr. Dog was rad - definitely a great band to see live. They had fantastic energy and a good set list to go along with it. They played a delicious sampling of newer and older tunes that had me bouncing on my feet all night long. In my opinion, it’s always a success when you leave a show feeling more energized than when you had arrived.

In any case, I definitely recommend giving Dr. Dog a listen - on the off-chance that you have yet to be turned on to this psychedelic rock group from Philadelphia. I do not recommend however, thinking that you are “too cool for school” and making pseudo shooting-up gestures in attempt to appear “bad ass." I assure you that you are not bad ass, but that you are, in fact, just an idiot.

Filter Presents: Culture Collide Festival (10/7-10/10)

FILTER, festivals and food trucks! Oh my! What does every half-employed, LA-based hipster love? Vivacious tunes with a side of PBR and grilled cheese, of course! Luckily, FILTER Magazine has decided to appeal to the music masses and offer up a multi-day street festival composed of radical bands from all over the world, and delectable food trucks from all over the city. Seriously, what’s better than that? The answer is: nothing. We’re lucky enough to live in Sunshine Central with an over-abundance of creative minds all looking to let loose and get their dance on. So let’s prove to our parents that our college degrees were worth it, and take advantage of this. Don’t make me tell you twice.


October 7th through 10th FILTER magazine is taking over the streets of Echo Park and Downtown to give us musical, as well as edible, deliciousness. From Klaxons to Sea Wolf, and Casiokids to Caribou, they’ve got a United Nations of enticing beats to appeal to your own individual tastes. Wristbands for all four days are a mere $20 - that’s $5 per day, or to put it in hipster terms, is the near-equivalent to one PBR on tap during Cha Cha Lounge’s happy hour. For more information go to culturecollide.com, or better yet, take my word for it and get your ticket directly from ticketweb.com. It’ll be the best (and least expensive) decision you made since... well, let’s face it, you guys probably make bad decisions all the time. Buy your ticket, and then proceed to make your bad decisions at the festival in typical LA-fashion, you’ll be happy you did.


by Lauren Lomma

SUPERGOODMUSIC NYC: Lomma's Trip To East Coast Hipster Heaven

If you ever make your way to New York City during the muggy summer months that most people avoid like the plague (think: over-crowded, over-heated subway systems and a pungent aroma of homeless wanderers with their accompanying excrement frying in the sun), you will find yourself with a plethora of musically delicious options that will surely detract from your seemingly overwhelming olfactory sense. With an abundance of thrifty (and nifty) happenings all around the city for three summer months, you hardly even need to have a job! That said, you should totally get a job because, let’s face it, living on your buddy’s couch or in your parent’s basement or in cardboard boxes that some New Yorker's call home is so not hip n’ cool.

So on one of these particular steamy New York City weekends, I thought it a good idea to invest one night in making my way over to one of the inexpensive, if not free, shows on Governors Island. A short subway ride and a ferry trip later, and I made my way through the island and toward the expanse of land where the stage was set up for Los Angeles' own Local Natives to play.

Local Natives is a band that reminds me of The xx - not necessarily in sound but in quality. Both are very good bands, but both have only released one album. Sure, pretty much every song on that album is relatively delicious, but when you go see them, there isn’t going to be too many surprises in the set list or in the sound. As I had predicted, they ended their set with the most obvious choice, “Sun Hands”, but the hit by far of the night was my own personal favorite, “Wide Eyes”, a track with a ridiculously sweet beat and darkly enchanting lyrics. Local Natives, like The xx, is the kind of good quality band where you can go to a show, close your eyes, and not really know whether you are sitting alone in your car or standing amongst a swarm of people in the middle of Governors Island.

They sound exactly like their album, which is good, but it also means there are no surprises up their sleeve... but can you really expect a monstrous light show, an epic jam session, or elaborate costumes from a mellow indie band? Not really. So my point is that they are good. Would I pay $60 to see them at this point in their career? No. But for a mere $10 (the near-equivalent to purchasing their album on iTunes), I got to hear them play outside on a beautiful summer night with a cold beer in hand, the New York City skyline serving as a backdrop, and not through my low-quality car speakers while sitting in agonizing traffic on the 101.

Another New York City summer time treat is the free Jelly Pool Parties at the Williamsburg Waterfront in Brooklyn. These parties are like a daytime hipster haven complete with a misting station and epic city views. I mean, what does every New York-based hipster want to do on a lazy Sunday afternoon? The answer is simple: head to the motherland (aka Williamsburg), drink beer, and sprawl out on the grass between sweet beat dance-offs. Oh yes, that’s right. There were dance-offs... which felt more like train wrecks so bad that you couldn't not look, except in this case the trains were being driven by post-meth-head hipster-wannabes.

On this particular weekend, I ventured out to see Cut Copy. It was a beautiful Sunday, and I couldn’t think of a better way to spend it than basking in the sunshine at a free concert in Brooklyn. By the time I arrived there, Memory Tapes was playing, who proved to be a nice backdrop to my hangover. Finally, Cut Copy took the stage and opened with a very delicious track, “Lights & Music." This was followed by old and new hits including “Hearts on Fire”, “Going Nowhere” and “Blink and You’ll Miss a Revolution”. There were points in the show where I wasn’t sure if the Melbourne-based band was actually even playing their instruments, mostly because it seemed the song kept going even while all the band members had their hands up in the air. Due to my profound respect and love for this particular band, I’m just going to chalk the phantom playing up to a mere hangover hallucination. Either way, the Jelly Pool Parties are great New York City summertime fun, and free music from synth-band heavy-hitters? Well, that’s just heaven, hipster heaven.

Post/Pictures by Lauren Lomma