Breaking Out: Brooklyn's Baby Brother

Blues and punk meet pure rock in Baby Brother’s debut album, Strange Things. They are a Brooklyn-based band whose tunes pay homage to their current city while staying true to the roots from which they hail.

On Strange Things you can hear influences from big names such as The Ramones, Richard Hell, and John Lennon (circa the Double Fantasy album). It’s rock ‘n’ roll and it’s raw, no electro pop fusion here - the music is as naked and honest as the subject matter. Their lyrics pine and whine about love and loss, fucking up, having your heart broken, getting mad, going mad and being hopeful.

Their twangy rhythms and bluesy vocals are off-set by the sporadic appearance of heavy power chords and quick, harsh tempos. Most of their songs clock in at about three minutes leaving no time for drawn-out gimmicks. Instead Baby Brother pay tribute to the past few generations by hitting upon the three major music markers of the last century: blues, punk and rock ‘n’ roll.

Big Brother may be watching you, but Baby Brother is the one to watch. Their debut album Strange Things is currently available on iTunes with their follow-up album set to be released at the end of this year, and if it’s anything like their first, it is sure not to disappoint.

Review by Lauren Lomma

Datarock Channels Heads & Makes Some Dance at Echoplex

Datarock is a band that had me at “she’s not that kind of a girl, booger!” For anyone not familiar with this awesome Norwegian electro-funk duo, that’s a line from their hit song “Computer Camp Love” off their aptly titled 2005 album Datarock Datarock.

So when I heard that they’d be in Echo Park promoting their new single (out March 21st) I jumped at the chance to go. I arrived at the Echoplex on a chilly Friday night to be greeted by their incredibly lovely tour manager, Tony. Datarock wasn’t scheduled to go on until 11:30p due to their four opening acts but Tony warned me that even still they were running a little behind. Since I can’t possibly rock out on an empty liver I headed to the bar and in the process was nearly run over by a little man in a red tracksuit. In my sober haze I didn’t realize it was old time band member Fredrik Saroe, and instead thought to myself, “that boy should really re-think his outfit”. Vodka soda in hand I made my way to the front of the room. At nearly midnight the red tracksuit clad members filled the stage and burst into none other than “Computer Camp Love." They followed this Revenge of the Nerds classic with “Sex Me Up," another great track off their Datarock Datarock album. Frontman Kjetil Møster then broke into a very admirable running man, backed by his crew, and segued into “Princess."

As fun as the show was, I was a little disappointed at the poor turnout. Kids were hanging by the bathrooms and couples were fawning over each other in the booths, but for such lively and danceable beats I expected to find a packed and sweaty dance floor. I then remembered when I first saw Matt & Kim about five years ago at what used to be one of my favorite L.A. haunts, Safari Sams. Standing before the then barely known duo in a sparsely filled room I recall thinking “they’re totally awesome! Why aren’t there more people here?” and “they should really re-think their name." I may have been wrong about the name part, but I wasn’t (and never will be) wrong about the musical deliciousness aspect. I guess it just takes some people a little longer to catch on, so I’m telling you this: catch on now if you haven’t already. Datarock is rad.

They finished up their set with a few newer tracks that I wasn’t familiar with. Upon first listen one of them sounded a lot like “Once in a Lifetime” by the Talking Heads. Moments later they introduced a song only released last year “True Stories”, the ultimate Talking Heads tribute anthem. Clearly being very big fans of the New Wave, post-punk movement, you’d expect their new “extravagant” single to be some sort of mash-up between the Talking Heads and their Datarock Datarock album, right? Well, it is. Mix Datarock with “Psycho Killer” and you’ve got “Catcher in the Rye” - a classic beat with catchy lyrics and totally worth a listen. By the end of the night I found myself telling people that Datarock was from Norwegia. Now, for those of you who excel in music but not in geography: Norway is a place. Norwegia? Not so much. That’s when I knew it was time to put down my drink and head home. Another good night of epic tunes down, countless more to go.

Written by Lauren Lomma, Edited by Brandon Dorsky

T. Mills - Ready and Fired in 2010, Exploding in 2011

Local resident Travis Tatum Mills may not yet be on your radar, but that will probably change soon. And he might already be if you've heard of the artist T. Mills. The 21 year old hip-hop-R&B-electropunk hybrid phenom is already a force on the internet and, after seeing one of his performances, I can attest that he is one on stage as well.

The Riverside, CA child sites influences from Wu Tang Clan to Blink 182 to Bone Thugs N Harmony - to recent additions to his playlist like Rusko and Wiz Khalifa. Embracing his multitude of tastes, T. Mills has already reached to a multitude of markets. In 2010, T. Mills could be seen all over the place - from his release of the "Ready, Fire, Aim!" EP to Bamboozle to the Warped Tour to his constantly growing online presence.

Earlier in 2011, I witnessed T. Mills headline and sell out an all ages show at The Troubadour. Not only were teenage girls grabbing for the pierced young hearthtrob's crotch on stage, they lined up to the edge of Doheny and Santa Monica at the end of the show screaming for a photo opportunity. Mind you, they'd been invited by the artist to do so after the show. He took the time to embrace each one of his fans willing to wait in the line while their parents waited outside to pick them up...

With plans to release a mixtape in April featuring production from J Hawk, Matt Squire, Colin Munroe, Hit Boy, The Stereotypes and more - T. Mills won't be resting anytime soon. Plus, with over 46,000 Facebook likers, where he happens to be giving away a free mp3 - http://www.facebook.com/ilovetmills?sk=app_4949752878 - almost 22,000 twitter followers http://twitter.com/#!/search/%40ilovetmills and over a million views on MySpace - his identity is going to keep penetrating the internet. With a swagger lick a rockstar for and songs like "Just My Luck" coming too - his hybrid-pop sounds will probably begin and keep penetrating your head too...

Facebook.com/ilovetmills
Twitter.com/ilovetmills
Myspace.com/ilovetmills

Meet The Death Set with a Secret Handshake

With a video for "Slap Slap Slap Pound Up Down Slap" that is as fierce as their name, The Death Set, after watching you may get excited to go see their concert with The Gaslamp Killer on March 15th at Echoplex. Playing for March's 1st installment of the esteemed Check Yo Ponytail party - this trio will most likely b-r-i-n-g it.

With an affinity for tigers and being destructive, as well as a sound representing some combination of punk, hipster and a handsome slice of Beastie Boys "Sabotage" years - The Death Set are making some waves. You can cop tickets to the CYP2 show by clicking thru here. They are $12.

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....