It's so great to be back in Los Angeles. Things are moving forward in the music world - and LA is really the center of our music world. We quickly got back to it last night with stops at both
Spaceland, for
Orgone (pronounced Org-own, similar in sound to organ) and
Nomo and then a stop at
The Roxy for Scion's House Party featuring
12th Planet, amongst others.
With all the excitement, RCA ended up leaving his wallet at home...so the night started a little bit later than expected. Nonetheless, it was a funk-filled return to Los Angeles last night – as I basically went from the airport to Spaceland to see Nomo & Orgone throw it down.
Orgone, the female vocalized funk band from California, came on at about 10 p.m. and were nothing short of spectacular. In addition to the on fire rhythms coming from the bassist, drummer and percussionist - the three piece horn section did their part to round out the funkfest.
They rifled through material new and old, including several stretches of seamless transitions between songs that kept the energy going. You could’ve closed your eyes and thought you were in a bar in New Orleans in the ‘70s. Midway through their performance they had managed to assemble a little dance party near the front of the stage that they kept moving with heavy rhythms on “Funky Nassau” and a raucous cover of “I Get Lifted.” To make the vibe even cooler – DJ Nu Mark was in the house getting his boogie on too.
Having enjoyed themselves a bit too much on stage and with the crowd, Fanny Franklin led the pack through a speedy closer
Nomo came on a long forty minutes after Orgone stepped off stage. The Ubiquity label midwest natives showcased a different side of jazz - one that was a little less funky, a little more melodic, but nonetheless extremely rhythmic. Part of that rhythm was held down by Eric Hall, one of the two drummers performing, who also played rhythm guitar at times. He and Elliott, the bands ringleader, have been staples of Nomo since the bands birth in Ann Arbor.
Performing to a handsome size crowd, Nomo continued fueling the trend of dancing bodies on the dance-floor well past midnight. Unfortunately, we did not catch the end of their show...but that is because we went to The Roxy for Scion's event.
We didn't bring our camera inside, so we have no photos to share - but we'll try and remember to do that next time. Who knew so many dubstep hungry youngsters would come out on a Wednesday night? Not only did we shake with the fiery bass, we witnessed some feisty youngsters throw it down in the lobby, some American Apparel poster children getting freaky on the dance-floor and candy flippers and dope smokers getting arrested on the sidewalk. It had all the makings of a reality show a la Jersey Shore.
