Los Angeles Tonight (March 17, 2013)

Oh man, it's St. Paddy's Day. definitely not my favorite holiday, I suppose that's the Jew in me, but I'm not going to be a St. Paddy's Day Grinch. That's bad vibes, I hate those more so then I do watching girls puke green stuff in the streets. So I encourage you all to wear all shades of green, drink green stuff, and smoke green stuff today, and also, to go slur your words at some concerts, cause you can yell as loud as you want at a show, sometimes it's encouraged, you know, if it's that type of show. Don't bring a drum to a Phish show though, my buddy learned that the hard way.

So then, if after that intro you're like "dude, what shows are there to see?" Well here is my response:

Over on the Westside The Toledo Show is going down at Harvelle's, and that's always a good time. Dude is wild. Plus he's got dancing ladies. Don't go if you are allergic to Black & Mild smoke.



If you'd prefer blurrily stumbling through Downtown LA, then we're never ones to dissuade you from taking in a Dustbowl Revival performance. They'll be playing for free at The Redwood Bar joined by The Cerny Brothers and The Show Ponies.



There are some cool St. Paddy's day events going off on the hip side of town (Echo Park/Silverlake). Part Time Punks is never a bad call, especially on a night when they've got the CRASS tribute band covering "Penis Envy." There's also Olin's 11th Annual St. Paddy's Day Bash over at The Satellite. There they'll be performing "Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash" by The Pogues, that actually sounds like a damn good time. There's some other stuff on the Sunday calendar, so check out the blast if none of that floats your boat.



If you take it easy tonight no worries, SXSW is officially donezo for 2013, and LA is about to catch a wave of good music as a result. So keep it heady, and in honor of St. Paddy, when in doubt, puke it out!

Hey Rosetta! - Canadians on the Festival Circuit

Canadian rockers Hey Rosetta! descend on Los Angeles tomorrow as part of their festival season tour that just saw a visit to Hangout Beach, sees them hit up Sasquatch this weekend and tour east to Bonnaroo.

The neighbors from north bring their raging six piece thru Echo on Thursday to blend melodies over classic garage rock structures - and the outcome is sonic beauty.  Los Angeles and Manchester are lucky to be graced with their presence given that after some mid-00s accolades, the band took three and a half years to release Seeds, their third album.  Thursday they are joined by Rich Aucoin and a House for Lions at The Echo.

Making the most of their festival run to the 'Roo, the act is scheduled to deliver two sets in Tennessee, one at Miller Lite's Great Taste Lounge on Friday June 8th at 5:20 PM and Saturday at the Sonic Stage at 2:30.  Don't miss!

Check out more Hey Rosetta on their website.

Hey Rosetta! - Canadians on the Festival Circuit

Canadian rockers Hey Rosetta! descend on Los Angeles tomorrow as part of their festival season tour that just saw a visit to Hangout Beach, sees them hit up Sasquatch this weekend and tour east to Bonnaroo.

The neighbors from north bring their raging six piece thru Echo on Thursday to blend melodies over classic garage rock structures - and the outcome is sonic beauty.  Los Angeles and Manchester are lucky to be graced with their presence given that after some mid-00s accolades, the band took three and a half years to release Seeds, their third album.  Thursday they are joined by Rich Aucoin and a House for Lions at The Echo.

Making the most of their festival run to the 'Roo, the act is scheduled to deliver two sets in Tennessee, one at Miller Lite's Great Taste Lounge on Friday June 8th at 5:20 PM and Saturday at the Sonic Stage at 2:30.  Don't miss!

Check out more Hey Rosetta on their website.

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....

Generationals in LA

The Generationals are in Los Angeles - which is making me a bit disappointed that I'm not in town. I've been into the band since I first heard "When They Fight, They Fight" and have enjoyed their latest release "Trust."

If you're in L.A. and you missed their performance last night at The Hotel Cafe, you can catch Generationals tonight (February 17th) at The Satellite (formerly Spaceland), where they are performing with The Black Apples, Minks and Shadow Shadow Shade. You can purchase tickets to that show by clicking here. The band follows that up with a performance at hipster eastside record shop Origami Vinyl on Friday February 18th. That show is at 7 pm and likely to be short, but I'm pretty sure that show is free.

Saint Motel: Contest, Tour & More

Cinematically inclined local indie-rockers, Saint Motel, recently announced a handful of exciting news to their fans - a short west coast tour with Nico Vega and Imagine Dragons that includes a stop over Halloween weekend at The Roxy, a huge performance at LA Weekly's LA 101 Fest at Gibson Amphitheatre on November 7th and a fan-inspired music video contest.

We're here to remind you exactly why you should go see one of their performances and break down the details on all three offerings...

If you've seen the rising and rocking quartet, than you certainly understand why a show of theirs should not be missed - they are epic, different every night and infectiously fun. The band's concerts are extremely fluid displays of raw talent packaged in a high energy, visually intoxicating performance.

The visual stimulation comes in the form of a sequenced stream of live video (of the band members and the crowd) that is intermittently spliced with stock footage and other film which gets projected behind the artists on stage. Fans not only can enjoy the band's audible creativity, but they get to see their visual artistry skills too (several band members studied film in college). And, if you're dancing at the right moment, you may even see yourself caught on camera on stage or on stage itself (fans rush the stage during their encores).

The band's musical talents are also worthy of note. Front-man/Singer and guitarist AJ has matured considerably - his vocals are much improved from their Spaceland residency a year ago. Lead guitarist Aaron Sharp rifles off rock riffs with apparent ease, styling them with great guitar faces and occasional fancy footwork. Greg Erwin, the band's drummer, and Dak, their bassist, hold down the rhythm section with beautiful chemistry - seemingly intuitively tuned into each other's personal frequency.

AJ on Vocals

The exceptional musicianship combined with the DIY tech-savvy visual presentation combines for an amazing experience...one you certainly should not miss. AND, L.A. is offering you two chances to have that experience - one a week from Friday on October 29th at The Roxy for Witch Hunt with Nico Vega and opener Imagine Dragons (buy tickets HERE) and then less than two weeks later at The Gibson Amphitheatre on November 7th where they will perform on the same bill as Thievery Corporation and Massive Attack, amongst others (buy tickets HERE).

Not only do these guys play for their fans - they also engage with them too. Just recently Saint Motel announced a music video contest on their facebook fan page. We've included a few details of the contest below - but basically, they are giving you free reign to synch a song of theirs with your home-made video and share it with them - all you need is a youtube account, a facebook account and the ability to create a video.

Saint Motel loves the art of the music video, as we have made a music video for every one of our songs, and we want to see what you can come up with!


THE RULES:

1. You have from now to November 30th to submit.
2. You can do a music video for any Saint Motel song off our EP ForPlay.
3. Just upload your finished music video to your own YouTube account and embed on our Facebook page.
4. Get creative!

Everyone who enters gets a free CD, but there for the winner...

THE PRIZE FOR 1st PLACE:

1. (4) tickets to any SM show present or future. The four can also be split up amongst various show. (certain festivals or concerts may be excluded)
2. A SM T-shirt
3. A SM CD
4. A SM Necklace
5. You will be in Saint Motel's next music video. (subject to your availabity at the time of filming)
6. Secret Surprise Gift
7. We will feature your music video on all of our websites!

There are more details about the contest here - http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=168491106495394&ref=mf - it closes November 30th.

For those of you outside of Los Angeles, you can still participate in the video contest and, if you live in San Diego, Santa Barbara, Portland, Grass Valley, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Santa Cruz or Fresno - you could see Saint Motel on their tour when they come into your town!

Check out their music videos and some behind the scenes footage from their Dear Dictator (Sam Sparro Remix) video shoot here: