Music Reviews:

Roky Erickson is a walking miracle and a true inspiration to all human beings.  Starting at age 5, the boy picked up the piano and fell in love with music, moving onto the guitar soon after.  His nonconformist attitude got him in a bit of trouble as he dropped out of high school with one month left before graduation for choosing not to cut his hair.  In 1968, he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia upon speaking nonsense at a gig, and since then, his life has been a roller coaster ride in and out of prisons, mental institutions, thoughts of Martian abductions, obsessive mail and letter collecting, and all sorts of other unfortunate mishaps.  He was event sent to a hospital for the criminally insane after having been arrested for possession of one marijuana joint.

After years of spending time with the TVs and radios on at full blast in his house to drown out the voices in his head, Erickson made a comeback that his friends and family thought was impossible. On April 20, 2010, he released True Love Cast Out All Evil, his first album of new material in 14 years. Roky narrates his entire life through this album, lyrically shining light on optimism, true love, and peace.  Along with the pain and loss he portrays in this music, he also sings about hope that has helped him overcome the demons of his past.  This album touched my heart in unbelievable ways and I had no idea that this album would be such a spine chiller.  The man is a poet, as he demonstrates through this album, and we feel with him as he takes us through jail, mental institutions, and the rest of his hardships, as well as his joys and successes.

The music itself is an incredible cross between psychedelic rock with a Western twist, along with melodic blues that’s reminiscent of Johnny Cash, but not quite.  The instrumentals consist of Erickson’s deep, hoarse, emotional voice, along with acoustic and electric guitars, Hammond, pump, and Wurlitzer organs, trumpets, Congas, a Mellotron, a Rhodes and an acoustic piano, a cello, congas, trombones, Saxophones, and violins.  Whether you’re into this style of music or not, you will find yourself feeling awesome about Roky’s success in life and his unstoppable willpower, which is spectacular considering how he pulled himself out of such a deep hole at 63 years old.

It’s albums like these that make me love my job.  It gave me some chills and some smiles; True Love Cast Out All Evil deserves an A in my book.

Michael Kashiktchian

Electronic Frequencies (Wednesdays 10:00PM-2:00AM)

This Thursday, many of you will find yourselves going through the same cycle of hitting up a party somewhere in Westwood, drinking too much alcohol, and coming home wondering what the hell you just did after questioning your ethics and principles.

Instead, you could come home just as puzzled, and maybe even more so, on top of having experienced what is possibly one of the most ridiculous music genres, ever.  This Thursday May 13th, Albuquerque’s BrokeNCYDE will be performing at the Galaxy Concert Theatre in Santa Ana at 7:00PM.   This crunkcore band mixes pop, rap, dance, and screamo into a potpourri (some may use the word vomit) of melodies that will leave you thinking about, well, a lot of different things.

You might be asking, what musical genre does BrokeNCYDE fall under?  The answer is crunkcore, a genre that Kerrang! Magazine calls “possibly the worst genre of music ever created.”  Still not enough to convince you to see the show?  Other crunkcore bands sport names like “I Set My Friends on Fire” and “Blood on the Dance Floor.”  Also, with band member names like Se7en, Mikl, Phat J, and Antz, you don’t want to miss a show that might change your entire perspective on modern musical styles—forever.

I feel a little bit of guilt trying to promote this show, but from a completely nonjudgmental perspective, I really think this would broaden my (and your) musical horizons.  Never have I listened to a band that was called “F***ing horrendous” by Metal Edge metal magazine.  Cracked.com called the band a “Slipknot-Cher duet.”  Commentator Warren Ellis called BrokeNCYDE’s “FreaXXX” music video “a near-perfect snapshot of everything that’s s***about this point in the culture.”

I’ll leave you with this one:  August Brown of the LA Times writes “… (BrokenCYDE) has done for MySpace emo what some think Soulja Boy did for hip-hop: turn their career into a kind of macro-performance art that exists so far beyond the tropes of irony and sincerity that to ask, ‘are they kidding?’ is like trying to peel an onion to get to a perceived central core that, in the end, does not exist and renders all attempts to resemble the pieces futile.”  Soulja Boy… Lol.

I don’t know about you, but this makes me really curious about BrokenCYDE.  My personal opinion?  These guys are satirizing the ridiculous turn that music has taken as of late… and making a lot of money doing it.  They probably really appreciate music and listen to Bach’s violin concertos for leisure.

Or, maybe not.  BrokeNCYDE – Get Crunk

Michael Kashiktchian

Electronic Frequencies – Wednesdays 10:00PM – 2:00AM

For a rock star, Ted Leo is about as down-to-Earth as they come. Not long after Sally Crewe and the Sudden Moves finished their forty-minute set on Saturday night, Leo and his fellow Pharmacists took to soundchecking their own instruments, setting the mood for an intimate yet energetic night at West Hollywood’s Troubadour. As the clock struck ten, the Pharmacists jumped right into the opening track from their new album, “The Mighty Sparrow,” marking the beginning of a whirlwind set of material in support of their latest release The Brutalist Bricks.

While Leo is a powerful force of rock-and-roll on his own, the other Pharmacists filled out the rest of the band’s sound, providing a solid backing to Leo’s relentless hooks. Throughout the night guitarist James Canty and Leo traded lead and rhythm guitar bits, hammering out tightly-wound solos that danced around the bass lines and drum fills. Leo and crew rocked the venue, easily playing with more energy and fervor than musicians half their age Read the rest of this entry »

So you’re probably puzzled as to why I’m reviewing such an old album. 1985 is not a typo and this album is 25 years old! However, I also believe that this particular album has stood the test of time quite well! Nope, this is not the video game called “Dead or Alive”. This is the band that rocked the 80’s with their unique synthesizer sounds, and provocative attitude/attires. Started in 1980 in Liverpool, England, their album “Youthquake” (released in 1985) is probably their most recognized album, as it also contains their most famous song, “You Spin Me Around”.

So why should you even continue reading this review, since it’s about an extremely archaic album? I think we can all agree that today’s music lacks uniqueness, and most of it, including the rhythms and beats, sound the same! So I offer you a chance to taste an “older wine” that you have perhaps never tasted before. Of course, most people have heard of “You Spin Me Around”, but have you heard of the other songs by Dead or Alive? You’re not alone if you haven’t, as most people in the USA, including myself before 2009, have no clue as to the other songs they’ve played. Most of all, it may surprise you that many of their other songs are actually better than “You Spin Me Around”. Therefore, I offer you a chance to delve into the past, and try something new, or should I say very old, but different!

Read the rest of this entry »

Take Mark thecobrasnake, flip him Brazilian and slip him a tab — and you’ve got Marcio Local, the latest surprise in a basket of world tunes straight from South America. With boss vocal stamina and endless variations on the Rio party soundtrack, Local’s a hot little number we can’t stand to miss.

Granted, it’s been a slow burn. His latest drop, Says Don Day Don Dree Don Don shipped stateside in May ’09. Single “Soul Do Samba” secured a spot on the FIFA 10 Soccer Soundtrack for the notoriously addictive video game — right next to station faves Metric, Passion Pit and Peter Bjorn and John. Since then, Local’s been edging into our staunchly ’merican-stream. (Mostly by way of poorly stocked world music sections in Borders and Barnes & Noble … but never mind that pet peeve.)

Despite his consummate peers — namely, the Bossa Nova sensuality of CéU and the still-banging sex of Don Omar — Local shimmies through. He plucks steamy soul and big band horns; he samples the sweat of carnivale, birds-of-paradise, micro-bikinis and heels. That deep bossa voice — that relentless samba beat. It steals us away, until all we can smell is the salt of that damn South Atlantic. Until all we want to do is plunge in, and dance.

Right from the start, “Samba Sem Nunhum Problema” slides so easy and sweet, you’ve barely registered the beach-beat and Local’s round O-voice before it’s over. A rat-a-tat rap starts “Prexta Luxo,” the city-boy’s gorgeously-voiced homage to Brazil. Its streetwalk-rhythm cues head-bopping, then pulls on horns like a second skin. Effortless layering skates through the album. In “Soul Do Samba,” the album’s namesake rocks ocean-like over ganza shell-shakers, deep surdo drums and Local’s slick rap-to-vocal transitions.

And with this last element, Local knocks us out and takes us home. His vocal delivery — a cool, senselessly chic twist on classically-trained pipes — is almost too easy. He fingers our buttons, flips our switches. Even if, sliding between sunlit samba soul and bustling big-city beats, Local’s tracks tend to sound somewhat similar…who cares?

At the end of the night, when the girls pin up their sex hair and the boys swipe away their guyliner — when the bottle-to-person ratio reaches 7:1 — when the sunrise slices its first pink rays across that beautiful frosted hungover sky — when you can almost smell the ocean — and Local’s winding down our bones with “Happy Endings”… something changes.

Because at the end of the night, Local’s suaveness sinks right down into your skin. And somehow, like him, we’ve suddenly got all the right moves.

–DJ Allie Cuerdo

World Trippin,’ 12-2 PM Fridays

Marcio Local

Says Don Day Don Dree Don Don

Luaka Bop

4.5 out of 5

Early last year I was desperately looking for new music to listen to. It seemed like all the music I had collected over the years had just been way too overplayed. I couldn’t stand and still can’t stand listening to “Stairway to Heaven” anymore. Just like anything else, too much of it makes you sick of it!

So anyway, I’ve always had a fascination since I was a kid to play the keyboard or synthesizer. The dream has still never came to fruition, due to time constrains and my mental laziness, but this also adds to the reason why I love 80’s music so much. I agree, a lot of the vocals in 80’s songs are not that great. However, I’m not listening to their voices, but the beats, rhythms, and tones they are using.

One day, I was searching the holy grail of music (YouTube!) and found some song made with synthesizer music. Needless to say, I liked it A LOT! The vocals were mediocre, but the sounds brought absolute jubilation to my ears. I looked at the song description and read that the genre for the song is called “Italo Disco”. At first, I think “huh”? A) This song is in English, not Italian. B) Why Disco?

(The song I was listening to is Phoebus – Frankenstein)

Read the rest of this entry »

Rock supergroups don’t usually emerge from impromptu jams in Cabo San Lucas clubs, and for that matter,aren’t usually successes by their own merits. However, in Chickenfoot’s eponymous debut, we have a fully independent blues-rock hit spawned in the well-partied depths of Sammy Hagar’s (ex-Van Halen singer) Cabo Wabo Nightclub.

Consisting of Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony (ex-Van Halen), Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Joe Satriani (solo artist), Chickenfoot dares combine some of the most well-known names in modern rock into one band. The four members played a series of jams at Hagar’s nightclub and made their live debut during one of Hagar’s solo shows. A short time later, the band was hard at work crafting “Chickenfoot.”

Conflicts of ego come between the members of many super-bands and the music usually suffers, but nothing of that sort is evident on the Chickenfoot album. Every track showcases the individual talents of each member inside the framework of heavy-hitting rock compositions. You can really feel the cohesion and chemistry between the musicians as their respective sounds combine to form an entirely new musical animal. That animal is an album full of fun, funky and emotive rock and roll that gets you rocking to the beat. All we need is to examine the component parts of the band, and then imagine the best possible combination of them.

Sammy Hagar was the charismatic frontman that helped Van Halen to its era of commercial success between ‘85 and ‘96 and he now lends his voice and fiery personality to the eleven songs on “Chickenfoot.” Ten of the songs were co-written by Hagar and Satriani, a power duo if there ever was one. Hagar’s voice and lyrics give so much life to the songs, one can’t help smiling at the energy. Hagar really shines on “Sexy Little Thing,” “Runnin’ Out” and “Down The Drain.”

And then there’s Joe Satriani. Since his 1987 hit album “Surfing With The Alien,” Satriani has been known as the preeminent guitar god, displaying prodigious talent on all of his 15 albums. Despite playing primarily instrumental music, Satriani jumps into the role of riff-master easily. His hooks areequally powerful and technically interesting; they are as fresh as they are heavy. Of course, Satriani has his fair share of solos on the album, each of which is perfect evidence of his technical virtuosity and impeccable taste. Satriani is killer on “Oh Yeah” and “Future In The Past.”

Behind it all is Chad Smith, known for his membership in the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Though the Chickenfoot record is a rock and roll effort, Smith still brings the funk, giving the tracks their own swing and flair. Like Satriani, he’s playing a different part then he’s used to, but really shines in the role. He is a truly solid rock drummer and drives the album with driving funk-inflected beats.

Not least is Michael Anthony, also of Van Halen, who completes the band’s rhythm section. His solid playing keeps every song grounded and fills out the sonic spectrum. Anthony also stands out with his signature backup vocals. His vocals behind Hagar’s were what made Van Halen sound like Van Halen, and that power is not lost on this album. The lyrics have a special texture when harmonized by Anthony.

These musicians are more than a supergroup, they’re an actual band, a single, cohesive unit that sounds comfortable and organic. Of course, the professionalism of the members does not go unnoticed, the album sounds crisp and well-rehearsed (partly due to producer Andy Johns [Led Zeppelin, Van Halen]); the track credited to all four members. “Down The Drain” was recorded in only one take. Basically, the album is a head-banging blues-rock monster that is carnally satisfying, regardless of the listener’ s genre preference. I rate the album a 4.7/5, the ballads “My Kinda Girl” and “LearningTo Fall” are weaker than the other tracks, but are halfway redeemed by the super-cool heat-sensitive ink used to print the CD sleeve (it changes color when you touch it).

My love of the Cold War Kids started almost three years ago when I stumbled upon them while browsing around Myspace Music. With their release of Robbers & Cowards in 2006 and their follow up album Loyalty to Loyalty in 2008 it is no surprise that they have managed to make a name for themselves in today’s music scene. Just last month the band released their new EP Behave Yourself. The new EP preceded the band’s four city tour in late January. Last Friday night the tour was kicked off in Los Angeles’ Wiltern Theater. After arriving late we found that the line went down the block and turned around the corner. Hundreds of fans were lined up in the cold to see the Cold War Kids. After a short wait and the threat of more rain we were let into the warm venue. On your first entrance into the Wiltern there is a sense of awe. The high ceilings and elegant feel of the venue are a great setting for a great concert.

The fans anxiously waited for the band to take the stage. When the lights went out Alec Ounsworth of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah took the stage and opened the show. The crowd wasn’t very interested in the opening band but the band did manage to get some people dancing. Alec Ounsworth recently released his solo debut Mo Beauty and has announced his first headlining tour beginning in February.

Finally after the techs finished setting up, Nathan Willett, Jonnie Russell, Matt Maust, and Matt Aveiro took the stage. After technical difficulties with Nathan’s guitar the band opened the show with “I’ve Seen Enough,” and everyone started singing along instantly. If you’ve seen the band live you know the antics they do while on stage. Nathan and Matt Maust would casually walk over to each other and give each other little kicks, hits, or pushes as they played. “Hang Me Up To Dry” had everyone dancing around and singing along. Before playing “Santa Ana Winds” from their new EP, Nathan took time to talk about Los Angeles and where the band began. After playing “Something Is Not Right With Me” the band left the stage for a break and the crowd kept screaming for the band to come back on for the second half of the set. Before ending the show with “We Used to Vacation” Nathan didn’t forget to remind us all of the tragedies in Haiti and the opportunities we all had to help.

The crowd sang along to every song that the band belted out, including the new songs from their recent EP. The hour and a half show left everyone happy and excited. If you have not seen this band live I suggest that you find a way to do it. Their set is always full of energy and they always have fun while on stage. They make you want to dance, sing, scream, and just go crazy.

After the show every person in the crowd was given a card that allowed them to download the whole set. I still can’t stop listening to it. I think I might go on a Cold War Kids music binge for a couple of days or until the next concert I go to. Until then I guess that ends this review.
Read the rest of this entry »

Glo-fi?  Chillwave?  Hypnagogic pop?  Music journalists have been desperate searching to categorize what they see as the emergence of a new wave of artists creating lo-fi bedroom recordings of electronic music.  Whether or not this warrants a new genre name is up to the masses, but these artists have carved out a certain niche in indie pop.  It is characterized by hazy electro-pop with a penchant for imposing a hallucinogenic effect on the listener and nostalgia for childhood.  One artist being lumped in with this movement is Neon Indian, who released his debut album; Psychic Chasms on October 27.  Neon Indian is composed of merely one member, Alan Palomo, who some of you may recognize from earlier this year under his VEGA moniker.  The hype surrounding Neon Indian has been steadily building since the summer when he released an EP of the same name, so does his full length debut live up the promise?  Although not an all out success, the album is for the most part stunning.

The album kicks off with brief interlude entitled “(AM)”, but really gets into the heart of things once recent summer jam, “Deadbeat Summer” enters the fray.  A laidback track marked by video game sound effects, rhythmic guitar work, hushed vocals and a (implosive) propulsion usually found in a more “serious” forms of electronic dance music.  One the album’s highlights come midway through, “6669 (I Don’t Know if You Know).”  A track that manages to effortlessly combines the elements found in “Deadbeat Summer” into something sleeker without coming off across as cheesy, which is one of my main criticisms of the album.  At times, all of the bizarre effects and synth noises scattered throughout songs are just too “cutesy,” which would tie in the album’s theme of childhood, but just sound ridiculous at times.  “Mind Jokes” displays a throbbing bassline that recalls the best of 80’s synth pop and Italo disco, transforming into one of the most euphoric songs of the year.  If there is one artist that Neon Indian clearly brings to mind, it is Cut Copy, who on last year’s In Ghost Colours, smoothly combined synth-pop, electro, French house, and indie rock into a fascinating collection of tracks.  Neon Indian draws from a similar template yet is not as concerned with crafting structured songs.  They instead opt to deliver pop bliss of a more deranged style that is amorphous in the best of ways, much like what Bradford Cox has done with his Atlas Sound project.  Palomo has proved on their debut that he is a promising young talent with an ear for catching shards of melody among the foggy haze of acid-drenched noise.

–Anish

Mos Def proves that music has no boundaries through the compilation of songs on his latest album “The Ecstatic.”

Unwilling to settle for the typical sounds of hip hop, Mos Def crosses genres, along with borders, to incorporate music from around the world. His incredible writing abilities allow him to lyrically adapt to any style of music, especially styles that wouldn’t necessarily be thought of as hip hop. Read the rest of this entry »

Because everyone has to have a slightly obsessive love for Dave Matthews like I do, I’m sure everyone has already listened to their first studio album in 4 years–Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King.  As a long time fan, I have mixed feelings about the effort.  There is a lot to be happy about.   I can’t wait to hear a lot of these songs live this summer, and I still can appreciate the craftsmanship and general rock edge while still being the Dave Matthews Band.  Tim Reynolds is front and center with his electric guitar and most all the songs have that edge.  The acoustic guitar normally promonent in all DMB songs takes a backseat; I don’t think I heard any of Dave’s typical acoustic stylings.  And really, they let Beauford loose.  That man drums his heart out and drums harder than I think I”ve heard from him on a studio album in quite some time.

But there is still an emotional emptiness that comes through the impact of losing a founding member.  You clearly can’t avoid the fact that these men are coping with the loss of their friend and brother, but it leaves you occasionally unsettled.  ”Time Bomb” really stands out as this haunting, tortured track that concludes with Dave Matthews abandoning his occassionally wispy vocals for a strong, nearly screaming “I want to believe in Jesus”.

On a related note, but only barely, try to google some of the album art.  The inside leaf is stunningly decorated with dream-like images of a lush New-Orleans parade, with an fantastical image of LeRoi as the center float.

In summary, excellent CD–not for those who don’t have some understanding of the kind of music and band that the Dave Matthews Band does

Give the CD a listen.  Come on, you know you want to.

–Just “K” or Lady Downstairs from The Backseat, Saturdays 4-6pm

Heartsrevolution – “Switchblade EP” (2008)

Genre: 8-bit

Sounds Like: Crystal Castles, Adventure, nails on a chalkboard

Listen To: 1 – Switchblade -  An oddball track full of a variety of synthesized sounds and rhythms but it be very fatiguing to listen to.

Innovation is cool.  Dance-techno is cool too.  When Polysics threw a recorder, a synthesizer, english gibberish, and poppin’/lockin’ into the tradition J-Rock band, they created a new breed of high energy pop that gave them the fanbase to tour with high profile bands like the Kaiser Chiefs.  When Hellogoodbye crafted a niche of their own with synthesized beats and cutesey lyrics, their first real album debuted at  #13  on the US charts.  When Heartsrevolution mixed harsh synthesized melodies with atonal yelping and a variety of distortion filters, they created noise… and not much more.

I might as well come out and say that I don’t like this EP and if you do, stop reading now because you will be offended.  This CD is actually physically painful to listen to if you’re listening to it on sound system capable of reproducing the piercing treble mixed into this album.  The title track, Switchblade isn’t too bad of a song except that each audio track is subjected to the gauntlet of oddball filters that create a harsh overall tone that actually makes it difficult to concentrate on anything (although music like this will probably be played in dance clubs where you really shouldn’t be thinking about anything but dancing anyways.)  The second track, “Wolves and Libertines” has “Lo” yelping atonally (or maybe just singing offkey) “run baby run baby run baby run” every other line for the length of the 2 minute track.  The third track is an experiment in vocal filters and sci-fi sound effects gone wrong with monotonous melodies, monotonous rhythms, and the nagging feeling that a 6 year old with a delay pedal is just mashing keys on his dad’s synthesizer.  The forth track is perhaps the most mellow and trance-like although my same gripes with the previous tracks apply to this one.  It’s monotonous with the same depressing phrases repeated over and over in a roboticized voice.  The fifth track… just read the previous paragraph over.

This CD was created by two people who spent too much time playing with audio filters and not enough time thinking about the headache it would cause its listeners.

Grade: D-   Reviewer: Andrew Huang

Mr. Webley has done it again. In case you haven’t caught on to the theme, this is his 5th out of 11 proposed collaborative albums being released on his label Eleven Records. Only 1,111 copies will ever be made. So order now folks because Jason says there are only about a 100 left. He’s also just released the music video for Days With You and made an announcement of his “Eleven Year Anniversary Extravaganza!” being held July 3rd at the Seattle Town Hall. Tickets, of course, are $11. If you can only make one Jason Webley concert, make this one. Most of the artists Jason has worked with over the last eleven years will be present, and I’m betting that even Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls will be there. (If you didn’t know, the two of them have worked together under the name Evelyn Evelyn).

And don’t forget to check out the new album. “Gypsy guitar wizard” Sxip Shirey and the accordion-playing vagabond have come up with some surprisingly beautiful numbers, especially a new rendition of Webley’s Almost Time to Go.

Genre: Folk/Experimental
Released: March, 2009
Label: Eleven Records
Sounds like: a circus composer and an accordionist
Alice recommends**

1. Days With You **
2. Leave Me **
3. March Of The Hoohahs
4. Joe’s Phonograph
5. Cardboard Suitcase
6. Drift **
7. Crock
8. Elephant Piano
9. Resophonic Dream
10. Winter Comes
11. Regurgitated Lullaby
12. Almost Time To Go **
13. Reprise

—Alice Merrick

I promise I’m not being a douche bag, that’s how it’s officially written.  tUnE-yArDs is an amazing band made up of Merrill Garbus, and sometimes some of her friends popping in on a track or two, but mainly Ms. Garbus takes on vocals, ukulele, and found sounds filtered through a hand-held digital voice recorder all on her own. Her self-released album “Bird-Brains” came out in July of 2008 and includes a very ecclectic, for lack of a better word, collection of songs ranging from lo-fi folk, to sample-laden experimental.  Interstingly enough, “Bird-Brains” was not only recoreded, produced, and released by Garbus, but was done using completely free media (ie. free Audacity, digital voice recorded, etc.).  The album was available for download using the pay-what-you-wish model, but alas great things don’t last forever.  However, you can purchase the album, released this year through Marriage Records, on the tUnE-yArDs website.  I will admit, I’ve been sitting on this great find for a little while now, trying to find some more information about her; sadly I have come up dry.  Though I do come bearing gifts!

FIYA – Tune-Yards

Jumping Jack – Tune-Yards

Happy Listening!

–Aurora Fisher

Tribe Hyerclub had dubbed itself the “ Hollywood quote here”. Being a Hollywood native and having seen it all, I was weary about such claims yet still intrigued as to how Tinseltown would be interpreted in North America’s sin city.

I went to the club, and found to my surprise, a very well designed location that struck me as a hybrid of Avalon and Katsuya. With international superstar DJ Sander Kleinenberg spinning & a beautiful crowd, it reminded me of a Malibu sunset party.

Tribe has achieved what many venues strive for ; a great design club where celebrities and superstar DJs feel comfortable and have fun amongst beautiful people and a great vibe.