Diamonds are Forever Brats
Thursday, November 9, 2006
Anathallo, Page France, Tiny Lights & An Angle
Bottom of the Hill
$8 advance/$10 door
Disclosure: Three of my friends make up Tiny Lights, one of the bands on the bill. And I’ve never even heard the three of them play together. I have seen them each play on their own. Given the fact that they are all multi-instrumentalists and they were performing more experimental pieces when I saw them previously, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Upon inquiry into the nature of their sound at the end of a night where I was doing some drinking, the name Burt Bacharach was thrown out there, but I was warned that that might just be one man’s opinion. Multi-instrumental multi-disciplinary musicians doing Bacharach-esque music? Sounds like you should check it out.
After listening to some of the song’s on Anathallo’s “myspace page”, I’ve come to the conclusion that they play very pretty folkish indie with fairly complex arrangements and lots of instruments (the word “chamber” comes to mind). I certainly feel like I’m going to stick around, given that I read a couple of stellar reviews of their live show. Check out their “proper site” for more info, tunes, etc. Oh, and there’s Page France ( myspace / homepage ) doing more indie/folk/pop. If you want to learn about An Angle, you can check it out yourself because I’ve got other stuff to talk about.
Thursday, November 9, 2006
Islands, Subtitle & Blueprint
Great American Music Hall
$15
I’m not going to lie. When I saw Islands play at Slim’s before, I was somewhat disappointed. It may have been that the sound was (as it so often is at Slim’s) off. They do have a decent number of instruments in use throughout the show, not that that’s any sort of excuse for shitty sound. It may have also been the fact that the little bit I caught of the opener, Cadence Weapon, was great. Or the fact that, as usual, Why? put on a great set as the band in the second slot. Hmmm… Oh, yeah, maybe it’s the fact that Nick Diamonds is, well, just kind of an asshole.
Give a bunch of kids a bunch of bottles of water (whether or not you’re being nice) and you run the chance of having a kid give some of that water back to you, not in the bottle. Well, Mr. Diamonds was thoroughly upset when this happened. Obviously, his pedals are expensive and you don’t want them to get wet. Instead of opting to ask the crowd not to behave as such, he started whining and saying that they weren’t going to play anymore.
I, for one, loved the Unicorns record. Then they broke up and Diamonds and J'aime Tambeur went on to form Islands. And I thoroughly enjoyed the Islands’ take on indie-pop. Now, Tambeur’s gone. Guess he couldn’t take Diamonds anymore either. Why am I blogging about this show after my live experience? Because I’ve heard they can be great live. The sound will be better at the Great American. Oh, and did I mention that Diamonds smashed his acoustic guitar at the end of the show? When was the last time you saw that? It had been a while for me. And that was after he was whining about his pedal getting ruined. Was he being ironic? The world may never know, but the world will know that he is a brat. Brats can be entertaining though. Plus, LA's Subtitle will drop his monotonous, crazy flow after Blueprint does his thing. So there’s also two quality MCs (who will inevitably perform with Islands on at least one track) to figure into the equation.
Thursday, November 9, 2006
Kid Koala & Fog
Mezzanine
$12
Last on the list for Thursday: Some “hip hop” for those who aren’t into the folkier or brattier sides of indie. “Hip hop” because I can’t tell you what to expect from this lineup. Kid Koala has ridiculous turntablism skills. Unfortunately, he doesn’t always use them for good. One time I saw him and he was doing lame-ass mash-ups and a variety of other types of “audience-pandering.” Little did he realize that, even though he was playing to a club, everyone was there to see him scratch, damn it. Oh well. Here’s to hoping he scratches the hell out of those records for those in attendance. The man makes the turntable sound so damn funky and jazzy, they’ll lose it if he does it right. I certainly did. Twice. Also on the bill is Fog, who does experimental folk-hop. When I’ve seen this guy in the past, he goes all over the place in one set, so know Idea where it’ll go. But I see possible collaboration in the evening…
Anathallo, Page France, Tiny Lights & An Angle
Bottom of the Hill
$8 advance/$10 door
Disclosure: Three of my friends make up Tiny Lights, one of the bands on the bill. And I’ve never even heard the three of them play together. I have seen them each play on their own. Given the fact that they are all multi-instrumentalists and they were performing more experimental pieces when I saw them previously, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Upon inquiry into the nature of their sound at the end of a night where I was doing some drinking, the name Burt Bacharach was thrown out there, but I was warned that that might just be one man’s opinion. Multi-instrumental multi-disciplinary musicians doing Bacharach-esque music? Sounds like you should check it out.
After listening to some of the song’s on Anathallo’s “myspace page”, I’ve come to the conclusion that they play very pretty folkish indie with fairly complex arrangements and lots of instruments (the word “chamber” comes to mind). I certainly feel like I’m going to stick around, given that I read a couple of stellar reviews of their live show. Check out their “proper site” for more info, tunes, etc. Oh, and there’s Page France ( myspace / homepage ) doing more indie/folk/pop. If you want to learn about An Angle, you can check it out yourself because I’ve got other stuff to talk about.
Thursday, November 9, 2006
Islands, Subtitle & Blueprint
Great American Music Hall
$15
I’m not going to lie. When I saw Islands play at Slim’s before, I was somewhat disappointed. It may have been that the sound was (as it so often is at Slim’s) off. They do have a decent number of instruments in use throughout the show, not that that’s any sort of excuse for shitty sound. It may have also been the fact that the little bit I caught of the opener, Cadence Weapon, was great. Or the fact that, as usual, Why? put on a great set as the band in the second slot. Hmmm… Oh, yeah, maybe it’s the fact that Nick Diamonds is, well, just kind of an asshole.
Give a bunch of kids a bunch of bottles of water (whether or not you’re being nice) and you run the chance of having a kid give some of that water back to you, not in the bottle. Well, Mr. Diamonds was thoroughly upset when this happened. Obviously, his pedals are expensive and you don’t want them to get wet. Instead of opting to ask the crowd not to behave as such, he started whining and saying that they weren’t going to play anymore.
I, for one, loved the Unicorns record. Then they broke up and Diamonds and J'aime Tambeur went on to form Islands. And I thoroughly enjoyed the Islands’ take on indie-pop. Now, Tambeur’s gone. Guess he couldn’t take Diamonds anymore either. Why am I blogging about this show after my live experience? Because I’ve heard they can be great live. The sound will be better at the Great American. Oh, and did I mention that Diamonds smashed his acoustic guitar at the end of the show? When was the last time you saw that? It had been a while for me. And that was after he was whining about his pedal getting ruined. Was he being ironic? The world may never know, but the world will know that he is a brat. Brats can be entertaining though. Plus, LA's Subtitle will drop his monotonous, crazy flow after Blueprint does his thing. So there’s also two quality MCs (who will inevitably perform with Islands on at least one track) to figure into the equation.
Thursday, November 9, 2006
Kid Koala & Fog
Mezzanine
$12
Last on the list for Thursday: Some “hip hop” for those who aren’t into the folkier or brattier sides of indie. “Hip hop” because I can’t tell you what to expect from this lineup. Kid Koala has ridiculous turntablism skills. Unfortunately, he doesn’t always use them for good. One time I saw him and he was doing lame-ass mash-ups and a variety of other types of “audience-pandering.” Little did he realize that, even though he was playing to a club, everyone was there to see him scratch, damn it. Oh well. Here’s to hoping he scratches the hell out of those records for those in attendance. The man makes the turntable sound so damn funky and jazzy, they’ll lose it if he does it right. I certainly did. Twice. Also on the bill is Fog, who does experimental folk-hop. When I’ve seen this guy in the past, he goes all over the place in one set, so know Idea where it’ll go. But I see possible collaboration in the evening…
posted by Lenode at 2:22 PM
1 Comments:
Fo' shizzle--a good price for an excellent individual. I saw him play at the original Coachella and was stunned by his ability to spin the right turntable with his left hand behind his back and then alternate that shit--ridiculous!
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