Mirah & Thao

Mirah {Yom Tov Zeitlyn} and Thao {Nyguen, of Thao with the Get Down Stay Downs} are push and pull. Oil and water. Cement and silk. Paula Abdul and that Cartoon Cat. Fried chicken and celery sticks. I like.

Mirah & Thao // Squareneck
Mirah & Thao // Little Cup

Lucinda Black Bear

Lucinda Black Bear were gracious enough to come perform at the agency a few weeks back - not all places of work allow for lunchtime live performances. I know I'm lucky.
I know that till I'm here till 3:37am on a Friday night working on a deck to take with me to a consultant in Santa Monica.
And I now know to "save" said deck every five minutes so I don't lose the entire night's work before exporting that motherfather. goddamn server gremlins. Lucky indeed.


{performing in the Gallery space at The Martin Agency}

H'anyway - the plaintive, string-happy LBB {cello is mainstay with a frequenting violin} is fronted by curly-mopped Christian Gibbs, who's force of nature hair happened to be offset by a moustache at this particular setting. I appreciated it.
Surrounding himself with what initially appeared hypertrained studio musicians, the silo'd impression dropped off after they warmed into their set and Gibbs lobbed a joke or two. Opening with the featured track, any pessimism in the crowd dropped away as their intricately crafted, preternatural folk songs this side of rock established that they were the legit biz.

Lucinda Black Bear // Hand Bible

The Week's Once Over

Smack yo' mouth Ema
Bitterly soulicious Irma Thomas {Dustin Artz}
Oddbird Andrew Graham & Swarming Branch
Under the Covers: Rave on Buddy Holly tribute album

good luck and godspeed nursing your tequila hangovers.
xx, chirgo

the Daylights

Long distance relationships, for the majority, suck. Granted. Time zones, awkwardly long pauses on the phone, furrowed brows over the alternate lives each other is living, cathartic growling at each other.

Walter C. May, a LA-based commercial director, pondered on how to reach across the flyover zone to his gal Lex, slogging away on her MBA at Duke University. When your in the business of visuals, and your boys with an indie-trio, use your talents and DIY, right? Some shared pencil scratches with The Daylights, $100, an afternoon and some dexterous hands and you do the damn thing.

Rather than pinging her inbox, posting on her wall, or over-nighting a playable DVD - May got all social-media on your ass and tweeted it out last Tuesday. In hopes the vastly small virtual world would deliver it to her, he waited patiently for it to arrive as the constantly-connected saw fit.

3 guesses as to how this story ends.

Thanks to Josh Reese for keeping me connected since I continue to abstain from joining Twitter. And to my own bi-coastal manfriend, I accept love letters by snailmail, carrier pigeon and the Pony Express.



The Daylights // I Hope This Gets To You

Jenny & Johnny, Isobel & Mark

She & Him and Pete & Scarlett and Sonny & Cher and over it. Almost over it.


Jenny (Lewis) and Johnny (Rice) are (I'm) Having Fun Now, k? They are creatively young and prolifically in love and no amount of winking on Match.com will yield these kind of results. These two are genetically enabled to make you reluctantly bounce along to their surf rock homage towards kitten kisses and California. Doesn't matter if the reviews keep the indie-darling of Rilo Kiley close while casting Jonathan to the gum-stained curb. I happen to like his vocals just fine. Clearly - as it seems I played his single "So Sweet" 24 times in college. Ew. Here's winking at you, Johnny.


Hawk is the third album from the whiskey and chambord pairing of Isobel Campbell (Belle & Sebastien) and Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees). Campbell produced, arranged and wrote all but two songs, heavily showcasing Lanegan's smoky rasp with her wispy coos skimming in the background. The odd birds still have some sexy time tension to talk about with 70's soul retro cuts, exploring past the familiar badlands of dusty-country-rock stomping grounds.

Jenny & Johnny // Big Wave

Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan // Come Undone

The Roots

When The Roots signed on to be Jimmy Fallon's house band, I'll admit I pouted a bit. How could these bamf hip-hop positive poets with sick style & mad beats go to latenight TV?

I'll tell you why.
When you're the houseband, the booking agent becomes your bestie. You hookup with all the live acts who moonlight for their 5 minute sets. Then when you want to make another record, you just mass text Yim Yames, Joanna Newsom, Patty Crash, and some of the chickiebabies from Dirty Projectors. They'll swing by the studio, lend their vocals or maybe remix some of their own tracks. Then they'll skip out into the smokey dusk with a little more street cred. Ain't no thang.

How I Got Over, The Roots Crew's ninth album, keeps their socio-political style while stretching their limbs. Black Thought's flinty, profound lyrics are augmented and approachable by Over's contributors. It makes for a softer album than Rising Down, but Questlove's tight production keeps their message wrapped up tight. In moments of tragedy, realism and cynicism - the groove is hopeful.

We should shine a light on. A light on.

The Roots f. Joanna Newsom // Right On

the Dough Rollers

There's something endearing and mildly eyebrow-raising that LA kids think Son House Jr. is the shit. But we're a culture with hipsters snubbing any apparel post '81. Betty Draper is majorly hot, and we suffer rochambeau tourneys to vie for PopPop's retired Tart Arnels, (regardless the fact nobody's remotely farsighted. LASIK, hellooo).

The Dough Rollers ensemble are currently Malcolm Ford (vocals, mandolin), Jack Byrne (guitars, vocals), Julia Tepper (fiddle, vocals) and Andrew Barrett (washboard, jug, kazoo and piano) - that's right, jug. what of it. True disciples dedicated to ragtime revival, they lean in to each other in dens, on rooftops, in opera houses. Follow each others toe taps and finger picks, with Malcolm's raspy yowls wading us through the Mississippi Delta.

You thought Jack White has some overamplified guitars? Pffft.
You think pomade is too sticky to be edgy? Slick those bangs back, bro.
The "devil's music, accused of inciting violence and other poor behavior.^[129]" is making a comeback.

The Dough Rollers // Where Shall I Be?

Go here if you can't abide speaker recordings.

Roky Erickson & Okkervil River

To spin the yarn of True Love Cast Out All Evil, the fibers begin to twist in Rusk State Hospital. Locked up on an insanity plea for possession of one joint, Roky Erickson spent years beside the worst kind of men in the criminal mental facility. After submitting to shock treatment for schizophrenia and to exorcize the LSD and heroine craving demons; he re-entered society a shadow of himself. Nearly unrecognizable as the once ferocious lead of The Thirteenth Floor Elevators - a pioneering act of '60's psychedelic rock and storied muse of Janis Joplin. Paranoid and plagued by night terrors, he spewed dark, tortuous music for a few years until tumbling into his own abyss.

Keep braiding the twine to 2001 in a Texan courtroom where Roky is the knot betwixt a family tug o war over religion and modern medicine. Tethered for years to the care of his mother who prescribed prayer, sensible love and second-hand knowledge from spouting daytime talkshow psychiatrist; younger brother Sumner Erickson looked to gain guardianship of his shadow sibling. Pull him out of poverty and hopelessness; out of his head and into the light. (check out 2005 doc "You're Gonna Miss Me")

With urging of certain central figures and firm hand over hand on the line, Roky has pulled himself to where he is today. Fellow Austinites and temping troubadors Okkervil River incessantly champion him; Will Sheff & Co.'s lush guitars, horns and ivories make Roky's crystallized honey tenor all the sweeter.

True Love's songs blaze with redemption. As true love should.

Roky Erickson & Okkervil River // Goodbye Sweet Dreams

Broken Bells

Once upon a time, in 2004, Brian Burton was roaming the grounds at Roskilde - happy to quiet his overactive genius since finishing up production of "Modern Guilt." He stumbled upon James Mercer, willing himself into hypnosis at the Bugge Wesseltoft show. After some "heyhowareyas," the two gents got to talking.

"Danger Mouse," James claps. "I gotta say, I'm a real fan of your work. What you're doing with that Dark Night of the Soul project - that shit's insane. I don't really get it, but the stills I've seen with David Lynch are pretty fucked. Respect."

"Jimmy," Brian smiles. "Can I call you that? Solid. Jimmy, I've been listening to The Shins since before caring was creepy. I know you're overhauling the lineup, but whadya say after the dust settles - we get a little thing going? See what happens, make a little magic, fry up some aebleskiver?"

"I'm not down with aebleskiver, I'm off white sugar - " Brian sweeps the air with his hands in dismissal, throws his arms around the shoulders of his new friend and they off the head into the sunset.

(*note: i might be fibbing a bit. Regardless, it's the basics of how Danger Mouse and James Mercer have partnered up as Broken Bells - an effort, they say, is taking them to uncharted territory on their musical maps. Danger Mouse has forsook sampling for held-in-hand instruments. James puts his vocals in ranges not oft climbed on previous recordings. The first single gives us a taste of spacey sound effects, melody, a little darkness and a splash of soul. Surreal video to match and a self-titled album out next month.)

Broken Bells // The High Road

Drummer

I just wanna feel good. Together. So I'm gonna listen to this swell five-piece Pat Carney (the Black Keys) linked by powers of telepathy and telekinesis. Few things you should know about Drummer so you get the warm n fuzzies, too.

Five - all five gents play drums in other bands.
Four - number of strings on the bass which is what Pat, (who's ironfist&foot on TBK's drum kit makes your ribs rattle), is playing.
Three - Feel(1) Good(2) Together(3) is the 11 track album emerging from seven months' furious writing.
Two - both of TBK's outside efforts are Akron, OH based. Raw, psychedelic, alt-rock, sanguine satisfaction from the Midwest, I'm down.
One - is the singular snowy afternoon in February 2009 when Pat Carney aligned some zodiac signs so he wasn't twiddling his thumbs while Dan Auerbach was on tour.

I'm aglow with good vibes - let me know when you'd like to to join hands about the fire for some s'mores and kumbaya.

Mmmm...s'mores.

Drummer // Feel Good Together

Monsters of Folk

Cream. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Traveling Wilburys. The Highwaymen. Velvet Revolver. Tinted Windows. (even Taylor Hanson gets a fist bump on this blog)

Better than that last bite of Thanksgiving dinner, supergroups are a heady blend of performers who've already made a name for themselves as legal pundits or geography bee champs. In this recent wave of rocker emulsion, I've been looking out for the Monsters of Folk album since early summer. Conor Oberest (Bright Eyes), M.Ward (She & Him), Yim Yames (My Morning Jacket) and producer/engineer Mike Mogis - these fellas have joined each other on and offstage, share recipes and have weekly get-togethers for MNF. Total bros.

Scheduling a late autumn trip around the world, for each M.O.F. ticket sold a $1 will go to local non-profits. Karma & jams, as dear to me as pb&j. Word on the street is they'll be switching instruments and trading roles throughout each show in the spirit of their laidback collaboration. I'm sure they won't mind me stepping in for a little triangle jangle and a recorder solo.

Will they be a success or a novelty? Take a listen and decide for yourself - I like you more when you have an opinion.

M.O.F. // Sandman, the Brakeman and Me
M.O.F. // Temazcal

Holly Miranda

Once again, I owe Rexy for turning me onto another vocal vixen. This lollipop is the front woman for The Jealous Girlfriends, a four-topper from Brooklyn with all kinds of magical sounds inside. Holly’s chops were made for blasting out bone chilling melodies. Whereas mine were made for biting the plastic off of CD cases. She reminds me of Chan Marshall (Cat Power) with a tad more volume (although not really here). Even has a similar haircut. If you look around, you’ll find her belting out an inspired version of Elliott Smith’s Between The Bars somewhere. Which, in my opinion, is his best and one of my all-time favorites. Just sayin,’ if ever I happen to accidentally run into said vixen on the street in front of her house, there could be roofies and marriage involved.

This is her with Prince. Hahaha. Jk, jk. LOL ;P LMFAO ====D----. Actually, it’s Kyp Malone from TVOTR. And it’s pure gold. Surely, this talented damsel will conquer the world soon.

Slow Burn Treason


Jealous Girlfriends - Organs On The Kitchen Floor

See?