Random Acts: Hearts of Palm U.K. @ Hang the DJs/ the Echo and Priestbird @ the Smell May 19, 2007

So my original plans for the evening kinda got botched a bit due to poor planning and general laziness. However, the Echo was having this event:

Which seemed like fun. I like free stuff. Also, I heard (from here) that this band Pit Er Pat, who are produced by the Sea and Cake's John McEntire, were playing at the Smell. The end result being to make the best of it with my gal pals.

Ok, I can now give an honest review of Hearts of Palm U.K. Seeing as they were the first band to play the Echo party. They did have to compete with a movie that the club was projecting over them. I have no clue what it was, just that it had subtitles and I clearly remember reading: "You can't take away my chastity in a cesspool like this". Regardless, they were actually really good this time around. I still agree with my first impression of being poppy, electronic girl folk music. Maybe not the best description but that seems to fit right with me. It was the two girls up until the end of the set and then for the last 3 songs they had a cellist accompany them. They did two covers tonight, Faith by George Michael, really- it was funny cause the 3 of us were singing along to it. I think I liked that song when I was 6 or 7. And then they did the Bryan Ferry song again. The songs seem cute by them, and when they play, it reminds me of being in high school and watching your friends get up and play in front of everyone on talent day or something. They just seem slightly uncomfortable when they are playing. One did play a triangle though, that really brought me back to high school.

Hearts of Palm UK were the only band we stayed for although the DJ sets (both inside and out in the back) were pretty fun. They did play two Ladytron songs almost in a row though, and at that point we saw fit to get a move on over to the Smell.

The trip to the Smell seemed to follow along the same lines of this being a crazy mixed up day. I don't go to the club very often (see here) but even so, the schedule seemed to run on time to a point. Tonight however they were either running really really late, or the line up I read was wrong. We got there during the middle of a one woman set. Although she was much up for audience participation. Unfortunately, she picked the one guy who couldn't shake the shakey musical instrument in time. Ah well. It was pleasant enough but we wandered back into the front of the place to sit. I figured since it was going on quarter to 12, the next band up had to be Pit Er Pat. Uh, no, not actually. The next band, Priestbird, had a small audience pooled around the stage who, after the first blaring notes, were quite ready to rock. It was such an odd set up, the singer had a double neck guitar (guitar and bass I believe), there was a cellist (what's up with that tonight) who also played keys, and a drummer who had a gong. No really, a gong. I think the last time I was anywhere where there was a gong, it was at the Hollywood Bowl, and they were playing classical music. My first thought immediately was to write them off as noise. However, as they progressed through their set, there was a definite melody present that wasn't as offensive as I first thought. Eventually I decided that there was some structure to what they were doing and in the end realized it wasn't that bad.

Tiredness struck though, and since I was the driver I decided that tonight was not the night I would be seeing Pit Er Pat. I guess all things Sea and Cake were just not meant to be tonight.

Meant to Be: Agent Ribbons, Hearts of Palm U.K. @ the Silver Lake Lounge May 17, 2007

May is looking to be the busiest show going month in a long time for me. Unexpectedly, as if possibly by fate even, I was able to fit in another show this week. It started in the a.m. on my occasional commute from the east side to the west side for work. Stuck in traffic on the 10 I decided NPR wasn't cutting it and switched it over to KXLU cause I had only just remembered that it was Thursday, and on Thursday from 6 to 10 is McCallister's Hostile Makeover. An incredibly awesome radio music show that happened to be the first place several years ago that I was introduced to bands like Irving and the Sharp Ease (r.i.p.). Anyhoo- I switched over and this cute song was playing, and there was this girl's voice belting out "Don't touch me..." among other lyrics and it instantly got stuck in my head. Scenario two: leaving work KXLU was still on (this is actually a rare occurrence that the radio is on instead of a cd playing) and again I recognized the lyrics that I had heard much earlier in the day however this time they were live, in the studio. All this time I kept missing the name of the band, but I did hear "Silver Lake Lounge" and "tonight", which piqued my interest.

Fast forward a few hours and I found myself at the Silver Lake Lounge, finally able to place the "Salvation" bulb sign that I've seen in local live concert photos- I've never been here before.

When we got there, local band Hearts of Palm UK were on stage. I've seen this band name posted all over the place, I'm assuming they're quite popular around these parts but this was the first time I've ever seen them live. They're a duo- two girls with lots of instruments. My notes from last night read "light-folky girl pop, with keyboards". This review can't really do them justice, partially because I got caught up in a conversation and my attention wandered elsewhere, until they closed their set with, I'm pretty sure, a cover of Bryan Ferry's 'More Than This'. That's always entertaining.

So this band that I kept hearing all day... they're called Agent Ribbons, and hail from Sacramento. They were adorable, but they also looked like if you tried to mess with them they'd fuck you up. The line up consisted of two gals, one sang and played guitar and the other played the drums and at one point jumped on an accordion (which somehow became the cool new instrument. I should tell my sister, she played one for years). The music was bluesy-garage-girl pop, and the singers voice reminded me of the girl from Pony Up! and someone else that I can't remember for the life of me and has been driving me crazy since last night; very crackly and deep. There was something very crafty about the two of them; one might expect them to live in a giant pink Victorian house somewhere with a pet pig. When they played they would look back on each other and smile or giggle, like they had some secret they were trying to keep from the audience.

Anyways, they were enjoyable to watch and played the songs I had heard earlier (Don't Touch Me, Birds & Bees) as well as others from the album and some not from the album. It turned out I was the only one in the audience who had heard them perform on KXLU. But really, that station is iffy once you get on the east side. Oh, and if you order an album from them, they'll send you cute things in the mail with it. So do it.