Austin Fever: YellowFever, Her Girl Friday, Dylan Doren @ the Smell January 25, 2008

I will not lie to you all. I only went over to the Smell because I found out YellowFever was going to be playing. Initially I didn't know who else was playing and really wasn't concerned because I had the yellow fever.... Sorry, that was ridiculous, it's early right now. But getting there at 9:30 and sitting through the first two sets two things became apparent: I can listen to noise rock with ear plugs and actually enjoy it because my ears do not feel like they've been permanently damaged, and the first two bands were un-expectantly fun to listen to.

There's this trend at the Smell to just slide from band to band, and many times band names are not said. Or, a band name is missed because suddenly they are already playing and you're still standing outside the club. So, that's my introductory excuse as to why I'm not 100% on the first two band names (if you know what they were, please feel free to jot down in the comments below). The Smell attracts a LOT of young people/bands who are really into the noise scene. Really into it. Expect one of the bands in a line up there every night to fit this genre. The first person/band up, and don't get mad if I mix the names here, I believe was Dylan Doren. Now, that could be the guy's name, or the band. I say name but what do I know? His set began with about 10-15 minutes of him sitting on the ground with some keyboards, a pedal, and microphones. My first thought brought be back to seeing Mincemeat or Tenspeed at Pehrspace back in December (sorry, no review, but you can listen to the show here!). Now, I enjoy noise, when done well, and when they added some live drumming to the mix, the whole musical experience suddenly made my attention snap right to them. The drum beats were live, but had the quality of feeling like they were sampled. The songs were pecked with these tiny screams that could barely make themselves heard over the instruments, forcing you to pay attention to the two people before you. They really turned it into an unexpected surprise performance.

Second up was Her Girl Friday, a 3 piece all girl band that included their own bubble blowing robotic looking chick standing in front dressed like she belonged at an anime convention. I'm not sure what 'look' they wanted to achieve by having this; 'cute' I guess comes to mind. The three blended guitars, keys and drums into a dark, droning pop sound. At times they reminded me a bit of Electrelane and other songs were a bit tipping towards bands like the Warlocks. Heavy, melodic, occasionally screaming tunes. They were also surprisingly enjoyable.

And then right into YellowFever. I can't remember which blog I first heard about this Austin band from. I want to say Gorrila vs. Bear, because any good music coming out of that part of Texas I will hear about through their site. In the usual Smell style, there were some technical hiccups. One I swear was as close to the 'brown noise' as you can get. I felt really bad, cause later the drummer was saying how it fucked up his ears bad. I think the problem was that the vocals were too low and the bass too high, and the attempt to fix it by the guy who runs(?) the Smell, made it the opposite of fixed. It terminated "Cats and Rats" a bit short, which was too bad, cause it's a cute song. Anyways, stuff started to go better from there, launching into (in no particular order except for what I can remember) Metarie, Hellfire, Joe Brown, and Culver City. I'm missing some, but I forget which. It would have been even more awesome had they played Alice, but I'm not complaining, they came to L.A. and I will be perfectly satisfied with just that much. Their music crosses between bands like Stereolab, Tuscadero, Heavenly, and in some ways reminds me of earlier music from the Breeders. But there also feels like there is this darker streak just under the surface of their music. The quite, sometimes somber tone to the lyrics, backed by the more poppy bass and guitar notes makes for some more bittersweet concoctions. At least I get that in there sometimes...

Right, ok, this post is starting to get a bit long. I just wanted to direct your attention to Austin, TX for a moment. Austin seems like this magical far away land filled to overflowing with great bands and constant flow of incredible albums. The city makes me jealous with its green-ness awareness and cool shows and really nice people, compared to living here in L.A. But then I remember a friend telling me it 90+º for most of the year. And then L.A. seems ok, and Austin will just have to be that awesome city I visit.

Coming soon: Dare I step into the Smell for a second night in a row?!?!?!?

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.

Tread Softly: Dear Nora, Bobby Birdman, Devon Williams @ the Smell May 2, 2007

Downtown Los Angeles can be a scary place to venture, even at noon on a Tuesday, but especially at night on a Wednesday. Getting to the Smell is also an adventure in itself, especially when you don't really know where it is, but you do know you need to go down an alley, downtown... and did I mention, at night? Right. Well, tonight is the second night of Dear Nora's "last"(this is sorta confirmed) tour, so risking getting puked on by a junkie was just something I would have to deal with.

Tonight's lineup included Lloyd & Michael (which we missed), Devon Williams (who we caught probably the last two songs of his set), Bobby Birdman (in the dark, more on that in a minute),and Dear Nora of course. What I quickly learned about the way things are done at the smell is this: informal. Very informal. When we walked in the door, kids were sitting crossed-legged on the floor, practically in the lap of Devon Williams. It reminded me of my third grade teacher who would play guitar for us instead of making us learn to read a clock. Oh, and I'm not fooling about the kid reference either. The Smell is a rare breed of clubs, admitting all ages and NO ALCOHOL, which makes it hard to get people overage to go there. However, if you are sitting there watching acoustic performances while next to you some 4th generation emo boy stresses over his math homework, alcohol won't even help with the situation. It is a cute little spot though, I'm not knocking it at all. When Matt & Kim are there to perform in the near future I won't even bat an eyelash about showing up there.

The Bobby Birdman performance was interesting. He moved into the back of the space where the stage is (though he stayed in front of it on the floor), however either the lights weren't working, or they never work, I dunno. Regardless, this is my first "in the dark" performance ever. He made the best of it though. It was just him and his guitar, a bit warbley in the voice, and not always hitting the right chords but he has this soothing quality to him that I found enjoyable to listen to. I did however fear for his safety, as he insisted on jumping around, illuminated only briefly by the pop of flashes going off around him. Oh, right, that started to border on ridiculous towards the end. All I could see were these purple spots in the dark from all the flashes, jeeze kids, really...

I think perhaps that Mr. Birdman went over his time a bit because Katy (dear nora) started tuning her guitar in the front room and when he stopped, her set pretty much started. A mad rush between rooms, and that was pretty much the only pause between sets, which is great. More shows should be like that.

The Dear Nora set was fantastic, although I really don't have any other set of hers to compare it to. Whew! Thank goodness I caught this show if she really is stopping. Anyways, with the exception of the first song, What a Weird Cactus, which had a young fellow accompanying her with guitar, the rest of the 45 minute (or so) set was just her and her guitar, and her random conversations with herself and the audience. Oh, so, some of the songs she did play were: Caribou- Timber Wolf, You Looked Like a Portrait (which was a special request from a boy determined to hear the song before she stopped touring), Hung Up, The New Year (i think...I may be cloudy on this), and closed with Love Song for My Friends (also a request). At the end it was just a shout out what you want to hear performance. Oh, and like always, the order of the songs are simply listed in what I remembered first.

Perhaps informal may not be the best word to describe the scene, intimate is better. When she sings, it's kinda like when you're with a good friend and you're just tooling around on instruments singing to each other, that's kinda how it felt. Except only she was singing... I was humming to myself.

Lightning Bolt: The Show That Wasn't- Wednesday April 11, 2007

It's so rare that LA has a band from my hometown playing here, or rather, it's rare that there's a band from my hometown that I care about who is playing here. Last night in Los Angeles, Lightning Bolt- hailing from Providence, RI played a secret show,unfortunately it was so secret that it turned out NOT to be at Pehrspace, or the Smell, but rather a warehouse on Alameda and 6th which I cannot place.

Boo. Last night ended up turning into reminscing adolescence as five of us parked it on a couch outside Pehrspace drinking warm PBRs and listening to the shows going on inside- hoping upon hope that Lightning Bolt would show up and play next (well, I think me and one other guy were hoping to catch them as I believe we may have dragged people along just to force them to watch). The suck part being that NO ONE could confirm or deny said show... people were taking the "secret" part a bit too seriously.

HOWEVER- it was finally leaked out that tonight, the 12th, they are playing the Smell. Unless someone was trying to be deceptive, again, to which I will be very, very pissy about if I show up downtown and wait and get yelled at by a homeless guy who wants my shoes or wants me to pay him because he made sure no one stole my tires. Fingers....are...crossed.