speed of dark

The Sugar Oaks from Orlando, Florida, have performed with Elf Power, Dr. Dog, Voxtrot, and Delta Spirit. The band features Christopher Belt on electric, acoustic, and slide guitars, vocals, and piano, as well as Eric Hayden (vocals, piano), Matthew Gersting (bass, vocals), Jonathan Kraft (drums), and Tiffany Barnes (delightful harmonies).

The Sugar Oaks are in the studio recording their first full-length CD, No One Can Love You Like Me, following up their EP from last year, Red Grapes In the City. The new CD is scheduled for independent release in July, but in the meantime the band are releasing a single a week on their MySpace page.

Last week's single was "Girl On Girl." The current download is a demo of "Near Easter," a hookless, bluesy number with a lazy, back-porch feel. I really like their lo-fi sound, and I'm looking forward to that new album.

Los Rebeldes from Red Grapes In the City EP (2007)
Girl On Girl from No One Can Love You Like Me (July, 2008)

MySpace | Website | Label: Independent | Lyrics
Buy at The Sugar Oaks Store, iTunes, and eMusic

Josiah Mazzaschi, lead vocals / Brian Barbiero, bass


Harry Trumfio, drums / Kim Haden, keys and effects

We caught Light FM earlier this month, opening up for Earlimart at the Echoplex. The band, transplants to L.A. from Chicago, played a short set without much audience interaction. But don't let that or the name make you think that this is easy listening. Light FM sounds like new-wavey 80's style rock, and seem to be frequently compared to The Cars and The Cure, which I can understand, although I can also hear the influence of They Might Be Giants.

I enjoyed their show and had the opportunity to chat with Brian Barbiero after the show - he was great. Light FM has shows scheduled all over California through August - notably at Spaceland on July 1 with The Mae-Shi, who are a sight to behold. Check out their myspace page for more shows and for my favorite track "Black Magic Marker", from their upcoming 2008 release, as yet unnamed.

light fm: switchboard control [buy on iTunes]

myspace | live video of Light FM

Ryan Kirkpatrick and Harley Prechtel-Cortez of The Weather Underground

We always arrive early enough at shows that frequently we're the first ones in line at the door. This is partly because we are obsessively punctual but also because we really like to see the opening bands, and we have discovered several we like a lot that way.

That was the case last Thursday at the Echo with L.A.-based The Weather Underground, who opened for the French Kicks. Main guy Harley Prechtel-Cortez (vocals, guitar, keys) is nerdy-hip handsome in a young David Byrne kind of way in his white dress shirt and horn-rimmed glasses (which he took off for the show), but his on-stage persona is far more expressive than Byrne's deadpan style. Prechtel-Cortez has an unusual, quavery voice, and he knows how to use it to good histrionic effect in the band's songs. He also has had the good sense to pick up Nick Stumpf's example of introducing the band members to the audience.


Harley Prechtel-Cortez going all-out

But Harley is not the only good thing about The Weather Underground. Besides the strong support of bassist Ryan Kirkpatrick and drummer Diego Guerrero, who gamely banged away in spite of not feeling well, the group has Shoichi Bagley, excellent on lead guitar and equally capable on keys. I expect that these guys will be making a big name for themselves.


Shoichi Bagley on lead guitar


Left, Harley Prechtel-Cortez (click to enlarge); Right, drummer Diego Guerrero

The group has a new EP called Bird In the Hand. We liked their stuff so much we bought all three of their EPs, which are also available on iTunes. Be sure to check out "Trainwreck"--it's a knockout punch of a song.

Beggar's Balladfrom When I Was a Soldier EP
Bird In the Hand from Bird In the Hand EP

MySpace | Website | Label: Independent
Buy: iTunes and eMusic

Show Schedule:
In early June, The Weather Underground will play six dates with Matt Costa and Delta Spirit before joining the French Kicks again in Nashville on June 10.
June 12 they will be at Bonnaroo. Check their MySpace site for their full schedule through July 4.

There are things I like about the Echo and things I don't like. I like that it is tiny, which allows a degree of intimacy with the performers that is not possible in bigger venues. My big peeve is the lighting, which is best described as primitive. If the band members don't stand in certain areas of the stage, they are in the dark. The air circulation is not up to the challenge when the place is full, as it was last Thursday for the French Kicks. And I've never heard any band sound good in there, although I'm willing to accept blame for that because we always stand at the front instead of in the magic spot at the center of the room.

In spite of my complaints, the French Kicks gave a worthy performance last Thursday night. Lead singer Nick Stumpf and songwriting partner/lead guitarist Josh Wise dressed their feet for the heat in flip-flops. I didn't expect the live sound to match the perfect blends on the studio albums, and it didn't. It was still a good show however, and I saw with my own eyes how Josh Wise gets that mandolin sound--he moves his pick hand at light speed back and forth over the strings, of course, but it's pretty amazing to this non-guitarist.


Nick Stumpf stays near the front of the stage


Josh Wise on lead guitar

The Kicks started off with an older song from 2004's Trial of the Century, "Following Waves," before heading into five songs in a row from this year's Swimming. The only other time they went back that far was for the delicious "One More Time," the song that first turned me on to the French Kicks in the first place. It was not surprising that the Kicks stayed with their most recent three albums; this is where they began crafting the signature sound that they feel they have perfected with Swimming.

I did not realize that Josh sang lead on "Carried Away" and "Atlanta." Both songs came off quite well live. "We're really proud of 'Atlanta,'" Nick told me after the show when I complimented them on the song.


Nick and Josh harmonize

Although the Kicks are like most bands in not providing much chat, Nick Stumpf does something I wish more bands would do: he introduces the band members to the audience. This simple gesture is gracious and generous and allows the audience to feel a personal connection with the band.


Nick's brother Lawrence Stumpf on bass


Aaron Thurston does the percussion


Setlist: (photo, right)

1. Following Waves
2. Abandon
3. Over the World
4. Carried Away
5. Love In the Ruins
6. Said So What
7. England Just Will Not Let You Recover
8. New Man
9. Atlanta
10. Trial of the Century
11. Sex Tourists
12. So Far We Are
13. One More Time

Encore:
14. Keep It Amazed
15. Go On

MySpace | Website | Label: Vagrant Records | Merch
Buy at Amazon.com, iTunes, and eMusic

Show Schedule:
The French Kicks are touring small venues in the U.S. through mid-June. See them now because they will start filling bigger places soon.

Only two years ago St. Paul, MN singer-songwriter Corey Palmer turned his one-man bedroom project into a full-fledged five-piece band called These Modern Socks with the addition of members Arron Bergstrom (bass, backup vocals), Park Evans (guitar), Adrian Suarez (drums), and Nick Tveitbakk (keys, samples, back-up vocals).

Just released this past week, Picking a Lock at the Speed of Light, the Socks' second full-length CD, is a space odyssey through a relationship beginning with a heady lift-off into breathless heights and progressing to disillusionment and abandonment on the moon.

The disc is marked by catchy melodies, chrome-shiny arrangements accented with hard-metal vocoder, and Steely-Dan-like harmonies, all warmed by the emotional stakes detailed in the exceptionally high-quality lyrics.

Dilemma --the first glow of infatuation and a wonderful simulation of Brian May guitar.

"One good look at you and I understand
Why I gotta take you very soon
A gray vacation to the promised land
You can live in an aquarium
Will you come with me?"

"Worry-Free Lifestyle" --cracks develop in the relationship where doubt and jealousy leak in.

"now our only problem is the chemistry we lack
I'm trying not to let it wreck my time"

"Picking a Lock at the Speed of Light" --trying to figure out what went wrong.

"lift the door turn the wrench
open up hold it up like a mystery
tear it up lock it up then lose the key"

"Escape Pod" --still hopeful, but looking for a way out.

"redirect the sunlight and hope that you can live within your means
there's always an escape pod
or we could build a robot to rescue us like a love song"

"Wooden" has a funky, Of-Montreal quality, the dancing through your pain thing.

"now you've got a permanent loss at a premium cost"

Where I Came From
The star-stuff hits the fan in my favorite song on this album. I love its contrasts of pretty tune and smooth vocals pinned up against the stinging bitterness of the lyrics...

"I've got a lot more to live for--You never thought I did
You feel so bad that you didn't want it, like I give a shit"

...and a jarring synth riff that resembles a honking saxophone, the musical representation of the point where a relationship has crashed to smithereens, and you feel like a fool for not having seen disaster coming.

I put myself in this situation got to overcome
The way I lost everything I wanted in a single month
Still hear the hint of the sound of your voice in my helmet
I can't relax if you're there and I'm not, for a minute

No sophomore slump here; this is a really good CD that shows growth and maturity over the first effort, which also won fans. I recommend it!

MySpace | Website | Label: Dead Electric/TuneCore
Buy at Amazon.com, iTunes, eMusic

Photo by Emma Freeman Photography

One of the openers for last Saturday's show at the Echoplex was Los Angeles band Voxhaul Broadcast. Childhood friends David Dennis, Tony Aguiar, Phil Munsey, and Kurt Allen come off like a mixture of the Strokes' rock with Al Green's soul combined with a frenzy all their own.

They have played at SXSW earlier this year and at CMJ and had a month's residency at Spaceland. Rotten Apples, the full-length follow-up to their 2007 EP was released just last month.

Click all images for larger views

Left, lead singer David Dennis; Right, David with lead guitarist Tony Aguiar


Left, Kurt Allen on drums; Right, bassist Phil Munsey stands still for about 1/2 second

Voxhaul Broadcast from Rotten Apples (2008):
Rotten Apples
Why Not

MySpace | Label: Retone Records
Buy at Amazon.com, iTunes, and Los Angeles area music outlets

Show Schedule:
May 22 - Opening for Rogue Wave at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa.
May 28 2008 - the Viper Room, Los Angeles
Jun 5 2008 - The Hemloc, San Francisco
Jun 7 2008 - Beauty Bar, San Diego
Jul 5 2008 - Summerfest Festival, Milwaukee, WI

Earlimart took the opportunity at the Echoplex last Saturday night, May 17, to introduce a few tracks from their new album Hymn and Her, scheduled for release in July. "For the Birds" and "Before It Gets Better" have been previewed on KCRW in the past few weeks.

While Earlimart's album tracks are often lovely and soothing blends of Ariana Murray's string-like synths and Aaron Espinoza's whispery vocals, these live songs were kicked up several notches on the energy scale. The set started with two tracks from the new album, one of which is my favorite of the five I have heard so far, "Song For." Other new songs included "Face Down In the Right Town" and "Great Heron Gates." From last year's Mentor Tormentor there were "700 > 100" and "Nevermind the Phone Calls."

Earlimart has a large back catalog of audience favorites, from which they chose the lovely "Heaven Adores You," probably the first song of theirs that ever grabbed my interest, and "The Hidden Track," both from 2004's Treble and Tremble. This live version of "The Hidden Track" was much faster and hard-rocking than the album version, making me think that Earlimart might do well to put out a live album. They also pulled out "Susan's Husband's Gun Shop" from their 2003 EP Avenues.

Unfortunately, in the first pause between songs, some guy in the audience started calling out his two favorite Earlimart songs over and over. The band did play one of those requests, "We Drink On the Job," fitting it in where they had planned to play "Susan's Husband's Gun Shop." I know this because I saw the band's set list after the show. From then on, the guy kept shouting out his other favorite, "Everybody Knows Everybody," which is a great song, and I love it too, but apparently Earlimart had not planned to play it. You could see Aaron getting increasingly annoyed by this repeated hounding, which went on into the encore.

Click all small photos for larger views

Left, Aaron closes his eyes; Right, Ariana in red beams a beautiful smile

After Ariana's sweet "Happy Alone," and another callout from this broken-record person, Aaron mumbled tightly, "That's the next song," then went on to play "Gonna Break It To Your Heart" another song from Mentor Tormentor. The band abruptly left the stage, and that was the end of the show. I couldn't help wondering if they had cut it short out of pure exasperation.

So readers, let's discuss: Should a band be prepared to abandon their set list and play whatever the audience wants, or should the audience be receptive to the songs the band has planned and practiced? It's clear what my opinion is. And if the person whose behavior I have described here reads this post, yes, that was me who turned around and glared at you. I also wanted to say, "Shut the f*k UP!" In my opinion, that guy owes Earlimart an apology.





Left, Aaron rocks out; Right, little white lights on Ariana's keyboard;
below right, a little dove figurine perches on the cymbals
Setlist:
1. God Loves You the Best
2. 3. 700 > 100 (live at SXSW 2008)
4. Face Down In the Right Town
5. For the Birds (stream)
6. Nevermind the Phone Calls
7. Heaven Adores You
8. The Hidden Track
9. We Drink On the Job
10. Great Heron Gates
11. Susan's Husband's Gun Shop (live at SXSW 2008)

Encore:
12. Happy Alone
13. Gonna Break It To Your Heart

All mp3s above are from the WOXY Lounge Acts Podcast at SXSW 2008

MySpace | Website | Label: Majordomo Records
Buy at Amazon.com, iTunes, and eMusic

We caught Colin Meloy at the Henry Fonda the Monday following Coachella, so we were a bit wiped out from that experience, and we were bummed to find out that the Music Box (or Colin himself, possibly) did not allow digital cameras. While Alt-gramma's camera is excellent, it is not exactly small and we could not sneak it in. Thankfully I had brought along my Olympus XA and some ISO 1600 film. The only problem with this type of camera? No zoom - but I like the photos that came out.




Colin's banter made the show - he was funny and charming, interacting with the audience while still keeping a polite distance, sipping his wine, and showing off his stage trinkets. He's the consummate showman, someone who might have sold snake oil in another time, in another life. We wrote down some of his witticisms between songs, but it's difficult to say if they are only funny if you were there.

Setlist:
1. Shiny
a song about gypsies
2. The Apology Song
Missoula, MT is the epicenter of bike theft
3. Perfect Crime
this song originally started out at a slower tempo, but with the band it reminded him of mid-career Steely Dan
4. Dracula's Daughter
5. O Valencia
6. First of the Gang to Die (Morrissey - first part of the song only)
7. Two new songs that go together, about a mother sending her son Avery off to work in a mine, and then the son's funeral
8. Cupid (Sam Cooke cover with Laura Gibson)
referred to as a teenage makout anthem, the audience is encouraged to sing along...Colin is considering the next artist for his series of cover albums, and Depeche Mode is a popular choice
9. Los Angeles, I'm Yours
the L.A. crowd cheers the loudest at this song, I'm sure, and we hummed and doot-de-dooed the guitar solo, while Colin "forgot" the lyrics and the audience eagerly reminded him
10. The Landlord's Daughter
11. Engine Driver
we are warned not to shout things at Colin while he is singing - "it's a fragile thing" - if we want him to be able to finish the song
12. The Landlord's Daughter
13. One More Time With Feeling (Regina Spektor cover)
Colin tells us that when he's singing these sad and heartfelt lyrics, he's really just wondering if his hair looks OK
14. The Shankill Butchers
15. A Cautionary Song
Colin sings this song just in time for Mother's Day and shows off his trinkets, including a mermaid named Consuela bought in Austin, a piece of quartz from Atlanta named Cornwallis, a framed picture of a sock puppet named Alex that has "his own myspace page", and a half-eaten, crumpled bag of M&M's named Blaine
Encore
16. Clementine
17. Mariner's Revenge Song (much audience interaction and screaming lessons)

(Note - except for "Clementine", the songs above were recorded live at Schuba's Tavern in Chicago in 2005)

official site | myspace | find more on Hype Machine

Bridges and Powerlines practicing one of my favorite pastimes--
poking through the 99-cent rack at the music store

New York's Bridges and Powerlines specialize in catchy power-pop riddled with 20-something angst. Ghost Types is their second full-length CD, released near the end of last month.

"Middle Child" was the first song that caught my fancy, but I also like "Half a Cent" and the title tune.

From Ghost Types (2008):
Half a Cent
Middle Child

MySpace | Website | Label: CityBird Records
Buy at Insound, iTunes, ToneVendor, and eMusic

The blurb about Freddie Stevenson for SXSW 2008 described him as Scottish folk punk. A visit to Nashville and current habitation in New York seem to have Americanized the Scottish accent and softened the punk bits, but many of the tunes on his April-released ablum All My Strange Companions are catchy and fierce.

I'm particularly fond of the chorus of "Czechoslovakia."

From All My Strange Companions:
Easy Now
Czechoslovakia

MySpace | Website | Label: Juicy Musical Creations
Buy at Amazon.com, iTunes, CD Baby and eMusic

This is the last of our photo posts from Coachella 2008, with these pics from Death Cab for Cutie. I've seen DCFC several times now (twice at Coachella!), and I've got pit tickets to see them in L.A. at the Nokia Theatre next month, which will be the largest venue that I've seen them yet. My favorite show of DCFC was also the first one for me: at Coachella 2004. They were small enough that we were within four people to the front of the stage, and the band were their own roadies, setting up their own equipment in white coveralls in the heat of midday.

This show was a major contrast - DCFC performed at sunset on the main stage, playing to a huge crowd who happily sang along to their songs. Since I am not a big fan of Plans and at that time, I hadn't heard any of Narrow Stairs (except "I Will Possess Your Heart"), I wanted to hear more of the older stuff. I always want to hear more of the older stuff.

Click on all photos to see larger views, and see Alt-gramma's flickr page for more photos from this show and others.

official site | myspace | Label: Atlantic

death cab for cutie: i wanna be adored [live stone roses cover]
death cab for cutie: title and registration [live]
death cab for cutie: your bruise

buy DCFC music | find more on Hype Machine

If you haven't already, read the interview of Mark Kozelek by Ben Gibbard, incredible songwriter to incredible songwriter over at The AV Club.

Watch this great video for "After Hours" by We Are Scientists:


The Yellow Stereo reviews a mesmerizing DeVotchKa show and has a concert to win free stuff from South.

Thanks Captain Obvious reviews the new Wolf Parade and Death Cab for Cutie, plus has a video of Arcade Fire performing "Neon Bible" in an elevator. Amazing - a must see.

Check out Rawkblog for his reviews of The Dodos live at the Natural History Museum, and Division Day at their second home, the Echo, plus tour dates from Hot Chip...I gonna try to see them in September.

Quarter Life Party has some more lovely pics and a link to download the music from the Radiohead show that was rained out, and some information for those who didn't make it to the show because of the weather.

And finally...I am the last person on earth to finally watch There Will Be Blood, although I watched it with two people who gave it the thumbs down so I didn't have anyone to talk with about it. My son, He Might Be Giant (HMBG), said the music was weird, and he didn't understand why it sounded happy during sad scenes and scary and sad during happy scenes. I've spent the last several days just thinking about it and thinking that I just want to watch it again.

radiohead: jigsaw falling into place [scotch mist version 2007]
we are scientists: altered beast [buy]
death cab for cutie: prove my hypotheses [buy]
jonny greenwood: proven lands [buy]

Grounds for Divorce









Drummer Richard Jupp and bassist Pete Turner


Violinists

The fog obscures some of the frenetic energy that the band brings to their live show, but it could not mask the fact that Elbow, especially Guy Garvey, performed one of the best concerts I have ever seen. Garvey asked the audience repeatedly if we were having a good time - and it was obvious that he truly was concerned. His stage presence and banter were real, not forced, which is the mark of an established band, comfortable with themselves and with the quality of their performance. Along with the rest of the audience, I wanted the night to go on forever. If you have the opportunity to see Elbow live, take it.

Setlist:
1. Starlings
2. The Bones of You ("a song about massive regret, much too late")
3. Leaders of the Free World
4. Great Expectations
5. Mirrorball [live acoustic]
6. Grounds For Divorce
7. Mexican Standoff
8. Forgive Myself
9. Friend Of Ours
10. The Stops
11. Newborn
12. On a Day Like This

Encore
13. Station Approach
14. Grace Under Pressure
15. Scattered Black and Whites

MySpace | Website | Label: Fiction / Polydor / Geffen
Buy at Amazon, iTunes, and eMusic