band – Page 2 – #DKLPHOTOS

Aloe Blacc | UCLA Jazz Reggae Fest | 5/25/14

I was a fan of Aloe Blacc before he was … Aloe Blacc. Being a fan of the underground, L.A., hip-hop scene back in the mid 90s, I was listening to Aloe Blacc’s music before he broke-out, commerically, with “I Need A Dollar” in 2010.

I saw Aloe Blacc first perform at The Beach Ball Festival: Soul Revue September of 2013. As much as I liked his hip-hop leaning music from back in the day, I absolutely love his soulful leaning music that he’s focusing on today, so not hearing his jams like “Blind World” or “Close To Me” was something I could easily accept … although, I wouldn’t mind him sprinkling in a song or two in future sets.

Dressed in a classy fitted suit, topped with a sharp fedora, he took the sun drenched stage and dazzled the audience with his bright personality and hit singles. From “I Need A Dollar” to “Wake Me Up” to “The Man”, the audience was treated to songs that have been permeating the radio airwaves for the past several years. He even performed a slowed-down cover of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” that really had the audience eating out of his hands.

I wasn’t able to find a set lit of the of the songs that Aloe Blacc performed at UCLA’s Jazz Reggae Fest, so if you happen to know which songs were performed, please leave them in the comments below and I will add them to this post.

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT OTHER ARTISTS I WAS ABLE TO SNAP PICTURES OF AT THE FESTIVAL!

June 5, 2014June 12, 2014 by dklee13 Categories: ConcertsTags: acid jazz, alternative soul, band, billie jean, Christopher A. Smith, Coachella 2014, concert, Concert Photo, Concert Photography, concert photos, concert pic, concert pics, concert review, Concert Vid, concert video, cover, Feel Good, funk, funk music, hip hop, hip hop soul, hollywood, I need a dollar, jazz, Live Music, neo soul, Outstanding, R&B, setlist, the man, UCLA, UCLA Jazz Reggae Festival, wake me up Leave a comment

The Internet | UCLA Jazz Reggae Fest | 5/25/14

I saw a lot of bands at Coachella this year (2014), but there was one band that was on my list, that I regret missing: The Internet.

The Internet is a neo-soul band consisting of Odd Future members Syd the Kyd and Matt Martians as well as Tay Walker, Patrick Paige and Christopher A. Smith. They debuted in 2011, and released their debut album, “Purple Naked Ladies” that same year. They released their sophomore album, “Feel Good” in 2013, and have been touring in support of it since its release. When I found out they were performing at UCLA Jazz Reggae Festival, I knew I had to make it in time to see their afternoon set.

The Internet’s performance at Jazz Reggae Fest was, in truth, my first real introduction to the band. Sure, I was familiar with some of the Odd Future music by Tyler, The Creator, Frank Ocean and Earl Sweatshirt’s music, but I really didn’t know too much about The Internet other than the video clips I was able to find on Youtube. Watching them live, I was impressed with what I saw and heard.

Their take on late ’90s neo-soul/R&B was something that really hit the spot for me. Syd and the band played a set that really was perfect for the mid-afternoon. Syd’s smooth and understated voice and the band’s clean groove, together with their improvisational playing and singing abilities really demonstrated to me how capable they were as musicians and how smart they were as performers.

The catalog of music is relatively small having only released two albums, but they covered one of my favorite GAP band songs (“Outstanding”) and I was especially impressed with their cover of Jamiroquai’s “We’re Too Young To Die” (one of my favorited cuts off of “Emergency on Planet Earth”, an album that really pushed the boundaries of British funk/acid jazz to new limits). That cover alone would have been enough to convert me as a fan. It’s an extremely tough song to sing. A clip of that performance is in the video below. Maybe it will make you a fan as well.

I couldn’t find the band’s setlist online, so if you were there and know what songs they performed, let me know in the comments below and I’ll add it to the post.

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT OTHER ARTISTS I WAS ABLE TO SNAP PICTURES OF AT THE FESTIVAL!

June 3, 2014June 12, 2014 by dklee13 Categories: ConcertsTags: acid jazz, alternative soul, band, Christopher A. Smith, Coachella 2014, concert, Concert Photo, Concert Photography, concert photos, concert pic, concert pics, concert review, Concert Vid, concert video, Earl Sweatshir, Electronica, Emergency on Planet Earth, Feel Good, Frank Ocean, funk, funk music, GAP band, hip hop, hip hop soul, hollywood, jamiroquai, jazz, late ’90s neo-soul, left field hip hop, Live Music, Matt Martians, neo soul, Odd Future, OFWGKTA, Outstanding, Patrick Paige, Purple Naked Ladies, R&B, setlist, Syd the Kyd, Tay Walker, The Internet, trip hop, Tyler The Creator, UCLA, UCLA Jazz Reggae Festival, We’re Too Young To Die Leave a comment

Shy Girls | The Spare Room and Bootleg Bar | 12/12/13 and 12/13/13

I was driving around town while listening to KCRW when the silky vocals and opening keyboard chord progression of a smooth jam gently flowed through my car’s speaker circuits. A rhythm guitar stealthily crept in, sweeping into a late 80’s, early 90’s, drum program with a subtle flourish line added to the chords that caught my attention. I know it’s dangerous to fiddle with your phone while driving, but I had to open up Shazam to find out who the artist was. It was Shy Girls and the track was “Voyeurs Gaze”. A throwback to the smooth R&B I grew up with.

When I got home, I immediately got online to listen to more tracks by Shy Girls. After listening to tracks from their latest EP “Timeshare”, I pulled out my credit card and purchased the LP. I’m selective about the vinyl that I buy, only purchasing records that I could let the pin drop and let play without having to get back up to skip tracks. For me, “Timeshare” was one of those albums.

After finding the artist’s Facebook page, I noticed that they had two scheduled performances the following week in Los Angeles, one at the Spare Room and the other at the Bootleg Bar. Being that the artist was from Portland, Oregon, I decided that this may be my only chance to see them perform for a while, so I planned on attending both shows.

I had a feeling that the shows would have been perfect for a date with a significant other, but c’est la vie en Los Angeles. The music is sensual. Being single, and living in Los Angeles (where convincing people that the music you like is in fact good is like pulling teeth), I’ll admit that I had second thoughts at the idea of going solo. I shrugged it off.

I was right. On both nights, Dan Vidmar and his band brought a mood I haven’t heard at a concert since I saw at Maxwell at the Hollywood Bowl. Like Maxwell, Dan Vidmar made good use of his breathy, falsetto singing engaging the audience to willingly become seduced. If I were at the show with a date, I would have made my move after the first song.

If “Timeshare” is the precursor to a full length album, there’s a lot for me to look forward to, and hopefully, by the time he goes on tour to support that album, I’ll have a date for the show.

The lighting in the venues was extremely difficult to deal with, but I did what I could. Unfortunately, the Flickr slideshow below is not currently available on mobile devices. If you are on a mobile device, please click THIS LINK to get redirected to the set of photos.

December 31, 2013 by dklee13 Categories: ConcertsTags: band, bootleg bar, bootleg theater, concert, concert pics, dan vidmar, indie, Maxwell, music, photos, pics, R and B, R&B, Review, second heartbeat, seductive music, sexy music, shy girls, silverlake, soul, soul music, still not falling, under attack, video, voyeur's gaze, when I say I love u, without 2 Comments

Music Splurge: Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Humble Pie

This past weekend I stopped by record store to do a little “research” on two band’s whose music I don’t own: Humble Pie and Emerson Lake and Palmer.

Humble Pie

I recently blogged about Steve Marriott, and I was particularly drawn to his work with Humble Pie, specifically his live performance of an Ike and Tina song called “Black Coffee” [Click here to read the blog and check out the video]. I made it my quest for the weekend to find it on vinyl.

I figured I’d start with their first albums, so I bought “Lost and Found”.

This album was a double LP compilation for the United States which contained their first two albums originally released in the UK: ” As Safe As Yesterday Is” and “Town and Country”. Both individual albums received excellent reviews.

If you didn’t already know, the original incarnation of Humble Pie featured Steve Marriott and Peter Frampton, and both of these albums, and particularly as a compilation, really shows the musical genius of the members of the band.

The musical stylings of “As Safe As Yesterday Is” covers blues rock to hard rock. In fact, this album was the inspiration of the term “heavy metal” as it was used in a Mike Saunder’s 1970 Rolling Stone article to describe an element and stylings of the sound on the album. The quote is as follows:

“Here Humble Pie were a noisy, unmelodic, heavy metal-leaden shit-rock band, with the loud and noisy parts beyond doubt.”[Click Here For Source]

“Town and Country”, on the other hand, is a predominantly acoustic album. Though Humble Pie tended to lean towards the “heavier” stylings throughout their career, this album seems to demonstrate the bands more “sensitive” side. More country than city. I think any music enthusiast can probably draw from the album that this may have been a foreshadow of the type of music Peter Frampton would pursue in his solo career.

In my opinion, this compilation album was the perfect introduction, at least for me, to the band. “As Safe as Yesterday” reveals a new band putting together a new, rough and raw sound that they’d develop, while “Town and Country” was just the opposite. A very insightful album, and highly enjoyable.

I bought “Rock On” because this was the last album that Peter Frampton performed on for Humble Pie. Based on what I’ve read, it was this album which solidified Humble Pie’s legacy as being a preeminent heavy blues/rock band.

The production quality of this album is quite stunning, and it’s probably because Glyn Johns produced it. While listening to the album, it really felt like I was in a club listening to the band play live, but it is so clean. Peter Frampton kills it on his guitar parts, and Steve Marriott wails through blues riff after blues riff.

A terrific album and worth every penny.

I probably didn’t need to buy this album, but it was the only vinyl in stock that had a recording of “Black Coffee”. Mission accomplished.

Emerson Lake and Palmer

Progressive Rock. Some love it. Some hate it. For me, I just have to be in the mood for it. Emerson, Lake & Palmer was on of the largest progressive rock bands during the 1970s. Their self titled, debut album was an album that I thought I should have in my collection because it was, if you are in the mood for it, an album that you can drop the needle on and just let play.

I’ve only listed to this album once in it’s entirety, and it’s just simply overwhelming. I’ve studied music. I’m familiar with jazz music. I’m familiar with classical music. I’m familiar with rock music. With Emerson, Lake and Palmer, it’s like the edges all blur and … you’re just overwhelmed by their musicianship. I’ll be honest with you, I can’t hum a single musical passage from the album, but I’ll guarantee you that it blew my mind.

The other Emerson, Lake and Palmer album I bought is a live concert recording of the band titled “Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends: Ladies & Gentlemen, Emerson Lake & Palmer”

Let’s just say I’m holding off on that one for a little while. I’ll need a good two hours to listen to the four sided album, and I understand that I need to listen to it loud … really loud.

February 6, 2013February 6, 2013 by dklee13 Categories: UncategorizedTags: 1970, article, as safe as yesterday, band, blues rock, classical music, emerson, Emerson Lake & Palmer, emerson lake and palmer, folk rock, glyn Johns, hard rock, heavy metal, humble pie, jazz music, Lake & Palmer, peter frampton, rolling stone, small faces, steve marriott, town and country, Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends: Ladies & Gentlemen 3 Comments