Sharon Jones. My, my, my … that woman is a force of nature.
I’m a big fan of the classic R&B sound. There are a good number of male recording artists that I follow (i.e. Charles Bradley, Lee Fields, etc.), but there really is only one female R&B artist that really knocks it out of the park for me, and that’s Sharon Jones.
In June of 2013, when I heard that the release of her album “Give The People What They Want” was going to be delayed because she had been diagnosed with Stage II pancreatic cancer, my heart broke. Though I didn’t know her on a personal level, I can say that her fun and funky album “100 Days, 100 Nights” (released late 2007) helped relieve a lot of stress I was dealing with at the time. I mean, “Be Easy”, with the hook “Oh, just be easy, baby/ That girl will come a runnin’ to you/ If you just be easy, baby/ Ah, she’ll be easy too”, has 32 plays registered on my iTunes. Though “she” never came runnin’ to me, that song still stands out as a pretty particular part of my life.
When I had read that she beat the cancer that threatened her life, I was relieved. When I heard she was touring to support the album, I went out and bought a ticket.
After having the band warm the crowd up for 15-20 minutes, the indomitable Ms. Sharon Jones grooved onto the stage to the Dap-Kings big band sound, her head shaved and her face beaming. The crowd went wild. Clearly, everybody was as excited to see her grace the stage as I was.
It was my first time seeing her perform live, and it was every bit as funky, and soulful as her albums. If she had had it difficult recovering after her chemotherapy, you would have never guessed it. Her voice was as powerful as it was on her albums, and her stage presence was overwhelmingly energetic, even giving the audience a little lesson in dance history as she demonstrated every “old-school” dance in the book from The Jerk to The Twist. Towards the end of her set, she even allowed fans, who were lucky enough to score bracelets to the orchestra pit, a chance to dance on stage with her.
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings gave it everything they got, and it truly blew mind. If you are lucky enough to see them perform live, I guarantee your mind will be blown too.
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One of my favorite albums of 2013 was Valerie June’s“Pushin’ Against A Stone”. Produced by Kevin Agunas and Dan Auerbach (the Black Keys), it was album that caught my ear with its seamless mix of roots, blues and folk sung by a voice that seemed to have decades of earnest life lessons behind it.
Valerie June’s voice is unique. It’s a voice that you can’t confuse with another singer’s voice. She is … for lack of a better comparison … what Erykah Badu is to neo-soul/hip hop music. A voice so raw and sincere, singing music so traditional yet new, I found it hard not to fall in love with it upon my first listen, and have been telling my friends since that hers is a voice that will likely stand the test of time.
It was a week after I purchased tickets to see Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings when I found out that Valerie June was added to open the show … and I was ecstatic. At first, it seemed like an unlikely pairing, but upon retrospect, because both artists’ music styles are essentially modern-day approaches to “classic” styles of music, I figured the promoters knew what they were doing assuming that their audiences would be more knowledgeable and appreciative because of the historical slant to the music.
Valerie’s set was short but sweet. Clocking in at just over 30 minutes, it was charming mix of acoustic and band-backed versions of her songs, mostly coming from her latest release. After it was all said and done, I found myself wanting more. Not only that, but I decided then and there that if she would ever perform in a more intimate venue like the Bootleg Theatre, I would be the first person in line.
As an aside, while waiting in line to get into the venue, I noticed a woman with flowing dreadlocks and large sunglasses walk by me. It was Valerie June and I quickly asked the couple behind me to hold my spot as I caught up to her and asked her to autograph the LP I had packed in m bag. I assured her that I wouldn’t draw any more attention, and as we walked around the corner (she was heading to the artist entrance to get ready for her set), I pulled out the LP and professed my adoration of her “Pushin’ Against A Stone”. Her gorgeous smile made my day.
I also asked about her father, mentioning that my own father had heart surgery several weeks ago as well. Our conversation was brief, but in those few minutes I felt like I connected with her on a human level, which only made me appreciate her performance that much more that evening.
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What intially hooked me to How To Dress Well’s music was twofold. First, the music leaned dark, simple and atmospheric; the kind of music you could press play on a rainy day, lie on a couch and let it sooth you to sleep. Second, I was very partial to Tom’s tender and vulnerable vocals stylings. A lot of male singers can use their falsetto, but not all male singers can use it the way Tom does.
Before the set started, I scanned the room to see what kind of audience was in attendance. I didn’t have to ask. By the looks of it, I may have been the oldest one in the room. I was a bit impressed insofar as the music that’s been released thus far is quite mature (both lyrically and musically). I asked the two fresh faced kids standing to the right of me (who weren’t wearing drinking bracelets) how they got into How To Dress Well’s music, and they said Spotify. I asked the young girl standing to my right the same question. She said Spotify. A quick non-sequitor … even if major recording artists are complaining about the amount they get paid from streaming services like Spotify, it would appear that Spotify led at least 3 kids to spend their extra cash to buy a ticket to see an act like How To Dress Well perform at a Hollywood club on a Tuesday night. Just saying …
The music of the evening was stellar. I knew that Tom was in the process of recording new material, but I wasn’t expecting that he’d be showcasing a lot of the new songs at the gig. It was truly a pleasant surprise for me. He had the drummer from Broken Social Scene play with him (he used a drum machine at FYF Festival) and that added a new life to the music’s live effect. I was again impressed with the way he used his two-mic set up (one mic without reverb and one mic with) to give his songs layers of depth and feeling.
And I was right about wanting to see him perform in an intimate venue. The concert-going experience was magnified 10 fold for me. For How To Dress Well’s music, you want to be captivated. You want to focus on the emotion that Tom is purging from his body and hang on very word/note. Being in an intimate venue afforded Tom the ability to interact and really connect with the audience. When introducing songs, I really got the sense that Tom wanted the audience to connect with its meaning, and it’s a lot easier to do so when the audience is captivated rather than tent-hopping at a festival. When I say intimate, I don’t necessarily mean a small club venue. In fact, if could pick another venue for Tom to perform in, I’d love to see him perform at The Orpheum.
I didn’t quite catch the names of all of the new songs (some of them were still untitled) but I did my best to list them below, together with little concert notes that I took.
“Two Years” (?): A song about his father
“The Power” (?)
“What You Wanted” (?): A song about how you feel when you have a desire that you can’t control
“Cold Nites”: After he sang this song, he told that audience that he got shivers while he was singing it stating, “That felt really good”
“If You Were My Girl” (?): A dance song
“No More Death” (?): He asked for the venue to turn the lights down since it was a “really dark song”
“I Don’t Know What’s Best For Me” (?)
“Suicide Dream 1”: A song about a friend
“Childhood Faith in Love” (?): Inspired by “You Can Have The Best Of Me” by the Starting Line
“Repeat Pleasure”: A song about controlling emotions even though you know that “if you do something once, you’ll probably do it again”, Tom suggested that this was perhaps the most “poppy” songs he’s written and that it was going to be a big hit
“Words I Don’t Remember” (?)
“Set It Right”
Encore
“Baby” (?): Tom mentioned that in the next part of his life, he wants a baby, but that this song is his fear of the fragility of babies, derived from a fear of wondering if a baby is alive while its sleeping (A cappella)
“Lovers Start” (A cappella)
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Opening for How To Dress Well at the Roxy was a music producer from Liverpool, England named Matthew Barnes, know by his stage name, Forest Swords. I hadn’t put two and two together before, but as it turns out he produced How To Dress Well’s 2012 single “Cold Nites”. In digging up a little history of his discography, I discovered that his 2010, debut EP “Dagger Paths” received rave reviews across the board; named FACT Magazine’s #1 album of the year, given 8.4 rating on Pitchfork and called “one of 2010’s finest underground records” by NME. Critics have even compared his musical stylings to current stand-out recording artists like James Blake and Bon Iver. If that isn’t high praise, I don’t know what is.
If you are at all interested in music by Portishead or Massive Attack, you need to hit up his Soundcloud account to get a taste of what he’s all about. I’ve embedded his track “Miarches” below for you to check out:
Backed only by a bass player, he performed a set of dark, brooding, atmospheric instrumental creations that had the audience mesmerized, caught in a hypnotic dreamscape. I realized that I was hooked to his music as I caught myself humming made-up melodies to his instrumentals. I immediately started wondering why I haven’t heard more of his production for other recording artists.
After the evening’s music ended, I made my way to the merchandise booth to purchase some music. Matthew was there shopping his wares and I made some small talk with him asking him whether he’s produced for others. He indicated that he had taken a break from music for a spell and was just focusing on his own projects for the moment. If I were a betting man, I’d put a few dollars on that changing sooner rather than later.
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There’s so much music out in the world today, it gets a bit hard, even with Spotify, or other similar streaming services, to find music that really speaks to you. I’ve always believed in the notion that the music finds you, and sometimes when it finds you, it leaves a lasting impression that can stick with you for the rest of your life.
In September of 2013, a buddy from college posted this status update to his Facebook wall:
I’d never heard of the band, so I stared Googling a bit to see what got my buddy all excited to post something other than pictures of his beautiful family on Facebook. I found some videos on Youtube, and started streaming tracks, all while reading some articles and interviews that I found about the band.
The music was quite impressive. I loved the lush orchestral sound and the musicality of the players on the tracks, the complex arrangements, and dour lyrical content of each composition that I heard. Even when belting out the melody, I could hear a subtle vulnerability in the lead vocalist’s voice that gave the music way more personality than the pop dribble that you hear on terrestrial radio today.
I pulled up an article from Paste Magazine’s website, and I learned that Kyle Morton, the founder and lead singer of the band, suffered through multiple organ failures as a child caused by a serious case of Lyme. Apparently, he used those near-fatal, life experiences as a basis for the music written for Typhoon’s latest release, “White Lighter”. That’s not to say, however, that the music is dreary in any way. In fact, the music off of “White Lighter”, even with its heavy lyrics, is lively, boisterous and anthem-ic. An excellent, in-depth, review of “White Lighter” can be found on MuzikDizcovery’s website which, in my opinion, accurately states that the album has “two big dynamics at play […]: the first a reflection on death, typical for Typhoon; the second, a bit newer for the band, what 20th century philosopher Victor Frankl would have called a “tragic optimism” in the face of mortality,” and concludes that “White Lighter is that rarest of albums, an entire lifetime captured in music”.
Doing a little more research on what the MuzikDizcovery article mentioned, I looked up Viktor Frankl and his thoughts on “Tragic Optimism”. I found a quote from Mr. Frankl that seemed to succintly sum up his general thoughts on the topic:
“In brief it means that one is, and remains, optimistic in spite of the “tragic triad” […] which consists of those aspects of human existence which may be circumscribed by: (1) pain; (2) guilt; and (3) death. This chapter, in fact, raises the question, How is it possible to say yes to life in spite of all that? […] After all, “saying yes to life in spite of everything,” […] presupposes that life is potentially meaningful under any conditions, even those which are most miserable. And this in turn presupposes the human capacity to creatively turn life’s negative aspects into something positive or constructive. [W]hat matters is to make the best of any given situation. [T]ragic optimism […] is an optimism in the face of tragedy and in view of the human potential which at its best always allows for: (1) turning suffering into a human achievement and accomplishment; (2) deriving from guilt the opportunity to change oneself for the better; and (3) deriving from life’s transitoriness an incentive to take responsible action,”
I was drawn to Kyle’s music because the more I knew about what the music was about, the more it felt like I was being told a personal story through music. With kids today seemingly leaning more towards the EDM and dance scenes, we have to remind ourselves that lyrics matters. Understanding lyrics matter. Understanding why those lyrics were written matter. Once you have an idea of why, or what inspired, an artist to write a song, there’s so much more enjoyment that you can get out of it. After all, did you know that “Hey Jude” by the Beatles evolved from “Hey Jules”, a song McCartney wrote to comfort John Lennon’s son, Julian, during his parents’ divorce? Gives the song a bit more depth, doesn’t it?
I kept looking up video clips of the band, and discovered why their sound was so full: there can be anywhere between 10 – 14 band members onstage to performing at any time. From violins and guitars, to trumpets and horns … the size of the band was enough to get me excited to look up their tour schedule to see if they would be playing in the area. As fate would have it, they had scheduled a gig at the El Rey, and I immediately purchased a ticket.
Comfortably fitting 11 players on the El Rey stage, the band’s performance was everything that I anticipated. Like the band before them, you could feel the camaraderie between the players in the band, and like a well-oiled machine, they played the music from the recordings to a tee, if not better. The sound was lush and grand, the lyrics personal and longing; it was a musical contrast that exhibited the superb live musicianship that proved that the ticket was worth the price of admission.
Going back to knowing the meaning and lyrics of music, before the set, I got into a little conversation with a couple standing next to me. I brought up the meaning behind the band’s latest album. Half way through, they thanked me as I’m guessing that my little music tidbit may have actually enhanced the concert experience for them.
Personally speaking, I was particularly moved when Kyle sang the lyrics, “Cry, pining for the things that I could have been […] I could have been a gold digger, I could have been a fun slinger, I could have been a little bigger, I could have been an old ringer” from “Hunger and Thirst” and “Now I’m as old as you were when you had me, should I be afraid? Should I start a family” from “Young Fathers.” Something in the lyrics of those two moments made it difficult for me to breath.
A few lighthearted moments came towards the end of the set when the band covered “With a Little Help From My Friends” and right after the band came back on stage for the encore when Kyle told the audience that, “I had a little Spinal Tap moment back there. There are a lot of curtains here,” alluding to the scene in Spinal Tap where the band gets lost backstage.
After the band had finished their set, and the crowd had dispersed to head home, I hung out for a little bit to see if I could catch Kyle for a moment to ask him about music, and also to have him autograph the LPs I had tucked in my backpack. He was gracious enough to do so, and was very appreciative that I had purchased his vinyl records. I told him that I had been following a lot of good bands from Portland. He acknowledged knowing of a couple of the bands I listed, and he went on to suggest that I check out a couple others named Genders and Wild Ones (I think his girlfriend plays in this band).
As soon as I let Kyle go, and as I am walking away from the theatre to my car, I receive a call from my mother. Calls from your parents, past midnight? Never a good thing. As it turned out, my father had a minor heart attack and was en route to the hospital. My heart skipped a beat. I ran to my car, and drove at reckless speeds to be at my dad’s bedside in the ICU.
The whole drive down to the hospital, my mind was racing with thoughts of mortality. The lyrics that had moved me during the set, came back into my head during the silent drive south. New lyrics also started to penetrate, as I started to think about the line “When am I gonna feel better” from “Common Sentiments”.
As it turns out, the minor heart attack that my dad had was the sign we needed to reveal that my dad needed to have quadruple bypass surgery. The surgery was successful, and I’m currently aiding my father in the long road back to regaining his health. Since the operation, I’ve been playing the tragic optimist, doing what I can to make life better for both my father, and myself.
Upon retrospect, I feel like that my discovery of Typhoon’s music, and the act of going to see them live, was destined to be. It all happened when I needed something tell me that if you seek it out, you can find optimism in tragedy. Sometimes, the music finds you. Sometimes, the music becomes so intertwined with your life, it takes on new meanings and significance. These days, every other night, I’m drawn to pull the “White Lighter” disc out of its pristine sleeve, and I’ll let it play me to sleep, finding it again each time.
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Excited that Typhoon’s management gave me permission to bring a DSLR camera into the El Rey to snap pics of the gig, I got to the venue early enough to stake out some territory and to play around with the settings of my new camera. While fiddling with my new toy, a Silver Lake based folk band named Miner took to the stage, set up and started playing.
Miner is a friends and family affair, formed around the husband/wife duo of Justin and Kate Miner, along with Justin’s brother Jeremy, his cousin Amanda, and friends Justin Krook and David Schechtman. Perhaps it was that personal relationship they had with each other that gave their performance a certain air of comfort that made the performance feel more intimate than you would have expected at the El Rey. It could have been that … or it could have been the fact that I was up front. LOL. Either way, it was mellow, feel good music that any folk-lover would enjoy.
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After The Record Company wrapped up their set, they told the crowd to hang out to catch their friend Rachel Goodrich play a set. I hadn’t intended on hanging out, but I decided I’d google her to see what she was all about before deciding whether to leave or not. Allmusic.com described her style as follows:
“Miami Beach-based singer/songwriter Rachel Goodrich‘s eclectic blend of vaudeville-inspired indie pop, swing-jazz and country-folk (the artist frequently describes her sound as “shake-a-billy”) is made all the more singular by the vast number of instruments at her command.”
“Her first album, Tinker Toys, was self-released in 2008 to which the New York Times dubbed her as a “queen of the Miami indie rock scene”. The second, self-titled album was produced by Grammy-nominated music producer Greg Wells. Goodrich’s song, “Light Bulb”, was featured in an episode of the TV series Weeds[…] a Crayola commercial advertisement [and a] BT Infinity – “Light Streams” advert.”
Wanting to hear what her “shake-a-billy” was all about, I decided to stick around.
She took to the stage with her “grrls” and the trio (Rachel on guitar, a bassist and a drummer) started to jam out music that was a throwback to the 50’s era rockabilly with overtones of modern day pop sensibilities. At first, they reminded me of The 5 6 7 8’s … that all-female Japanese rock trio featured in Quentin Tarantino‘s “Kill Bill Volume 1“, but I quickly put that comparison to rest since Rachel Goodrich and the Grrrls vocals sounded much better.
A little bit honky-tonk and a little bit surf-rock with a bit of punk and western-swing sprinkled on top, Rachel’s wispy and subtle vocals enhanced the catchy hooks and had me shaking my groove thing. Ah … “shake-a-billy” … I get it. I enjoyed what I heard and liked her Facebook fan page after the set.
In my opinion, with a fuller repertoire and more exposure, I can easily this band getting booked for local festival spots at FYF Fest or Ink-N-Iron next year, and I’ll be keeping my ears to the web to see what else they have coming up.
As an aside, it was a shame that most of the packed crowd for The Record Company dispersed before catching Rachel and her band do their thing. It was a fun set that was a great night-cap to the blues rock show that The Record Company put on. C’est la vie en Los Angeles, I suppose. At least my view was unobstructed …
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Considering that this was the 4th time I’ve seen The Record Company perform live in the past year, I don’t think I need to restate all of the reasons why I dig their music. If you haven’t been following this blog, feel free to check out my previous blog entries HERE, HERE and HERE.
I will, however, note two things.
First, for their final songs, the band brought a pianist to the stage. Though the audio from my video below may not really demonstrate the following observation, I must admit that the additional piano really did fill out the sound of the band. It added a lush fullness that added another dimension to their already solid sound.
Second, Chris Voss, the lead singer and guitarist, shared a humble moment with the audience noting that it was four years ago that he had arrived in Los Angeles. He went on to to mention that back when the band was starting out, they played the Hotel Cafe. This show was only the second time that they’ve been able to grace the Hotel Cafe stage, and Chris emphasized how much it meant to them to play there once again.
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Scars on 45, a band from England, happened to be playing an early set at the Hotel Cafe when I went there to catch another band play. I hadn’t heard of them before, but for an early 8pm set, they definitely had the room packed with their fans.
Currently signed to o Atlantic Records’Chop Shop Records label, Scars on 45 achieved some success when their single “Heart On Fire” was featured on the season 8 soundtrack to the popular television show , Grey’s Anatomy. They released an album in 2012, which Amazon.com ranked as number 7 out of 50 “Best Albums of 2012”.
They played a solid set and their adult contemporary, pop-rock sound reminded me a bit of Fleetwood Mac. Towards the end of their set, after thanking the appreciative crowd, they recalled a bit of the band’s recent history, finishing with a smile that they were all back where they were when they began, working on music in the same small room they started off in.
I wasn’t able to get any video of them performing, but I’ve included their hit “Heart On Fire” below, and the only photos I could take at the venue with my point and shoot (I should have brought my DSLR!) are of the vocalists of the band (Danny Bemrose and Aimee Driver). Enjoy.
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The first time I saw Hopeless Jack & The Handsome Devil perform, it was at the Ink-N-Iron Festival in 2013, and I only caught the last few songs of their set. A two man band that plays hard hitting blues/roots rock; heavier hitting than the Black Keys, and more aggressive than Jack White. They are a band based out of Portland, so ever since I saw them for those 15 minutes live, I’ve been keeping tabs on their tour schedule to see when they would be playing in Los Angeles again.
I noticed on their Facebook fan page that they were playing gigs down the Pacific coast, but to my dismay, there was no scheduled gig for Los Angeles. Having had their album “Hopeless Love, Shallow Hearts” on repeat since I saw them that first time, I messaged them to as why they weren’t playing in L.A. They got back to me quick, letting me know that a show they had scheduled had been cancelled at the last minute, and that they were bummed they weren’t playing in Los Angeles. In passing, they also added that if I could find a place for them to play on the following Tuesday (which was in less than five days), that they would make the stop in Los Angeles to play. Maybe they were just throwing it out there for the hell of it, but bands should never underestimate the lengths their fans will go to make sh*t happen.
I logged off Facebook, and picked up my cell phone. The rolodex in my brain started going through the people I knew, and I started punching digits. After a few calls, I had a spot lined up. It was a make-shift venue … in fact it it would be the first time a band would ever be playing there … but a gig is a gig, and the wheels to make it happen went in motion.
When the band got to Los Angeles, they met up with my buddy Rob (hopefully, I’ll get a chance to tell some of his stories on this blog, because his life is total rock and roll) who offered to help out and work sound for the band. Even though the event was set up last minute, a decent sized crowd showed up to watch this hard-rocking duo from Portland do their thing. It was loud. It was raw. It was awesome.
That night, I not only got to appreciate some kick-ass music, but I also felt a sense of accomplishment. It was the first time I ever really “hooked up” a band with a gig, and – if we’re speaking frankly here- it felt good. It reinforced to me the notion that what indie band’s need most are fans that are willing to get the music out there. It’s gotta be something more than just posting a song on Facebook or sending out a Tweet (unless you have an obscene amount of friends and followers on Facebook or Twitter). If you’re a fan of an indie band’s music, and you are always wondering why they haven’t caught on with others, maybe you can help them out by being more proactive.
Setting up the gig was only part of the work. I also called and texted a bunch of people, and a handful of them made it out; letting me know afterwards that they were really impressed, bought merch, and even told me that they would let their friends know about the band. A fan here, a fan there … at the end of the day, even though it was a small gig, a fan is a fan. For me, that was perhaps the most gratifying part of the evening for me.
Hopeless Jack and the Handsome Devil are back in Los Angeles area for this years Ink-N-Iron Festival at the Queen Mary performing on the 6th and the 7th. The photos below aren’t very good, and I hope to have better pics (using a new camera) when I see them later this year. I’ve included their latest video in this post because it was loud at the gig and the sound in my video is a bit muffled. If you watch my concert snippets, a word of warning …. It’s LOUD. Lower your volume accordingly.
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#DKLPHOTOS 