A Year of Concerts: 2013

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Listed chronologically, the most recent show first.

Stevie Wonder | Songs In The Key Of Life | Nokia Theatre L.A. Live | 12/21/13

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

Snoopzilla and Dam Funk “7 Days Of Funk” Record Release Party | Los Angeles Exchange | 12/10/13

Thundercat | The Echoplex | 12/05/13

Moses Sumney | The Echoplex | 12/05/13

Pearl Jam | Los Angeles Sports Arena | Nov. 23-24, 2013

Ben Harper | Walt Disney Concert Hall | 11/18/13

The Record Company | The Satellite | 11/15/13

The Janks | The Satellite | 11/15/13

Nine Inch Nails | Staples Center | 11/08/13

Iron & Wine | The Orpheum Theatre | 10/31/13

Laura Mvula | The Orpheum Theatre | 10/31/13

Hiatus Kaiyote | Skirball Cultural Center | 10/30/13

Moses Sumney | Skirball Cultural Center | 10/30/13

Hanni El Khatib| El Rey Theatre| 10/25/13

Bass Drum of Death | El Rey Theatre | 10/25/13

Tijuana Panthers | El Rey Theatre| 10/25/13

The Secret State | Loaded Hollywood | 10/13/13

Filter Magazine’s Culture Collide 2013 | Echo Park | 11/10/13 – 11/11/13  (Wooster, Tiny Ruins, Maya Vik, Iza, Medicine, Jacco Gardner, Gemini Club and Great White Buffalo)

Fiona Apple and Blake Mills | Walt Disney Concert Hall | 10/7/13

Depeche Mode | Staples Center | 9/29/13

M83, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and Phantogram | Hollywood Bowl | 9/22/13

The Beach Ball Festival: Soul Revue | Santa Monica Pier | September 21, 2013 (Myron & E, Lee Fields and the Expressions, Maceo Parker, Allen Stone and Aloe Blacc)

Laura Mvula | El Rey Theatre | 9/17/13

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Lobster Festival | Port of Los Angeles | September 14, 2013 (The Section Quartet, Nightmare & The Cat, Deap Vally, Dead Sara)

Girl in a Coma | The Echoplex | September 12, 2013

Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue | Twilight Concert Series | August 29, 2013

The Dustbowl Revival | Twilight Concert Series | August 29, 2013

FYF FEST | L.A. State Historic Park | August 24 and 25, 2013 (Mikal Cronin, Charles Bradley, The Breeders, Devendra Banhart, The Locust, Deerhunter, TV on the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Orwells, Pional, How To Dress Well, No Age, !!! (ChkChkChk), Shlohmo, MGMT, Solange, and Holy Ghost!)

Poncho Sanchez and his Latin Jazz Band |Burton W. Chace Park | August 17, 2013

The National | Jimmy Kimmel Live | August 12, 2013

Hanni El Khatib | Twilight Concert Series | August 8, 2013

Hiatus Kaiyote | The Bootleg Theater | July 31, 2013

Geographer | Getty Center | July 27, 2013

Tijuana Tears | The Virgil | July 24, 2013

Savages | El Rey Theatre | July 23, 2013

Alabama Shakes | Hollywood Palladium | July 17th, 2013

Rodrigo y Gabriela | Hollywood Bowl | July 14, 2013

Young, Gifted & Nina: A Tribute to Nina Simone | California Plaza | July 5, 2013

BET Experience | R. Kelly, New Edition & The Jacksons | Staples Center | 6/30/13

BET Experience | Snoop, Kendrick Lamar & J.Cole | Staples Center | 6/29/13

BET Experience | Beyonce | Staples Center | 6/28/13

Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters | Shrine Auditorium | June 26th, 2013

Nina Diaz | Hotel Café | June 9th, 2013

Ink-N-Iron Festival | Queen Mary | June 8, 2013 (Girl in a Coma, Hopeless Jack & the Handsome Devil, Kaleigh Baker, The Fleshtones, Dead Kennedys and Iggy and the Stooges)

Illumination Road | The Roxy | June 4, 2013

Make Music Pasadena 2013 | June 1, 2013 (The Record Company, The Peach Kings, YACHT, Robert DeLong, Youngblood Hawke, Haunted Summer and The Likes of Us)

A Night For Jolie; A Night To Remember | Henson Recording Studios | May 31, 2013

Hanni El Khatib and The Black Angels | Mayan Theater | 5/21/13

What Made Milwaukee Famous | Central SAPC | 5/19/13

Dead Sara | El Rey Theater | May 9, 2013

New Build and No Ceremony/// | First Unitarian Church | April 27, 2013

Coachella 2013 | April 12-14 | Friday (Of Monsters and Men, Passion Pit, Palma Violets, Modest Mouse, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Jurassic 5, Stone Roses and How To Destroy Angels)

Coachella 2013 | April 12-14 | Saturday (Ben Howard, Pucifer, Violent Femmes, Grizzly Bear, Postal Service, Franz Ferdinand and Phoenix)

Coachella 2013 | April 12-14 | Sunday (Alex Clare, Rodriguez, Vampire Weekend, Nick Cave, Wu-Tang Clan and Red Hot Chili Peppers)

Toddchella | Part I | Tijuana Tears

Toddchella | Part II | The Record Company

Toddchella | Part III | We Were Indians

The Weeks | Three Clubs | 3/29/13

Nik Kai | 12 Year Old Guitar Prodigy | The Future of Shredding

The Night Hiatus Kaiyote Blew My Mind At The Del Monte Speakeasy 3/23/13

Jose James | The Del Monte Speakeasy | 3/13/13

Morrissey | Staples Center | 3/1/13

Orange Tulip Conspiracy |El Cid | 2/22/13

Soundgarden | The Wiltern | 2/16/13

The Robert Glasper Experiment | The Roxy | 2/8/13

Social Distortion | The House of Blues (Sunset) | 01/26/13

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New Build and No Ceremony/// | First Unitarian Church | April 27, 2013

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For the past few years, my sister has been working with BritWeek, helping to curate, manage and execute elements of their art initiative. It was early in the morning, April 27, when I get an email from my sister saying that she had extra tickets for the BritWeek music festival at the Exchoplex that day, and asked whether I wanted to go in her stead. I immediately went into a crazed state to confirm some things.  In case you didn’t know, this is what happened at the Echoplex that evening.  As it turns out, the BritWeek artists had their venue changed to accommodate the Rolling Stones. I may have been a little deflated for a brief glorious moment.  After all, I thought I had a pass to see the Rolling Stones play! But when I did a little research as to who was playing at the First Unitarian Church, I got excited again.

IMG_3318The headliner for the evening was a seven piece London based band called New Build.  Two of the members are from the Grammy-nominated British band Hot Chip. I am a big fan of Hot Chip’s first three albums, and had also seen them perform recently at the Hollywood Bowl, so I knew- even though I was not familiar at all with New Build’s music- that the show would be memorable.

I got to the venue in time to catch the last two songs of Blood Red Shoes‘ set.  Sitting up in the “VIP” balcony section of the church, I noticed there were even better seats in the general admittance area, so after they had concluded,  I made my way down and up front.

I got settled in the pew seats up front as a band from Manchester named No Ceremony/// took to the stage to set up.  They are a three piece band fronted by a female bassist.  Now, I don’t know about you, but I love female musicians who can handle an axe.  And she, like her band, played with a precision and swagger that made me wonder how long this band had been around, and why hadn’t I heard of them before.IMG_0900

Though their stage demeanor is rather subdued, the visual elements of their show were quite stark and shocking. It’s a bit hard for me to recall what images were projected behind them, but it matched and morphed with the mood of their music.  I tried to a little research on the band the following day, but oddly enough, there wasn’t much “official” written about them.  As of 5/12/13, they don’t even have a wikipedia page up yet.  But I did find a little history of the band from the South By Southwest events calendar which I think appropriately describes them and their music:

IMG_0919“Their idiosyncratic sound, typified by chiming pianos, distorted synths and pounding kick drums, deftly explores the musical space between euphoric warehouse rave and melancholic, emotive pop. Glitched, machine-like cries and haunted, pure harmonic vocals interplay & counterbalance one another, creating a fascinating tension and atmosphere within the tracks.

Be it their music, or their artistic videos, striking artwork or direct website, all of which they create and control themselves, this juxtaposition of the inhuman and the soulful, of the aggressive and the beautiful, works to underpin everything NO CEREMONY/// do.”  Click here to read entire article.

After their set, I went to the merchandise booth to see if they had any music available to purchase. Unfortunately, they did not, which was a shame as I would have scooped up copies up for my collection.  I was about to heaIMG_0923d back in get ready for New Build when I noticed the lead singer of NO CEREMONY/// meandering about. Her name was Audrey (sp?), and we had a brief conversation about the band and her music.  She gave me a brief history, and went on to say that they were scheduled to keep touring with New Build throughout the Summer. Before ending the conversation, Audrey kindly let me snap a pic with her.  Did I mention that I have a thing for female guitar/bass players? lol. Instead of getting goggly eyed and asking for a picture, I probably should have asked her for the names of the songs they performed. D’Oh!

Video clips from NO CEREMONY///’s set are below:

I like Hot-Chip, but I’ve been quite disappointed with a few of the newer albums. Their older albums felt like a natural progression of the future of music. Their newer albums felt contrived, like they made the music how they thought it would make their fans feel.  That make any sense?

New Build’s live set felt like Hot Chip’s older albums.  Note that I say felt like, and not sound like.  There was something fresh and intimate in New Build’s songs and sound. Granted, their musicality was similar to Hot Chip in that elements from across the music spectrum permeated throughout the music, but there was something about this live show, that far surpassed what I saw at the Hollywood Bowl.  I can’t put my finger on it.  It just seemed like this band was having more fun.IMG_3333

IMG_0945The lead singer of New Build, Al Doyle, isn’t the lead singer for Hot Chip. He sings backing vocals for Hot Chip. But he certainly holds his own as a frontman. I particularly enjoyed his sense of humor. Making reference to the Rolling Stones taking over their original venue, he mentioned that his band and the Stones were going to kick it at the Comfort Inn after the show. I found that particularly funny and heartily laughed, to which he looked in my general direction, smiled and said, “It’s for real” before continuing into the next song. A copy of their setlist if to the left. To check out some other of my music treasure, click through here.

It was a terrific set, and this “last minute show” turned out be better than I had anticipated.  Cheer to the United Kingdom for always spawning fresh new musical talent.

Video Clips from their set below:

Just as an added bonus, here’a picture a friend took of me, taking pictures of the bands. I  really need a better camera … really …

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