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Beck | First City Festival | 8/23/14 [PHOTOS]

To Check Out Other Acts that I Caught At First City Festival, CLICK HERE.

THE ACT: Beck | Facebook | Website

INSTAGRAM VIDEOS: CLICK HERE

SOUNDS LIKE:  …. you know what Beck sounds like.

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THOUGHTS: Beck performed at Coachella this year, but only “approved” photographers were allowed in his photo pit. I wasn’t one of those approved photographers. I was pretty bummed about it, because I’m a big fan of Beck. My favorite Beck song? Earthquake Weather off of “Guero”. When I found out he was closing the first night of First City Festival, I kept my fingers crossed that there weren’t going to be the photographer restrictions like there were for Coachella. Thankfully, there weren’t! The only caveat was that we were only allowed to shoot for the first two songs. I was already getting nervous. A three song limit … at least for me … it tough enough. Two songs? The pressure mounts. What if one of those songs was “Motherfucker” (a two minute song)?!?!? Oi, my mind and nerves actually got a little rattled with the thought. Right before we were led into the photo pit, the production manager informed us that Beck had changed his rules to allow us to shoot for three songs. A reprieve! When the music started, I noticed that the lights were dim and red. Oi. Though we had the three songs, light was an issue. I don’t think I’ve ever edited so many photos, and converted so many photos to black and white, than for this set. I posted a lot of photos in this album, but only 3 or 4 of them are actually really usable. After we were led out of the photo pit, I joined my friends to enjoy the rest of Beck’s set, and it was glorious. With a catalog like Beck’s, it wasn’t surprising that his performance was like a greatest hits concert. People were singing along, dancing around, and just having a hell of a time. In the fairgrounds stadium, it really felt like a party, and the party was enjoyed by all.

To Check Out Other Acts that I Caught At First City Festival, CLICK HERE.

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The Stepkids | First City Festival | 8/23/14 [PHOTOS]

To Check Out Other Acts that I Caught At First City Festival, CLICK HERE.

THE ACT: The Stepkids | Facebook | Twitter

INSTAGRAM VIDEOS: CLICK HERE

SOUNDS LIKE:

THOUGHTS: I got to their set a little late because I wanted to watch as much of Phantogram’s set as I could, but the 20 or so minutes that I got to The Stepkids live was exactly what I was expecting. Funky, Steely Dan-ish, psychedelic soul. Oi. I seriously loved their groove. The way this trio blends elements of jazz, funk and soul is right up my alley. Jeff (guitar) and Dan (bass) were a joy to watch, playing riffs off of each other, and even synchronizing certain moves during songs. When each had a moment to solo, their respective play was a joy to watch, and listen. I wasn’t able to get any decent shots of their drummer, but I’m hoping the next time they are in Los Angeles, I’ll get approved for a photo pass so I can remedy that problem. I’m keeping my ears to the internet for more tour dates, and if you like their vibe, you should too.

To Check Out Other Acts that I Caught At First City Festival, CLICK HERE.

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Phantogram | First City Festival | 8/23/14 [PHOTOS]

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

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I  remember the first song I ever heard by Ben Harper.

I was a freshman in college, making new friends and discovering a semblance of independence. I participated in several student run organizations, and one of them was a vocal ensemble. A buddy of mine in the group invited me to hang with him and his housemates off campus. While kicking it, someone offered up a joint and we all sat there, “expanding our minds”, listening to Junta by Phish when my buddy got up and simultaneously asked me, “Have you heard this song?”

He opened up compact disc folder, pulled out a CD, and popped it into the player. Pecking the fast-forward button on the player with his index finger, the whizzing, internal, mechanical spinner settled on a track which opened with a soft, conga-beating rhythm. The song was “Burn One Down”, and the singer was Ben Harper. Talk about mood music. I was immediately drawn to the song, and after it had ended, my buddy started the disc, “Fight For Your Mind”, from the beginning with track one. We listened through the whole disc while talking about all things music.

On the way home, I stopped in at the college-town music store (which was replaced by a Kinkos after I had graduated … make sad face here …). I used the money I had earned working as a part-time beer server for fraternity parties to buy the only used Ben Harper CD that was in the rack, “Welcome To The Cruel World”, “sight unseen”. I would have bought “Fight For Your Mind” new, but money was a scarce commodity back then, and I just didn’t have much of it.

When I played that CD in my tiny boom box, in my tiny dorm room, the simple acoustic melody of “The Three Of Us” filled the room and captivated me. “Whipping Boy”, “Waiting On An Angel”, “Mama’s Got A Girlfriend Now” entranced me. “Forever” and “Walk Away” … my heart was spilling emotions from out of nowhere. I became and instant fan. 18 years later, and I’m still a fan.

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Ben Harper’s Setlist. Click To Enlarge.

I took two pages of notes about the show, but after reading this review and this one, I figured that I didn’t need to retell the stories Ben told or describe the audience’s emotions throughout the evening. That was already done by others, and eloquently so.  But let me say … after being moved by his performance of “Forever”, a cover of Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You” and Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”, in the “guitar like acoustics” of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, when Ben told the audience that he didn’t want the evening to stop, I could only wholeheartedly agree.

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.

UPDATED: 1/14/14: I found video online of Ben Harper performing Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You” on Youtube.

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The Janks | The Satellite | 11/15/13

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New Years is around the corner, and I already have a band on my list to catch live in 2014. They’re called The Janks, and they’re pretty damn good live.

Setlist
Setlist

Fronted by the brothers Zmed (Zachary and Dylan), this band’s music touches on elements of blues, folk and classic rock. I wasn’t familiar with their music at all when I saw them take the stage at The Satellite, but their well-polished sound and their playfully confident stage presence pulled me in and kept my attention throughout, causing me to head over to the merch table after their set to by their album “Hands of Time”, which you – by the grace of the blogging gods – can check out for free in the embedded Soundcloud player below.

Their music is an eclectic kind of pop music. I’d even venture to to say that their music, at least the music I heard on “Hands of Time”, is reminiscent of the band Jellyfish (a band whose music I absolutely love, by the way) with more folk and blues sensibilities, but what do I know. They didn’t have their latest album, “Meet the Janks”, available for purchase at the gig, so that’s something I’ll need to pick up, but all I know is that I’ll be keeping an eye out for their next EP which they are currently recording, and catching them live the next time I get a chance.

Below is some video from their set, but do yourself a favor and check them out live. If you need a wingman, hit me up. I’m down.

Photos of the show are posted below, but if you want to see them as a large, higher quality  slideshow on FLICKR, click THIS LINK.

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

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I didn’t have much of a social life during law school, and that’s probably a good explanation as any as to why my music collection tends to lack albums released during that time of my life. Insofar as I didn’t have a television during that time, and the only recordings I listened to were recordings of lectures explaining aspects of civil procedure or property law, I relied on friends (mostly in law school) to tell me what was hip or “up and coming” in terms of music that was available.

Samuel Beam, professionally known as Iron & Wine, released his first album when I was in law school. A classmate of mine turned me on his music, and I used music from The Creek Drank the Cradle to help me fall asleep after hours of studying, hopped up on caffeine products. Beam’s gruff voice, and tender acoustic guitar playing lends itself to a soothing, mood-mellowing state of mind.

I’ve always been interested in seeing him perform live, and when I saw the announcement that he was to perform at the Orpheum Theater on Halloween Night, I figured that that would be a great venue to see him perform in, other than a grassy festival lawn or the Hollywood Bowl.

I bought two tickets as soon as their availability was announced, about 5 months in advance of the show. I wasn’t dating anybody at the time, but I figured that I couldn’t go to the show alone. I’ve been to these types of shows before. I had a feeling that it would be couples galore. Being overly optimistic, I bought two tickets with my fingers crossed that I’d have a special someone to ask. As it turns out, I did find a date, but I noticed during the show that we were literally the only couple not snuggling during the concert.

Iron & Wine's setlist for the show at the Orpheum Theatre 10/31/13
Iron & Wine’s setlist for the show at the Orpheum Theatre 10/31/13

The snuggling aside, Iron & Wine’s show was exactly what I expected, and more. Playing most of the show with a full band, each member costumed as a member of The Muppets, Sam Beam wooed the audience with selections spanning his entire catalogue. Playing over two and a half hours of his soul-soothing music, I enjoyed the show completely, but was particularly impressed when the band left the stage, and Sam Beam stood front and center, armed with only his guitar, Kermit tied to his microphone stand, with only two spotlights from the lighting tresses illuminating his position.

His solo set revealed to me the vulnerable and fragile tenderness of Iron & Wine’s music. Though the subject matter of his music tends to lean towards the darker facets of life and love, listening to his stories through lyrics, you always still had a sense of there being a silver lining through it all. I, like the rest of the audience, was drawn into Iron & Wine’s world, and enjoyed it all. Though, I probably would have enjoyed it more with someone to snuggle with… lol. I’ll keep that in mind for the next time I see him live.

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.

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

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Earlier this year, I hit a little bit of a rough patch. It was one of those times when life just didn’t seem to go my way. My loving dog of 13 years, Samson, passed away while I was out of state, I was having some personal issues I was dealing with, and the icing on the proverbial cake was that a show I had planned on attending months in advance was rescheduled such that I couldn’t attend.

The show that I missed was Laura Mvula at the Bootleg Theater in April. If you’ve been following my blog this year, you probably saw my first post about her music back in January. I followed that post up with additional posts in February and March because I was so excited by her sophisticated sound. As fate would have it, Laura Mvula ended up scheduling another show in Los Angeles, which was a breathtaking performance at the El Rey Theatre in September. It appeared as if the music gods were throwing me a bone.

I had purchased tickets for Iron & Wine back in June, and at that time there was no opening act listed. It was almost an afterthought, since I had been wanting to see Iron & Wine live for years. About a week or two before the Halloween Eve concert, Laura Mvula posted on Facebook that she would be opening for Iron & Wine on a series of west coast dates. Needless to say, I was enthralled. At this point, I thought the music gods were serving me a t-bone.

I barely got there in time for the first song of her set. Watching her perform in the beautiful and historic Orpheum Theatre was truly a musical blessing. The fashionably late arriving Los Angeles crowd steadily filed in to their seats during her set, and I could only think to myself that they were fools to miss out on her glorious music. Their loss.

She bantered with the crowd and mentioned that her favorite song was “Let Me Fall” (which, ironically, wasn’t on her debut album)  and her second favorite song was “Flying Without You”. She performed a subdued version of “She” which sent shivers down my spine. After she sang the title track off her debut album, “Sing To The Moon”, and having heard that she had just recently lost out on the prestigious Mercury Prize, I yelled out from my seat, “You deserved the Mercury!”  She giggled and said, “That’s funny.” Really though … she should have won that award.

Though her set was obviously shorter than her concert at the El Rey, it was still filled with the deep musicality and unabashed emotion that makes her music so appealing to me. I eagerly anticipate her sophomore album, and the next time she’s back in the United States to perform for her fans.

Setlist (written down by me during her performance):

  1. “Like the Morning Dew”
  2. “Let Me Fall”
  3. “Flying Without You”
  4. “She”
  5. “Sing to the Moon”
  6. “Father father”
  7. “Green Garden”
  8. “That’s Alright”

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. To see the amazing pictures I took of her at the El Rey, please click here to see that blog entry (trust me, some of the pictures taken were amazing).

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Hiatus Kaiyote | Skirball Cultural Center | October 30, 2013

Nai Palm of Hiatus Kaiyote
Nai Palm of Hiatus Kaiyote

Hiatus Kaiyote is one of two bands who I’ve seen perform live 3 times this year. Clearly, I’m a big fan of their music. They blew my mind at the Del Monte Speakeasy in March, and amazed me at the Bootleg Theater in July. Performing for the last time in Los Angeles in 2013, I jumped at the chance to buy tickets to their show at the Skirball.

Once again, they delivered beyond my expectations.  Like their show at the Bootleg Theater, their musicality was on full display. Though I knew all of their music, what I heard that evening was beyond unreal. They took the musical themes of almost every song, and improvised and jammed new life into them. It was as if the audience was being treated to master-class remixes of the original recordings. It was wonderfully brilliant. If you are already familiar with their music, you should check out the video snippets from the show below. I think you’ll catch my drift.

IMG_3106They played a couple new songs that they were working on for their next album (“Breathing Under Water” (titled “Breathing” on the setlist) and “Don’t Mind With My Atoms” (titled, I think, “Bordershiine” on the setlist). After their gig, I caught up with some of the band members who told me they were going to head back home to write and record their next album. That being said, I realized that their next trek through Los Angeles wouldn’t probably be until they support their next album. Their performance at the Skirball will hold me over for a spell, but I have a feeling that I’ll be jonesing to see them live by Spring of 2014.

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.

Add Hiatus Kaiyote on Facebook, and follow them on Instagram and Twitter using the handle @HiatusKaoiyote. You should follow them. You need to see them perform live. Do it.

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Moses Sumney | Skirball Center | 11/30/13

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On July 31, 2013, I went to go see Hiatus Kaiyote at the Bootleg Theater. Following the gig, and due to a year long set of fate-induced circumstances, I was lucky enough to hang out with the band for a bit before they had to run to the airport for travel. The lead singer, Nai Palm, was hanging outside with KCRW DJ, Jeremy Sole, and another singer, doing some freestyle, vocal jamming.  Afterwards, Nai introduced me to the gentleman with, “This Moses. He’s amazing. You NEED to check his stuff out.”

I did, and I was immediately hooked. It was a distinctive vocal style which blends equal parts jazz and soul. The recordings makes adept use of loopers, creating a sound that led me to tell him, when I saw him afterwards at Laura Mvula’s show at the El Rey Theatre on 9/17/13 that he sounded like a modern day Bobby McFerrin. I don’t dole out high praise like that often, but I thought it was deserved. How pleased was I when I heard that he would be one of the opening act for Hiatus Kaiyote’s gig at the Skirball?

Armed with just a couple microphones, a looper and a guitar, he performed a remarkable set. His vocal arrangements were simple but lush. His melodies were smooth but firm. What I enjoyed most about his live performance was watching him use his looper to create the music right before us. Having sung in vocal groups in high school and college, I’ll have to admit … I was totally geeking out.

I follow his fan page on Facebook to keep track of when his next performances are (and you should too to find links of some high quality videos and recordings of his current work)  as his live act is definitely something that I would pay to see again. In fact, as fate would have it, I’ve recently learned that he will opening for one of  my last concerts of the year: Thundercat at the Echo on December 5th, 2013.  I suppose, it was just meant to be.

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.

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

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I spend a lot of money to go to a lot of concerts each year, so it takes a lot for me to want to see the same band or recording artist perform more than once a year. This year, I went to see two acts three times. One of them was Hanni El Khatib.  I saw Hanni El Khatib open for The Black Angels in May and on the Santa Monica Pier in August. His set opening for The Black Angels was a revelation. It was the first time I had ever heard his music, but it was so gritty and intense, I was hooked.

Wrapping up the domestic leg of his tour, and coming back “home” to Los Angeles, you could tell that he was pumped for his headlining set at a classic Los Angeles venue.

I had a conversation with a buddy of mine about Hanni El Khatib’s music, and he pretty much summed it perfectly by telling me, “His music is so fucking raw.” Bingo. My buddy also claimed that Hanni El Khatib is probably the best rock act to come out of Los Angeles in recent memory. I really couldn’t disagree. In fact, I couldn’t think of another blues, rock artist based out of Los Angeles whose music gets me as pumped as his.

Tijuana Panthers and Bass Drum of Death got the crowd ready for HEK’s set, and as soon as the lights dimmed, and Hanni took the stage, the crowd roared with anticipation for what was to be a raucous evening of killer rock and roll.

I’ve already written about his live act twice before, so click on the links above to check them out. While you’re at it, you should probably also check out his recordings. They may convince you to check out his live act as well.

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.

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