Sweden – #DKLPHOTOS

Solander | Culture Collide | The Methodist Church of Echo Park | 10/18/14 [Review, Vids & Photos]

To Check Out Other Bands We Caught At Culture Collide CLICK HERE

THE ACT: Solander | Facebook | Twitter

SOUNDS LIKE:

Described as a Pop, Indie, Folk band, Solander is the quintessential example of this, and The United Methodist Church was an apropos venue to hear this poetic and artistic band from Sweden. The duo, Fredrik Karlsson and Anja Linna, are supported by Albin Johansson and Adam Hjertström and, together on stage, they produced music that was a blend of story-telling, artistry and dramatic sounds. The prominent cello melodies from Linna resonated in the church and I thought, “I think this is what Arcade Fire and Lykke Li (who I love!) would sound like if they went completely Folk, or, what Bon Iver would sound like if he went completely Electronic Pop.” Solander’s music was poetry, musical artistry and story-telling set to prominent cello riffs and illuminated by chanting beats of smooth drums and synthesizer melodies. Folk is not my personal music listening choice, but I closed my eyes once or twice and the music took me through heavy movement in my mind and gripping emotional journies. Being an LA native . . . their sound was like the music you would hear in the background of a poignant movie scene . . . if you ever wanted to feel like you were in a movie, this band’s smooth, but dramatic sound and storytelling harmonies takes you there. Their sound is consistent, each song similar, the same rhythm, beats and sounds, but differentiated by their arrangement and inspiration. It seemed to me to me they did this to represent different emotions (this is the movie scene reference). Karlsson, lead vocals, referenced a Swedish poet as inspiration for his song and personal experiences that brought them to this performance. Solander has and has had numerous tour dates, including SWSX this past year, so look online for dates near you. Their third album, Monochromatic Memories, was released February 4, 2014.

PHOTOS:

VIDEO CLIPS:

To Check Out Other Bands We Caught At Culture Collide CLICK HERE

November 4, 2014November 4, 2014 by dklee13 Categories: ConcertsTags: Anja Linna, concert, Concert Photo, Concert Photography, concert photos, concert pic, concert pics, concert review, Concert Vid, concert video, culture collide, Culture Collide 2014, folk, folk music, Fredrik Karlsson, indie rock, Malmö, music festival, pop, pop music, Review, Solander, Sweden Leave a comment

Nina Persson | Culture Collide | The Methodist Church of Echo Park | 10/17/14 [Review, Vids & Photos]

To Check Out Other Bands We Caught At Culture Collide CLICK HERE

THE ACT: Nina Persson | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

SOUNDS LIKE:

THOUGHTS: [Excerpted from M. Sloves full-day review that you can read HERE.]

“[…] She sounds good. Not pop. Channeling some Chrissie Hynde type of energy […] [T]his woman can belt it out. Talk about presence! Compared to all the falsetto twink 20-something little duders in skinny jeans who’d been on stage all night, she was a veritable lioness, a fine wine blending hints of Florence and the Machine with aromatic accents of The Bangles. And like Susannah Hoff, she may be a tiny lady but she’s gorgeous and one hell of a pro jock on the microphone. Like her or not, she was in full command of that room and it was no coincidence that she was the first performer of the evening to fill the church hall.”

PHOTOS:

VIDEO CLIPS:

To Check Out Other Bands We Caught At Culture Collide CLICK HERE

November 2, 2014 by dklee13 Categories: ConcertsTags: alternative rock, concert, Concert Photo, Concert Photography, concert photos, concert pic, concert pics, concert review, Concert Vid, concert video, culture collide, Culture Collide 2014, music festival, Nina Persson, pop music, Review, Sweden, Swedish, The Cardigans Leave a comment

Culture Collide 2014 | October 16-18 [Homepage]

If you are music lover living in Los Angeles, and you failed to take advantage of the musical offerings from all around the world at Culture Collide for $30, shame on you.

Now in its fifth year, Culture Collide took over the Echo Park area of Sunset Boulevard with a diverse plethora of bands from around the globe. Bands traveled from Korea, Peru, Israel and other far reaches of the globe to bless us with their musical offerings.

Whether you are a fan of EDM or disco, hip hop or garage rock, folk or goth, Culture Collide had it all. Below are some of the bands that we were able to catch. If you were able to catch any of these bands at the festival, relive some of those moments by clicking on the links. If you decided to skip out on attending the festival, check out what you foolishly missed out on.

October 16th

October 17th

October 18th

October 28, 2014November 11, 2014 by dklee13 Categories: ConcertsTags: Alphabetics, Australia, Banoffee, Beat Connection, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Cloud Nothings, Columbia, concert, Concert Photo, Concert Photography, concert photos, concert pic, concert pics, Concert Preview, concert review, Concert Reviews, Costa Rica, culture collide, Culture Collide 2014, De Lux, Denmark, Fractures, Gossling, Holy Child, Israel, Level & Tyson, MØ, Mercy Beat, music festival, Nina Persson, Norway, Peru, PINS, Quantic, Review, set list, setlist, Solander, Sweden, Takeoffs & Landings, Taymir, The Kokoro, TKAY, Tkay Maidza, Torches, united kingdom, Until The Ribbon Breaks, USA, We Met Tomorrow Leave a comment

Your Weekly Weekend Music Mix | 6/12/14 [NEWS]

MUSIC INSTA-BABE: Ariana Grande

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She’s not even old enough to buy an alcoholic beverage yet, but 20 year old Ariana Grande gets my nod this week for Music’s Insta-Babe. This actress, singer-songwriter and philanthropist is wholesome beauty who’s artistic endeavors has already garnered her many awards: The People’s Choice Award for Breakthrough Artist of the Year, The American Music Awards Best New Artist Award, NAARM- Music Business Association’s Breakthrough Artist of the Year Awards, and the list goes on. If her very capable vocals don’t impress you enough, maybe her demure and classic looks will win the award of your heart. If have an Instagram account, why don’t you follow her @ArianaGrande

KILLER COVER: Dirty Loops Cover Adele

Dirty Loops is a band from Stockholm, Sweden, consisting of Jonah Nilsson ( vocals and piano), Henrik Linder (bass) and Aaron Mellergårdh (drums) whose “Classic Jazz-Jam” style of play is otherworldly. They are currently touring the U.S. in support of their debut album. Their cover of Adele’s “Rolling In The Deep” blew my mind last year, and still does today. If you are into their style of music, you NEED to see them on tour.

DID YOU KNOW THAT …

Speaking of covers, did you George Harrison’s chart topping hit from 1987, “Got My Mind Set On You” was a cover?!?!? I sure didn’t until Gizmodo let me know. George Harrison’s covered James Ray’s 1963 recording “I’ve Got My Mind Set On You”, and personally, I like the original more. Take a listen to both versions below, and chime in.

WATCH JACK WHITE’S CONCERT AT THE FONDA THEATRE

I wasn’t able to get tickets to either of Jack White’s concerts in Los Angeles, but God bless NPR (National Public Radio) because they taped the show at the Fonda Theatre and have it streaming on their website. If you were as unfortunate as I was, and aren’t able to score tickets to any of the shows he has coming up in the city you live in, CLICK THIS LINK TO WATCH JACK WHITE’S CONCERT AT THE FONDA THEATER IN ITS ENTIRETY!

MUSIC NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT

It may have taken over 40 years to get there, but The Ramones’ debut album finally goes gold (sold 500,000 copies). About damn time, if you ask me.

There’s a Kickstarter campaign to win the auction for The Wu-Tang Clan’s latest album. For what you may ask? To destroy it. Kindly silly (and pointless) if you ask me.

Death Grips latest EP (below) “features” Bjork. I dunno … I think I heard her vocals in a few spots here and there. Can you? It’s like an auditory “Where’s Waldo”. LOL.

Chad Smith (drummer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Will Farrell challenged Lars Ulrich (drummer for Mettallica) to a drum-off challenge … and the battle was accepted!!! This should make for some hilarious television.

Most people aren’t aware that prior to becoming an acclaimed soul/funk singer, Sharon Jones worked as a corrections officer at Rikers Island back in the 90s. Rolling Stone Magazine asked her to weigh in on the authenticity of the new Netflix show “Orange Is The New Black”, and she had some interesting things to say. Personally, I thought this article was a great read.

A band outsmarted Spotify for $20,000 to give their fans free concerts. This was an awesome story. More power to them.

SNOOP AND PSY DOMINATING SOCIAL MEDIA

It was released less than a week ago (June 8, 2014), and as of 6/12/14, Snoop’s and PSY’s video for their collaboration, “Hangover”, already has over 47,000,000 views … 47,000,000 VIEWS, people!!!! Mind Blown. You can criticize the track as much as you want. Criticize K-Pop. Criticize Snoop. Criticize music, generally. Let’s just say, everyone behind this collaboration knew what was up. For better or for worse, this track isn’t going away anytime soon, and Snoop and Psy will reap the rewards (translation = $$$).

UPDATE: 6/13/14: The video now has over 52,000,000 views…

June 13, 2014June 13, 2014 by dklee13 Categories: UncategorizedTags: "Orange Is The New Black”, 1963, 1987, 40 years, Aaron Mellergårdh, Adele, Ariana Grande, authenticity, Bjork, Chad Smith, Classic Jazz-Jam, corrections officer, Death Grips. latest EP, debut album finally goes gold, Dirty Loops, Dirty Loops Cover Adele, drum-off challenge, drummer for Mettallica, drummer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, features Bjork, Fonda Theatre, George Harrison, Gizmodo, Got My Mind Set On You, Hangover, Henrik Linder, how to outsmart spotify, Instagram, Jack White, James Ray, Jonah Nilsson, K-Pop, Kickstarter, KILLER COVER, Lars Ulrich, MUSIC INSTA-BABE, MUSIC NEWS, National Public Radio, Netflix, News, NPR, PSY, Rikers Island, Rolling In The Deep, Rolling Stone Magazine, Sharon Jones, snoop, SNOOP AND PSY DOMINATING SOCIAL MEDIA, snoop dogg, soul/funk singer, spotify, Stockholm, Sweden, The Ramones, vulfpeck, WATCH JACK WHITE'S CONCERT AT THE FONDA THEATER, Will Farrell, wu-tang clan Leave a comment

Little Dragon | Coachella | 4/13/14 (PHOTOS)

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT BLOG ENTRIES OF OTHER BANDS I SAW AT COACHELLA!

I absolutely adore Little Dragon‘s music. Ever since their 2007, full length self-titled debut, I’ve been dying to see their music manifest live. It’s taken 7 years, but I finally got the chance to see them perform at Coachella, at it was absolutely marvelous.

I was pleased to see that they had packed the tent they were performing in, especially since their set was matched up against uber DJ Calvin Harris on the main stage, but this band from Gothenberg, Sweden (consisting of lead vocalist Yakimi Nagano, Kakan Wirenstrand, Erik Bodin and Fredrik Kallfren Wallin), proceeded to smack the audience in the face with their brand of downtempo, trip hop, and gave us exactly what we wanted.

Yukimi Nagano, in her flowing, bulbous dress captivated the audience with her understated vocal performance as the band expertly explored and delved into the futuristic sound that is present on all of their albums. Simply put, I loved their set at Coachella and I kicked myself wondering what took me so long to see them perform live. Well, better later than never. Though they’ve already wrapped up their west-coast tour engagements, I will certainly be keeping my eye out for tickets for when they are back in Los Angeles in the future.

As an aside, I just noticed that this year at Coachella there were many acts fronted by asian females (The Naked and Famous, Little Dragon, and Jhene Aiko [whose blog entry is forthcoming]). Being Asian (Korean) myself, and knowing how hard it is for Asians to break into the music industry, I am particularly proud of the fact that we were represented so strongly by women whose stage presence left a lasting, positive impression. Okay, enough of the social mumbo-jumbo. Enjoy the pics. 🙂

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May 6, 2014May 15, 2014 by dklee13 Categories: ConcertsTags: Atlernative R&B, coachella, Coachella 14, Coachella 2014, Coachella14, Coachella2014, concert, Concert Photographer, Concert Photography, Concert Photos. Concert Photo, concert pic, concert review, Downtempo, dream pop, electronic music, Electronic Pop, Erik Bodin, Fredrik Kallfren Wallin, Gothenberg, indie electronic, Indietronica, Kakan Wirenstrand, Little Dragon, Live Music, Nagano, neo soul, Review, set list, setlist, Sweden, synth pop, trip hop, Yakimi Nagano, Yukimi Leave a comment

GOAT | Coachella | 4/11/14 (PHOTOS)

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I hadn’t planned on checking out their set, but a good friend of mine suggested that it’d be worth my time. I’m glad I took the suggestion, because GOAT was a perfect mid-afternoon band for me.

This band from Sweden, with their fusion of experimental rock, afrobeat and acid rock, really, I found my feet moving to the rhythmn while I was taking pictures as if I were at a Phish concert. With their two female vocalists dancing about the stage in their lively costumes, it was hard not to enjoy myself. I loved taking pictures of this band, and hopefully I captured their liveliness through the lens.