show review: nadja @ vacation vinyl/ nadja @ synchronicity space

nadja @ vacation vinyl

Monday's in-store appearance from Nadja took place at Vacation Vinyl, which is only a half-hour's walk from where I live. The weather recently had taken a turn for the gray, so I grabbed an umbrella, stopped for some coffee, and trekked to Hollywood and Vermont. Upon arriving, I was immediately greeted with bad news- Skeletonwitch had played an in-store the day prior! FUCK!! I have the worst luck with that band. They played a "secret show" in the bar I worked in, and NO ONE TOLD ME, and I missed it!! I didn't have time to dwell on my misfortune, though, because Nadja started their set just as I arrived. The store seemed pretty cool, although small - about the same size as Aquarius Records. I took a spot right up front, next to one of the speakers, and although Aidan Baker was given permission to turn the volume up from the store clerk (owner?), it still wasn't loud enough to necessitate ear plugs. Over the course of half an hour, Nadja played three songs (I think), without breaking for applause. I recognized only one, though I'm not sure which release it was from. While it wasn't as loud as I would have liked, and although Nadja is not a particularly "theatrical" band, it was still a great performance, and perfectly suited for the overcast twilight outside the store.

synchronicity space

The following night, Tuesday, was the official show. It turned out that my friends who were planning on coming were otherwise occupied, so I ended up going to the show by myself. I didn't mind though- I think that small avant-garde art gallery shows are pretty ideal for solo attendance. I showed up at the official start time, but the show was a little late in starting. The gallery owner/curator was playing Oval side-project So over the speakers, which is a great album. I was glad for that. Outside, rain came and went intermittently.

aiden baker

Aiden Baker did his solo ambient set first, and everyone took seats cross-legged in front of the stage. Much like the show at Vacation Vinyl, the volume was just loud enough for me to try putting in my ear plugs, but not so loud that I felt I needed them. The music was beautiful, melodically droney, and reminded me of Cliff Martinez's score for Solaris.

pedestrian deposit

The next band was Pedestrian Deposit, who set up their equipment on the ground in front of the stage. I hadn't heard of them before the show, but ended up enjoying their set. The object you can see placed on the white stool was pretty interesting- it was something like the head of a broom made out of iron, or a miniaturized Stonehenge set in tall metal reeds. There was some sort of receiver placed on the underside, and the girl playing it plucked the rods, tapped the mini-obelisks and even used a bow to play it. The sounds it made were interesting, and created a feeling of cavernous disquiet over the thick background ambience. Equally compelling as the music were the extremely loaded glances that the members of Pedestrian Deposit exchanged throughout the duration of their set. The non-verbal interplay between the two seemed important, although I couldn't guess what it was they were communicating to each other.

infinite body

I had run out to my car to check on something, and missed the beginning of Infinite Body's set (although I think not by much). His set-up was as unique and interesting as Pedestrian Deposit's had been- it seemed that most or all of the sounds he was generating were through a microphone, and heavily tweaked and modified. He would forcefully exhale or sing into the mic, and the results sounded almost like a bizarre melodica. His table was surrounded by colored lights that were set up to pulse and fade with the music, leaving the stage in darkness before exploding into illumination with the swelling drones. Infinite Body played two long songs, but declined to play a third- I was grateful, since my feet were asleep and I needed to go to the bathroom.

nadja

Finally, Nadja took the stage, set against a visual backdrop that showed Aurora Borealis-esque lights, vibrantly colored stalactites, psychedelic rapid-fire Rorschach tests, and cryptic runes. The result was mesmerizing, and I found myself spacing out for long, long stretches of song. Unlike the Vacation Vinyl store, there was no mic for vocals, and the volume was much louder. One again there were no breaks in between songs, and the heavy, body-vibrating drones seem to exist timelessly. By the time the show ended and the lights came on, I felt dazed, and staggered back out into the rain.

show review: eagle rock music festival, 10/03/09

pocahaunted @ the american legion hall

Saturday was the Eagle Rock Music Festival, a free event that I only learned about last night. Knowing how these free festivals tend to be, I was expecting a lot of shitty lowest-common-denominator local acts to be playing. Surprisingly, there were a few bands I actually wanted to see, so Rob and I decided to check it out. We got there a couple hours after the festival began (it was scheduled to run from 4-11PM).
The first acts we wanted to see were a couple of local dubstep DJs we had seen a few weeks back, opening for Mary Anne Hobbs and Flying Lotus. Gaslamp Killer was first, and I'm kind of bummed I didn't get any pics or video of him, because he's visually one of the most entertaining DJs to watch. Imagine Animal from the Muppets playing air trumpet and doing energetic dance moves, and you'll have the general idea. His set was mostly Eastern European and Middle Eastern music, which wasn't what I had expected. I assume he was tailoring his set to the all ages crowd, and perhaps taking the opportunity to take a break from dubstep.

DJ nobody

Next up was DJ Nobody, who weirdly was playing several blocks away at the other end of the festival. I'm not sure why he and Gaslamp Killer weren't on the same stage. At any rate, he played some pretty cool songs, including one ridiculous Mars Volta remix, but he definitely seemed to be half-assing it when it came to blending songs and, you know, actually DJing. It wasn't bad but it wasn't as good as the last time I saw him, either.

robedoor

Robedoor were another band that I had seen in the last month, opening for Ducktails at the L'Keg Gallery. I was pretty impressed the first time I saw them, and was looking forward to seeing them again. Unfortunately it took a little while to find the American Legion Hall in which they were playing- it was the only indoor venue at the festival, and tucked away on a side street past a bunch of food vendors. We got there in time for their two last songs, both noisy, heavy jams. They were pretty great.

pocahaunted

We journeyed to the nearest gas station so I could grab an energy drink, and returned to the American Legion Hall to catch Pocahaunted. They shared members with Robedoor, which I think I had heard about but then subsequently forgotten. They played a mixture of dub, funk, noise and rock. It was pretty killer.
"Wow," I thought as the energy drink started to kick in, "this band is really good!"
"Those two singers are really cute!"
"I feel great!"
"...I should drink more of this energy drink!"

no age

Although Pocahaunted ended their set quite a bit later than the schedule had predicted, it was still well before No Age were supposed to go on. We trekked back to the stage DJ Nobody had been on in order to catch Peanut Butter Wolf, but it turned out that stage was even further behind schedule than the Amercan Legion had been. So we returned to the stage No Age were playing on, and waited for the show to start. No Age are yet another band I've seen recently (come to think of it all of these acts play pretty frequently), and I'm not super into them, so I wasn't really dying to see them again or anything. Their set started out terribly- the sound from the speakers was so muddy and indistinguishable that all you could hear was a wash of guitar. But soon enough they added another amp to the stage, and things improved. It didn't really compare to their set at FYF Fest, but it was still good to see all the local kids getting super psyched for it. We left to go check out Peanut Butter Wolf, but the sound on his stage was so quiet that it was actually kind of infuriating to try and watch. So we bounced. All in all, pretty great for a free festival.

show: black dice, wolf eyes, sir richard bishop & earthless

black dice at the escarpment

So this was my first show since moving to LA, and what a killer line up it was. It was also in some warehouse out in the warehouse district, so it was pretty deep in the cuts. I guess the same incarnation of this show that happened in SF last night was shut down by the fuzz. No police problem tonight, though, and everyone seemed to be having a good time. Although we arrived late, Earthless had not yet started their set when we entered the cavernous warehouse. Despite the fact that there seemed to be a reasonable amount of people at the show, it wasn't difficult at all to get up right in front of the bands, so we got a good view.
Earthless played one long, grooving psych jam that was pretty fucking killer. I think the drummer was probably the best part of the group, to me; the guitar player was mostly off in his own world, and the bassist was locked into his own groove. But the drummer kept the momentum going, even when the guitar playing was getting aimless, the drums provided interesting fills and the necessary intensity.
Sir Richard Bishop was up next, and I have to admit that I was really stoked to see him play. I'm not super familiar with the Sun City Girls catalog and I've only heard some of his solo stuff, but I've liked what I've heard. It surprised me that he was playing with a full band; it was even more surprising that what he played was a south-Asian surf-guitar prog-rock sound. It was good, and fun, but pretty goofy. I was expecting something more like when I've seen Tom Carter play, who can rip it up. But this was good too. The fat kid in the Black Flag tee, who had been headbanging to Earthless, did a nice little jig to Bishop's set.
The area in front of the stage got more packed for Wolf Eyes than it did during any other point in the night. Wolf Eyes are some funny looking dudes. It's interesting to me to think that probably most of the performers tonight were 30+ years old, despite the young and hip demographic that came out to watch them. So after an extended mic check, Wolf Eyes launched into their dark and threatening take on noise. It was cool, and super fucking loud, but maybe not totally engaging. I enjoyed it mostly for it being an overwhelming aural attack, rather than being very substantial. We went outside midway through the set, and the sound outside the warehouse was phenomenal. It sounded as if a massive demon had been conjured from the dark pits of hell, and was thrashing to escape the warehouse in which it had been imprisoned.
Finally, Black Dice took the stage. The last time I saw Black Dice, if you'll recall, we spent most of the time drinking in front of the Great American Music Hall, rather than enjoying the set. I think that this performance was a lot more engaging, in part because I was not intoxicated, but also because it seemed a lot more rhythmic than last time. There was a great visual show going on behind the band, and they guys did their best to find hypnotic and grooving loops in the squall they were generating. They didn't always manage to find those moments, but when they did, it was pretty captivating. In all, it was a great show, I had an excellent time, and I'm looking forward to similar shows in the future.