Singer and guitarist Mayo Thompson formed the Red Crayola (or Krayola) in Houston, Texas in 1966 with Frederick Barthelme and Steve Cunningham, and has continued to lead the group up to the present day with an ever-changing cast of musicians. This complete interview by Oliver Hall.
Live reviews
THE WHITE STRIPES ‘UNDER THE GREAT NORTHERN LIGHTS’ SCREENING @ EGYPTIAN THEATER
The film plays with all the tropes. Emmett Malloy, the director, seems to have a supernatural understanding about what makes the band so intriguing and why they were the sole survivors of the bloody neo-garage wars of the early ’00s.
HALLOWEEN SWIM TEAM @ ECHO CURIO ILLUSTRATED REVIEW
Halloween Swim Team’s fury of musical spirits encompassed the Echo Curio crowd, possessing and blessing eustation tubes.
—Chris Sanchez
BEST COAST @ BLOOMINGDALES
The most exciting thing about the show is how loud it was, almost an act of civil disobedience in an affluent department store. I watched the same salesperson from whom I made a purchase earlier now covering her ears so as not to upset her blissful unawareness.
THE MAGNETIC FIELDS @ WILSHIRE EBELL THEATRE
Even after songs like “I’m Sorry I Love You,” “Walk a Lonely Road” and “I Don’t Really Love You Anymore,” I came away from the Magnetic Fields performance at the Wilshire Ebell with a calming sense of serenity. Or perhaps it was just sleepiness. The show itself was pretty uneventful, but Stephin Merritt’s soothing baritone vocals could be extolling the virtues of flaying live puppies and I’d still walk away feeling good.
BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB @ THE ECHOPLEX
The crowd was a surprising mix of greyhairs, baldheads, WB Network fans, some that dressed like Grunge was topping the charts, emo-kids that made me think it was an all-ages show, and, yes, those in all black. There were so many couples grinding away in corners, I thought I was in a hip-hop video. Fun for all and hopefully the dude reading a New Yorker had a good time as well.
Album reviews
SENE + BLU: A DAY LATE + A DOLLAR SHORT
A Day Late & A Dollar Short has real focus, showing a thoughtful and concentrated effort by both Sene and Blu to make this album about exactly what the title implies: survival and hunger.
VOICEsVOICEs: ORIGINS EP
The masked dual vocal moans and chants and the furious beats and distortions add up to an aggressively beautiful sound that’s both calming and exciting at the same time. The new EP builds spectacularly from the blueprint of the first, with the addition of Prefuse 73’s production, a year of growing confidence and a bunch of new toys.
THE CTHULHUS: WORLD OF HURT/L’EROSION CD-RS
Remember how Sick Boy in Trainspotting quit heroin at the same time as Renton, just to show how easily he could do it? The Cthulhus bully Nathan Williams in the same way; they’re clearly mining Wavves territory, and yet they do it so effortlessly.
WHISPERING PINES: FAMILY TREE
You’d be wise to catch one of Whispering Pines’ live gigs around L.A. or pick up Family Tree at the local record shop. There aren’t too many self-released debut albums of this quality coming out these days.
THE LIGHT RAYS: THE LIGHT RAYS CASSETTE
The Light Rays’ lo-fi, up-tempo, reverb-saturated pop has echoes of the Cleaners From Venus or the Clean—but those are merely reference points to navigate by, not albatrosses around their necks. The Light Rays pull off the parlor trick of being fairly straightforward yet compellingly original. If only every group from Orange County could be as cool.
