Download: 60 Watt Kid “We Came From The Bright Side” [Audio clip: view full post to listen] (off We Come From The Bright Side out Oct 22 on Absolutely Kosher)

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The lead singer would occasionally set down his instrument and grasp the mic while he convulsed his body and spat vocals that sometimes seemed like incoherent, self-muttering. He was not afraid to involve the crowd or antagonize them. Shoving his microphone into faces, running into a girl by the doorway, holding onto another’s head while he yelled maniacally at them—he put everyone standing up front on edge, all we could do was smile and try not to make eye contact. There they were, 60 Watt Kid, a trio made up of two older guys with guitars and a young guy on drums, and we were afraid to look at them. How great is that?

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Straight and Frankenstein tall stood Kim Fowley in the low-roofed Redwood Lounge last weekend. Presiding over another installment of “Hollywood Sexual Underground”, the legendary songwriter-producer-impresario was haranguing a roomful of sweating freaks and lovelies when I clambered in off the street on another boiling hot Friday night. “Are there any lesbians or drunks in the house tonight?” he intoned from somewhere near the ceiling, glowering about the narrow room like a rock ‘n’ roll Vincent Price.

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Cutting the set much too short, they wrapped up with their Willy Alexander-esque “American Standard,” an against-type rockabilly tune, wherein Litrow meandered through the audience shouting things at people. They plunked the last few echoey notes, and sadly, the hip-hop CD started its thing once more. As the audience made its way to the lawn, I caught one young man with a Misfits tattoo on his neck tell his girlfriend “These guys were siiiiick!”

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courtesy sean carnage Download: Sean Carnage’s Mondays Megamix #2 [Audio clip: view full post to listen] We asked adopted Angeleno extraordinaire Sean Carnage to continue presenting his series of mixtapes collecting some of his favorite bands—local and otherwise. Here’s the second installment! (And click here if you missed the first!) Los Angeles is currently at [...]

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Sean Carnage has done so much for L.A. music that there had to be a movie made to help document it. He’ll be celebrating four years of DIY shows (across six venues!) all this month at Women during his traditional Monday night residencies, and he’ll have the official Sean Carnage birthdayversary spectacular on July 27. This interview by Drew Denny.

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A look upon the Echo Curio floor Tuesday night revealed no laptops, yet where was that disembodied glockenspiel coming from? They’d sampled their own strange chime-y noises on the spot, when we weren’t looking, like magicians. Invisible jangly loops ensnared the crowd from the moment the first song’s bubbling softness jumped into its second, more rhythmic gear, and then promptly into fifth, as singer Kevin Litrow writhed, St. Vitus style, into the audience.

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60 Watt Kid is a three-piece that has no laptops, 80-odd effects pedals, no bass, and a helluva lot of creative energy. Dan Collins interviews them after a grueling practice, on a hot night in his yard, around a smoky chiminea. A lhasa poo stands guard.

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