Download Daylong Valleys of the Nile “Life Out Of Bounds”

(from the Daylong Valleys of the Nile demo available here)

Steve, Jeff and Ron—the piano/guitar/drums trio that can turn into Lavender Diamond when you put Becky Stark singing with them—plus Bedroom Walls’ Jeff Kwong planted ten Daylong songs in two days. It’ll be an album soon, but it’s a four-song demo now and you should download it over and over so you can have a copy on each of your various devices. Everyone is saying this sounds like Tiger Mountain Eno, but everyone is right so that’s a reason to be happy. Warm jets lead the start of “Gossamer Station,” the second half of “Memory Bank,” or the verse of “Nick of Time,” all of which loop-the-loop vintage Enoisms the same way a dozen killing punk bands did with the Ramones. And of course there’s good propulsive Roxy Music rockin’, too—giant Manzanera guitar leads that erupt right from the earth itself. But there’s also some kinda link back to L.A. bands like Suburban Lawns or the Eyes—too art for just punk, too punk for just art; collectibility was their destiny!—and maybe even some of the really Velvets-upped paisley bands: the Dream Syndicate’s first EP seems like it ends up at the same place as Daylong for most of the same reasons. The lyrics are completely crucial here, too, reading like fragments of new wave sci-fi by Ballard or Brunner and inspiring Penguin-delic paperback covers to match. (“In the skyscraper name light there was water on your cheek/but we both were illusive/as we ducked in a rat hole and the sentries let us pass/It was like we were flying …”) That’s why this works—it isn’t a copy but the actual thing itself, except emerging so far out of time that there’s nothing much like it left. That’d be a good idea for one of their songs, too. This is great and the album will be something you can live on for days.

—Chris Ziegler

www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9D0Kr0yHng

Becky Stark said this about the video on Facebook: “Michel offered to make a video and we asked him to please make it with no danger because Inara and Eleni were pregnant. And this is what he came up with! My house on fire, plane crashes, Eleni on a motorcycle, an earthquake, a bus crashing on a collapsing bridge, getting kidnapped by gangsters, a war -- and childbirth- …It was supposed to end with a meteor destroying the earth but we told him that was going too far. We had to shoot 2 days after Michel had the idea because Inara was about to go into labor any second. And we didn’t know how we would find a newborn baby! It was a mysterious hilarious disaster indeed.“

—Daiana Feuer

The Living Sisters “Double Knots”
(From Love to Live out now on Vanguard)

“Charming” is a word the Living Sisters hear too often, but it would be needlessly pretentious to reach for another adjective. I had a smile on my face within about twenty seconds of opener “How Are You Doing?” and for the most part, it never left. Something of a Los Angeles vocal supergroup, the Living Sisters are composed of the Bird and the Bee’s Inara George, Lavender Diamond’s Becky Stark and Eleni Mandell’s Eleni Mandell. Naturally, the Living Sisters sound almost exactly as one would expect. This is by no means intended as a slight; rather, this is a practiced tribute to the great harmonizers of jazz, early rock ‘n’ roll and country. These songs are straight-forward lovely tunes, released at just the right time of year for this kind of music. RIYL: making sun tea, eating outdoors in the dwindling afternoon light, paddling a canoe around a municipal lake (scenario suggested by my listening compatriot, confirmed by me) or just feeling at peace, which in this day and age can be a gift that should not be taken for granted.

—Tom Child

illustration by Chris Sanchez

Is Mia Doi Todd better wrapped in scarves and knit socks or leopard print pants? She was a jungle cowgirl in these pants. Clothing is language and seeing her songs in denim spots and shiny animal face rather than the warm, soft cloak her music drapes around your ears, gave Todd a certain jungle cat ferocity—Playtime Mia if she were a Barbie. Surrounded by her friends, Becky Stark, Farmer Dave Scher, Jenny O, and Andres Renteria (percussion) and Hijikata Tatsumi (bass), and Michel Gondry—who watches, with a drink, smiling when he’s not corralling people to the stage or playing drums. By the end of night three, he’s drunker, wrangling his focus on the slit drums as the rhythm toyed with his pursuit. His nose makes him look curious all the time. Mia may have noticed his tipsiness, as she giggled watching him play. It’s Hallmark stuff. It’s best when someone like Mia Doi Todd is in love, as it fuels the nurturing instinct, and she pours her sweet stuff into songs of earth, morning bed touches, and world peace—her voice round as sunshine in a window turning from dark to light or light to dark—it’s sitting in the window staring at birds or the mailbox, very peaceful-like. The first time I heard Mia Doi Todd was at Tonalism, late on a cold, strange night, foggy with tea, after prolonged exposure to digital tones and wavering trees. Everything else had been about electronics, but Todd was there with bongos and a ukelele. Even in that strange setting, Big Sur mountainside at 1 am, she could take you out of your clothes for a dip in the “River Of Life.” A most epic song. Mia Doi Todd’s love song about world peace, and vice versa. All the rhymes with “ssion” at the end melt like oil to smooth on your soul ammunition, a call to arms for freedom (from oppression)…”Yes yes yes yes yes” whispered, mumbled, don’t know if she’s practicing mind control or meditating on justice, repeated until out of breath. It’s got a nice sound. She usually sings deep and low, as if speaking to whales, but tonight when she harmonized with Becky Stark, and two weeks ago when she sang in French—she filled her words with breath and scales, winding around notes on the path to a secret garden. About the guests: Becky Starks’ bangs reveal she’s whimsical but clever. She’s got lady power, swinging her gown, confident eyes. That’s what she gives off in her guitar songs. Jenny O harmonized with long shy bangs and raspy lisp softness. Farmer Dave Scher had the coolest instruments, a melodica, a lap guitar, and he held his microphone below his lips like a game show host. His music was casual yet epic, the way a surfer feels about the sea. He also evoked seals and seagulls, and The Police, David Byrne, and Beach Boys. He’s special, you can tell right away. And there was Aska. She plays how French pop feels and was backed by a dream team, Butchy Fuego (octopus, if we’re sticking to the sea theme) on drums and Corridor on bass and cello. Despite the rapture Mia Doi Todd and co. can inflict, the power of social wanking often clouds people’s better judgments. They pay money for a concert and spend the whole time trying to talk over the music. Someone’s got the music on loud, right? It’s not meant to hum in the background behind your cocktail party. So  a good old “Shut aaaaaaaahhhhp!” from Adanowsky can do it better than Mia Doi Todd trying to “shh, you guys…” She should have asked Adanowsky to stay near a mic for crowd control. The “Shut up!” command from this open-shirt-charm-popper seems to be something he enjoys when it comes from a sexy place, but not when the crowd sucks—when most are probably the bands’ friends. He didn’t twirl a lot at this show, but he did set up a makeshift cafe serenade using a rug as tablecloth and served wine to a lucky lady from the audience. Adanowsky’s appeared suddenly in all the cool places, demanding attention, and dancing, and sitting, and “quieeeeettt!,” speaking Spanish, French, English, and body language. I enjoy this kind of cocky entertainment, especially as it isn’t wearing a white jesus robe. Rather than starting a cult of the masses, Adanowsky seems like he’d happily take his conquests one on one, one night at a time. In the end, Mia Doi Todd’s residency was all about love, both in the bed and with the universe. —Daiana Feuer (words and photo)

Download: Imaad Wasif’s Mixtape

L.A. RECORD alum Imaad Wasif is in residency three Thursdays this month at Spaceland, and each show is curated to reflect a different theme—tonight’s “Bad Vibes,” next week’s “Faith Folk” and finally “Cock Rock.” In honor of vibes, faith and rock, Imaad put together this awesome mixtape for us! Listen and download above and read about the songs below!

01. The Savages “I”
A desi-psych band from Bombay (Mumbai) late ‘60s or early ‘70s, fronted by my long-lost uncle, Bashir Sheik. Perhaps the first known lyrical exploration of Jung’s disassociation theory of the “I.”

02. Ramleh “There Must Be More Than This”
Heavy power-electronic music to wash your memories of 1990 away.

03. Jonathan Halper “Leaving My Old Life Behind/I Am A Hermit (My Mind Is Not The Same)”
From Kenneth Anger’s Puce Moment, circa ’66—sounds like a cross between Barrett and the Clean.

04. Swamp Rats “I’m Goin’ Home”
Flower punk at its finest before its lips turned black. ’66 near Pittsburgh.

05. Karen Dalton “Katie Cruel”
From the 1962/63 Green Rocky Road Loop tapes, recorded on two-track reel-to-reel at home or in a coffin—probably at home since coffins don’t have phones.

06. Bob Lind “Cool Summer”
This is one of the most tragic and beautiful songs ever written, a perfect expression of sorrow. ’66.

07. Jake Holmes “Dazed and Confused”
In the tradition of all great bluesmen, Jimmy Page lifted this song and later re-hashed it in a far less creepy version for one of his far less creepy bands. ’67/’68.

08. Brigitte Fontaine “Le Goudron”
Translation: tar = auditory pornography. ’69.

09. Sharon Tandy with Les Fleur de Lys “Hold On”
Get high off the smoke in Sharon Tandy’s vox. This song has one of my favorite British psych guitar solos ever. ’67.

Mia Doi Todd
Tuesday nights in February
with the Tapered Steel Band (Andres Renteria, Brian Akio-Martinez & Michel Gondry)
Feb 2: ASKA, Adanowsky, Nick and Marcel, DJ Renteria
Feb 9: Ariana Delawari, Correatown, DJ Nobody
Feb 16: F. D. Scher, Becky Stark, DJ Frosty

Mia Doi Todd “Night Of A Thousand Kisses”

Imaad Wasif
Thursday nights in February
Feb 4: “An Evening of Bad Vibes” feat. The Dead Wasif, Mockingbirds (members of Red Sparowes), + special guest
Feb 11: “An Evening of Faith Folk” feat. Imaad Acoustic set, Becky Stark, Voice on Tape
Feb 18: “An Evening of Cock Rock” feat. Imaad Wasif with Two Part Beast, Lou Barlow & the Missing Men, Avi Buffalo

Imaad Wasif “Reedemer”
(booby alert, nsfw)

Princeton
Mondays in February
Feb 1: 60 Watt Kid, Active Child
Feb 8: Casxio
Feb 15: tba
Feb 22: Castledoor, Los Angeles New Music Ensemble

Princeton “Calypso Gold”

Spaceland
www.clubspaceland.com
1717 Silver Lake Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(213) 833-2843

The Hazards of Love is this theatrical narrative album that The Decemberists have been performing beginning to end with guest vocalists Becky Stark (Lavender Diamond) and Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond). Each time she stepped out from behind her keyboard to sing, Worden seemed to take all the breath out of the room and use it as her own. The audience could not get enough of her.

The visuals were stunning—from exploding fungi to wolf constellations to arms flailing in slo-mo to drowned Greek ruins—there were very few moments where my eyes left the projection screen to notice the live band playing below it. This show was perfectly executed; a thrilling blend of art and sound.

And then Colin Meloy told us to come back after a brief break for some more music. “That’s nice of them,” I thought. “They must be exhausted!”

Nearly an hour later, The Decemberists’ second concert of the night was finally wrapping up. I’ll give them credit—they maintained an energy I wouldn’t think possible after what was essentially a live rock opera. A sweaty Meloy jumped off stage to flirt with his front-row fans and then led us in several extended sing-alongs, organist Jenny Conlee did some swing dancing with a lucky audience member… They rocked out. For the 1/3 of the crowd who were serious Decemberists fans, this must’ve been a dream come true. For the remaining Royce Hall performance junkies and visual arts students in attendance, this was a long, long night. Thankfully, Meloy asked Stark and Worden back out for a jaw-dropping cover of “Crazy On You,” leaving those of us who didn’t know what we were getting into with a nice little parting gift.

—Amber Hollingsworth

Ted Leo @ Wiltern
Becky Stark @ Tangier—[INTERVIEW]
Spinnerette @ Alexs

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T1o_HiX1vE]