L.A. RECORD » los angeles

ROBERT DELONG @ LOS GLOBOS

Daiana Feuer — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:12:49 +0000

I first encountered Robert DeLong through his orange duct-tape, segmented X symbol, the street-art piece that seemed suddenly everywhere this fall. Then, in December, when my power was out after the freak windstorm, I found myself at a friend’s music studio/storefront on Echo Park Ave. where DeLong was shooting a music video. Not at first realizing he was the “rockstar” in the room, I found him to be a pretty unassuming, even polite guy. But when he began the 10-15 takes of his “radio” song for the cameras, he transformed alchemically from normal human being into full-on performer. If you’ve seen this before, it’s a fascinating aspect of human behavior among musicians, performance artists, etc. Meanwhile, I was texting friends: “In Echo Park drinking, doing drugs at a music studio, somebody’s filming a video for some song hitting the airwaves, whatevs.” I was slightly exaggerating, but his song “Happy” was soon in rotation on both KROQ and KCRW, an odd couple of stations to have onboard for one’s first single, still, after hearing it that many times in a row I’d say it’s a pretty good song to have rattling around your head for a while.

Like much of DeLong’s output, “Happy” is a paradox in and of itself. This is melodic pop EDM that really makes you want to dance yet there lurks a sense of melancholy, not at the edges but deep in the bass and in lyrics like, “I see everything quite clear … I see life outside of time, but I don’t feel it.” DeLong’s version of dance music is far subtler than even your most club-hardened DJ might imagine; to say there are “multiple layers” would be an understatement comparable to saying that three or four months ago there were “a few” Republican candidates running for president. When he’s belting out the refrain “Yeah, we’re gonna die!” in “Basically, I” the music is swelling and any number of loops he’s set in motion are all coming together at one time, and everyone on the floor is dancing ecstatically, certainly not gazing down at their feet in a morose sense of apathy.

Having been at his month-long Monday night residency at Los Globos a couple times, I’d say it’s well worth the effort to catch his live act, and soon. Besides being a solid drummer playing at Modest Mouse levels of complexity, DeLong isn’t that guy sitting in the glow of his laptop. He’s the guy dancing around stage among three laptops, a couple MIDI-interfaces and drum pads, several pedals, a number of mics plugged into different inputs, a couple Wii-remote and Sega controllers, and oh yeah the full drum-kit he rocks out on. This is the music you want to hear when you hit the club, the music people 10+ years younger than me maybe haven’t heard of yet, but will be dancing to in the coming weeks and months.

—Mathew Timmons

GOTYE @ EL REY THEATER

Daiana Feuer — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:13:17 +0000

With the hit song and video “Somebody I Used To Know,” Gotye (born Wouter “Wally” De Backer) earned himself the hottest ticket in town. But would the Belgian-Australian songwriter be another musician thrown to the indie wolves only to be spit out after a massive hit?

Couples, older folk and many attractive young hipsters packed El Rey in high anticipation as Gotye stood center stage surrounded by his bandmates and a myriad of instruments. Opening with the first single from Making Mirrors, the evening started off with a big punch. The lean and fit Gotye was like a chef on stage, mixing the ingredients of his songs with different spices of indie pop, reggae, and tri-hop throughout the evening. There were songs for dancing, swaying and getting your funk on. As he thanked the crowd with his boyish grin, Gotye announced that Kimbra would not be appearing for “Somebody” as she did on Jimmy Kimmel the night before. However, as Kimbra’s portion of the song came about, several female voices came together to sing the lyrics of the heartbroken girl. This sort of relationship with his audience is an endearing quality of Gotye. Unfortunately, those that came just to hear this song started their loud conversations immediately afterwards. As the last song of the main set approached, Gotye mentioned he wrote the song “Bronte” for a friend whose dog had recently passed away, and the crowd quieted down, allowing something beautiful to occur.

—Debi Del Grande

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WILCO @ THE WILTERN

Daiana Feuer — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:24:39 +0000

Photos by Lindsey Best

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Wilco’s Setlist:

1 One Sunday Morning
2 Poor Places
3 Art Of Almost
4 I Might
5 I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
6 One Wing
7 Rising Red Lung
8 Impossible Germany
9 Born Alone
10 Laminated Cat (Loose Fur cover)
11 Pot Kettle Black
12 She’s A Jar
13 Misunderstood
14 California Stars
15 Box Full Of Letters
16 Standing O
17 A Magazine Called Sunset
18 Nothing’severgonnastandinmyway(again)
19 Dawned On Me
Encore:
20 Whole Love
21 Heavy Metal Drummer
22 I’m the Man Who Loves You
23 Casino Queen
24 Hoodoo Voodoo

ANGELS & AIRWAVES + LE BLORR @ AVALON

Daiana Feuer — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:21:53 +0000

Alternative rock group Angels & Airwaves are currently on tour with their latest “LOVE, PART II” and had a recent stop at the Avalon. Vocalist/guitarist Tom DeLonge (Blink 182) with guitarist David Kennedy (Box Car Racer), bassist Matt Wachter (30 Seconds to Mars) and the recent addition of Ilan Rubin (Nine Inch Nails) on drums are also playing Pomona on February 2nd at The Glasshouse with opener Le Blorr. —Debi Del Grande

Saturday Love
Young London
Surrender
Dry Your Eyes
The Adventure
Everything’s Magic
Anxiety
Valkyrie Missile
Lifeline
Call to Arms
There Is (Box Car Racer cover(
Hallucinations
Secret Crowds

Encore:
We Are All That We Are
The War

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WARPAINT @ SPACE 15 TWENTY

Daiana Feuer — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:54:28 +0000

Warpaint played a free intimate show at Space 15 Twenty along with DJ AJ English for the THVM Artists Series Installation. The set included two new songs, a helicopter and flying beer. —Debi Del Grande

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DINOSAUR JR @ THE MUSIC BOX

Daiana Feuer — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 20:14:46 +0000

The last time I caught Dinosaur Jr. performing was at their main stomping grounds, The Troubadour. Hardcore fan, musician, writer, actor, spoken word artist, and KCRW DJ Henry Rollins was up against the wall rocking out. That’s when I decided I better start carrying around earplugs. This time, at The Music Box, Rollins did a brief interview with the guys before they played their 1988 album, Bug, in its entirety. Rollins was, of course, the perfect candidate to talk with the band, but the audience started getting antsy (they must know how long Rollins can go!).

When the band came back on stage, things got real. Fender master/vocalist/long-white-hair-in-the-face J. Mascis, drummer extraordinaire Murph, and bassit/lo-fi dude/cat lover Lou Barlow completely destroyed the place. Mascis, surrounded by Marshall amps, gave the crowd just the right amount of distortion and noise rock that was craved. The night wouldn’t be complete without “Feel The Pain,” and the group ended with a cover of The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven.” —Debi Del Grande

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WIZ KHALIFA + SNOOP DOGG @ THE WILTERN

Daiana Feuer — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 22:51:15 +0000

As high as everyone was—and I mean everyone—at The Wiltern, the chemistry produced between Wiz Khalifa and Snoop Dogg was undeniably potent. With scenes from their new movie, Mac And Devin Go to High School, playing between sets, the two rappers flowed over beats on stage, and welcomed everyone to the party. Khalifa brought his solo material first, the Doggfather himself then did an amazing solo set, and last, but not least, the duo came together, sharing many, many joints, and almost set off the smoke alarms. —Debi Del Grande

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MILAGRES @ PARK PLAZA

Daiana Feuer — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:55:49 +0000

As with the contents of previous album Seven Summits, Milagres’ current live material, culled from recent Kill Rock Stars release Glowing Mouth, suggests a preoccupation with nature, and filtering the experience of it through tunnels of room-filling melody. Lyrically and tonally, their earlier work aimed to reflect vast, majestic mountainscapes, but on the new album, they’ve switched out telescopes for macro lenses– they’re seeing the literal forest from the trees, or getting deliriously lost trying. The resulting songs envelop any space they occupy– they’re decisive, sensual, welcoming, haunted. Frostier songs like Gentle Beast and Fright of Thee are enticing as fairy tales, and tonight’s performance highlighted this particularly well, because the Park Plaza is already huge and echoey and probably it also can see dead people.

Many folks have been following Milagres’ music since its members were prescient zygotes, so hearing the output of this latest incarnation has been especially exciting, because it follows some weird paradigm shifts in their approach to rocking out. The harmony-rich, orchestral quality suggested in previous releases now anchors their sound, which is a way to say, maybe, that they’re having fun up there, and making something pretty without sacrificing gravity or density. It’s never a surprise when a band’s sensibility coheres after years of playing together, but Milagres have gone a step further. They’ve coagulated into something seamless and vital.

The audience experienced some lovely collective vertigo during a reverb-chamber cover of Tom Petty’s adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, a.k.a. Don’t Come Around Here No More, which I’d post here if I could extract video from my brain. What Milagres has done (which only occurred once, I bet, in the brilliantly warped Japanese movie Funky Forest: First Contact) is set to music the precise feeling of sinking into a mossy clearing in the woods at 4 a.m., on purpose. It’s their ability to evoke something so specific that makes me curious to listen in on any future result of their promising evolution.

—Amalia Levari

THE KOOKS @ THE MUSIC BOX

Daiana Feuer — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 19:42:04 +0000

The last time The Kooks came to town, back in June, the band filled the Troubadour with girls screaming over Luke Pritchard. This time around, the boys played two sold out nights at The Music Box to the same screaming girls, but with some added guys in the mix. A riser was added to the front of the stage for Pritchard to run across. This was a smart move as people in the back could actually see the action. The English indie pop group was tight while Pritchard worked the crowd and constantly moved about. Although the spotlight was mainly on Pritchard, Hugh Harris (lead guitar/backing vocals and keys) was a definite standout. —Debi Del Grande

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GIRLS @ THE MUSIC BOX

Daiana Feuer — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 19:36:13 +0000

After a tease at FYF, Girls returned to L.A.’s Music Box with its critically acclaimed baby Father, Son, Holy Ghost. With his blonde messy locks falling over the side of his face and quiet demeanor, Christopher Owens had the room at full attention the entire night. Owens’ passion in his songwriting comes through clearly live. The songs are nostalgic yet, at the same time, like nothing like you’ve heard before. The transitions are so smooth as each band member contributes to weaving every moment seamlessly. The other official half of Girls (Chet “JR” White) kept out of the spotlight, but his presence was definitely heard on bass. —Debi Del Grande

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