—Devon Williams

The three Chinese bands all share an affinity for first-generation post-punk like Joy Division and Bauhaus. It’s most apparent in the basslines, but all three bands take their sounds in unique directions. AV Okubo plays industrial punk with keyboards that sound distinctly Asian. Carsick Cars are China’s answer to Sonic Youth, and that’s not hyperbole. P.K.14 sounds like Joy Division with the urgency of the Clash. Chinese students were jumping around in a frenzy, and hipster jaws dropped before bands who are local heroes 5,000 miles away from Spaceland and the Echo.

I missed most of M31′s set but returned in time to grab a couple two-for-one beers (one Chinese/one American) and hit the main floor for the first of the Beijing bands, AV Okubo. It wasn’t really unusual seeing Chinese musicians onstage in L.A., and the music was so loud that the language difference had a minimal effect. In fact, I was standing next to a friend from L.A. RECORD, and two songs into the set he turned to me and said, “Oh, wait—these are the guys from China?” Lu Yan (vox/keyboard) is a fierce front man with a vocal delivery that rates up with the rest of the genre’s screamers. They kind of reminded me a bit of Infected Mushroom. AV Okubo’s debut CD is produced by Martin Atkins, and it’s easy to see why he’d be interested in working with a band like this.

L.A.’s Monolators were the next band up. Perhaps it was because they were onstage a little early compared to their preferred midnight slot, or maybe it was because they wanted to impress the Beijing bands, but they hit the stage with even more ferocity than usual. The band sounded great—blazing through their set, breaking mic stands, cords and strings and flailing all over the place. The Chinese students were even caught in the frenzy—a tornado of energy lifting everything not fastened to the floor. They closed with local classic “We Fell Dead” and raised the bar for P.K.14.

(I think this was around the time I walked across the street with friends to smoke the mystical bloggerweed. For some reason, the bloggers in this town get the best weed in L.A.—I think if you show the collectives your URL link, they take you to a secret humidor for the strongest marijuana in the universe.)

P.K.14 are legends in China, and lead singer Yang Haisong made the most of his stage space, shouting in Chinese over classic Factory Records-style music with an intensity that makes Bruce Springsteen look bored by comparison. Yang leaped through the air and danced like crazy, unlike his Wednesday night Viper Room appearance where he spent the set writhing on the stage and screaming directly into the floor. Clearly, he’d been watching the Monolators and was conscious enough to want to avoid repetition—a mark of a true headliner. The band’s songs are also in Chinese, so I don’t know what the lyrics are about, but they sound important. The band was tight and they play heavy and hard. The band absolutely killed, and by the time they left the stage the American Legion Hall was as humid as Nanching with vaporized rock ‘n’ roll sweat.

I was excited to see Signals, since I was a fan of the Mae Shi and I’d never seen the band that rose from their ashes. But I never really got into this band. I think the double wallop of the Monolators and P.K.14 really siphoned away a good part of their energy. I was psyched to hear their cover of one of my most favorite bands ever—Sparks’ “Angst in My Pants”—but ultimately they never quite won me over. I’d definitely catch them again though, because I really liked the Mae Shi and sometimes a band’s slot on a lineup affects how they connect with the audience.

By the time Carsick Cars hit the stage, it was close to 1:30 AM—if not past it. The crowd by this point was mostly Chinese, with some hardy hipsters sticking around to see a band which had developed some local buzz after a midnight set at the Echo earlier in the week at Walking Sleep’s Monday residency. (They’ve also been building an international reputation after opening for Sonic Youth on their European tour.) Carsick Cars are into pedals, loops and long waves of distortion, and they do it better than most American bands that I’ve seen. They also have a keen sense of pop hooks and riffs that really separates them from most of the shoegaze-ampstare bands. They even have a few songs in basic English, which really helped me get into them. The title track from their new CD, You Can Listen, You Can Talk, sounds like a mix of Sonic Youth and classic bubblegum. Their jams were really good, and they had a nice ebb and flow linking the riffs, jams and choruses—and their new songs shred!

The event had a real special feel to it. It was really interesting and inspiring to see the two scenes merge. Members of the different bands were hanging out together and talking music. The Chinese fans loved the Monolators and the L.A. hipsters ate up P.K.14. All three Chinese bands are headliner quality, and the Carsick Cars—with their English lyrics and distortion fuzz bubble yum sound—are catchy enough to catch on with American radio. (Especially those stations that don’t suck.) I think the middle acts—the Monolators and P.K.14—were the stars of this night. Beijing’s music may be mostly unrecognized on these shores, but the best bands from China can definitely hold their own with L.A.’s finest. Los Angeles is awesome for recognizing this and welcoming them with open arms.

—Scott Schultz

New Yorkers Thurston Moore (vocals, guitar), Kim Gordon (vocals, bass, guitar), Lee Ranaldo (vocals, guitar), Steve Shelley (bass) and Mark Ibold (drums) of Sonic Youth have come from the past into the present to see how they have paved the way for the current music scene. Whether they be labeled alternative rock, no wave, or indie rock, they have redefined music for all ages, whether music buffs admit it or not.

Sonic Youth played one of the last regional dates on their Eternal tour presented by 89.9 KCRW Saturday at the Wiltern. The show was sold out, with an original date on the ticket as Sept. 29, 2009.   After Sic Alps opened, Sonic Youth came on at 9 p.m. Thurston lackadaisically walked on stage as if he were part of the stage crew, but he then strummed some notes to “Antenna,” which made the room glow with euphoria and nostalgia. “No Way” had its punkish way with the audience, causing the lights to flicker and brain waves to scintillate. “Sacred Trickster” put the show on the road as even the lights tuned in to the beats. Sonic Youth performed other songs off their sixteenth and latest album under Matador Records, The Eternal. Meanwhile, the fans were tentatively watching, smoking weed, or drinking beer. “Leaky Lifeboat” was dedicated to L.A. Poets, and from there they continued playing amidst a backdrop of burned paper-like art imitating life. Ranaldo, who had broken his wrist from tennis, was now able to have his part during “Walkin’ Blue.” After giving the audience their money and time’s worth, Sonic Youth traveled back to the ’80s and ’90s, finishing with two encore performances. Overall, the SY aficionados couldn’t have had a better 90 minutes experiencing the dissonant and merrymaking immortal musicians. Even though they are sonic and middle aged, their music will live on eternally. Overrated or underrated, Sonic Youth will continue to have sold out shows without selling out.

—Katrina Guevara (words + photo)

Cat Party’s “Rhapsody in Black”

(from Cat Party‘s self-titled debut LP out now on Flat Black Records)

Cat Party dutifully follows the tradition of power-pop: straight-forward, hook-heavy and amplified. Echoes of the Nerves, the Wipers, Sonic Youth and Hüsker Dü jump out in perfect 4/4 from their new self-titled full-length from Flat Black Records. You can just picture the all-ages show behind the skate park under Southern California skies, where Roger, Ryan and Richie honor the tradition of the power trio and create the tableau for skaters to sniff glue and fuck around. Themes of isolation and impending responsibilities will be recognizable to anyone forced to grow up too soon. You’ll nod along to songs like “Product of the Eighties,” “Let The Bullets Through” and “Entitled” and say, “I know this song—I get this.” The intensity offered up here is the same as when you first heard the Descendents in your bedroom or Nirvana at the local record store, but Cat Party effectively shifts and rearranges what came before them instead of falling prey to mere mimicry. The guitars are bright and chiming, the drums thrash and propel, the bass anchors your swirling thoughts. Go get this—you’ll be stoked.

 —Eyad Karkoutly

Download: Michael Nhat “I Love Bread” Mixtape

Rapper Michael Nhat’s new self-titled album releases Tuesday, Oct. 27, on How To Be A Microwave and his record release show is this Saturday at the House of Vermont. He presents L.A. RECORD with a mixtape—which he titled I Love Bread—and a story to go with every song.

Mozart “Fantasy In F Minor”
One of my girlfriends in 1997 played it live at her school and it made me really appreciate classical music because I didn’t before.

Sonic Youth “Panty Lies”
This song influenced me to start rapping. I had been doing it for fun but this one encouraged me to rap professionally. When people ask me one of my greatest influences, I refer to this—Kim Gordon and Sonic Youth.

Wu-Tang Clan “Can It Be It Was All So Simple”
This is what I was listening to in 1993. I bought my first 4-track and was making music for fun. I played this a lot. The beats and the music inspired me because it was at a time when rap had just finished its MC Hammer era and they were dividing themselves on East and West Coast. And I was East Coast.

Wayne Newton “Danke Schoen”
When I was a kid I heard it in the Ferris Bueller’s Day Off movie. I didn’t know who sang it. But this song started my obsession with hunting down songs I would hear places. This was before the Internet.

Etta James “Trust In Me”
This came on in Chicago at a party on the Southside, and it was my first time encountering her. I immediately liked it. I wish I could sound like Etta James.

PJ Harvey “Is That All There Is?”
I heard it when it first came out in 1996 and maybe a little after that my dad died. This is the first song I played after that so it takes me back there.

Radiohead “Fitter Happier”
The writing of this song is probably the deepest influence in how I write my songs. It changed how I see the writing process. I didn’t get it at first. I just liked it for music’s sake. But as I started paying attention—I would say I emulate this style, as opposed to what everyone else confuses me with. People think I am influenced by Anticon and Busdriver. I am not. I’d never even heard of these people until I moved out here.

Johnny Mathis “It’s Not For Me To Say”
This was when I decided to quit making music as a hobby in 1997. I wanted to be normal and go to school and get a job. I had a daughter and this makes me think of her. I was going to school for film and I made a short and put this song in for her.

Otis Redding “I’ve Got Dreams”
This reminds me of the last time I robbed a house. We were looking up obituaries and found someone who had just died and went to his place. We tried to get as much as we could, but ended up just with his guns and sold them. This was something I’d been doing since I was 16. Also at that time, I got in trouble for storing crack for a friend. My dad found it and flushed it down the toilet. My friends thought I sold it or smoked it.

Sesame Street Kid “Sesame Street”
In Iowa at the parties, DJs would play songs like this at the end of their set. It opened my ears to this type of funny happy song. I started collecting songs like that. Eventually this began to influence my music, which is why my songs are so poppy.

MICHAEL NHAT WITH VOICE ON TAPE, HALLOWEEN SWIM TEAM, NARWHAL PARTY, REDEMER, BLUE TAPE RED TAPE AND LUNA IS HONEY ON SAT., OCT. 24, AT THE RELEASE PARTY FOR MICHAEL NHAT’S SELF-TITLED ALBUM AT THE HOUSE OF VERMONT, 1515 S. VERMONT AVE., LOS ANGELES. 9 PM / DONATIONS / ALL AGES. HOWTOBEAMICROWAVE.COM. MICHAEL NHAT’S SELF-TITLED ALBUM RELEASES TUE., OCT. 27, ON HOW TO BE A MICROWAVE. VISIT MICHAEL NHAT AT MICHAELNHAT.COM OR MYSPACE.COM/MICHAELNHAT.

Download: Sonic Youth “Sacred Trickster”

(from The Eternal out now on Matador)

Via Matador/Beggars—Sonic Youth’s Sept. 29 L.A. date and all other West Coast tour dates have been cancelled due to guitarist Lee Ranaldo fracturing his wrist while playing tennis. The band has rescheduled for a January 8 show in Pomona and a January 9 show at the Wiltern. The Sept. 26 Santa Barbara show will not be rescheduled, however, but refunds will be available at point of purchase. More info below, and L.A. RECORD wishes Mr. Ranaldo speedy and trouble-free healing!

Sonic Youth and Matador regret to announce that guitarist Lee Ranaldo has fractured his left wrist, requiring the band to reschedule their upcoming west coast tour to the following new dates:

Mon Jan 04 – Tucson, AZ – Rialto Theater
Tue Jan 05 – Phoenix, AZ – Marquee Theater
Thu Jan 07 – San Diego, CA – House of Blues
Fri Jan 08 – Pomona, CA – Fox Theater
Sat Jan 09 – Los Angeles, CA – The Wiltern

Tickets for the original dates will be honored. If necessary, refunds will be available at the point of purchase.

Two of the band’s planned fall appearances will NOT be rescheduled, however – September 26 in Santa Barbara and October 4 at The Austin City Limits Festival. Refunds for the Santa Barbara show will be available at the point of purchase.

Lee fractured his wrist while playing tennis, no minor injury for a guitarist, writer, and visual artist. Please join us in wishing him a quick and thorough recovery.

Stream: The Entrance Band “Lookout!”

(off the self-titled LP out now on Ecstatic Peace)

The Entrance Band came together around guitarist Guy Blakeslee and spent two years writing their new album on stages across California. They have just signed to Ecstatic Peace and hope to go to towns no band ever visits. They speak now just before leaving for many months of tour. This interview by Chris Ziegler.

When Erik Davis wrote about you, he said that the trio is the most honest form in rock.
Derek James (drums): That’s true.
Paz Lenchantin (bass): There’s no room and at the same time there’s so much room.
Guy Blakeslee (vocals/guitar): There are a lot of bands you go see with like twelve people on stage and you may think it’s cool but it’s like—‘What is that guy doing? And that girl doing? And where’s the song in all these people on stage?’ Maybe it’s more like presenting ‘we look like a cult’? When we play, there’s not even some Roger Daltrey guy with a mic and me with a guitar and them playing. It’s as stripped as you can get. It doesn’t really lie.
Do you feel any responsibility to change what you do since you’re about to come out on a major label and get in front of a lot of new people?
GB: We’re gonna do what we already do. But the whole push to get in this position we agreed was important because we don’t wanna put all this energy into something we think is really rad and have it unnoticed. With great power comes great responsibility—said by someone—and we have a responsibility to get better—according to us. But I also feel as a vocalist and lyricist… I don’t believe in preaching to people. The word has a negative connotation. I wanna communicate it through my energy. I don’t want it misconstrued—‘This is a rock band and they’re tryin’ to tell people how to live? Shut up!’ There are things I wanna communicate—a lot of ideas and messages—but I want that through performance and song rather than telling anyone. I think that’s really powerful. When I was really young, I’d see certain bands live on TV and they didn’t say, ‘We’re here to completely change your life!’ But they did! And they didn’t say anything!
PL: Every song we wrote, we shaped it live—we never had a rehearsal space.
GB: We never practiced!
PL: The songs had structure of some sort—maybe a few little things—but not until we played in front of people in California. California shaped these songs—that’s how this record was made.
How did it feel all those times to play that first little part of ‘Grim Reaper’ and see the whole crowd get up on tip-toes?
GB: I don’t know what’s going on and I definitely don’t see anything! I got on my amp and fell off at one of the last shows in L.A.—I was seriously kind of injured! A couple nights ago at the Crepe Place in Santa Barbara, I realized I was leaning on a glass window and I was about to fall through! I had my eyes closed—didn’t know where I was. I feel the audience energy for sure. If people are sitting down, my percentage of electricity is lower.
PL: The dancing makes the difference.
GB: I used to go with my dad and a bunch of my friends to the closest Lollapalooza—like 13 and my friends were 17 and 18 and on acid and I didn’t know! But the effort we put into seeing a show was so great—it was the only place to go see these kind of things! Once we left the major cities on the tour and got into the South—people were standing in the pouring rain to see the show! The energy was really crazy—enduring all this stuff to be part of this thing! The harder it is to experience, the more you appreciate the experience. I can relate—I’d be like, ‘Five hours? That’s no big deal to see Pavement! My dad will drive us!’
What did he think of Pavement?
GB: He loves them! I introduced him to Thurston and I tried to introduce him to Kim Gordon and he was too shy! He has a little admiration for her going on. ‘Ah, I’ll be at the other shows—I’ll just meet her a different night!’ One of our few best shows on that tour was with all our parents—‘Oh shit! There’s a lot of parents here!’ Their friend brought their son who’s in his early teens and starting to drum—going from that phase of video games and fantasy books.
Did you go through that?
GB: I was into skating. But this kid—he’s been shy since I’ve known him and after we played he was jumping up and down. ‘YOU GUYS WERE KILLER! THAT WAS WICKED! DEREK WAS INSANE!’ Going from being one person to being another person—‘I’M GONNA PLAY DRUMS LIKE NOBODY’S BUSINESS!’ That’s what it used to be like for me to go see something—‘OH MY GOD, I CAN’T BELIEVE THEY DID THAT!’
So you actually remember the specific moment when your mind was first blown?
GB: Oh yeah—big time! I was one of four people there and my complete understanding of life changed forever. If you’re in a basement and a band from Canada plays and they know no one there and they turn their backs and some of them are in tears and they’re fucking going for it—this emotional intensity that’s the kind of thing most people don’t ever reach in their lives—and they do it for four people! Not a stadium or a club—four people! The reason they play is to express themselves in full no matter what, and that made me want to be in a band. They didn’t have to do that—‘Let’s just take it easy…’—but that’s not what you do in a hardcore band in 1997 in a basement. Maybe that was even the best show some of these bands played—with only four people there. When I played in similar bands, that was the blueprint I had. No matter who is there, if you don’t give everything you got, you’re just wasting time. It has to do with you, not who’s there. Your own standard of whether you express yourself or not. You always push as far as you can, and that’s what we do now. We’re not like an emo hardcore band—a term I don’t even know what it means, but those were the things in my formative years. Obviously I was into Motley Crue and Pearl Jam, Nirvana, AC/DC or whatever, but when I saw—let’s say this band Breakwater from Victoria, British Columbia, they completely changed my entire life. Me and three female friends in our friend’s basement and they literally completely changed my life. More so than a couple years later when Nirvana burst on the scene. At that point I was ready. But I can remember moments that made me be like, ‘OK, so if I’m gonna play electric with other people—if I don’t have blood on my hands and bruised knees and I don’t lose my voice, I didn’t do it right!’ What I try to do is not be self-destructive, but to take it as far as I can with enough left for the next day. I don’t wanna feel I didn’t give everything I have at that point.
PL: If you’re gonna go on a long tour, they say, ‘Pace yourself.’ This ‘pace’ thing—what is that? I can’t pace myself. What does that mean—do less? I understand pace if it’s like… a highway.
GB: If we were running a race against someone else. But we’re running a race within ourselves. The things that influenced me most are things no one ever heard of before—that’s what was truly amazing about the pre-Internet hardcore scene. I remember reading that the bassist in Nirvana is doing a doctoral thesis on the pre-Internet hardcore scene. That’s cool. I was the kid you’d call in Baltimore—‘We’re in a band! Find us a basement!’ ‘Totally, dudes! Totally!’ Nirvana was really the only band that was super-famous that approached shows the way as bands with four people in the audience. Most other big rock bands were not as physically daring as Nirvana.
What band do you think made the most of their time on a major label?
GB: Sonic Youth. Nirvana no longer exists. Sonic Youth was making the most of being in a certain position to help people hear music they’d never hear by having opening bands be things no one would know about.
PL: And which didn’t necessarily sound like them.
GB: And that people would be open-minded enough to check them out because Sonic Youth was presenting them. I learned so much from seeing them when I was younger. So by being the band people learn about by being seen opening for them—pretty trippy! And now they’re not a major label band! Hilarious! Some members helped sign us to a major label at the same time they were saying, ‘We’re SICK of major labels! We’re not gonna do this anymore! We’re OUTTA HERE! But—check THIS out!’ And Jane’s Addiction was really important too for the fact they created Lollapalooza—on par with whatever credit I give to Sonic Youth for making the most of their position.
PL: For me, it was really important being from here and seeing Stephen Perkins driving around with his drum set in his Honda Accord!
So it’s important for musicians to create these access points into music?
GB: For all of us that’s part of playing in the band. I may have lots to say about a lot of things, but the focus is on music and bands. I could be like—‘aliens!’ and whatever, but music and bands is the focus of this album. Musicians made me wanna play music. If you can get someone really young to see you and be like, ‘Oh, life can be different than I thought! I don’t have to do just this one thing!’ That’s what rock ‘n’ roll is really about—further back than punk rock. I just read Hellfire—
By Tosches? The Jerry Lee Lewis bio?
GB: I can’t sing its praises enough! When Jerry Lee Lewis went to a town, there was a riot. The Christian citizen’s council would be like, ‘We must get this man out of town! Our young women must not gyrate their hips! They’re questioning their parents and smoking cigarettes!’ Jerry Lee Lewis was basically a fireball. He didn’t write that song—he didn’t write any songs!—but he brought energy. ‘When I show up on stage, all these people who think life is a certain way are gonna walk out thinking life is DIFFERENT.’ Rock ‘n’ roll to me is not a specific style but it is a style and it is an energy—and it does have to do with showing kids that there are a lot of choices for them. Even if I hear bands I don’t think are good—like Korn—when I think about their impact on the lives of young kids, I’m all for that. That’s more important than if I think Korn is cheesy—if it’s something that helps youth to believe they have a mind of their own and they have energy and they can decide their path—that’s what rock ‘n’ roll is. That’s what punk rock is, but that was a refocusing of what rock is. It’s essentially you roll through town and people’s lives are different after you leave. Or on TV or the radio or a record—it stirs something within you! And it doesn’t have to be in the words at all. The energy. Jerry Lee is pretty extreme because he’d get banned—I’m not out to upturn morality because that’s already been done! But when you’re really young and all of a sudden you learn you have some element of control over your own destiny—
Is this why some people call the Entrance Band ‘liberation rock’?
GB: I mean—sure? I feel when we play we all try and feel liberated.
What’s the opposition to rock ‘n’ roll?
GB: I don’t think it’s really against anything—it’s for something! It’s for everyone’s rights, basically! I know people my age who were at the same shows with me and they didn’t start bands—they got married and had kids and work at the gas station and I love those people. But it’s not gonna affect everyone. Life catches up to people in a lot of ways. It’s rare when one of those people actually devotes their entire life to being—I’m dedicated to this thing! Most people aren’t transformed to that extent, but it still gets incorporated into how they think about everything. It doesn’t have to break out—it influenced their mind. As far as people playing music—the last thing I want is anyone to try and play like us. The things I’m really into, the last thing I try and do is BE that. But I meet as many people as I can and I do meet a lot of people who remind me so much of myself at a certain age. It feels really good! It feels like it’s reaching who it’s intended to. We have older people tell us—‘You awakened the same thing in me now that I had when I saw Quicksilver in ’67.’ That’s a compliment! But coming from a music journalist in their twenties—‘it sounds like blah-blah-blah…’—they don’t get it! The people really young under 21 or 26—I see a lot of people awakening. Not to being like us but awakening to being themselves. The fact that we’re so focused inspires them. We don’t want people to pick up our thing—we don’t really want anyone to do anything! We just do what we do. But in all directions people get inspired by something really inspired and apply it to what they do. I have a friend who’s a teacher who said, ‘You guys make me take my job really seriously—I care about what I do because you guy care so much about what you do.’ To try and answer from a long time ago what rock is against—I don’t think it’s against anything. It’s mainly giving people fuel for their own fire to do what they wanna do. To not feel afraid or doubtful about themselves. If they wanna be a doctor, a guitar player, a tattoo artist—when you said ‘liberation,’ I wouldn’t claim that as an official title but that’s what it’s about. Not from any particular thing but your own self-made limits that you created and that you can uncreate. You can have that communicated to you without me saying that—you can learn by example.
You say that on the record, don’t you?
GB: That is in my lyrics! ‘You Must Turn’—I wrote that when I was 17 about this guy I played music with and what a jerk he was. And turned it—using him as an example—into something about humanity. It’s more for me the experience of going to see us and hearing all the music at once. That communicates something you can’t put into words. That kind of trumps lyrics if you ask me. But I do talk about it. You feel like you’re in prison but are you really? Did you put yourself there? Because if you did, you can take yourself out. It’s possibility and potential—opening it up! Playing with them has made me open up how I play and sing and write words. How I move. It’s opened our potential.
What’s different about the way the Entrance Band runs?
PL: I was thinking about this—what is the difference between what I have today and what I have had in the past? The difference is there’s no way this band would exist without one of us. I really think that’s what makes a band real. No substitutes. So I could easily say I have never been in a band before this if that’s what a band is.
GB: I feel the same way. I played with other people and it was vaguely satisfying and at the time I thought it was a band. But now being in this band—‘That wasn’t a band! This person couldn’t keep up! That person was telling people what to do!’
DJ: In a way, you could say our three-piece is almost traditional—yet it’s kind of rare. It was more bands in the past where every person was necessary. It’s a lot more work to have a band that relies on everyone IN the band.
GB: Simplicity is a lot more powerful than most people recognize. In all places. The more complicated you make it—you may feel that you’re exercising part of your brain, but you just confuse everybody.
Something about this album feels like it’s from 1968.
GB: When I grew up, I had a book—MAGNUM 68. Magnum was the coolest photo agency and I had a book basically showing the revolt in every single place in the world in ’68. Mexico City, Berlin, Paris, New York—wherever you were, students were overthrowing the school and people were occupying the streets. That’s not happening now. In Iran but not here. In a way it’s really different. I’m inspired by 1968 as a year that represents—well, people were trying to make things better and they got defeated is what happened. To say ‘1968, yeah! They tried really hard and got gunned down!’ is not what I wanna think of. But there is obviously a real connection between now and the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. In a way, that’s a correct comparison. But if you could look at the news and it’d say all of a sudden kids and people who were fed up were taking to the street, I’d say, ‘You’re right! It is coming!’ In ‘M.L.K.,’ I’m saying that happened forty years ago and saying what are we doing? We should be keeping that alive, and I try and we should try—I feel that song is relevant because of that lack of attention to what he was all about. It’s more like—remember this. If there’s one song in my life that I’ve ever written words to say something specific, it’s that song. ‘M.L.K.’
What did you want to say?
PL: The song.
GB: I said everything in the song. People are complacent at this point about thinking about what he wanted. He was just one individual but he vocalized the dreams and aspirations of millions of people, and it’s lazy of us as humans and Americans to be like, ‘That’s been accomplished! Next!’ That has not been accomplished yet—that’s important to remember. There were a lot of things he warned against. Divide and conquer—the oldest trick in the book. Once he was gone, people became more divided. In ’69 and ’70 and ’71 everyone that was coming together was like, ‘No, I think this and you think that! I’m a feminist and you’re a macho jerk!’ Everyone split up! So those kind of differences are what I’m trying to say—they’re less important than our common humanity. That’s what he was about—what Gandhi’s biggest inspiration was about. There was a starting point of racial issues or poverty issues but what he was really trying to say was all people are one and we should come together and focus on what connects us. I think that’s still really important. I don’t think it’s fully accomplished yet. Things have happened since then to bring it closer to reality—that’s why I sing in a hopeful way. I think we can do it. But ‘Yes We Can!’ became ‘Yes We Did!’ Just because someone is president doesn’t mean a lot of other people aren’t living with the same stress.
In the song, you say ‘I voted for change, didn’t change anything.’
GB: I don’t know how you hear it but I say I’m asking ‘will it?’ or ‘did it?’ It took two years to make the album. It went from ‘cast your vote and it don’t mean a thing’—when I wrote that, it had to do with the fact we’d had two elections stolen. By the time it was recorded, Obama had won. So instead of saying ‘doesn’t change anything,’ I think I said ‘will it change anything?’ Not to say it won’t and I think it has—that’s a big part of why it’s relevant. But to be like ‘He won! Everything is cool!’—that’s not how people are going to get the best lives.
What permanent changes has California worked on you?
GB: Permanent changes? I wanted to live out here since I was really young. I toured with Convocation Of when I was in 11th grade and I played the Smell with the Locust. The floor almost caved in and the riot squad was almost called—‘THIS IS WHERE I WANNA LIVE!’

THE ENTRANCE BAND’S SELF-TITLED LP IS OUT NOW ON ECSTATIC PEACE. VISIT THE ENTRANCE BAND AT THEENTRANCEBAND.COM OR MYSPACE.COM/ENTRANCERECORDS.

THUR., JULY 2 at 8 PM: Chicano Rock!: The Sounds of East Los Angeles

“Let’s take a trip down Whittier Boulevard!” chant Thee Midniters, in Jon Wilkman’s beautiful love letter to the soulful sounds of So Cal. Narrated by Edward James Olmos, this lively and inspiring film explores more than fifty years in the musical history of East Los Angeles, America’s largest Mexican-American community. For decades, generations of East L.A. artists created a unique musical voice, and in the process, proudly expressed their cultural identity, from ’40s pachuco swing to ’50s teen idol Ritchie Valens, ’60s garage rock and soul, to punk and beyond. Chicano Rock! features the timeless music of these eras, including Lalo Guerrero, Ritchie Valens, Cannibal and the Headhunters, Thee Midniters, El Chicano, Tierra, Los Lobos, Ozomatli, and Alice Velasquez (The Bags, Cholita, Las Tres). Jam-packed with rare footage, photos, artifacts, Chicano Rock! treats you to an exhilarating lowrider cruise that could only happen on the streets of Los Angeles. Author Gene Aguilera (“The Golden Age of Chicano Rock ‘n Roll”) will be on-hand to spin classic 45s, and we’ve also got a post-screening live set by a very special seminal L.A. punk band!

Dir. Jon Wilkman, 2008, digital presentation, 60 min.

Tickets – $12

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THUR., JULY 9 at 8 PM: B-MUSIC & DJ ANDY VOTEL PRESENT: Hungarian Rock Night

British DJ extraordinaire Andy Votel will be in person at the Cinefamily to spin tunes and to present what is both a remarkable achievement in Hungarian pop culture and Eastern European film, starring some of the leading lights of both Communist era New Wave cinema and the forward-thinking Hungarian rock scene. Szép lányok, ne sírjatok! (aka Don’t Cry, Pretty Girls) stars Jaroslava Schallerova (fresh from her leading role in Valerie And Her Week Of Wonders) alongside Hungarian rock goddess Sarolta Zalatnay and a cast of freak-rock non-actors plucked from the disgruntled state-governed Qualiton and Pepita record label rosters to make this underhanded tribute to the ‘silenced’ pop group Illes, in disguise as a working-class drama/rock festival liberation expose. Directed by Marta Mészáros (wife of Hungarian New Wave luminary Miklós Jancsó) and featuring heavy footage of bands like Metro, Syrius and Omega (who can be heard on the recently released “Well Hung” compilation on Finders Keepers records), this buried and previously untranslated film holds serious appeal to fans of both Polish and Czech Cinema, Mod culture, Youth culture and obscure 70′s rock music.

Dir. Marta Mészáros 1970, digital presentation, 90 min

Tickets – $10

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THUR., JULY 16 at 8 PM: America’s Lost Band: The Remains

“Had these Boston bad boys stuck it out beyond their 1966 debut, we might today be calling them–and not the Stones–the World’s Greatest Rock N’ Roll band.” -Mark Kemp, Paste Magazine

They played The Ed Sullivan Show, were hand-picked by Paul McCartney to open for the Beatles, and then…gone. America’s Lost Band captures the essence of The Remains, one of the best of American rock bands you’ve never heard. The story follows guitarist Barry Tashian, keyboardist Billy Briggs, bassist Vern Miller and drummer Chip Damiani, the four young original members of The Remains, from their earliest beginnings to their all-too-early end, when they broke up on the brink of fame, right after opening for the Beatles’ last-ever tour in 1966. America’s Lost Band finds the heart of music that refuses to die, culminating in the band’s recent well-deserved rediscovery and reunion. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Michael Stich, producer Fred Cantor, Remains keyboardist Bill Briggs and Remains frontman Barry Tashian (who will also be on hand to sign copies of his book “Ticket To Ride”, as well as your Remains albums!), in addition to a live set by psych garage rockers The Living Sickness!

Dir. Michael Stich, 2008, HDCAM, 66 min.

Tickets – $12

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THUR., JULY 23 at 8 PM: It Came From Detroit

In a smashing, energetic presentation, It Came From Detroit lovingly puts on display the “Motor City”, home to an internationally renowned and influential garage rock scene. Starting with The Gories in the 1980s, the bands of the Detroit garage scene have been known for two things: an impeccable knowledge of rock history, and a raucous live show. As bands such as the White Stripes, The Von Bondies, and the Electric Six started to develop a following overseas, journalists everywhere started to hype Detroit as “the next Seattle”, and It Came From Detroit documents the evolution of this scene, from its humble underground beginnings to its ascension as a trend known the world over. And, perhaps most touchingly, the film deals as well with how the unexpected popularity of certain key bands impacts the scene’s small group of friends, as some are catapulted to global recognition, while others are barely known outside of Detroit’s crumbling confines. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director James R. Petix, plus a live set by special musical guests!

Dir. James R. Petix, 2008, digital presentation, 102 min.

Tickets – $12

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THUR., JULY 30 at 8 PM: Pardon Us For Living But The Graveyard Is Full

30+ years. 2000+ shows. No hits. No sleep. In 1976, a gang of kids from Queens stumbled upon some abandoned instruments in the basement of the house they were renting and ended up forming a band. Little did they realize that thirty years later, they’d still be struggling to play their music and pay the bills. The Fleshtones were an integral part of the ’70s NYC underground scene and, amazingly, having soldiered on as a paradox, simultaneously legendary and obscure: boasting a rabid worldwide fan base and a reputation as a white-hot live act, but barely able to keep a record label for two albums in a row and ignored in all histories of the scene they helped create. Stunning vintage footage, insight from Peter Buck (R.E.M.), Clem Burke (Blondie) and Handsome Dick Manitoba (The Dictators), and candid self-deprecating interviews with band members Peter Zaremba, Keith Streng, Bill Milhizer and Ken Fox add up to a thoroughly entertaining portrait of the real hardest-working garage band in show biz. The evening’s screening will be followed by a live set by special musical guests!

Dir. Geoffray Barbier, 2009, digital presentation, 65 min.

Tickets – $12

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SAT., AUG. 1: BMI Roundtable Panel: Music, in Film, TV and New Media ’09

Join us for an intimate discussion of the changing landscape for music rights and new media. Musicians can find out how to get their music into films, TV and new media, and filmmakers can learn how to clear the rights for music for their work. The afternoon’s event will be moderated by Michael Des Barres, and guests include Doreen Ringer-Ross (BMI), music supervisors Tracy McKnight (Julien Donkey-Boy, Human Nature, Murderball) and Howard Paar (The L-Word, Dogtown and Z-Boys, Ken Park), composer Jay Ferguson (“The Office”), DKTR founder/film director Allison Anders (Border Radio, Grace Of My Heart, Things Behind The Sun), and more!

Tickets – $7

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THUR., AUG. 6: Wesley Willis’s Joyrides and Haack…The King Of Techno

Despite impossible odds, self-proclaimed rock ‘n roll star and “Chicago City Artist” Wesley Willis became an underground rock icon, revered artist and hero to many before his untimely death in 2003. Through his force of personality, his drawing talents, his unique vocabulary and an incredibly focused and singular songwriting style, Wesley’s creativity attracted people from all walks of life, and helped him to overcome the daily torment of schizophrenia, a haunting condition which plagued him throughout his adult life. Directors Chris Bagley and Kim Shively spent five years on the road and at home with Willis (along withn his many family members, friends and collaborators) to create the definitive portrait of Wesley as prolific artist and musician, on his path from obscurity to fame–a journey which will leave you uplifted, tickled and adrenalized.

Bruce Haack was one of the most musically and lyrically inventive artists of the early electronic age, combining homemade analog synths, classical, country, pop and acid rock elements into one massive, heady stew. His craft evolved from his passion and creation of numerous kids’ records, and today his work has inspired the likes of world-renowned musicians such as Beck, the Beastie Boys and Mouse On Mars, proving he’s an almost-lost treasure ripe for rediscovery. Packed with warped visuals, wild music and far out stories, Haack follows the King of Techno as he drops in on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” and golden-oldie game show host Garry Moore, playing his bizarre instruments such as the Peopleodian, a device played by touching peoples’ skin! Directed in true Haack spirit, for kids, adults and music fans alike, Philip Anagnos’ directorial debut will send you out humming “School For Robots” and scrambling for Haack’s records! Director Philip Anagnos will appear in person for a post-screening Q&A session!

Wesley Willis’s Joyrides  Dirs. Chris Bagley & Kim Shivley, 2008, DigiBeta, 78 min.

Haack: The King of Techno  Dir. Philip Anagnos, 2004, DigiBeta, 57 min.

I Need That Record! asks the simple question: why have over 3,000 independent record stores in the U.S. closed in the past decade? As much a cool history lesson on vinyl as a portrait of greedy record labels, media consolidation, homogenized radio, big box stores, e-commerce, shoddy “stars” pushed by big money and even the digital revolution, the film is, at its core, a loving tribute to the cherished nerdy record stores which for decades have nurtured our access to the music we all love. In addition to the exploration of its juicy premise, the film contains interviews with Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Ian MacKaye (Fugazi), Mike Watt (Minutemen), Lenny Kaye (Patti Smith Group), Chris Frantz (Talking Heads), Pat Carney (The Black Keys), composer Glenn Branca, authors Noam Chomsky and Legs McNeil, rock photographer Bob Gruen–and dozens of indie record stores across the U.S. of A.! The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Brendan Toller, a panel discussion (moderated by Michael Des Barres, featuring special guests) on the fate of the indie record store today, a Danny Benair Record Club listening party (bring a record to share if you want!), and a record swap on the Cinefamily outdoor patio!

Dir. Brendan Toller, 2008, digital presentation, 77 min.

Tickets – $10

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THUR., AUG. 20 at 8 PM: ON/OFF: Mark Stewart from The Pop Group to The Maffia

This one’s a must for all post-punk junkies! The name of singer/industrial hip-hop pioneer Mark Stewart may not be instantly familiar, but his influence is felt the world over. From his early days with confrontational post-punk pioneers The Pop Group to his myriad collaborations with the likes of Trent Reznor, Massive Attack and Primal Scream, Stewart has provided ghostly beats and haunting vocals for over thirty years, and shows no signs of stopping. German filmmaker Tøni Schifer, who followed Stewart around for three years, has crafted a detailed, intimate portrait of the artist, supplemented by interviews with Stewart himself, his Pop Group co-horts Dan Catsis, Gareth Sager and John Waddington, Keith Levine (P.I.L.), Janine Rainforth (Maximum Joy), Douglas Hart (The Jesus & Mary Chain), Fritz Catlin (23 Skidoo), Daniel Miller (Mute Records), Nick Cave, Mick Harvey, Massive Attack and many others, plus some terrific never-before-seen vintage performance footage. Plus, scenes of the wildly eccentric Stewart interacting with his mother are not to be missed! Straight from Berlin, director Tøni Schifer will be in attendance for a post-screening Q&A!

Dir: Tøni Schifer, 2009, DigiBeta, 90 min.

Tickets – $12

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SPECIAL SATURDAY SCREENING

SAT., AUG. 22 at 5 PM: Of All The Things

The most unique comeback story of the year. Dennis Lambert was one of the most successful and diverse songwriter/producers of the ’70s and ’80s, with hits like “Ain’t No Woman (Like The One I’ve Got)”, “Rhinestone Cowboy”, “Don’t Pull Your Love”, “Baby Come Back” and “Night Shift”. He had chart-toppers in almost every genre of music–at one point, four of his songs were simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, a feat previously accomplished only by The Beatles. That was then. Today, he’s a 60-year-old family man selling real estate in Florida. But it turns out his obscure 1972 solo album is huge–in the Philippines. A Filipino concert promoter has been begging Dennis to tour for decades, and in 2007 he finally agreed. Of All The Things is a hilarious and touching pop/rock/country/R&B documentary that follows Dennis on his whirlwind tour, as he rediscovers his passion for music and thousands of fans he never knew he had. Some lives deserve an encore. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Dennis Lambert, his documentarian/son Jody Lambert, and some very special guests!

Dir. Jody Lambert, 2008, HDCAM, 83 min.

Tickets – $10

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THUR., AUG. 27 at 8 PM: Night Flight tribute night

Before infomercials took over the late-night airwaves, overnight programming was a staid line-up of reruns, talk shows, and old movies. Throughout most of the ’80s however, there was one anarchic alternative—-Night Flight. Premiering on the fledgling USA Network on June 5, 1981–two months before MTV’s arrival—-Night Flight was a glorious amalgamation of music videos, short films, cartoons, interviews, concerts, and cult movies. For many viewers, it was a video primer to the counterculture of the Reagan era, featuring artists and films that at the time could not be seen anywhere else and for seven years, Night Flight was required viewing for stoners, punkers, headbangers, and insomniacs. Now, twenty years after the final episode was aired, the show’s producers have gone back into their video vaults and emerged with this best-of program that will bring tears of joy to fans’ sleep-deprived eyes, as well as a musical feature film picked from the Night Flight programming schedule archives! Night Flight creator Stuart Shapiro will appear in-person for a Q&A after the program!

Tickets – $10

Download: Mika Miko “I Got a Lot (New New New)”

(off We Be Xuxa out now on PPM)

It’s hard to think of We Be Xuxa as a “sophomore album,” since Mika Miko have been sharing their music on 7” and cassette since the days when George W. Bush could still get reelected—everybody and their dad has seen Mika Miko play the Smell a billion times and probably stumbled into one of their sets at a college campus, warehouse, or SXSW showcase. Though at first they kinda filled the ecological niche abandoned by the Sharp Ease, Mika Miko’s fame and goodwill has shot far past that—and past anything we expected. They’ve proven to be unstoppable juggernauts of three-chord joy equally at home on a stage with metal hardcore punkers, noise bands, electro hip-hop brats, pop bands, smoke machines and smoky barbecues bursting with Tofurky beer brats.

And what I’d like to do with We Be Xuxa is sculpt a little narrative about musical arcs, and where this album fits into Mika Miko’s happy lifespan, and how it shows a progression or should be showing a progression or has too many extras or not enough. But Mika Miko stands gleefully outside of the spotlight of conventional criticism, as they continue to bang out the most fun-rockin’ sounds of these Smell-y times. They think of themselves as a live band, with recordings being more documentary than sound-crafting, so who am I to even judge? I wouldn’t want to immortalize myself poo-pooing a band whose t-shirts will still be worn thirty years from now by kids in Austin and Greece, but if I write a praise-piece, I may be stroking this generation’s Leaving Trains. (Never head of ‘em? Just ask an Angeleno aged 40-46 and prepare for some teary-eyed adulation).

So fuck history and fuck the scene. This album is really really fun to listen to, and never gives me dry mouth the way, say, bands like No Age sometimes do. (There, I said it!) Whereas so many acts who have “broken out” of the Smell excel at noisy dissonance and minimalist sound, Mika Miko remains minimal in the tried-and-true ways of their forefathers/mothers—three chords, screams and shouts, and short songs that sound nothing like Sonic Youth funneling Steve Reich and so much the better for it. On the surface, We Be Xuxa almost seems like a retread of old school American punk, but actually it evokes without constant copying—it’s fresh-faced punk, yet my heart hears Born Innocent-era Redd Kross in their sisterly choruses, and early early Black Flag or even Ramones in their strumming (minus Greg Ginn’s noodling) and Wipers downturns on the chords, and a Darby Crash-like insistence on writing lyrics too self-referential and profound to sing straight into the microphone. And there’s even a Urinals cover!?! And there’s a Beach Blvd-esque melodicism to Jessie Clavin’s bass lines, one that perfectly matches their Descendants-like love of making up pragmatic gerunds such as “Totion.”

A lot of reviewers have said these gals (et dude) sound like X-Ray Spex, but that is a lazy lie! Jenna Thornhill only seriously plays sax on one song, “Sex Jazz,” and that’s more of a death disco stomp—like Public Image Limited’s “Annalisa” as covered by Suburban Lawns. If I were to compare her to a punker dead, I would say that when Thornhill really sings, and has room to stretch out a bit past the Kipper Kid mongoloid voice she affects, she strongly evokes Mia Zapata’s womanly growl from the old Gits albums. She’s got some seriously untapped talent playing hide and seek with Jennifer Clavin on dueling phone-vocals. But when you hear the chemistry on call-and-response cryptic craziness like “Turkey Sandwich,” you can’t blame them for not exploring new skills when the old ones still work so well.

And the best part of the album is something that I have to admit I have NOT heard yet! Though L.A. RECORD always promises me free vinyl, the most I’ve gotten so far is a Halloween Swim Team single I could have scammed anyway. Ergo, I’ve only heard We Be Xuxa in its digital format, so haven’t been able to replicate the sweet secret I’ve been told exists on the end of the album—namely, that the final groove of the final song never terminates, and that your record player will just keep spinning it over and over again in a sonic loop-de-loop of delight. If that’s true, that puts We Be Xuxa on the par with vintage vinyl such as Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music and another PiL song, “The Cowboy Song.” Perhaps this attention to detail, plus the piano plinks on punk-perfect “Beat the Rush” and the bomb drops on “On the Rise,” prove that Mika Miko care more about crafting studio albums than they care to admit. No matter—Mika Miko is a band enjoying a well-deserved rocket ride to fame and good cheer, and We Be Xuxa is a perfect transmission back to home base that will still sound good thirty years from now, even if I’m just blasting it on my way to the latest hip all-ages venue in Culver City.

—Dan Collins

Download: Sonic Youth “Sacred Trickster”

(from The Eternal out now on Matador)

Three months after their last L.A. appearance—in spirit and curatorial form—at Origami, Sonic Youth will arrive in person to play the Wiltern on Tue., Sept. 29, with guests still to be announced. Tickets are available here and more info below:

SONIC YOUTH is set to perform at The Wiltern on Tuesday, September 29th, 2009. Tickets for this show go on sale Saturday, June 27th at 10 AM exclusively online at www.livenation.com. This tour is in support of their critically acclaimed new album The Eternal.

The Eternal is Sonic Youth’s 2009 celebration of newfound freedom. After many years signed to an ever precarious corporate label, the band has been liberated and is releasing this CD with their friends at Matador. Inspirations ran high in preparation for the recording. Abandoning the time tested routine of writing and rehearsing a cycle of songs in one time period, SY changed tactics and would compose two to three tracks one weekend and record them the following weekend. After a solid month they had a dozen killers.

Twelve tunes that are a fireworks display of SONIC YOUTH touchstones. From the primal no wave attack of its earliest days, to the radical chording and song structures of its 90s period, to the more focused and contemporary explorations of the last five years.

SONIC YOUTH began way back in 1980 in the downtown disaster unit of NYC. First three records (Sonic Youth, Confusion is Sex, Kill Yr Idols) began in 1981 on the Neutral label started by Glenn Branca. They then signed to Gerard Cosloy’s Homestead imprint releasing Bad Moon Rising and the Flower/Halloween 12” to universal intrigue and acclaim. They switched labels to release records (Sister, Evol) on SST, the Southern California label overseen by Greg Ginn of Black Flag, while Mr. Cosloy went on to join Matador Records with Chris Lombardi. Concurrently they established a relationship with Paul Smith and Blast First Records in the UK co-releasing the Homestead and SST titles and culminating with the massive end of the decade double LP Daydream Nation, since added to the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress. The band signed to DGC/Geffen in 1990 and began an ascendant affair there releasing Goo and Dirty to much heated excitement until the label became a scattered asylum. They continued to release strange, out-of –step recordings with Geffen throughout the 90s and early 2000s. Young wizard Jim O’Rourke came on board with the band as a multi-instrumentalist/producer collaborating on two of their most progressive LPS to date, Murray Street and Sonic Nurse, as well as the ongoing series of experimental LPs on the bands own SYR imprint. After Jim’s departure, and after releasing Rather Ripped, their final statement on Geffen (and which ranked third in Rolling Stone’s Top 50 Albums of 2006) the band recruited their pal from compatriot 90s band Pavement, Mark Ibold, to play bass. After a solid bout of touring Mark joined the band in the recording of The Eternal.