A tendril of distorted sound sucked lingering smokers and their friends back inside from The Echo’s sloped smoker’s corral. A man with a ponytail dressed like a turn of the century undertaker in his black 3-piece suit sang with distorted vocals in an unrecognizable language, and played a mysterious wind instrument while his companion—nattily dressed The Bearded Mod—dryly manned some kind of sample board/synth on the almost pitch black stage. They are Hrair Hratchian (the undertaker) and Radwan Moumneh (the mod, a.k.a. Clues’ producer), and are called Jerusalem in My Heart. The effect was that of a muezzin calling the faithful to prayer (look it up on the internets), and boy, were there some Clues believers in attendance ready to worship when JIMH noiselessly exited the stage after just one song.

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The Nocturnes are quick to demolish ideas of Chopin and wistful pianos—by the end of the first song “I Love the Lighthouse Keeper,” 1970s prog rock is clearly a better fit than the 19th century. Non-standard time signatures and abrupt shifts and some unexpected use of synthesizers are all constants on this album, but their aesthetic extends beyond that genre, too. For a duo consisting of Emma Ruth Rundle and Daniel Yasmin, they pack a lot of different sounds into A Year of Spring. Think Sonic Youth, Zeppelin, and maybe even a dirtier, less classical-minded My Brightest Diamond, and you wouldn’t be too far off the mark.

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The Warlocks have been panned for both self-similarity and for trying different sounds, for taking drugs and not taking drugs, for their chaos and careerism. At this point in their career, if they made a fantastic album, would anyone stop coming up with memes long enough to notice?

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photo courtesy poo bah We weren’t able to get a hold of everyone in Southern California who is observing Record Store Day tomorrow, but we did ask a few of our favorite local stores what sort of special things they’ll be doing. If you aren’t at Coachella—or if you want to sneak away—be sure to [...]

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Jimmy Hall

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