Last night (Saturday), I went to the Windward Battle of the Bands at the El Rey (for those of you who don't know Windward is a fairly small private high school in LA). Getting the El Rey for the night was definitely a big plus for the event, so even though there was only around a hundred people there, having the awesome El Rey marquis outside reading "Windward Battle of the Bands" and the crystal glow of the immense chandeliers illuminating the inside definitely made for a pretty cool environment/must have been a really fun experience for high schoolers playing a concert. Oh, and also, the people playing were from all different schools, although many of the kids were from Windward.
The first band, the Modern Drone, were just meh. They just sort of sounded like a bunch of teenagers playing music, nothing special. (Don't get me wrong, they are better musicians than me and I give them major props for playing, I just didn't think they were as good as some of the other bands.)
The next band, Range Life, were the band most likely to be seen on my blog on any given day, in terms of their style. They definitely fit into the LA sound if you ask me. Clean electric guitar, upbeat, tight drums etc. (so they definitely in with the Local Natives/Deadly Syndrome etc. scene/sound), but they had their own little spin on it too, with really good trumpet (riffs?) giving the song a slightly more complex feel. Martin Isenberg's vocals remind me a lot of Conor Oberst; slightly raspy, a little bit of a shout, and lots of passion that add up to the feeling that he really cares about his music. These guys were my favorites for the night, but I do think that band that won (not these guys) deserved it. If you like these two songs become fans of them on Facebook, I'm sure they would appreciate it. I also really like their lyrics...
mp3: Piece by Piece (It's only a download)
mp3: Things You'll Never Forget
The Yellows followed Range Life, and were super enjoyable/fun to listen to, but after talking to some of the guys in the band they said they just really came together for this show, so I'm not going to write too much about them (plus they don't have any mp3's for me so there's really no point). They were a sort of jazzy/swinger/swanky fun mix style that I don't really no how to explain, but whatever (if you are reading this Micah great job).
The next band was not very good in my opinion, nor were they my (or I think anybody who reads this blog's) style, so I will pretty much just skip over them. I think all I need to do to describe them is describe what the guitarist was wearing - he had super long curly hair, he was wearing a fur coat, which he later took, showing that he had no shirt on underneath, and tight, black leather pants. Oh, and later he started walking around with a Motley Crue t-shirt. 'Nuff Said.
Now, for the highlight of the night (IMHO)... DJ Jack Taylor. So what Jack did was reprogram an ancient gameboy to essentially turn it into a sampler, and then took that idea, and ran. What ensues from this crazy concept is a techno-y, electronic, 8-bit playground of sound. It's filled with your fuzzy synth sounds, clear beeps and boops, and more. Soon I'll get recordings of some of his stuff, I just haven't had time to get it from him. He is making all the music live and in real-time... it's definitely one of the most creative/fun/interesting things I have ever seen. Another cool aspect of it was just how the performance worked out; he started out on the stage standing there with just the gameboy and bopping his head up and down with everyone just sort of looking up at him, but then he hopped off the stage and just stood in the audience... it was a very unique performance, that's for sure. The closest thing to his sound that I can think of is Anamanaguchi (who are really good, if you haven't checked them out). UPDATE: Upon just doing some Wikipedia freshening up, this style of using a game chip to create songs is called "Chiptune," and it turns out Anamanaguchi are also chiptune artists, explaining the similarity. This picture below is just a little spread that I made of a single shot that I thought would sort of be cool... Tell me if you like it/think it's lame and cheeezzy.
Ya like?
But wait, there's more????
Vas Defrans were up next (and yes there band name is part of the testicle... what that says about them I am unsure of...). They were probably the most skilled musicians, and probably the best performers. They weren't really my style, but their talent, stage skills, and energy made me like them. They were super aggressive; everything felt like it was pumped full of energy. It seemed like they were always on the attack with intense guitar. The lead singer was absolutely wrapped up in the music; he brought tons of energy... really the whole band did. I know I keep saying that I just don't really know what else to say. They had a sort of Mars Volta sound, and upon talking to one of the guys after, it turned out he was actually friends with one of the Mars Voltians (term coined). They closed with a a cover, Sunburn by Muse. They turned an awesome song into their own, which is the best thing that can be said of any cover. I still haven't gotten a hold of any mp3s.
So... they ended up winning. Time to go home right? WRONG, there was still the much anticipated DJ set of the duo Treefrog. It started with the lights completely out (the first time that happened all night) and the curtains drawn on the stage, and then...
The music from the iconic opening scene of A Clockwork Orange came on (that is one of if not my favorite movie and book). The curtains were opened and on stage were four people, all dressed in all white with white suspenders and black hats, just like Alex and the Droogies at the Milkbar. Then the other two guys went into the audience and pretty much just danced and the two main guys DJed. Not much else to say about a DJ set (I don't really know how to review one anyways...). It ended with most of the people who were still left on stage.
All in all a good night...
And one more thing...
OK Go :: This Too Shall Pass
Well do these guys have a knack for making viral videos... After already making an excellent video for the single from their new album, they then went on to make this video, which is essentially a giant Rube Goldberg machine set to music... what could be better...
-- A (Tired) Teenage Elephant
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