#los angeles guitar quartet

[slackville-records]

As the man who popularized the guitar in a jazz setting, his legacy lives on.

Charlie Christian was born on July 29, 1916 in Bonham, Texas but was raised in Oklahoma City from the time he was two years old. Charlie's immediate family were all musically talented - his mother played the piano; his father sang and played the trumpet and guitar; his brother, Clarence, played the violin and the mandolin; and his oldest brother, Edward, played the string bass. His parents made a living writing accompaniments for silent movies. At the age of twelve, Charlie was playing on a guitar that he had made from a cigar box in a manual training class. Charlie was actually first trained on the trumpet which was a huge contribution to his fluid single-note guitar style. Then, his father and brothers formed a quartet and Charlie got a real guitar. They performed in Oklahoma City clubs and Charlie even met Lester Young (tenor saxophonist) during one of his performances. Charlie was fascinated by Lester's style which helped in shaping his own stylistic development.

At the age of twenty-one he was playing electric guitar and leading a jump band. At the age of 23 (1939), Charlie was discovered by a talent scout, John Hammond, who had stopped in Oklahoma city to attend Benny Goodman's first Columbia recording sessions. Pianist Mary Lou Williams had actually recommended Charlie to John Hammond. Goodman was not very excited, this was due to the fact that Charlie was an unknown musician playing an electric instrument. The amplified electric guitar was fairly new at the time (trombonist and arranger Eddie Durham began playing it as a solo instrument in Jimmie Lunceford's band in 1935). It was essentially an amplified "f-hole," and it helped in making the jazz guitar solo a practical reality for the first time.

Previously relegated to a chordal rhythm style by the limitations of the acoustic instrument, jazz guitarists could now revel in the volume, sustain, and tonal flexibility provided by amplification. Charlie quickly realized the potential of the electric guitar, and developed a style which made the most of the unique properties of the instrument. When Charlie arrived in Los Angeles, he was only allowed a brief audition and he was not even allowed the time to plug in his amp. Goodman was not impressed so Hammond decided to sneak Charlie onstage later that night during a concert at the Victor Hugo. This made Goodman angry and he responded by launching into "Rose Room," which he assumed Charlie would be unfamiliar with. Charlie performed an impressive extended solo on the piece. This impressed Goodman and Charlie was let into the band.

Charlie was a hit on the electric guitar and remained in the Benny Goodman Sextet for two years (1939-1941). He wrote many of the group's head arrangements (some of which Goodman took credit for) and was an inspiration to all. The sextet made him famous and provided him with a steady income while Charlie worked on legitimizing, popularizing, revolutionizing, and standardizing the electric guitar as a jazz instrument.

After working at nights with Goodman, Charlie would seek out jam sessions. He discovered a club in Harlem, Minton's, located on New York's West 118th Street. At Minton's Charlie played with such greats as Dizzie Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Thelonius Monk, Joe Guy (trumpet), Nick Fenton (bass), Kenny Kersey (piano), and Kenny Clarke (drums). Charlie impressed them all by improvising long lines that emphasized off beats, and by using altered chords. He even bought a second amp to leave at Minton’s. Jamming sessions would usually last until about 4 A.M. and Minton’s became the cradle of the bebop movement. Charlie's inventive single-note playing helped popularize the electric guitar as a solo instrument and helped usher in the era of bop.

In the summer of 1941, Christian was touring the Midwest when he began showing the first signs of tuberculosis. He left the tour and was admitted to the Seaview Sanatorium on Staten Island. While he was there, he died on March 2, 1942 at the age of twenty-five.

Charlie Christian’s most familiar recordings are those with Benny Goodman which were available on vinyl for years ("Solo Flight") and which are now available on cd as "Charlie Christian: Genius of the Electric Guitar." There are recorded sessions from when he played with members of the Goodman and Count Basie bands, Lester Young, and numerous artists at Minton's. Charlie Christian had an immense influence on the development of BeBop and the transition from Swing to BeBop.

Source: All About Jazz

[palilalia]

PAL-087 Ava Mendoza LP/CD

"The Circular Train"

Ava Mendoza has never made an album quite as personal as her second solo full-length, The Circular Train. Through her decades of collaborations with Nels Cline, Carla Bozulich, William Parker, Fred Frith, Matana Roberts, and Mick Barr — plus years leading her power trio Unnatural Ways and playing in Bill Orcutt’s quartet — the guitarist’s name has become synonymous with virtuoso technique, raw passion, and visceral resonance, a player pushing the edges of the guitar’s possibilities. Along the way, from 2007 to 2023, Mendoza was writing these slow-burning, incandescent songs. The Circular Train is comprised solely of her single-tracked guitar playing and, on two songs, her corporeal singing. Her first solo LP of original material since relocating from California to New York City a decade ago, much of The Circular Train was honed amid pandemic years that clarified the virtues of slowing down. This expressive avant-rock is a definitive introduction to one of the most uncompromising and inquisitive visions in creative music. Mendoza’s thrilling melange of free jazz, blues, noise, classical training, and blazing experimental rock’n’roll all coheres with ecstatic feedback, with picking and solos that crest with shimmer. Sometimes she sounds like a one-woman Sonic Youth with guttural and poised vocals that equally evoke Patti Smith and blues greats like Jessie Mae Hemphill. Conceptually, The Circular Train is presented as a psychogeographical train ride through certain of Mendoza’s musical homelands. The songs draw on ancestral and recent familial memories, notably of her parents’ roots in mining towns — in her father’s home country of Bolivia and mother’s hometown of Butte, Montana, each country with its own history of colonialism, racism, forced labor, the eradication of culture and the subsequent excavation of it. These adventurous songs were composed in cars and planes, in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, in Los Angeles and upstate New York — which is to say in motion. “Ride to Cerro Rico,” named for the mountain and silver mine at the center of Potosi, Bolivia, was inspired by Mendoza’s great grandmother’s life there in a Quechua mining family. “Dust From the Mines” drew from that history as well as Mendoza’s familial lineage of miners in Montana, building up to stunning swaths of shredded iridescence. “Pink River Dolphins” was inspired by a visit to the Amazon rainforest, swimming with dolphins alongside her father — the pink bufeos that inhabit both Bolivia and Columbia — and the song is dedicated to the memory of Mendoza’s late friend, the Colombian-American trumpeter jaimie branch. They shared a fascination with those intelligent and agile creatures who often communicate by echolocation. “Make a sound, it comes back around,” Mendoza sings, and later, “Echo, echo/The answer in a sound,” evoking what branch knew well: through music we navigate life. The Circular Train contains one cover, “Irene, Goodnight,” composed by Gussie Lord Davis and popularized by Leadbelly; Mendoza has been performing it for over 20 years. Almost as deeply embedded in her repertoire is the penultimate track, “The Shadow Song.” “Treat your shadow kind and it might treat you good,” Mendoza sings on this song that she’s been reworking for over a decade, an emblem of devotion. “Treat your shadow kind and it might treat you right,” she repeats, becoming a blues mantra. What is a shadow self if not one’s secret world, which, once laid bare, awaits an echo, a return? — JENN PELLY 

[screamingforyears]

IN A MINUTE:

A NEW MUSIC ROUND_UP…

“ALL WEEKEND” is the lead single/track from @cindytheband’s forthcoming EP titled ‘Swan Lake’ (10/4 @toughloverecords) & it finds Karina Gill’s San Francisco-based project, rounded out here by guitarists Oil Lipton/Stanley Martinez, bassist Will Smith & drummer Mike Ramos drowsily dream_poppin across a hazy 3:42 clip of jangled Indie.

“MOURNING HAZE” is the first taste of @glare.tx’s forthcoming debut LP (TBA: @sundaydriverecords@deathwishinc) & it finds the Texan quintet of Austin Barrientos, Chris Rez, Homer Solis, Jes Morales & Toni Ordaz dream_gazing across a 3+ mins of spaciously surging & six-string slangin AltRawk.

@nat.walker.music is here w/ a brand new standalone single titled “BLACK DIAMONDS” & it finds the Los Angeles-based artist setting the nighttime vibe, w/out overstaying its welcome, across an economically sound 2 min clip of instrumentally intoxicating, moodily minimalistic & boom_bappin LoungePop.

“CLICHÉ TOWN” is the second single from @sunsetrubdown’s forthcoming LP titled ‘Always Happy To Explode’ (9/20 Pronounced Kroog) & it finds the British Colombian quartet of Spencer Krug (keys/guitar/vocals), Camilla Wynne (keys/Omnichord/vox), Nicholas Merz (bass/vox) & Jordan Robson-Cramer (drums/guitar/vox) bringing the balladeering goods across 6 somberly sprawled minutes.

“YOU ARE COVERED IN BROOKLYN AMBER” is the lead single/title-track from @wanderingyearsmusic’s forthcoming EP (9/12 @candlepin_records @betterdayswillhauntyou) & it finds the Brooklyn-based Gene Stroman (vocals/guitar), Martin Besa (guitar), Kenny Hamilton (bass/vox), Justin Hla-Gyaw (guitar) & Alex Alfaro (drums) EMOtionally folking & slow_coring across 5 earnestly plaintive minutes. 📷: @kasey___k .

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet - Roulette, Brooklyn, New York, March 27, 2023 / Tiny Desk Concert

Here's what I wrote about Bill Orcutt's Music for Four Guitars for Aquarium Drunkard's year-end roundup: "A multitracked electric guitar masterpiece, [it] offers a richly layered trip. As with everything Orcutt does, there’s a wild intensity at work, but the interlinked compositions here could also work as meditation soundtracks. Orcutt continues to surprise." 

Most surprising, perhaps, is that Orcutt managed to take Four Guitars on the road this year. He brought with him some serious underground ringers to bring this stuff to life: Shane Parish, Ava Mendoza and Wendy Eisenberg. Thanks to Parish's notations, the quartet hews closely to the original compositions, but in a live setting, things open up and flow, creating a truly heady listening (and viewing) experience. Knotty, gnarly, totally beautiful. The musicians also seem to be having a blast playing together, which is always a plus in my book.

And hey, the Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet is playing in Los Angeles TONIGHT. I'd go if I were you.

[n4682]

loved your raut recs especially the violin concerto tysm :)))

general romantic / impressionist / modernist recs?

hey so sorry for responding late but i saw this and just kinda went a bit feral, so im sorry.

Alberto Ginastera

Piano Sonata No. 1 (Terence Judd [pfte.])

Piano Sonata No. 2 (Fernando Viani [pfte.])

Piano Concerto No. 1 (Sergio Tiempo [pfte.], Gustavo Dudamel [cond.] w/ Los Angeles Philharmonic)

Guitar Sonata (Aniello Desiderio [gtr.])

Harp Concerto (Nancy Allen [hrp.], Enrique Bátiz [cond.] w/ Orquesta Filarmónica de la Ciudad de México)

Alfred Schnittke

Concerto Grosso No. 1 (Gidon Kremer [vln.], Tatiana Grindenko [vln.], Heinrich Schiff [cond.] w/ Chamber Orchestra of Europe)

Concerto Grosso No. 2 (Oleg Kagan [vln.], Natalia Gutman [vcl.], Gennady Rozhdestvensky [cond.] w/ USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra)

Cello Concerto No. 1 (Natalia Gutman [vcl.], Gennady Rozhdestvensky [cond.] w/ USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra)

String Quartet No. 3 (Kronos Quartet)

Dmitri Shostakovich

Symphony No. 1 (there was a great recording but when i went to check the recording on yt it wasnt there and it sucks cause it was great)

Symphony No. 5 (Evgeny Mravinsky [cond.] w/ Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra)

Symphony No. 7 (Yevgeny Svetlanov [cond.] w/ USSR State Symphony Orchestra)

Symphony No. 9 (Rudolf Barshai [cond.] w/ WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne)

Symphony No. 15 (this one too dissapeared)

String Quartet No. 9 (Fitzwilliam Quartet)

Violin Concerto No. 1 (David Oistrakh [vln.], Dmitri Mitropoulos [cond.] w/New York Philharmonic)

Maurice Ravel

Violin Sonata No. 2 (Viktoria Mullova [vln.], Bruno Canino [pfte.])

Sonata for Violin and Cello (Jean-Jacques Kantorow [vln.], Philippe Muller [vcl.]

Introduction and Allegro, for Harp, Flute, Clarinet, and String Quartet (Skaila Kanga [hrp.], Academy of St. Martin in the fields)

Alborada del Gracioso (Fritz Reiner [cond.] w/Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Piano Concerto for the Left Hand (Samson François [pfte.], André Cluytens [cond.] w/Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire)

Piano Concerto in G (Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli [pfte.], Ettore Gracis [cond.] w/Philharmonia Orchestra)

La Valse (solo piano version) (Seong Jin-Cho [pfte.])

Valses Nobles et Sentimentales (Louis Lortie [pfte.])

Franz Liszt

honestly too many to list here (hehe, liszt here) but heres just some of the ones (marked with Searle numbers)

S.126i, S.139, S.145, S.173, S.174i, S.177, S.178, S.206, S.216, S.217, S.242 (especially no. 20), S.244/12 + 15 + 19, S.252, S253, S.254, S.388, S.390i, S.392, S.393, S.394, S.400, S.409a, S.412iii, S.413, S.418, S.420 (hehe funny number), S.464 (yes i prefer the arrangements, fight me), S.513a, S.558/4 + 12, S.695c, S.697i (not the Busoni version), S.700

Other Composers

Bela Bartók - Piano Concerto No. 2 (György Cziffra [pfte.], Marco Rossi [cond.] w/Budapest Symphony Orchestra)

Olivier Messaien - Le Banquet Céléste (Gillian Weir [org.])

Samuel Barber - Piano Concerto (John Browning [pfte.], George Szell [cond.] w/Cleveland Orchestra]

Kaikhosru Sorabji - Sequentia Cyclica on Dies Irae (Johnathan Powell [pfte.])

Ferrucio Busoni - Piano Concerto (Marc-André Hamelin [pfte.], YL Male Voice Choir [chor.], Osmo Vänskä [cond.] w/Lahti Symphony Orchestra)

Sergei Rachmaninoff - Sonata No. 2 (Nikolai Lugansky [pfte.])

Marc-André Hamelin - 12 Études in All the Minor Keys (Marc-André Hamelin [pfte.])

Eugène Ysaÿe - Sonata No. 5 for Solo Violin (Hilary Hahn [vln.])

Oren Boneh - Sprout (Lung-Yi Huang [gzhn.] w/ C-Camerata Taipei)

Karol Szymanowski - Violin Concerto No. 1 (Lydia Mordkovitch [vln.], Vassily Sinaisky [cond.] w/ BBC Philharmonic Orchestra)

aaaand i think im going to end the list there because this took WAY too long

[burlveneer-music]

Dwight Trible - Ancient Future - new album on Gearbox Records with a sweet guest list

Today, the inimitable jazz vocalist, activist, and nominal godfather of the LA jazz scene, Dwight Trible, returns with the announcement of his new album “Ancient Future”. Out 17th March via London jazz aficionados and analog specialists Gearbox Records , the new record follows his critically acclaimed album “Mothership”, which was released in 2019 and saw him collaborate with the likes of Kamasi Washington, Mark de Clive-Lowe, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, and more. On “Ancient Future”, Trible collaborates once again with Kamasi Washington (saxophone), as well as lauded LA multi-instrumentalist Georgia Anne Muldrow (vocals), who is signed to Brianfeeder and has previously worked with the likes of Madlib, Denzel Curry, Mos Def, Blood Orange, and Brittany Howard. Elsewhere, the record also features double Grammy winning pianist, John Beasley; Kamaal Williams touring drummer Greg Paul; gospel bassist André Gouché; percussionist and backing vocalist Megashia Jackson; LA guitarist G. E. Stinson; and percussionist Rene Fisher. A key figurehead in the LA jazz scene, Dwight Trible is a legend in waiting. With an incredible career spanning decades, he has played a pivotal role in creating as much jazz history through his work and inspiration in the new wave of US jazz, as he should be noted for in his undoubtable vocal and songwriting talent. He is the vocalist for the Pharoah Sanders Quartet and has collaborated with a huge variety of artists such as Kamasi Washington (singing on ‘The Epic’ and ‘Heaven and Earth’), J Dilla, Life Force Trio, Carlos Nino, John Beasley, Bobby Hutcherson, Charles Lloyd, and is also the vocal director for the Horace Tapscott Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra - a Los Angeles institution with a history stretching back forty years and an active engagement in the city's Black community since the Watts Uprising. Trible has also been on the forefront of the US jazz resurgence, working as executive director of the hugely crucial arts space The World Stage - a vital component to Leimert Park, which has been the epicentre of African-American art and culture in Los Angeles since the late 1960s. Artists such as Kamasi Washington and Terrace Martin have credited the venue as having helped to shape their sounds and the sense of community surrounding the scene, whilst also being an essential influence to the likes of Kendrick Lamar and Biz Markey, as well as number of artists from LA tastemaker label Brainfeeder and more. An avid and passionate activist, an enabler of the local scene and a figurehead in the LA jazz community, Trible’s focus is rarely self-seeking, always facing outward his focus is largely centred on giving, inclusion and teaching, whilst also inspiring others and expressing himself both on-stage on-record behind the scenes. Dwight Trible; vocals John Beasley; piano and keyboards André Gouché; electric bass guitar Greg Paul; drums and percussion G. E. Stinson; electric guitar Megashia Jackson; percussion and background vocals on ‘African Drum’ Rene Fisher; percussion on ‘African Drum’ Kamasi Washington; tenor saxophone on ‘African Drum’ Georgia Anne Muldrow; vocals on ‘Black Dance’ All tracks composed by Dwight Trible, John Beasley, André Gouché, Greg Paul and G. E. Stinson All lyrics written by Dwight Trible and Megashia Jackson

[randomvarious]

Today's compilation:

Oldies But Goodies, Vol. 1 1987 Doo Wop / Pop / R&B / Rock & Roll

Alright, folks, this is probably the last time that I'm gonna be typing out the name Art Laboe for a long while. He's the legendary Los Angeles radio DJ who did a lot of things in his career, including pioneering the art of repackaging oldies hits into various artist compilations—a seemingly simple format that you've likely taken for granted your whole life. However, before Laboe's groundbreaking Oldies But Goodies series was launched in the 50s—a phrase that he himself apparently coined!—scratching one's own nostalgia itch was a much more laborious task than just throwing on a single record to relive some of your faves from years past.

Now, upon its release, this series wound up selling like hotcakes, and it ended up yielding 15 different volumes in total. But as years would go by, rather than releasing more and more volumes after 1985, Laboe's label, Original Sound, insisted on retooling and reissuing these same albums with different tracklists instead. So, this compilation here was released as the first volume in the series, but it's actually a 1987 CD reissue, and its tracklist is markedly different from the actual first volume that had initiated this whole phenomenon decades prior.

Still though, the album's pretty good. Its first half is dominated by sappy doo wop ballads, which is the type of doo wop that I'm not too big a fan of, but it branches itself out nicely in the second half, closing out with a run of four unmistakable killers: Chuck Berry's landmark 1955 debut record, "Maybellene," which was one of the first songs to show people what rock & roll guitar could truly be capable of; The Cadets' "Stranded in the Jungle," an off-beat, moving and grooving 1956 one-hit wonder novelty, with deep-voiced spoken-word verses and jaunty bouts of horn and piano on its choruses; Lloyd Price's superbly catchy and highly popular 1958 New Orleans R&B rendition of "Stagger Lee;" and Etta James' 1955 debut record that never got any play on pop radio because it was deemed too risqué, but crushed it on the R&B chart anyway, "Dance With Me Henry," aka "The Wallflower," aka "Roll With Me Henry."

So, overall, out of all the Oldies But Goodies that I've now had the pleasure of diving into, this 1987 reissue of Volume 1 is probably my least favorite. But its final quartet of tunes is really nothing short of fantastic, and I just wish that the album could've been made with that same consistency all throughout, like a lot of other releases in this essential series seem to be.

Definitely not done with checking out oldies altogether, but I think I'll be putting this specific, history-making series to bed for the time being. I plan on revisiting it again someday, but that day is an indeterminately long way's away.

Highlights:

Chuck Berry - "Maybellene" The Cadets - "Stranded in the Jungle" Lloyd Price - "Stagger Lee" Etta James - "Dance With Me Henry"

[musicblogwales]

Frankie and the Witch Fingers - Futurephobic (Official Video)

Los Angeles psych-punk quartet Frankie and the Witch Fingers have shared new track “Futurephobic” alongside an official video. The song is taken from their seventh studio album Data Doom, due September 1 via The Reverberation Appreciation Society / Greenway Records. FLOOD Magazine gave the video an early debut, describing it as “in line with the album title’s vintage dystopian sci-fi connotations, swapping weed-smoke riffs for frigid new wave pulses and staccato vocal deliveries.”

“The main riff was an idea we came up with during the writing process for our album Monsters Eating People Eating Monsters… but we kept it in our back pockets, as it wasn’t quite fitting in with the theme of that album,” the band explains. “When we started writing Data Doom, it reemerged very organically and everyone latched onto the idea surprisingly fast and ran with it. We expanded on the main riff and came up with the other parts and overall arrangement while writing with our new lineup in our studio in LA. The whole process went surprisingly smoothly. We added backing vocals and overdubs while on tour last year in Europe, doing all the passes to complete the song from various apart-hotels, attics in France and Amsterdam.”

Though they’re currently in the midst of a massive trek across Europe, the band recently announced an extensive run of headline U.S. tour dates for this fall, which include performances at such esteemed venues as Warsaw in Brooklyn and The Troubadour in Los Angeles. See below for the full list of currently-announced dates.

Through six progressively expansive albums, innumerable live dates on an ever-expanding list of continents, and performances with the likes of Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Cheap Trick, ZZ Top and more (to say nothing of their impressive headline dates), Frankie and the Witch Fingers have earned their throngs of global fans with their ecstatically wild live shows and layered, visionary recordings. With Data Doom, the band is poised to welcome even more uninitiated into the fold – it’s their most eclectic work yet, while remaining undeniably cohesive, and they’re supporting it with the biggest headline shows they’ve ever played. 

Over the past decade Frankie and the Witch Fingers have operated as an outright force of nature, offering up a revelatory form of psych-rock that hits on both a primal and ecstatically mind-bending level. In the making of their new album Data Doom, the Los Angeles-based four-piece forged a sublimely galvanizing sound informed by their love of Afrobeat and proto-punk—a potent vessel for their frenetic meditations on technological change run rampant, encroaching fascism, and corrosive systems of power. Animated by the explosive energy they’ve brought to the stage in sharing bills with such eclectic acts as Ty Segall and ZZ Top, the result is a major leap forward for one of the most adventurous and forward-thinking bands working today. 

Rooted in the cerebral yet viscerally commanding songwriting of co-founders Dylan Sizemore (vocals, guitar) and Josh Menashe (lead guitar, synth), Data Doom marks the first Frankie and the Witch Fingers album created with bassist Nikki “Pickle” Smith (formerly of Death Valley Girls) and drummer Nick Aguilar (previously a touring drummer for punk legend Mike Watt). In crafting their most rhythmically complex work to date, the band drew heavily from each new member’s distinct sensibilities: Smith tapped into her extensive background in West African drumming (an art form she first discovered thanks to her music-instructor parents), while Aguilar leaned into formative influences like longtime Fela Kuti drummer Tony Allen. Self-produced by the DIY-minded band and recorded direct to tape by Menashe, Data Doom ultimately took shape through countless sessions in their Southeast L.A. rehearsal space, with Frankie and the Witch Fingers allowing themselves unlimited time to explore their most magnificently strange impulses.

Once again showcasing the expansive and fantastically eccentric musicality of past efforts like 2020’s Monsters Eating People Eating Monsters..., Data Doom encompasses nine high-wattage songs constructed with both dizzying intricacy and unfettered imagination. On “Mild Davis,” for instance, the band shares a gloriously spaced-out track inspired by a piece from Miles Davis’s early-’70s electric period, cycling through a vast whirlwind of rhythms and textures and wildly spellbinding guitar parts. “We worked on that for two weeks straight, puzzle-piecing together different parts into one very weird and stream-of-consciousness song that’s mostly in a 7/4 time signature,” Menashe recalls. Meanwhile, Sizemore’s lyrics shift between savagely despairing the state of the world and resolutely dreaming of a brighter future. “I wrote the lyrics to ‘Mild Davis' in a moment of feeling pessimistic about what technology is doing to our society, especially as AI is creeping to the forefront more and more,” says Sizemore. “But then the bridge comes from a more optimistic perspective, where it’s questioning whether we could reboot the whole system and start all over.”

After opening on the epic majesty of “Empire,” Data Doom launches into the first song the band’s new lineup wrote together: “Burn Me Down,” an irresistibly jittery track that perfectly encapsulates the album’s transcendent collision of blistering riffs and polyrhythmic grooves. On “Electricide,” Frankie and the Witch Fingers unleash the LP’s most unabashedly punk offering, a bombastic rallying cry built on Aguilar’s breakneck drumming. One of several songs featuring Menashe on sax, “Syster System” slips into a hypnotically fluid tempo as Frankie and the Witch Fingers muse on the possibilities of partnership culture (a concept introduced by futurist Riane Eisler in her seminal book The Chalice and the Blade). “Riane Eisler talks about how our society has a very masculine energy that manifests as the need to exert power, which she refers to as dominator culture,” Sizemore explains. “The alternative to that is partnership culture, which has a feminine energy that’s more symbiotic with nature. The idea behind ‘Syster System’ is that if we could bring that energy into technology, it could help make everything more harmonious.” And on “Political Cannibalism,” Data Doom closes out with a dance-ready anti-anthem stacked with so many loopy details, such as a warped and otherworldly guitar part Menashe spontaneously composed in an attic in France.

To create the cover art for Data Doom (a co-release from Greenway Records and the Reverberation Appreciation Society), Frankie and the Witch Fingers reached out to Italian illustrator Carlo Schievano and UK-based graphic designer Jordan Warren, who then joined forces in assembling an elaborate mixed-media piece complete with its own language system and accompanying decoder. “It was really fascinating to see two different artistic voices working together to make something so unique, with all these hidden elements for people to figure out,” says Smith. Not only an echo of the album’s endlessly immersive quality, Data Doom’s visual component reflects the band’s devotion to unbridled collaboration in all aspects of the creative process. “There was no pressure and no real time constraint for this record, and because of that the creativity flowed in a very free way that probably wouldn’t have happened if we’d been on the clock in a studio,” says Sizemore. “It showed us that the more we take the time to communicate and share our ideas with each other, the more it feeds our creative energy and helps us to make something we’re all really excited about.”

[thejoyofviolentmovement]

New Audio: Los Angeles' Steel Wool Shares "120 Minutes" era MTV-like "Eyes Closed"

New Audio: Los Angeles' Steel Wool Shares "120 Minutes" era MTV-like "Eyes Closed" @planetarygroup

Los Angeles-based shoegazers Steel Wool — Sean Lissner (vocals, guitar), Jaden Amjadi (bass, screaming), Evan Landi (drums) and Sam Schlesinger (guitar) — sonically find themselves splitting the difference between drawing from early post punk and sheogaze revival, blending ethereal synths and fuzzed out guitars to create soft yet abrasive anthems for sitting in traffic on the 101. The quartet’s…

[sinceileftyoublog]

Square Roots 2024: 7/13-7/14

Big Star Quintet's Jody Stephens

BY JORDAN MAINZER

One of this year's Square Roots headliners is calling it quits after their upcoming album and current tour, and another hasn't really been a proper incarnation of itself for a decade and a half. Nostalgia be damned, this past weekend, both X and Big Star Quintet beat the heat and sounded as good as ever. Okay, my in-person experience with X is limited to Riot Fest 2017, I never got to see Big Star, and otherwise, all I have are each band's multiple live albums to wonder what they might have been like in their heyday. Hindsight aside, X's cowpunk momentousness and Big Star Quintet's glorious sky-high rock and roll rendered them the unabashed standouts of a weekend that featured guitar music heavyweights new and old.

X's John Doe & Exene Cervenka

X has released only one song from their final record Smoke & Fiction (Fat Possum), and they did perform a few new chuggers during their Saturday night headlining set. But from the moment Exene Cervenka, John Doe, Billy Zoom, D.J. Bonebrake, and touring drummer Craig Packham entered the stage to Link Wray's "Rumble", you knew their focus would be the past: "You're Phone's Off The Hook, But You're Not", "In This House That I Call Home", and "Because I Do". Yes, Zoom whipped out his saxophone and Bonebrake his vibes; Cervenka and Doe's contrasting vocal timbres gave the whole set an rousing feel, as if the sonically diverse voices in the crowd were meant to shout along with them. They did, to the stuttering "I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts", and some of the more musically inclined, limber set goers perfectly air-drummed Packham's choppy thwacks on "Los Angeles". If X is truly leaving us, they're at least still having a blast.

Big Star Quintet's Chris Stamey

Big Star Quintet, meanwhile, may have only one member of the original power pop quartet in drummer and vocalist Jody Stephens, but they feel more Big Star than, say, the current Beach Boys feel like the Beach Boys. (I know, that's not a high bar to clear.) But at least two of the members have direct connections. Jon Auer (The Posies) was part of the reformed Big Star from 1993 until 2010, when the deaths of Alex Chilton and Andy Hummel effectively ended the band. Chris Stamey briefly played bass for Chilton in the late 70s before embarking on his own musical career with The dB's. And while R.E.M.'s Mike Mills (who participated in a Chilton tribute concert during SXSW 2010) couldn't join the Quintet in the Chicago area, not one, but two members of Wilco (bassist John Stirratt and multi-instrumentalist Pat Sansone) rounded out the lineup and provided a wonderful local connection to boot.

Big Star Quintet's Pat Sansone

The Quintet was celebrating the 50th anniversary of Big Star's sophomore masterpiece Radio City, but on Sunday night, they didn't adhere to any self-imposed rules and play the album front-to-back. Instead, before even mentioning Radio City or playing any of its songs, they started their set by banging out 9 (!) straight from Big Star's debut, #1 Record, switching off lead vocals and instrumentation. Stirratt unleashed a feverish falsetto on "In The Street", immediately answering the question of who would sing "September Gurls" when the band inevitably played it last. Sansone and Auer gorgeously harmonized on the ripping rocker "Don't Lie To Me", while Stamey provided some welcome quietude on "Give Me Another Chance" and "Watch the Sunrise". The band itself was in sync, but not stuffy, deft enough to tackle the funk-to-stadium rock breakdowns of Radio City's "O, My Soul", loose enough to adhere to the snappy ramshackle spirit of the harmonica-imbued "Life Is White".

Big Star Quintet's Jon Auer

When Stephens sang, though, it felt a little bit like time stopped, and not because he brought the house down or anything. (His voice does remain strong!) He dedicated "The India Song" and "Way Out West" to Hummel, stating, simply and heartbreakingly, "He was a close one to me." And when the rest of the band stepped up to the microphone with acoustic guitars in hand, and it was clear they were to play the beloved "Thirteen", Stephens admitted, "I remember being 13, don't you? I was really uncomfortable with myself, but it makes for a great song!" Here was the last remaining connection to one of the greatest bands in American history, still vulnerable, reminding you that no matter how old you get or how long certain songs and records have been around, the emotions never die.

Sansone

Lydia Loveless

Oh, I'll throw in a bonus weekend standout: the great Lydia Loveless, less than a year removed from their sixth LP, Nothing's Gonna Stand in My Way Again (Bloodshot). The record is classic Loveless, heartbroken, all while dealing with the trials and tribulations of life both regular ("Toothache") and time-specific (pandemic isolation). Their high and lonesome twang pervaded each song, save for Nothing's "Poor Boy", during which Loveless belted, showing off their vocal chops. "Sex and Money" proved to be the cheeky live anthem you knew it was going to be the first time you heard it. At the same time, Loveless continued to give their previous album Daughter its due. (Introducing "Wringer", Loveless quipped that it was "from Daughter, which came out in 2020, which means it was very successful...everybody was out doing stuff, money burning holes in their pockets.") From the prickly guitar strums of "Say My Name" to the deliberate drum beats of "Don't Bother Mountain", the latter of which saw Loveless switch to synth, their performance of the Daughter songs showcased that it's Loveless' most thematic and instrumentally diverse album to date. That's not a small feat, with a catalog as deep as theirs.

Loveless

Loveless

[krispyweiss]

Los Straightjackets at Natalie’s Grandview, Columbus, Ohio, May 8, 2024

Give Los Straitjackets an unlistenable number - “My Heart Will Go On,” say - and they’ll give fans a thick slab of irresistible instrumental surf rock in return.

Celine Dion’s “Titanic” abomination signaled the homestretch of the Columbus, Ohio, stop on the masked quartet’s 30 Años de Los Straitjackets tour May 8 inside a sold-out Natalie’s Grandview. Theme songs from “Batman” and “Midnight Cowboy” followed with guitarists Eddie Angel and Greg Townson playing in twin harmony over tight rhythmic flooring from Pete Curry on bass and drummer Chris Sprague.

Performing at the confluence of musical seriousness and playful showmanship, Los Straitjackets’ gig dealt in all-inclusive entertainment. So it was that the band - clad head-to-toe in black with matching medallions around their necks, their heads under individualized Lucha Libre wrestling masks and crammed on to the postage-stamp-sized Charlie’s stage in the smaller of Natalie’s two concert spaces - formed kick lines, struck exaggerated wrestling-ring poses and even incorporated a squeaking rubber chicken into “Itchy Chicken.”

They paired such shenanigans with musicianship 180 degrees removed from the hilarity, such as when Angel, alone on stage save for a dancing Sprague, offered snippets of “The Last Time,” “Ticket to Ride” and “Rumble” between lighting-fast improvisation. The guitarist later launched a mas-cowbell gag in which he and his bandmates ripped into bits of “Low Rider” and “Don’t Fear the Reaper” for the punchline.

Introduced by a red-suited hype man 90 minutes before the final encore, the Trashmen’s “Surfin’ Bird,” featuring the evening’s only vocal courtesy of Sprague, the Straightjackets set the crazy tone early with the originals “Pacifica” and “Outta Gear,” the latter featuring Angel striking his sparkly axe and running his fingers over the top of the neck with virtuosic precision and thrilling sounds. They cooled things down with the sock-hop, slow-dancer “April Showers;” nodded to their inspiration on the Ventures’ “Driving Guitars (Ventures Twist);” and offered familiar-to-everyone melodies such as “Love Potion Number Nine” and the ironically titled “Sing, Sing, Sing.”

The penultimate “Tailspin” found Sprague coming out from the kit to play lead guitar; Angel switching to bass; and Curry bashing away on the drums. It seemed designed to underscore that behind the ridiculousness of it all, Los Straitjackets - who also serve as Nick Lowe’s go-to touring band - are about musicality first and last.

Grade card: Los Straightjackets at Natalie’s Grandview - 5/8/24 - A

See more photos on Sound Bites’ Facebook page.

5/9/24

[palilalia]

Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet May 5 2023 Los Angeles @ 2220 Arts May 6 2023 San Francisco @ The Lab

[screamingforyears]

IN A MINUTE:

AN INDIE EXPRESS...

“DEMOLITION MAN” is the official lead single from @drugchurch’s forthcoming LP titled ‘Prude’ (10/4 @purenoiserecs) & it finds the veteran Albany-based outfit “envying dogs because they know what they’ve gotta do each day” across a sub-3 min slice of gruffly chugged, radically riffed & righteously raged AltCore.

@sinaivessel are here w/ “CHALLENGER,” a choice cut from their latest LP titled ‘I Sing’ ( @keeledscales) & it finds vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Caleb Cordes’ Asheville-based project maintaining “some sense of health in a world that can constantly feel quite threatening” across 3+ mins of downtrodden IndieRock.

“I’VE BEEN EVIL” is the latest single from @spiritofthebeehive’s forthcoming LP titled ‘You’ll Have To Lose Something’ (8/23 @saddlecreek) & it finds the Philadelphia-based trio of Zack Schwartz, Corey Wichlin & Rivka Ravede holding fast across a steady 2:34 clip of straightforwardly stripped down ArtRock.

@sf59 are back w/ “909,” the lead single from their forthcoming LP titled ‘Lust For Gold’ (8/16 @velvetbluemusic) & it finds the long running California-based quintet of J. Martin (guitars/vox), S. Dail (bass), C. Martin (drums/bgv), R. Withem (guitar) & F. Lenz (percussion) bringing their OG brand of heavily distorted & pedal gazing goods across 4 mins of guitar-driven AltRawk.

“SMILE” is a choice cut from @wandband.info’s latest LP titled ‘Vertigo’ ( @dragcityrecords) & it finds the Los Angeles-based quartet of Cory Hanson, Evan Burrows, Robert Cody & Evan Backer bringing the blown-out crunch across a sprawling 6 ½ mins of tastily licked, tenaciously tempered & fuzzed-out PsychRawk.

[lboogie1906]

Jimmie Noone (April 23, 1895 – April 19, 1944) was a jazz clarinetist and bandleader. After beginning his career in New Orleans, he led Jimmie Noone’s Apex Club Orchestra, a Chicago band that recorded for Vocalion and Decca. Classical composer Maurice Ravel acknowledged basing his Boléro on improvisation by him. At the time of his death, he was leading a quartet in Los Angeles and was part of an all-star band that was reviving interest in traditional New Orleans jazz in the 1940s.

He was playing professionally with Freddie Keppard in Storyville, replacing Bechet. In 1916, when Keppard went on tour, he and Buddie Petit formed the Young Olympia Band, and he led a small ensemble (clarinet, piano, drums) unusual for its time.

He played with Kid Ory and Oscar Celestin until the Storyville district was permanently closed. He rejoined Keppard and the Original Creole Orchestra on the vaudeville circuit until the group broke up the following year.

He moved to Chicago, where he studied with symphony clarinetist Franz Schoepp. He played for two years at Chicago’s Royal Garden Cafe with Paul Barbarin, King Oliver, Bill Johnson, Lottie Taylor, and Eddie Vinson. He joined Keppard in Doc Cook’s dance orchestra, in which he played saxophone and clarinet for six years.

He started leading the band at the Apex Club at 330 E. 35th Street, one of a wealth of Jazz Age clubs on Chicago’s South Side. His Apex Club Orchestra was notable for its unusual instrumentation—a front line consisting of clarinet and alto saxophone, who worked with him in Doc Cook’s band, with piano (Earl Hines), drums (Ollie Powers, succeeded by Johnny Wells), and guitar (Bud Scott).

He signed with Brunswick Records and was assigned to their Vocalion label. The first session yielded “Four or Five Times” backed with “Every Evening (I Miss You)”, which was a best seller. #africanhistory365 # africanexcellence

[sepanbanquet]

Mediterranean Flavors at Sepan’s Platinum Banquet Hall

Welcome to a world where the zesty flavors of the Mediterranean meet the elegance of Los Angeles’ finest gatherings. We specialize in presenting the lively and varied flavors of the Mediterranean to you at Sepan Banquet Hall, the leading platinum banquet hall in the city. Here, each meal serves as a narrative that combines traditional cooking styles with centuries-old recipes to create a feast for the senses and transport guests to a diverse and varied gastronomic world.

Exploring the Menu You’re in for a gourmet adventure the moment you walk inside Sepan Banquet Hall. With each dish created to perfection by our talented chefs, our Mediterranean cuisine offers a tapestry of tastes.

Picture beginning with a mezze plate, which consists of a variety of richly flavorful appetizers including Hummus, baba ganoush, and tabbouleh. For the main course, our grilled seafood plate and slow-cooked lamb shank, which are always a hit, are our favorites. These dishes are more than just meals, they’re masterpieces that individually capture the rich culinary legacy of the Mediterranean region.

Versatility for Any Event Our menu can be customized to fit any type of event, be it a grandiose corporate event, an intimate wedding, or a happy family get-together. We make sure that your event is as distinctive as your tastes by providing a range of alternatives, from buffet-style feasts to sit-down meals.

Our commitment to authenticity goes beyond the main dishes. A delightful example of our gastronomic diversity is the assortment of Mediterranean sweets offered by Sepan.

Treat your guests to baklava drizzled with syrup honey or serve rosewater-infused mousses as a cool way to close the dinner. Not only are these sweets delicious, but they are also cultural treasures that give your event’s menu a unique flavor. This makes Sepan more than just another banquet hall; rather, it’s a doorway to Mediterranean decadence.

Pairing Ideas At Sepan Banquet Hall, we think about experiences as a whole. The entire atmosphere of your event might be improved by coordinating Mediterranean foods with other components.

Decor & Design Picture your banquet hall with warm, earthy hues and olive branches to emulate the rustic allure of a Mediterranean villa. This motif may be carried over to table settings, where soft, flowing textiles and accents of natural wood will create an attractive and welcoming ambiance.

Entertainment to Match To complement the Mediterranean theme, consider live music like a classical guitar or a string quartet playing tunes from the region. This enhances the mood, is immersive, and gives your guests a genuinely authentic experience.

A Drink For Every Occasion Our bar offers a selection of wines and spirits from the Mediterranean region to go along with the concept. Imagine indulging in a variety of wines that includes some of the greatest vintages from Spanish and Italian vineyards, or savoring a delicious Greek Retsina or Lebanese Arak. With their expertise in mixing Mediterranean-inspired drinks with figs, Olives, and citrus, our bartenders can lend even more authenticity to the theme of your event.

Why Sepan Stands Out Sepan Banquet Hall stands out from any other platinum banquet hall thanks to its superior culinary skills and dedication to excellence.

Our chefs possess more than simply cooking skills; they are culinary artists who have a deep love for Mediterranean food. Their years of experience and in-depth knowledge of the customs and culture that go into each dish mean that your event’s menu will be nothing short of spectacular.

Premium Catering Services and Attention to Detail Sepan offers a full catering service in addition to our Mediterranean and Mexican cuisine. Our staff makes sure that every part of your dining experience is managed with the highest attention and professionalism, from menu planning to execution, making us a top choice among any platinum banquet hall.

In addition to being highly trained experts, our staff is passionate about Mediterranean culture and can provide you with helpful suggestions and insights to make your dining experience even more memorable. The impeccable service at platinum-class events is a testament to their meticulousness and skill, which elevates the experience to a whole new level.

Mediterranean Culinary Excellence at Sepan When you select Sepan Banquet Hall for your event, you are selecting a gastronomic journey that will wow your guests and create memories they won’t forget. Sepan, a location where cuisine, culture, and celebration all coexist together in the center of Los Angeles, is a shining example of Mediterranean culinary perfection. Our staff aims to provide a personal and remarkable Mediterranean dining experience, perfect for any special occasion, be it a wedding, business event, or even a quinceanera.

With that in mind, consider Sepan Banquet Hall, where each dish is a work of art, and each gathering is an unforgettable adventure through the flavors of the Mediterranean.

[ghostnoterecords]

Nicole McCabe “Mosaic” | New album out March 8 Featuring:  Nicole McCabe – alto saxophone Logan Kane – bass Tim Angulo – drumsJulius Rodriguez – piano and Rhodes Jon Hatamiya – trombone (1, 8) Aaron Janik – trumpet (1, 8) Jeff Parker – guitar (6) Pre-order now on Ghost Note Store CD or download via the link in our Story.

Alto saxophonist Nicole McCabe established herself as one of the most compelling figures on the Los Angeles jazz scene with Introducing Nicole McCabe (2020, feat. George Colligan) and Landscapes (2022), two releases mainly for quartet on which she exhibited a strong sense of swing and an exploratory compositional approach. McCabe’s Improvisations EP, a 2022 solo session for alto with effects, revealed another part of her musical self, in terms of sonics and abstract, open-form extemporization. She is also one-half of the electro-jazz duo Dolphin Hyperspace with bassist Logan Kane, her partner in life and in music, bassist of choice for the great David Binney.