not nascar, way better

I have never seen The Echo as packed as it was last Friday night (June 3rd). People were squeezed in to the far edges of the venue: back toward the door, up against the bar, all the way to the sound booth in the back. People were buzzing and it was all about Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

I continue to be fascinated by the bands that can put out an EP and ride buzz from festivals like SXSW into sold out shows in Los Angeles. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. has a full length LP (It’s a Corporate World) coming out tomorrow but as of Friday night, the music that most everybody had their hands on was their four song Horse Power EP. Based on just four songs, some buzz from SX, and perhaps some hipster cred from places like KCRW and Pitchfork, LA people flocked to The Echo in numbers I’ve never seen before.

But man was it ever a great move to be there Friday night even if it was based almost entirely on instinct. The duo pulls from a wide array of sounds: from Beach Boys style harmony to heavy Yeasayer/Sleigh Bells style distortion to tUnE-yArDs’ driving yet playful percussion. The result is an arrangement of pleasant, danceable, singable songs that had everybody moving and singing and eventually screaming along at the end.

One of the things I love most about these guys is how much fun they look like they’re having. They showed up for their KCRW Morning Becomes Eclectic performance in full on NASCAR jumpsuits and on Friday night, in preparation for their release of It’s a Corporate World, the duo came out on their jumpsuits but then stripped down on stage revealing suits and ties (like their promo below). The audience got another jolt to their funny bones halfway through the show when the band invited eight people up on stage to wear skeleton masks and provide the background singing for their new song “Skeletons.”



In the middle of all of this Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. managed to mash up one of their songs with a rendition of “I Will Always Love You” and close with their own take on the late Gil Scott-Heron’s “Almost Lost Detroit.” Then the encore came and it was one of the best encores I’ve seen in a long time. The group did one of their big singles “Nothing But Our Love,” but they reinvented it a bit, taking it from the dreamy songscape on their album to a garage rock, head banging, heart pumping, jump up and down anthem. Luckily, there is footage of this alternate take on “Nothing But Our Love” from their performance at SXSW.



These guys are traveling all over the country in June and July. If they come through your city don’t sleep - go see them now before you’re going to see them at huge venues and they’re tiny ants from your faraway seats and you have to watch on a projected screen. In the mean time you can stream the album in its entirety as part of KCRW's Album Preview.