hooray for EJL and Earth

At this point it’s a little embarrassing the number of times I’m writing about albums Eric J. Lawrence has handed me. The reality is that Eric has become a great friend and musical inspiration to me as I continue my journey through understanding my feelings about what I like (and dislike) about music. He is truly an honorary co-curator of the thoughts I share here.

So thanks, EJL. :)






With that out of the way I can tell you about the latest album EJL handed to me - Hooray for Earth’s True Loves.

Hooray For Earth - True Loves from Dovecote Records on Vimeo.

Eric and I agreed that it took us two or three spins before we fully decided upon liking this album. This is something unusual for EJL as he gets hundreds upon hundred of music submissions for the music library at KCRW. He’s trained to give something a listen and quickly formulate an opinion. But something about this album kept bringing him back, which is exactly what happened with me.

I listened to True Loves in my car from beginning to end three or four times without having a strong opinion about it. The last song was one of the first ones to really grab my attention.

Hooray For Earth- Black Trees by esophus

Then slowly it was like the album took shape in front of me when I listened to it again. It’s truly one of the most awesome experiences I’ve had with music as I tend to stay in Eric’s camp most of the time - quick to like or dismiss something.

I highly recommend getting your hands on this album and giving it a listen like people used to do in the days of 45’s - beginning to end, not skipping through. There’s a story here for sure - I’m not sure I 100% understand it but when it grabs you it’s definitely music magic.

suiting up for battles

Sometimes it just takes a while before a band sticks with me. I’m notoriously bad, for example about rejecting people based on their names before I even hear their music.

A few weeks ago Eric J. Lawrence (there he is again) handed me a compilation of new music coming through the station that was starting to catch some buzz. One of the songs was Battles’ “Ice Cream.” The below video has since blown up on the blogosphere as something totally trippy and weird but also undeniably exciting and awesome (the girl dancing in echo of herself is just plain rad). The Fox is Black’s Bobby Solomon summed up it’s hip factor very nicely.

BATTLES - Ice Cream from CANADA on Vimeo.

It’s appalling for me to think about saying now, but I had pretty much written them off based on this song. For whatever reason, I figured I didn’t get down with what they were putting out because this one didn’t grab me right away.

So when Eric J. handed me their newest album Gloss Drop as a “strong recommendation,” I took it knowing that he’s usually right about what I’ll like (see previous EJL post). That same day, I went home to find the leading post on La Blogotheque was A Take Away Show with Battles.

At that point there were just too many people whose opinions I respect telling me it was awesome for me to ignore it.

What I found was that, while “Ice Cream” is great in its own way, it doesn’t begin to capture the entirety of Battles’ sound. Listening to their songs like “Futura” and “Inchworm” are like looking at Pollock paintings. There are innumerable textures, colors, and layers of things to hear. If these songs were tangible, you’d be able to take a magnifying glass and examine them for hours finding new nooks and crannies to appreciate with every sweep.

It’s in this way that La Blogotheque gets it SO right (like they always do). Their video for Wall Street has an entire section with cutaways of the different band members doing different things as well as a blank dark space. These rotate and change and appear and disappear and create a spastic and yet totally appropriate and controlled visual representation of Battles’ music.

Battles | Wall Street | A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

So EJL wins again. Battles is going to live in my CD player until I can peel myself away from studying it like a science project.

the ram sees little dragon, falls in love again

Listening to Little Dragon reminds me of looking into a kaleidoscope. Something about the texture of their sound feels both colorful and circular in the same way that watching new combinations click into place inside the popular children’s toy.

I’ve been excited about seeing Little Dragon live for over a month now. I’m very spoiled because I’ve been fortunate enough to get to help out for many amazing artists in Apogee’s Berkley Street Studio as part of KCRW’s Sessions there. Last night it was Little Dragon’s turn to grace the stage that has now hosted David Gray, Interpol, Manu Chao, Janelle Monae, k.d. lang and more (and that’s just for KCRW, not to mention the other amazing people that have come through to record in this state of the art studio full of top of the line equipment). With the renowned Bob Clearmountain at the mixing board, Little Dragon had all the ingredients for a truly incredible performance.

Inside baseball note: The band was so sweet all day. They arrived early and were all gracious and very sweet, calm, and giggly. They had the staff figuring out the espresso machines and sipped on almond milk lattes (yay for vegans) before hitting the stage for some jam time. Listening to their sound check in the afternoon made me so giddy - like it was a secret just how great they were going to be for the packed crowd that evening.

And boy what a crowd. Garth Trinidad stood up on stage and said out loud what we were all thinking: it was a sexy group of people last night. Good looking people packed in all the way to the back of the room with a few musicians and DJs studded in the crowd including Robin of Quadron, Diplo, and DJs Mathieu Schreyer, J-Logic, and Eric J. Lawrence. Another little inside baseball note: as the girl partly in charge of how much booze we had at the party, I can tell you that all of our beer was gone before the performance even started...that’s 30 minutes of drinking time and an amount of beer we thought was more than enough, gone. I say that only to get across that the crowd was nice and loose and ready for some LD action.

First of all Yukimi Nagano is totally transfixing to watch. She was reserved and sweet all afternoon and then she got up on stage and turned into this sexy in charge woman with something to say. It’s easy to see how much the music lives inside her - it totally affects her body and presence on stage and she expresses it in her hip swings, her far-off stares, her warrior stances, and her hands that drum out the beats instinctually.

And there’s no question, the band totally shines. I was talking to Eric J. Lawrence after the show and we both really enjoyed the different idea they have about making what sounds good in a song. They have their own ideas for sure, but they never miss a step with driving beats, unique sounds, and melodies that somehow work despite often sounding like they could be for a different song entirely. Slap some Yukimi Nagano vocals on top of the slamming music produced by her high school friends and band mates and the result is just magic.

Good times had by all. And as J-Logic tweeted after the show, Robin of Quadron was introduced to Yukimi last night. Maybe a collaboration for the future? One can hope!

Little Dragon 'Ritual Union' (Live on Fallon) from lentetijd on Vimeo.

the ram in silk and lace

I was listening to Anthony Valadez’s May 17th show on demand on KCRW’s website on Sunday and toward the end of the first set I had to interrupt my listening to find the track list and figure out what the 5th song was - that’s right, I didn’t even get through the first set before Anthony had me saying, “Who is this?!” out loud in the coffee shop. He does that.

Later that same day I was listening to Jeremy Sole’s May 19th show and again in the first set, four songs in, I had to pause to find out what the song was. What I found was the same name from Anthony’s show...

Miles Bonny.

To be honest, I’ve been looking up things about this dude all over the interwebs trying to figure out what to say about him (put his name in a vimeo search and see the crazy amount of hilarious stuff that comes back at you). When I felt overwhelmed doing that I went to Eric J. Lawrence (my go-to for digestible information for the curious music lover) who couldn’t help - he didn’t know who I was talking about!! Not to worry, I set this straight and sent him over the songs below. ;)

What I can glean from the plethora of information out there by Miles, about Miles, related to Miles is that he is a DJ/Producer/Musician/Singer living in Kansas City who has been around for a while. He’s collaborated with so many artists to create a soulful sound that is utterly delicious - I mean it, it’s sensual in that way that’s so thick you could take a bite out. It’s like wrapping yourself in yards and yards of silk and lace. Yeah that’s right, I went there - it’s sexy music, friends.

Jeremy threw down this song in his great set this morning on Morning Becomes Eclectic.
Miles Bonny - Nothing But You by MPMCGN

(P.S. If you missed it you should take a listen for sure - lots of gems in there including a little Hall & Oates cover for a Wednesday morning. Listen here.)

His Lumberjack Soul LP comes out June 24th. Until then here's some more Miles Bonny love!

what's the ram listening to?

Picture Taken from KCRW Website
Eric J. Lawrence, the music librarian at KCRW, is stealthy. Twice now he has unassumingly handed me CDs with little explanation other than, “Here you go!”

The first was Tristen’s Charlatans at the Garden Gate. I put it in the CD Player in my car and it didn’t leave for over a month. I get completely lost in her music both because of what she’s singing about and the way she’s singing it. There is a pain in most of her songs that I feel I understand. It feels like the pain of youthful love mistakes written down on a page and set to a melody.

She played this morning at KCRW and sang with such ferocity that many of her songs came out in a wicked amazing growl into the mic. What I loved most about seeing her in person was the total lack of pretense. She’s just Tristen. A little pixie of a woman who goes for the jugular with her music. You can take a listen to and watch the full session here. Below is a little preview:



Then Eric J. handed me the “new” (I found out it was released back in March) Generationals album Actor-Castor. Eric gave me the CD last week and I’ll give you one guess what hasn’t left the CD Player in my car.

I asked Eric if there was a specific reason he gave me that album (something in there specific to my tastes?) and he answered that while he can’t quite make the blanket statement that there’s something in Actor-Castor for EVERY music lover, it comes pretty close. Catchy rhythms, interesting vocals that are easy to sing along with, at times poetic/thoughtful lyrics - yeah I’d have to agree. Aside from musical value though, these guys are just plain fun to listen and jump around to. Talk about a welcome dance break from LA traffic.

Ten-Twenty-Ten by Generationals from Jubadaba on Vimeo.