Album Review: Brian Lopez - Ultra
Brian Lopez, a soulful, curly-headed, Tucson-raised singer-songwriter has made his way on to my music radar and left a great first impression with his first solo, full-length album, album, Ultra. Branching out from his role as the leader of experimental three-piece group Mostly Bears (which, according to Wikipedia, [awesomely] sounds like "Radiohead circa 1996 getting in a gang-fight with Arcade Fire"), he brings a southwestern Latino charm into his melodic and orchestral yet laid-back and indie-vibed music, all while crafting a subtle dance between passion and weariness, overwhelming love and exhaustive sadness.
Album Review: Fun. - Some Nights
The boys of fun.--lead singer/songwriter Nate Ruess, Jack Antonoff, and Andrew Dost--are back with their second studio album, Some Nights, which drops today. As a long time Nate Ruess fan, from his Format days, I feel qualified and obligated to review this record. People who are just beginning to listen to fun. might be put off by this album--it's, in a word, weird. Besides the insanely catchy single "We Are Young," songs flow in and out from polka-like operatics (nothing new for fun.) to...pop/R&B influenced autotuning? The album can't make up its mind between being a quirky, pop, Queen-inspired complement to 2008's Aim and Ignite or some avant-garde-yet-somehow-still-radio-friendly angsty-youth soundtrack.
Sharks, Frank Turner and Social Distortion 2/11 Fox Theater, Oakland, CA
Saturday was a day of great excitement in the Bay Area. Dr. Dog was playing at the Regency Ballroom, the Chinese New Year Parade was in full effect and Social Distortion was coming to the Fox Theater in Oakland for the second night in a row. That’s the one that intrigued me most, because of the opening acts Sharks and Frank Turner. Frank Turner has long been a favorite of Mike Ness’, touting his exploits for several years now and I was excited to see him live.
Sharks, on the other hand, are a relatively new band. Despite having performed for five years their debut album has yet to come out and they’ve been touring here for about a year. There was some speculation that they may not make the show due to their statement on Twitter that their van broke down on the way to their San Luis Obispo show.
I got to the theater early and coordinated an early interview so that I wouldn’t miss any of the show and could give a full and proper review. Again, the tour manager pushed back what was supposed to be a 7:00 interview to 9:00 and thus I missed most of Frank Turner’s performance. The audience was filled to the brim with zoot suits, tatted up hoodlums and curiosity. Curiosity for what the opening act Sharks would bring to the table.
It turns out the set was a bit disjointed. The band attemped to cover a Social Distortion song, while opening for the punk icons, which many found to be sophomoric, and in the midst of that, forgot some of the lyrics. They simply couldn’t energize the crowd and that’s the job of a warm up act. It wasn’t all a disaster, though; they did have a few moments that showed the potentiality of future greatness. Whether they get it together or not is entirely up to them and the direction they choose to take. If they continue to miss gigs, then they will fail miserably. However, if they stick to the formula that got them to where they are and make that a priority for the fans then they’ll have a long, fruitful career. As I said, because of their insistence that I move the interview up to 9pm from 7:00 I have no review or real frame of reference to judge Frank Turner’s performance, but from the few songs I did see he was amazing.
Social Distortion has been around for over 30 years. They’re hardly a new band and are widely considered to have been the forbearers of the tattoo resurgence of the past decade. Lead singer and only original member of Social D remaining, Mike Ness, appeared on stage wearing a Zoot Suit, hat and all. Looking like '20s mobster, he thrilled the crowd with all the favorites they’ve come to expect from the illustrious band.
When a fan threw a shirt on stage Ness, in his classically acerbic style, retorted, “I’m not your fucking mother; she’ll be at home waiting for you. Until then keep your fucking laundry off my stage.” This drew huge applause and cheers from an allied audience. This was the band they all came to see. This was the band that they’d been following since they were born. Coming out of the OC punk scene so long ago, Social D has been a symbol of musical consistency.
While the members have certainly changed or passed on the style and flair with which Ness composes his music and appearance has not. He caters to an audience he knows wants to hear the classics, but that also has a vital interest in the survival of the band. In this place in Downtown Oakland these elements converged and despite the hiccups of the opening act, which again could be an easy fix, found the love for a band that’s been showing it to them for a very long time.
Before the show, BestNewBands.com caught up backstage with Sharks' lead singer James Turner and here's what happened:
10 Questions with Ideals
Ideals are a conundrum. On the one hand you have their debut EP that so many thought would launch them into the stratosphere are Britain's answer to the Killers. On the other you have this return to what made Britain the musical epicenter of the post punk revival in the early to mid eighties. Do bands that don't want to align themselves in the trajectory of Mumford and Sons rise to fame still stand a chance in the ever changing music scene? Ideals are trying to get on the forefront of a revival, for lack of a better word, that has been taking place in the US for a few years now. I'm convinced. The real question is will the American consumer be? That remains to be seen.
Here's my interview with Ideals and as you know from my piece that went up February 6, I had a lot of questions.
Matt - When I first heard your single "Lungs" in 2010 I thought you guys might go on to become the next Killers or the UK version thereof, but with this EP you've changed so much that you now sound like The Church or the National. What was the impetus for such a dramatic change in sound?
Matt - What are the differences in musical tastes between the UK audience and the US audience?
Ben S - I think there is alot of respect from either side of the Atlantic, at the moment the whole noise pop revival is coming to a head with bands trying to sound like JAMC or My Bloody Valentine...again, which to be fair alot of bands do well. I think NY is pretty similar to London, sometimes the audience is pretty stand offish depending what part of town you are playing in, and sometime they get right involved, it's our job to make sure they do.
Matt - Does the need to please a certain segment of that constituency make the band collectively cater to the audiences needs?
Ben S - In terms of playing live, no. If the crowd love you then you're doing something right, but similarly if they don't and you feel you are playing well there ain't anything you can do but what makes you as a band feel good. We all get off on the fact that we think our songs and sound is cool. At the end of the day that is good enough for us.
Matt - The comparisons to bands like The Church, Echo & the Bunnymen and Depeche Mode seemed to rattle around our offices as your new EP played. Do think comparisons like that detract from the message you're trying to get across?
Ben S - Not particularly, if anything it is flattering. We write songs that our true to us, there is no preconceived plan for them to sound in any particular way. We've all grown up listening to a lot of dark music, the Cure, Joy Division etc all those bands that are hailed as epic and magical, so it makes sense that creatively they take on similar attributes.
Matt - What is your drink of choice after a show?
Simon- There’s always free beers knocking around so we probably just stay on them until they run-out.
Ben S - Anything in a short glass with lots of ice.
Matt - What is the best thing about touring? The worst thing?
Simon- We’ve been to Europe a couple of times and seem to have been almost everywhere in the UK but we haven't seen the worst side of touring yet. Anything bad that might happen on tour is usually always out-weighed by something fun we get to later that day. You hear about bands that can't stand to be around each other let alone tour so I’d hate to imagine that being like that.
Matt - When will you be touring in the US?
Ben S - You put us up and we'll be over next week.
Matt - Why did you change the band name from It's a Trap to Ideals?
Simon- We didn't really change the name. It's a Trap is a completely different band to Ideals. Me, Andrew and Ben were 17-18 when we were in It's a Trap and as we started to write better songs we wanted a fresh start with a new band.
Matt - How did you get your voice to go down 500 octaves to the point where you almost like Matt Berninger from The National?
Andrew - I’ve always found singing in a fairly low baritone style more comfortable. In songs like Lungs I was more just playing around with vocal styles; I think I’ll stay low for now. Listening to Aha’s Take on me also helps a fair bit.
Matt - What do you want the band to achieve in the future?
Ben S - To release a debut album that we are extremely proud of for all our hard work turn into something we can do for a living full time. Then buy a house with a pool.
Ideals - Let Your Anger Leave You - Intruder Records
Ideals were originally called It’s a Trap, which is a great name for Star Wars or Family Guy fan boys, but for everyone else leaves them wondering what the band might be referring to. As Ideals they’ve released a brand new seven song EP entitledLet Your Anger Leave You that is guitar centric, much more melodic and has a heavier sound than their previous offering. When I heard their debut single, “Lungs” in 2010 and I thought they could be the next Killers, or the British version thereof, but they’ve gone in a different direction and created a sound similar to that of The National. It’s dark, brooding and melodramatic.
I had a hard time, at first, finding a way to describe their sound and their evolution from bands like Stereophonics or the aforementioned Killers that have that sound that seems so prevalent in today’s mainstream rock culture. Then my girlfriend hit the nail on the head. This band from Ipswitch, England has transformed from a rocking modern band into ‘80’s band The Church. It’s a risky move changing genres and styles midstream, but Ideals is banking on their small but loyal fan base to get on board.
Their new EP, much like The Church, has a shoegazer, spacey kind of feeling to it with guitar licks that are central to the evolution of this band. In fact, if you listen to the song, “Do You Feel Like Home” it almost sounds like an alternative version of The Church’s major hit, “Under The Milky Way Tonight.” They have almost fallen into this distinction, perhaps unwittingly, but it’s there. It is hard to trace the evolutionary aspects of a relatively new band and frankly it’s almost irresponsible to judge them by their previous efforts. As a stand-alone piece this EP is very much like The National, Echo and the Bunnymen and Depeche Mode.
I, however, am fascinated about how they came to this point. Why did they change their style? The crew remains the same, but the sound is dramatically different. Maybe they’ve just found their stride, maybe this is the band they were destined to be. A part of me wonders, though, if it doesn’t have to do with trying to appeal to a UK audience whose music style is becoming more and more divergent than the United States’ and has been leaning that way for the past 25 years. Sure there have always been bands that were hits in the UK and not the US, but most of the time the styles meet somewhere in the middle (Oasis, Blur, The Smiths).
These days not much can be found in common and the UK is carving out its niche even with American bands like The National that have found marginal success here and much love and desired affection across the pond. The reason many of us have such a hard time figuring out bands like Ideals when they first make the leap to gain more of a worldwide audience is that our relationship to music is so much different. That’s why other U.K. bands like Snow Patrol have merely moderate success here. We’ll get it right eventually and again we’ll meet in the middle. I like Ideals, but more than that I’m curious about them. I wonder where they go from here? What’s their next move? And if you’re thinking about a band, in such a way, then maybe the desired effect is simply to make you think of them.
Follow me on twitter @mattkdemello
Concert Review: Kid is Qual, thatwasthen With Help of Andrew McMahon Co-Headline The Troubadour
Thursday night, the Troubadour had a killer lineup of L.A. Locals: Kid is Qual and thatwasthen co-headlined, introduced by Acidic and Bikelock. The crowd consisted of a lot of music veterans and industry people, mainly because Kid is Qual and Bikelock are offshoots of the band Jack's Mannequin. This also meant that Jack's Mannequin lead singer Andrew McMahon was there supporting his freinds and bandmates (fun fact: he played piano on thatwasthen's "Sunlight"), which in turn meant that I was beyond excited to be there.
Album Review: White Denim's "D" Is an A+
Ah, White Denim. I remember the very day when my love affair with their distinctly deft sounds began. ‘Twas a chilly October night last year. I was at the El Rey, seeing Portugal. The Man for the first time (read about my second time seeing them in Anaheim here!). Unsuspectingly, I stood in waiting, only to be blindsided by the opening act of all opening acts: White Denim (duh). I was sure to pick up a cd after the show, so humbly packaged in a paper sleeve. This album, which would soon change my life if, I may be appropriately melodramatic, was 2010’s Last Day of Summer. The band released this album last year online for free, which is basically the musical equivalent of handing out Ferraris for free. No big.
The Adorable Kina Grannis Graces the El Rey in LA...Hey!
If you have a heart, you will like Kina Grannis. If you do not like Kina Grannis, you either have not heard of her or you kick puppies. This is what I learned from going to see her play her impossibly cheery live set last night. On this oddly warm night, I headed down Wilshire Boulevard in LA to the El Rey, a beautiful little venue with a vintage feel to it. Dramatic chandeliers hung and splayed light around, making for wonderful shadows on crimson walls. The pre-show chatter made me feel at home and I nestled in.
To open for Kina, Imaginary Friend took the stage around 9. Made up of guitarist and singer Jesse Epstein, keyboardist Michael Garner (from Lady Danville), and drummer also-Michael, these guys played a handful of songs to make your heart (because if you were at this show, you obviously possess one) melt. The songs were happy and sad all at the same time, and Jesse talked to the crowd like we were an abnormally large group of close friends.
