Pocket Symphony

Ron Dante, the man behind the Archies, dropped by the office today.

OK… so it’s been a little over 13 months since we moved to LA… and my love for this city is only growing. This is a good thing, because we’ve decided to buy a place here - but more on that later (as in “another post”, because you know me and tangents…).

Anyway, in April of this year, I went to my local rock club and stumbled upon The Mae Shi, who remain my favorite local band. This kind of fortuitous occurrence only happens when you go out and take chances on new things, so I’ve made it a habit to always try to get out there and try to never say “no” out of hand to any new opportunities. I know that I’ve been neglecting Pocket Symphony for a while, but had I been posting like I should, I could talk about discovering ridiculously cool artists like Walt Hall and Jennifer Lewis, attending yet more movie screenings at some amazing movie houses, seeing great comedians like Bruce McCulloch and Sarah Silverman playing in theaters of less than 100, getting to not only see Spiritualized (did I promise a video? I know I did…) in a small club, but meeting a bunch of cool people as a result… Y’know what? I better start sharing more of this stuff here… 

Anyway… back on topic.

Last Saturday night, I went to The Smell, a fixture in downtown LA for the past decade. It’s an all-ages, no-alcohol punk club. The atmosphere reminds me of a cool rec center. There are couches and comfy chairs lining the walls, there’s a bookshelf full of interesting books that visitors are encouraged to take down and read - in all, it’s less of a club and more of a community hang out. The show that night was a benefit for Obama, so the cover at the door was $10 instead of the usual $5, and the crowd was a little lighter than I expected, but the mood was festive.

I’m not going to bother describing the rest of the night… if you want to see pictures, check out my previous iPhone experimental post… let’s just say that the first two bands, Widow Babies and Bastida, were both very good. I’m not sure I’d go see either one of them as a headliner (in the near future, anyway), but I also wouldn’t show up late if they were the openers again. The audience encouraged both of them, and they played off the energy very well.

I knew that The Mae Shi were going to rock (although this was the first time I saw them in their touring line-up of 4 - generally their LA shows have 1 or 2 other local members adding to the mayhem), and they did not disappoint. But, like that fateful night at Spaceland half a year ago, the band that came on next to last were a wonderful surprise. They’re called Bad Dudes, and they’ve been around for a few years (I’m late to the party - again!). After the gig, I asked them if they had either of their CDs for sale, but since this was a benefit show, they’d decided not to bring them. Luckily, they told me that they’d be headlining The Smell on Thursday (that’s October 16th - my sister’s birthday), and they would be bringing merch. So I’m going to be going back downtown in just three days.

So what do they sound like? I think I’ll wait until the weekend to really get into a description, because their music is still sinking in (I couldn’t wait and went to Amoeba and bought their latest CD already). All I’d like to say now is that like Ratatat (who I saw open for Bjork this year), they respect the rock. As proof, here’s a video for the title track of their new album, Eat Drugs.

Another attempt at iphone blogging. I’m at a club called The Smell in downtown LA. The first (of four) bands just played - The Widow Babies.

Second band up. Bastidas.

Bad Dudes.

The Mae Shi!!!!!!!!

So… lots going on. Saw a bunch of good movies - ate a bunch of good meals - took a bunch of cool pictures. That’ll all come soon. Don’t want to muck up a simple post with too much stuff….

Anyway, for 4th of July week, my pal Jeff came down from San Francisco. We took in a lot of what LA has to offer - mostly by car. During that time, I had my iPod plugged into my car stereo. We listened to some Louis XIV and The Mae Shi, because we had gone to their shows (seriously… more about that later). But mostly, we listened to the new albums by Spiritualized and Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks.

Depending on what level of “hipster” you are, you have either: a. never heard of either band; b. have heard them on your local indie radio station (KCRW here in LA, for example); or c. know all about them, but think they pale in comparison to their original incarnations.

I must admit that when I was a younger music fan, the running joke was “The Beatles? I didn’t know Paul McCartney had a band before Wings!” The true hipster (ok, “music snob”) rejects all that is new and potentially popular and embraces what was groundbreaking and more obscure.

I’m past being a snob, because it only serves to alienate me from cool (read: “not snobby”) people and shuts me off from experiences that I might otherwise really enjoy. But since I still have the pop historian brain - I’ll give you a little background into these two acts - just to provide some context. If you know all this stuff already, feel free to jump ahead to the videos… they’re pretty amazing.

First up, Stephen Malkmus.

Malkmus was the leader of perhaps the indie band of the 1990s - Pavement. Formed in Stockton, CA in ‘89 with his pal Scott Kannberg, aka “Spiral Stairs” - Pavement quickly became darlings of the indie rock scene. They were massive in Europe, played Lollapalooza, and were “the next big thing” several times (especially after Nirvana’s ascent from indie stars to rock gods). Their jangly guitar sound and quirky production often overshadowed their clever lyrics and brilliant song construction. I enjoyed Pavement, but I often felt that their need to be obtuse was a little off-putting. They would talk about how they didn’t know how to play their instruments and would put on “ramshackle” performances that obscured their real genius. I know many people will dispute this point, especially the fans who constantly yearn for a Pavement reunion, but I think that being in the band held Malkmus back. With their dissolution at the turn of the millennium, Malkmus “went solo” (not really, he formed a new band called “The Jicks” - but his label wouldn’t let him call his first post-Pavement record anything but “Stephen Malkmus”). On that album and the three that have come out since, Malkmus has continued his infectious songwriting and performing, while stripping away the quirkiness that Pavement espoused. Maybe it’s because he’s older - maybe it’s because I’m older - but I absolutely love what he’s done for the last several years.

His latest album, Real Emotional Trash, could be his best work yet. His love for “Loaded”-era Velvets and early ’70s Krautrock are apparent in his arrangements and perfomance - but at the heart of it all, there’s some damn fine songwriting.

While trolling through the web looking for a gem to share with you, I found this neat acoustic version of “Wicked Wanda”. The electric version closes the album. This video is Malkmus raw. Hope you dig it.

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Alright… just a quick follow-up post.

After seeing The Mae Shi for the first time at Spaceland two weeks ago (see my recent post), I wanted to check them out again now that I’ve listened to all of their records. Luckily, there was a last-minute show at Pomona College in Claremont last night, so my friend Matt and I made decided to drive the 40 miles out of LA to see ‘em.

Long story short: they were once again fantastic. Knowing their songs made the show even better for me.

I think Matt’s comment to the band after the show sums it up: “Two weeks ago, I hadn’t heard of you. Now I want to follow you on tour.”

I took a bunch of pictures at the show… I posted ‘em without any tags or editing at Flickr. You can check them out here.

The Mae Shi has a UK/Europe tour all May, and a US tour in July.
The dates are on their website.

GO SEE THIS BAND