How about checking out my blog, BathtubExplosion.com...I've reviewed many shows at the El Rey and I do it all for free and for fun!
 

i don't like nikka costa but how about airborne toxic event?

Ingrid Michaelson @ The El Rey 6.24.08
By. Tina of AudioTaco.com

At 10:56 pm Ingrid Michaelson and her band launched into their set before the curtains were even drawn. Unlike other musicians that try to build that anticipation before their set, her band didn’t need it- they already had the buzz, the just needed to prove why. But, as soon as Ingrid started singing, my expectations had been met.

I read in an interview that Ingrid had originally studied drama/ musical theatre at university but ended up switching majors. This explained a lot because she has a sharp wit and confident stage personality that makes her magnetic. At one point in the show, an audience member screamed something at her. Ingrid shot back that she sounded like Little Orphan Annie and then proceeded to spout out lines from the film mimicking her. Suffice to say, she had the crowd cackling for much of the night.

Ingrid’s performances are what live shows are supposed to be - a participatory experience with an exchange between the artist and listener. In her case, she managed to get an LA crowd singing along to her songs with little effort. It seemed like the crowd was already familiar with her songs and clapped along to “The Way I Am” without being asked. As an intro to “Overboard”, she decided to quiz the audience by giving three hints and coaxed us not to give away the answer until she had finished. When the time came, most of the audience had shouted out the correct answer. On “The Hat” she asked the audience to sing the line "I should tell you that you were my first love”. Normally, asking the audience to sing anything can be a dissonant distraction. In her case, it was a beautiful addition to her vocals and drew the audience deeper into her performance.

Listening to her record, I really didn’t notice the nuances in her vocals. She creates a vibrato that reminds me a lot of Interlude cover woman Missy Higgins. Allie Moss, Ingrid’s guitarist and backing vocalist was a stellar addition to the show. Most of Michaelson’s songs have multiple vocal parts and together, they create a complex harmony superior than any loop peda or Mac effect. This is apparent in “The Chain” when guest vocalist Priscilla Ahn joined Ingrid and Allie for a singer- songwriter threesome (pun intended). The song is three part vocal canon that is a powerhouse of emotion. Dependent entirely on the vocals for impact, the piano is subtle enough to accompany without detracting from the vocals. It really takes three singers to pull this one off.

Some of my favorite songs of the night was “Masochist” and “Corner of Your Heart”. On “Masochist”, my favorite parts was when her voice drops as she finished the end of each line and the escalation at the end of the bridge. On “Corner of Your Heart”, Ingrid played piano and was accompanied by Allie Moss on backing vocals. The song deviates from her usual pop song structure to reveal the fragility in her music.

With a set clocking in over an hour and a half, the crowd never tired of her. She played nearly her entire record along with poignant covers of Death Cab for Cutie’s “I Will Follow You Through the Dark” and “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” from the Wizard of Oz. In between her stories, jokes, crowd participation, and her selection of songs, there was never a moment where I wasn’t completely engrossed.

photos found here- http://www.audiotaco.com/?p=94
 

yeah shes awesome and pretty.
 

Liars with No Age @ The El Rey Theatre, 2/22/08

Wow. What a great combo night. No Age and Liars back to back. Much better than sitting at home and watching that Home Improvement marathon that you’ve been wasting your time on. Tivo that shit and go to more shows like this.

Los Angeles minimalist punk revivalists No Age rocked the chandeliers at the El Rey with a scorching set of melody, rhythm, and experimental noise. Guitarist Randy Randall plays chunky repetitive riffs and excellent rhythm guitar on his battered up Gibson SG, which is absolutely fucking perfect for the sound they’re going for. He loops guitar on his Boss RC-20XL and uses plenty of delay on top of that to have a much larger sound than most people can pull off with only two band members. Drummer/Singer Dean Spunt takes charge with a minimalistic stage presence, but thanks the audience and Liars, and tells us it’s good to be back home on the final show of their shared tour with Liars.

The amazing thing about these guys is their charm. They play music that revives a crowd of people that’s identical to what you’d see in old punk documentaries, and they look happy the entire time. They realize they’re hitting it big and are doing what they love and what the fans love, playing great fucking rock ‘n roll music and being true about it. The crowd was extremely into the show and if you shot black and white photos of them, it wouldn’t be so far off from what you’d see in the book and film American Hardcore. This has to be one of the best and most involved crowds you’ll see at a rock show today. Black Lips stirs up a similar crowd behavior.

They played songs such as "Everybody's Down”, “My Life’s Alright Without You” and “Boy Void” from their debut album Weirdo Rippers, followed by a few new tracks off their upcoming LP Nouns, which is set for a May 6th release under Sub-Pop Records. By the sound of it, I expect this album to be a little brighter and have more focus on rhythmic guitar intros…that Randy Randall dude is really getting even better at guitar since I saw them open for Pop Levi back at the Echoplex in June ’07.

I have to say that they closed out their performance in what proved to be the absolute coolest fucking thing I have ever seen a band do to conclude their set. Randy Randall was pounding chords on his guitar, then he looped them together and handed out his guitar into the audience. Everyone put their hands up as if supporting a crowd surfer, and then suddenly the guitar got sucked into the audience like a ship in a sea storm being swallowed by a giant squid amongst the crashing waves. Shit was fucking epic. People were pulling off strings, beating it up, and they ended up completely snapping the neck off the body. Finally, the guitar was handed back to Randy, and he started shaking peoples’ hands and high-fiving everyone,all with a huge smile on his face.

Next up was the NYC experimental rock band Liars. Frontman Angus Andrew (vocals/bass) seemed really happy to be playing in LA just a couple months after injuring his back , which left him stuck seated on a stool for at least half of the show. Guaranteed he was still taller than you and me combined.

They played songs from all albums, including “Leather Prowler”, “Houseclouds”, “Plaster Casts of Everything”, “Clear Island”, "Freak Out", “Drum and the Uncomfortable Can”, “Pure Unevil”, “Let’s Not Wrestle Mt. Heart Attack”, and “The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack” (not in that particular order). And just because he had his back injury didn't mean he didn't move around. The entire time he danced awkwardly around stage, almost like I've seen Mick Jagger in videos. I watched nervously as if he was going to topple around on stage, but he stayed erect the entire time. Hey, you! Get your mind out of the gutter!
 

Autolux, HEALTH @ El Rey, 2/1/08
HEALTH is an experimental noise rock band from Los Angeles. I saw them open for Autolux at the El Rey Theatre Friday night. They are really great live, and even better than the album! I personally wished that they were a little louder (there's really no other way to hear their debut self-titled LP than at full volume!) but nonetheless they were still damn entertaining. I also missed some of the video game sounding effects on "Triceratops", but the absence of them didn't effect their incredible, adrenaline pumping experience that much. On the album, this song sounds like the soundtrack to a post-apocalyptic video game themed rollercoaster with dinosaur-head shaped oscillating sprinklers that shoot liquid acid onto the screaming passengers.

The singer/guitarist had a T-shirt that read in all caps "I DON'T GIVE A FUCK" and I guess you could say that this music can fit your mood when you feel the same way. It's loud, abrasive yet fluid, mechanical, aggressive, spontaneous...very similar to Boredoms, or a more raw and stripped down Battles. The drummer really beats the demons out of those drums, and everyone in the band has so much energy and is hopping around so damn much that I was having Pokemon Snap flashbacks while taking pics. I felt like these guys were on stage for about 30 minutes, close to the length of their album. I can't wait to see them at The Smell (where they recorded their album and have been playing live shows at forever)! Please make sure to catch them there on 4/20 (uh oh)!
Okay, so it's about fucking time I got to see Autolux. They've played at so many festivals where I missed them, and after seeing them live, I wish I had caught them all the previous times before. Although the songs do stick to the same structure as on the album, they are a lot heavier, louder, and more shoegazy on stage! I think that their only current LP, Future Perfect, would have highly benefited from, oh, let's say, Steve Albini's production, because it's a little too polished, in my opinion.

Singer/bassist Eugene Goreshter looked like he was having a great time up there because he had a permanent mischievous Joker grin. He sang with a confident ease...Drummer Carla Azar looks very similar to Karen O and has a super cool transparent drumset. I love it when the drummer sings on some of the songs, and she does a fine job of doing it. She was sporting a metallic-silver looking leotard kind of thing (i don't know what the hell you'd call it) and a loose fitting silver top, which matched up well with guitarist Greg Edwards' Gibson SG, which was covered in what appeared to be aluminum foil, as did Eugene's Fender Bass.

They ripped through a handful of hits off Future Perfect, such as Turnstile Blues and Blanket, and a few new songs that I haven't heard yet. We'll all hear the new songs soon enough on the upcoming album which is scheduled for a non-specified release date this year.

All in all, they sound incredible live, but I would have liked to see a little more energy on stage. At least some feet stomping or something, but I guess shoegaze didn't get the name from them tapdancing on stage, haha.
 

The Raveonettes / Be Your Own Pet @ the El Rey Theatre, 3/4/08


Nashville four-piece rockers Be Your Own Pet opened for The Raveonettes tonight. I had previously seen them at the Troubadour a year or two ago around the time their first album came out, and they were good for what they are. I honestly cannot say I am a huge fan. I do appreciate their youth and raw energy and all that stuff, but there are just too many bands out there today, and I've been to too many amazing shows in the past year for these guys to leave much of a mark in my memory.
However, their new album Get Awkward just came out and it's been getting pretty good reviews. Also, it doesn't hurt that they were discovered by Thurston Moore and are under his Ecstatic Peace label...so check them out! They sing songs about high school crushes, popping pills, food fights, taking it in the ass, and sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll! Very original lyrics.

Danish duo The Raveonettes are so rad live. I previously saw them at Spaceland last year, and they have so many new amazing songs since then. It was really great to be able to catch them at such a small and intimate venue like that, but a band with such a fucking huge sound really feels at home at the El Rey.

Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo (with a fresh haircut) came out to a full house at the El Rey, and true to form, they were of very few words, extremely sexy and stylish, and confident as hell. Some uber Euro chick with a short haircut joined them, standing up the entire time, and pounding on two electronically altered snares. They opened up with "Hallucinations", and continued with more tracks off their newborn baby Lust Lust Lust.

I have to point out that the lighting at this show was among the best I have ever seen in my life. I will not soon forget the transitional shifts from blue to green to violet. I'm no expert in stage lighting, but I do know that they definitely put a lot into their lighting. It really makes for a hypnotizing show.

Lust Lust Lust is hands down (my pants) one of my favorite albums of the past 12 months. It's their heaviest, loudest, and lustiest album yet. These songs transfer to the stage amazingly, and it doesn't hurt that they look so damn good on stage.
 

Photos from DeVotchKa at The El Rey on September 16, 2008:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/otterfreak/sets/72157607345073911/
 

Alexi Murdoch at the El Rey, April 8th, 2009

True to a man who had just spent a year in the Himalayas, Alexi Murdoch appeared like a spirit on the stage, fluid and intangible beneath the low glow of blue lights, which shined just enough to illuminate the outline of an emaciated figure – made more so by his skinny jeans and tight fitting long tee – and a beard as unkempt and as the hair atop his head. It was clear that Alexi had “lost all care for the things [he] owned,” and as such, was prepared to deliver a show devoid of both pretense and extravagance, in favor of one filled with soul and truth. He looked like a man who had just spent a year in the Himalayas, and he played like one too, endowed with a spiritual strength from the mountains that rose above his physical slightness.


He stood with his guitar as an extension of himself, and sang a mixture of songs from his upcoming EP/Album, as well as some of the more celebrated songs from TIME WITHOUT CONSEQUENCE.


Also as an extension of himself were his fellow band members (rhythm guitar, bass, percussion, keys/electronics/effects, and trumpet), whose individual instruments could hardly be separated as distinct parts of the whole. Like Sigur Ros, rather than layer harmonies one on top of the other or serve accompaniments to a simple melody, they created atmospheres and worlds where Alexi’s smooth and dark voice (a deeper version of Nick Drake) slipped in as undetected as the instruments. And the music emanated from them as from one source, organically flowing and building like a spring that starts from groundwater, which turns into a brook and then a river, culminates in a waterfall, and finally finds rest in its outlet, the sea. In that way, they seemed to “feel” the music rather than play it, which assumption can find support in the fact that their eyes remained closed 75% of the time, opening only slightly the other 25%, perhaps in order to verify that they were indeed on a stage in Los Angeles in the El Rey Theatre, as opposed to floating on a cloud somewhere in another dimension.


In general, Alexi stayed true to the arrangements that were laid down in the studio, but also showed his artistry in a reinvention of “Dream About Flying,” which took on a whole new rhythm and more intricate riffs on the guitar (he must have had time work on his skills during his sojourn in the mountains), and a more simplified version of “Orange Sky” that was perhaps even more fulfilling than the studio version, slowing down the tempo to allow every stroke of the strings, every beat, and every lyric glow in our hearts like a setting sun.


The new tracks, which will be released some time in the next two to three months, still have that Alexi flavor – the combination of haunting electronica and indie acoustic riffs, and of course, the pure and unmistakable voice of Alexi himself –, but he has moved into a slightly more upbeat and optimistic realm, while maintaining a few of those moments of awe or reverence that permeate his previous work. It sounds strange to say, but this new direction, especially as it relates to his finger picking on the guitar, points almost towards folk and bluegrass, in the same way certain tracks from Ray LaMontagne’s GOSSIP IN THE GRAIN do. Needless to say, it fits and works brilliantly.


The crowning moment of last night’s performance came during the encore, when Alexi performed his stirring rendition of “Orange Sky,” and the crowd, without being beckoned or called upon, joined him in singing the chorus: “my salvation lies in your love, my salvation lies in your love, my salvation lies in your love, in your love, in your love...” Incredibly, like Alexi’s voice and the musicians that made up his band, the crowd became part of the whole, in no way overpowering Alexi or the song, but becoming yet another element in the atmosphere. A subtle smile came across Alexi’s face and not so subtle smiles played on the faces of his fellow musicians, and it was clear we had all found salvation in each other and our love for Alexi and his music.




Douglas W.
Bailey
http://www.dwbailey.blogspot.com/