L.A.’s Local Natives played their first show in San Diego on Saturday, and they sounded great—even though lead guys Taylor Rice and Kelcey Ayer seemed astounded that they’d pulled it off. It wasn’t because of band discord or unfamiliar material, though; in fact, Local Natives are nothing if not tight-knit and talented. Rather, the troubles that plagued the band were more ethereal—and possibly supernatural.
Fortunately, the faux voodoo vibe at House of Blues was strong enough to diffuse what the band chillingly called the curse.
Despite boasting a roster that overlaps with that of Broken Social Scene, Canadian quartet Metric have spent the last decade amassing a dedicated but modestly-sized fan base. Their previous albums have garnered plenty of critical acclaim but little airplay, and their new release Fantasies made it to #76 on the Billboard Top 200 but stopped short of making the band an indie-household name. And so it was that Metric, buried beneath headlining acts The Black Keys and Yeah Yeah Yeahs at the FM 94/9 Independence Jam, proceeded to blow both of those bands away. Continue reading →
The Black Keys may have been the technical headliners of FM 94/9’s Independence Jam, but as the sun began to set and Yeah Yeah Yeahs were welcomed to the stage, the throng of maniacal tweens made it clear that nobody was there for the blues. Having spent the last six years teetering between indie and mainstream success, a hero’s welcome is likely nothing new for the band, and as frontwoman/force of nature Karen OÂ wrapped a spiky-gloved hand around her microphone, nothing stood between her and the hysterical crowd’s expectations. Continue reading →
Cloud Cult have worked hard to get where they are. Their early albums contained moments of brilliance, but were weighed down by a lack of focus, frustrating silence, and cacophonous filler. After releasing six promising but inconsistent albums, the band finally struck gold with 2007’s The Meaning of 8, which balanced quirkiness and catharsis without succumbing to the ADD-addled wanderings of previous efforts.
They further refined this aesthetic on 2008’s Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes), and in doing so crafted one of the year’s finest albums. With the one-two punch of those records, Cloud Cult had ascended to a new creative peak; naturally, the prospect of seeing them live during this renaissance promised to be thrilling and memorable. Why, then, did their May 14th performance at the Casbah prove disappointing? Continue reading →
No one likes a gushy reviewer. People want evenhanded critiques that take a band’s flaws as well as their strengths into account. Reviews that seem overly positive wreak of bias and/or ignorance, smack of unchecked fandom, and can diminish the credibility of the reviewer. But, like it or not, this is going to be one of those reviews, because when The Avett Brothers performed to a packed house at The Belly Up on Sunday, it truly was a flawless show.
Backed by Bob Crawford on standup bass and—because no country/folk/bluegrass band is complete without a long-haired, head-banging Asian guy—Joe Kwon on cello, brothers Seth and Scott Avett took to the stage with understated confidence. Their aw-shucks Southern humility dropped no hints as to the stellar performance they were about to deliver but, from the moment they began to play, The Avett Brothers nailed each note with baffling ease and agility. Continue reading →
