The Scenesters Run LA: a Week of Music + Film feat. Baths, the Franks, Captain Ahab, Pukes All-Stars, Big Search, Jeans Wilder and More!

The Scenesters Run LA: 14 bands, 4 dead hipsters, 1 hilarious whodunnit.

14 bands, 4 dead hipsters, 1 hilarious whodunnit.

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The Vacationeers and Funny Ha Ha (music journalist Chris Martins) are proud to announce the lineup for a week-long film + music series at Los Angeles’ Downtown Independent theater starting Friday, August 20.

We’re dubbing the event “The Scenesters Run L.A.” because: one, this is the seven-night theatrical run of the award-winning film, The Scenesters, a music-inspired black comedy/murder mocumentary set in Silver Lake; and two, the talent amassed for this 14-artist bill does, indeed, run L.A.

Both L.A. Times and L.A. Weekly have previewed the event, giving away exclusive MP3s from bands set to attend (Spirit Animal and PAPA, respectively). They also shared the news that rising L.A. beat scene star Baths is Sunday’s secret headliner.

Each night, the film voted “Best Comedy” of the Hollywood Film Festival and “Most Interesting” of Slamdance will show at 8:00 p.m., followed by two live performances — from acts as diverse as the Franks, Captain Ahab, Glamorous Pukes (members of the Airborne Toxic Event and M83), Jeans Wilder, Le Switch, Big Search (Matt Popieluch of Foreign Born), and many more, including secret special guests.

Tickets to see both the film and the music are $10 and can be purchased in advance through the Downtown Independent’s website. A handful of the bands are actually featured in the film, and many plan to use the setting to their advantage, which means a big-screen audio-visual feast.

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RSVP TO THE EVENT ON FACEBOOK

The full schedule:

DAY 1: FRIDAY, AUGUST 20
A secret special guest of the funkiest persuasion (hint: IT’S WALLPAPER!) headlines with support from Sister Mantos, lo-fi mutant disco from the City of Angeles. Expect video galore.

DAY 2: SATURDAY, AUGUST 21
Spirit Animal, the band fronted by former rapper and epicurean blogger Gray Kid, bring the live soul, while Le Switch — who’s name ties into one of the film’s murders — specialize in loud folk and earnest indie rock.

DAY 3: SUNDAY, AUGUST 22
San Diego’s sun-damaged tropical chillwave beacon Jeans Wilder opens for L.A. beat scene star Baths, who will be playing from his nothing short of mind-blowing Anticon Records debut, Cerulean.

DAY 4: MONDAY, AUGUST 23
Slang Chickens, of Los Angeles, provide the garage rock grind and some purty folksy notes, while their cross-coastal brother band (literally) New York’s PAPA grace us with some epic-flavored mini anthems.

DAY 5: TUESDAY, AUGUST 24
The insane two-man techno-rap wrecking crew Captain Ahab headline. Meanwhile, an all-star lineup of the country-western Misfits cover band Glamorous Pukes will feature members of the Airborne Toxic Event, M83, Mariachi El Bronx, Learning Music, Saul Williams’ band and more.

DAY 6: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25
Foreign Born singer and Fools Gold guitarist Matt Popieluch makes hi-fi layered bedroom folk as Big Search. With a secret special guest SWEATERS, who hail from L.A.’s storied underground.

DAY 7: THURSDAY, AUGUST 26
Show-stoppers The Franks present a ripping array of raw, hook-laden econo jams, and Lord Huron sound something like Paul Simon on glo-fi drugs singing inside of My Morning Jacket’s grain silo.

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Compton Hype HOPE, Hawthorne Joins Nottz, Lotus RMXs Some Soul, Sumsun RMXs McClure

Compton's buzzing on HOPE

Quick blog bits from around the L.A. underground (and up). Share ’em.

  1. FEATURED: Is Rapper HOPE Compton’s Next Big Hype?*
  2. Mayer Hawthorne Hooks Up with Beat-Maker Nottz
  3. MP3: Soul Chanteuse Remixed by Flying Lotus, Mount Kimbie
  4. Beat-Waver Sumsun Remixes Alpha Pup’s Oscar McClure

(all stories via West Coast Sound, via L.A. Weekly)

* In the just-out music video for the new H.O.P.E. track, “Bliss,” our unlikely hero has his lights turned out as a result of insufficient funds. Still, he’s got the skills to pay the bills.

Mayer Hawthorne Hooks Up with Virginia Beat-Maker Nottz, Drops Etched 12-Inch for ‘I Need You’

Big Search (Matt P. of Foreign Born, Fool’s Gold) and Friends Confirmed for ‘The Scenesters’ Live at L.A.’s Downtown Independent Theater

Big Search's Matt Popieluch -- another Scenesters victim?

The Vacationeers and Funny Ha Ha are tickled totally pink to announce the second fully confirmed night in the week-long The Scenesters film + music series taking place at L.A.’s Downtown Independent theater in late August.

Yesterday, we shored up the event’s closing night — Thursday, August 26, featuring The Franks and Lord Huron — and it seems we’re working our way backward. The lineup for Wednesday, August 25, has been decided, though due to our proximity (time-wise) to Sunset Junction, not all of it can be told. You like mysteries, right?

Never fear, the headliner should be enough to wet your whistle. The estimable Big Search — a.k.a. Matt Popieluch, Foreign Born frontman and Fool’s Gold ax-slinger — will bring a wrecking crew with him to convert his hi-fi layered bedroom folk into a full-blown live affair.

Keep your eyes on this page for information on the opener, a rising local band whose involvement makes us feel inexplicably fuzzy and warm.

Listen to “Flyer’s Fall” by Big Search:

The Franks and Lord Huron Confirmed to Play ‘The Scenesters’ Closing Night at L.A.’s Downtown Independent Theater

The Franks, all dolled up for death

The Vacationeers and Funny Ha Ha are proud to announce the first fully confirmed night in a week-long film + music series taking place at L.A.’s Downtown Independent theater starting Friday, August 20. Ironically, naturally, the inaugural booking is for the event’s closing night.

Each evening, the Vacationeers-produced feature, The Scenesters, will screen at 8:00 p.m. sharp. There will be beer on hand, and you will enjoy it. The movie itself is an indie-music-inspired black comedy / murder mocumentary set in Silver Lake, with a  sound track compiled by L.A. music journo Chris Martins (L.A. Weekly, Spin, The Onion).

Phase two of each night will (ideally) comprise a double-bill of live music played either by artists featured in the flick, or by bands with local significance. The ticket price, for movie and music, will be a non-whopping ten bones ($10), and reservations can be made via Brown Paper Tickets.

HUZZAH!

With no further ado, we’re proud to announce (for real this time) the lineup for Thursday, August 26. Rising Echo Park garage-punk trio The Franks will headline with a ripping array of raw, hook-laden econo jams. Meanwhile, the lesser known but hotly tipped Lord Huron will provide something akin to Paul Simon on chillwave drugs singing inside of the My Morning Jacket grain silo. Needless to say, we’re very excited.

Meet the bands after the jump.

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INCHES reviews Petrojviv Blasting Co.’ Debut LP, ‘A History of Public Relationsh Dilemmae’

Petrojvic Blasting Co., 'A History of Public Relations Dilemmae'

Friends, Balkans, Hollywood Farmers Market regulars, lend me your ears. INCHES has returned in its new, slimmed-down form. One L.A. vinyl release a week, with all the amenities you’ve come to expect: photo, MP3, reviews, purchase info, and a sales chart from a local wax merchant. This week, I’m proud to cover the full-length vinyl debut of the Petrojvic Blasting Co. I had the pleasure to interview these fellas for the Killsonic feature in LA Weekly, and for last year’s “People” issue, and they’re good men, deserving of a good record.

Check it out.

INCHES reviews new vinyl from Ascend, Blank Realm, Active Child, Ernest Gonzales [MP3s]

At last! A brand new installment of INCHES, the L.A.-centric vinyl column that’s now numerous feet — no, yards — into its long-playing legacy. It’s a damn ripe time for independent music in Southern California, and this, friends, is your undeniable mainline. Inside, you’ll get your chillwave fix, your dose of droning doom, some spiraling psych and some fuzzy folktronica. Nothing to scoff at, and free MP3s from each. Plus words! And pictures!

Active Child, 'She Was A Vision'