Sleigh Bells slay balls. (Erik Voake)
Late, late, late. The internet has already forgotten that Coachella 2011 ever happened, but for posterity’s sake, here’s what I wrote about it for Spin.
DAY ONE: Odd Future & Pharell, Sleigh Bells, Cold Cave, Crystal Castles, Ariel Pink*, YACHT, !!! (plus lil blurbs on Paul McCartney & Best Coast, Omar Rodriguez Lopez & Cedric Bixler-Zavala, Titus Andronicus & Lil B).
*The inimitable Carles of Hipster Runoff picked up on my Ariel Pink diss.
Quick bloggy bits* from around the L.A. underground (and up).
(all stories via West Coast Sound, via LA Weekly)
*If you like it, then you better put a tweet on it.
Apologies for the lack of updates. Perhaps you’ve made a New Year’s resolution to read a wee bit more in 2010? Well, why not get a jump on it now, here, for free. Check out the second latest edition of INCHES, here. As is my weekly wont, you’ll find four fresh slabs of L.A.-relevant vinyl reviewed, photographed* and MP3’d for your audio-visual pleasure.
My pick of the litter?
Best Coast, 'When I'm With You'
Man alive, it’s number five! The West Coast Sound vinyl column rings in a brand new prime number with INCHES005, featuring some truly glorious wax courtesy of The Mars Volta (Rodriguez-Lopez Productions), Glasser (True Panther Sounds), Kissing Cousins (Velvet Blue Music), and Wet Hair (Not Not Fun).
Wet Hair, "Glass Fountain"
Also inside: trippy video of the Glasser 12-inch package being assembled, free music to download, and a fresh top-ten from Vacation Vinyl.
I’m exceedingly proud to announce the debut of my new weekly vinyl column, “INCHES” on the LA Weekly music blog, West Coast Sound. The full title of the inaugural installment is “INCHES001: Local revolutions, pt.1 — five L.A. vinyl exclusives revealed and reviewed.”
This edition features five releases by L.A.-area artists on L.A.-area labels — Mika Miko (PPM), Xasthur (Hydra Head), RxBandits (Sargent House), Castledoor (Seven Inch Project), and Shafiq (Poo-Bah) — that either are not available on CD, or sport a drool-worthy design. A free MP3 accompanies each writeup, along with a photo of the package shot, for better or for worse, by yours truly.
Mika Miko's We Be Xuxa (PPM)
Future installments will include up-to-date reviews of wax by L.A. artists and/or L.A. imprints, profiles on local vinyl shops and labels, cratedigger-curated selections, swap meet outings, and whatever else seems like a good idea at the time. If you haven’t clicked over there already, please do so here.
Truth be told, I’ve been a fan of Southern California’s Rx Bandits since I was a high school junior. That was when the band skewed a wee bit ska and their resonance seemed doomed to passing fad. At least, to the outsiders. Those of us really listening knew that a long and illustrious career of genre-bending and “weird music” (singer Matt Embree’s phrase) would follow. Whether you got it then or not, the band’s new record, Mandala, is strong prog-punk worthy of stronger praise. Read what Embree had to say here.
Trip out:
R.I.P. Deciders Los Angeles and San Fransisco.
Chris Writes Things 