A place to Bury Strangers needs to be experienced by everyone at least once in their life. Their self-titled album is good but does absolutely no justice to their intensity as an extremely dark, noise band live.  If you need further understanding, please read my past review here or just watch the video above.

In a venue the size of the Echo please remember to bring ear plugs if you care to keep your hearing. Personally, I will be attempting to go deaf but I understand that is not everyone else’s intentions. Additionally, Darker my Love will be opening for them which also promises to be a great performance. I got 6 tickets at $15 a piece.

1. Capt AKAK
2. Capt Shabbin
3. MRoyed
4. G Pants
5. James
6. JP

Have you ever wandered what it would be like to watch pure love and light on stage while enjoying some of your favorite tunes? Well YLT live is just your chance to experience such an event.

About 10% of my 500 album cd collection is from Yo La Tengo….yes they have that many records. Last time TSS ventured out to see YLT was during their “Free wheelin” tour which consisted of them taking requests directly from the audience and answering any questions your heart might desire. I believe OceanRain got the answer to his question of “where were you when you first heard yourselves on the radio”. It was a beautiful night.

This concert promises to be more powerful than that night as this one will not be unplugged and feature many of their new tracks from Popular Songs. I got 8 tickets at $25 a piece.

1. Capt AKAK
2. Capt Shabbin
3. George Pants
4. Jewels
5. JP
6. Kia
7. Ocean Rain
8. ??

1. alhp
2. Evelyn
3. the.colonel
4. JP

1. Chabs
2. THE Canadian
3. Dan (the other Canadian)
4. Ashley

“These songs were meant to be heard live. The drums, which are a bit buried on the album, come out in full force live, making the songs a completely different beast all together. Logan is a machine on drums and Meric’s mastery of the southern picking tradition is still there as well. Simply put, the man can play, better than that… the man can wail.” [Bay Bridged]

The Dodos are back in town in support of their new album “Time to Die”. I am yet to hear the album but my understanding is that it is a bit softer than prior recordings of theirs. Nevertheless about two years ago I considered this duo one of the better acts to see live in the underground scene. So we shall see if they still got the magic.
I got three tickets to the show this Sunday at the El Rey at $22 a piece.

1. Capt AKAK
2. J Kelley
3. ??

Sidenote:  The name of this site was derived from an email exchange between Meric Long and myself.

ATP has a special place in my heart as it is the first concert I went to after leaving the world of electronic music in Texas and moving to California. Five years ago, this festival was being held in Long Beach at the Queen Mary, playing host to such bands as Modest Mouse, The Shins, Built to Spill, Elliott Smith, Mission of Burma, Mars Volta, Minutemen Duo, Lungfish, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed and many others.  The group that is now TSS was smaller and largely made up of different faces back then but the essence was the same; people coming together over a common thread of passion for the positive vibration force that is music. While thinking about these early days of pre-TSS  existence, I sifted through some old shoe-boxes for photos of the crew. Check out these memories. (more…)

Just Part of the Family

Supposedly Built to Spill has been living in LA for the past couple of months recording their new album due out October 6th. Why they have not been playing a residency at Spaceland every Monday night is beyond me because lord knows I (and probably you) would have been there every week. But that is all in the past now, Built to Spill is scheduled to be playing a show at the newly reopened Galaxy Theater in Costa Mesa. I was shocked when I saw this but it is in fact true; Doug Martsch and team will be playing in the OC just following their Sunset Junction Street Fair performance.

Over the past three years, Built to Spill (both recorded and live) has come to mean more and more to me as time passes. I remember the first time I heard Perfect From Now On, I thought to myself good but not great. Well first impressions are often quite wrong because it is close to perfection in my estimation now. Another example, the first time I saw Built to Spill live was at the Anaheim House of Blues (shit venue fyi) when George Pants was desperately attempting to make me a believer in their sound. I just stood there during the show relatively unimpressed by this mild mannered Idahoan who chirped a sheepish “Thanks” after every song. Fast forward 4 years, I am tap-foot dancing, transfixed to their every move at a Henry Fonda show. Life is weird, sometimes you just are not ready to hear something until you are ready. My hope is that you will not be as stubborn as I once was and experience the magic yourself.
Here is a gift from the very night I realized the greatness of BTS live. Enjoy the appetizer prior to the main course.

Built to Spill – Live at Henry Fonda, LA 7.27.2007

I have 6 tickets to the show @ $28 a piece.

1. Capt AKAK
2. JP
3. Katie
4. Bruce
5. Kia
6. Chuckles

1. Pants
2. ??

“[Deerhunter's] Rough edges have been sanded down into a far more digestible format. Psychedelic leanings which have threatened to spiral out of control remain, but now with its bittersweet underpinnings pushed to the surface.” [Drowned in Sound]

Homefield advantage bitches! This is one of those shows where I get so excited many people around me are concerned that I will blow my load too soon. I will get my hopes up and inevitably be let down. Here is the deal though, I get to be happy regardless from this day to that, so screw it if I am let down.

For those of you unfamiliar with Deerhunter, frontman Bradford Cox has produced some of the greatest records in modern time. He (like Jimi Hendrix) was placed here by God for a short time to rip our souls in half with musical pleasantries. Exaggerations, you ask? Probably. But nevertheless he did create my favorite album from 2008 “Let those who blind, Lead those who can see but cant feel” which doubles as the greatest album title ever. Both of his side projects: Atlas Sound and Lotus Plaza are equally as good. Cox has created something like 6 albums and 10 7″s over the course of 5 years. What other band can make these claims? Bottomline everyone who went to the show at the El Rey about a year ago was utterly satisfied.

In case you are on the fence, check out this footage from that show shot by resident TSS member JP to see how you feel about it. If that does not persuade you, check out OceanRain’s review of Deerhunter last full length album, Microcastle.

I got 6 tickets at $18 a piece. Someone should probably get more here.

1. Capt AKAK
2. Timothy
3. JP
4. Bruce
5. Matthew Garrett Royed
6. Dharma Bum

1. Justin

Late Show notice:

Some of you have already had the pleasure of witnessing the Octopus Project once at a free show about a year ago at the Roxy, so you are familiar. For those of you who are not familiar, realize that this band is a musical version of the Jetsons cartoon being transported from the future to present day. I would describe them as electronic indie rock with few lyrics but great rythems. They are fun is the bottom line, little bit of dancing and a whole lot of grooving. They showcase a theremin for God’s sake…which is an instrument that converts vibration in the air into a sound, it is pretty amazing to watch live. Anyway check the video to see if you want to join. I got 5 tickets at $20 a piece.

1. Capt AKAK
2. Capt Shabbin
3. Hemoroyed
4. WBRecords
5. Timothy

Megafaun will be venturing into the Los Angeles border for a performance at the Echo next Tuesday, bringing with them their trusty banjos and other folk-ish goodies. For some history, Megafaun played as the back band for Akron/Family during the Love is Simple tour (more…)

As some of you might already know I was ask to be a photographer at the Pickathon Musical Festival in Portland, Oregon this weekend. Jody Orsborne was kind enough to invite me to be her sidekick for this indie folk festivus in forests just outside of Portland. In addition to being a photographer, we will also be interviewing many of the bands and making music videos of them in the woods. As part of our interview series Jody and I have decided that the questions should come from the fans directly, so we will be pinging people in the audience for inqueries but if you would like to ask a question please feel free to comment here. The bands at the festival include: Blitzen Trapper, Dr. Dog, John Doe and the Sadies, Vetiver, Alela Diane, Horsefeathers, Justin Townes Earle among others. Check back for videos and photos soon.

Peace and Love,
Capt AKAK

The Builders and the Butchers are back in LA for another stint at Spaceland.  I discovered this band about 2 years ago when they opened for Helio Sequence at the Detriot Bar of all places. They played an epic hour set that was complete with them passing out pots, pans, spoons, tambourines, etc to everyone in the crowd. I just love bands that invite the crowd to help out in developing the overall energy of an evening. At that show I picked up their only album at the time and subsequently listened to it for about two weeks straight in the car. Other of my friends became equally obsessed with it; in fact one of my friends used to call my work number and I was answer the phone in my cubicle to him singing their opening song at full blast in my ear. Awesome stuff. Now they have a new album which is part of this tour and I am very excited to hear it for the first time live.

Long story short. They are fun. It is cheap. We should go. Here is a video of them on the road the last time they were in town. Its pretty hilarious.

We are getting tickets at the show but here is who is going so far:

1. Capt AKAK
2. ALHP
3. J WYA
4. Ebee
5. Capt Shabbin
6. George Pants
7. Jewels