Band Profiles Archives - Page 6 of 7

Band Roundup, part I – August 17, 2009

On August 17, 2009

I’ve got some serious catching up to do. After my “mini-festival-weekend” now two weeks ago (which included Boston’s Best Music Poll and the WBRU/McFadden’s block party in Providence), it took me all the following week to assemble my plethora of notes, photos and video clips into a few reviews. Since then I’ve been trying to catch up with a backlog of MySpace requests, emails and bands I’ve been meaning to check out.

What I’ve decided to do, rather than have to choose (from a wide variety of some great or at least interesting music) which bands to do profiles on, is to have periodic “band roundups”, where I’ll write shorter profiles, much like I did during the Coachella Festival. Since I’ve got over 20 bands to get to here, I’ll do this in bite-size chunks, rather than assault you with yet another of my massive tomes.

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Band Profile: Naked Alien (Minnesota)

By julie

On July 13, 2009

In Band Profiles, Indie Music

Frat party meets Flaming Lips. Dive bars with sticky floors and inebriated overweight jocks with bad pick-up lines. Eagles, Charlie Daniels, and Lynard Skynard on the jukebox (or maybe I’m just having a bad flashback to when I lived in Florida in the late ’70s). Songs about drinking, overweight strippers, burritos, beer, chicks, more drinking, and yes – bad pick-up lines. Do I see a theme emerging? Naked Alien are just four guys having a good time, finding a suitable outlet for the frustrations of day jobs, and inviting people along for the ride.

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Band Profile: The Henry Clay People

By julie

On July 3, 2009

In Band Profiles, Indie Music

The Bowery Ballroom, photo by Marcela Cussolin

Man, I love these guys. I first discovered them via The Airborne Toxic Event, when I went absolutely batshit nuts over the first three Silverlake bands I heard – TATE, Castledoor, and The Deadly Syndrome (that now legendary final Spaceland residency show in January 2008). From there I started researching all the bands that played around Silverlake and Echo Park, and it was a revelation. Not unlike the one I had in the early 00’s when I discovered – 10 years after everyone else in America – the whole New Zealand Flying Nun thing. And not unlike the NZ stuff, there’s this lyrical sophistication and slightly off-kilter quality running through many of these bands that greatly appeals to me. The Henry Clay People has this intelligence and quirkiness in vast overflowing abundance. Mix that with classic and punk rock sounds, a bit of country-flavoring and indie rock sensibility, and you’ve got something pretty damned irresistible.

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Band Profile: Red Cortez

By julie

On June 29, 2009

In Band Profiles, Indie Music

Originally known as The Weather Underground, the group formed mid-2004 with singer/guitarist Harley Prechtel-Cortez, bassist Ryan Kirkpatrick, drummer Diego Guerrero and guitarist Sho Bagley. Sho left around the middle of last year, and was replaced by Edmonton native Calvin J. Love. Adding a Canadian to the mix made the band even more diverse, as they already have Guatemalan, Mexican, and Irish ancestry, which comes out at times in beautiful ways, in their sound and subject matter. The new band member, new songs, and inevitable linking to the ’60’s/’70’s leftist group (often as important to journalists as their songs) inspired them to change their name to Red Cortez. Their first show was Nov. 11, for the debut of Indie 103.1’s “Check One Tuesdays” night at the Echoplex, opening for Earlimart and Afternoons (good heavens, what a lineup).

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Band Profile: The National

By julie

On May 23, 2009

In Band Profiles, Indie Music

The National (from their myspace)

Well, I was going to drive into Boston to see if I could scalp a ticket to see The National at the sold out House of Blues, but 1) I’m still getting over a cold, 2) if I was in the mood for anything, it would be something “low-key”, which the newly opened HOB on Lansdowne Street clearly isn’t (yes, I’m still smarting a bit over the loss of Avalon and Axis, and haven’t been there yet), and 3) Leonard Cohen is in town next weekend, and I absolutely don’t want to be sick for that! So, to assuage my guilt, I’m going to do a mini-band profile for them.

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Band Profile: Radars To The Sky

By julie

On May 2, 2009

In Band Profiles, Indie Music, Reviews

photo by Callie Schneider, February 2009

Another of the great, great bands on the Silverlake scene, Radars To The Sky has that wonderful sophisticated folk/pop indie sound with really smart lyrics that I was immediately attracted to when virtually exploring those bands regularly performing at places like Spaceland and The Echo. The husband and wife due of Andrew and Kate Spitser (guitar and keyboards) compliment each other beautifully, especially when also sharing the vocal duties, such as on the lovely “I Might”.

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Coachella for poor people, part 7

By julie

On April 20, 2009

In Band Profiles, Gigs, Indie Music

Hooray, this will be my last “couldn’t afford to go to Coachella” post. Yes, I do know it’s Monday and the festival is over and everyone has gone home. But I had an opportunity to go see some live bands last night at TT the Bear’s place in Cambridge, so I jumped on it, figuring Virtual Coachella could wait. Reviews of those sets (and another night out at the infamous Toad) coming up within a few days. Plus a profile of the very cool L.A. band Radars to the Sky. They’re all stomping their hooves impatiently, so I’d best get on with it.

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Coachella for poor people, part 6

By julie

On April 19, 2009

In Band Profiles, Gigs, Indie Music

Sunday in Coachella. On this final day, here are some more cool bands that most people will likely miss.

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Coachella for poor people, part 5

By julie

On April 18, 2009

In Band Profiles, Gigs, Indie Music

Here’s another bunch of Saturday bands peforming at Coachella.

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Coachella for poor people, part 4

By julie

On April 18, 2009

In Band Profiles, Gigs, Indie Music

Day 2 at Coachella. I managed about 2/3 of the “tent acts” yesterday. I’m going to pick and choose from my favorites today, but I’ll try to get to at least half.

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screams, whispers and songs from planet earth

Category: Band Profiles Page 6 of 7

Band Roundup, part I – August 17, 2009

Band Profile: Naked Alien (Minnesota)

Band Profile: The Henry Clay People

Band Profile: Red Cortez

Band Profile: The National

Band Profile: Radars To The Sky

Coachella for poor people, part 7

Coachella for poor people, part 6

Coachella for poor people, part 5

Coachella for poor people, part 4