Nu Rave Brain Wave

So December 17th is a pretty sweet day. Not only are Thee Oh Sees playing for FREE with Nobunny at Thesex, this show is also happening. It’s like all our favorite bands from the OC are coming up to LA to play some weird place. We all know that we adore My Pet Saddle, and they’re bringing their buddies Jeffertitti’s Nile who we’re super stoked to see, Dahga Bloom who we enjoyed once over the summer, Allah Las who I’ve heard good things about; but mainly we’re stoked to see Matt Taylor of the Growlers’ side project The Pet Psychic. Check out the tunes on his myspace. They’re so goddamned good.

JEFFERTITTIS NILE, THE PET PSYCHIC, DAHGA BLOOM, MY PET SADDLE, AND ALLAH LAS ON FRIDAY DEC. 17TH AT THE HUSTLE HOUSE, 7240 COLDWATER CANYON AVENUE, NORTH HOLLYWOOD. 9:00PM/ $5/ ALL AGES.

mp3 | My Pet Saddle - Il Fait Beau
mp3 | The Growlers - People Don\'t Change Blues

2010 has been a pretty fun year for music. Every year, I discover more music, better music, and sometimes it cracks me up to see how my music taste grows and differs as the years go by, but I think 2010 has been a great year for new bands and kickass albums. I’ve compiled my list of 10 albums that I really loved, 5 EPs that just got to me, and then 30 songs that I’ve called Top Songs, but they’re just 30 songs that I liked a hell of a lot and came to me as I thought about it and scanned carelessly through iTunes. It’s interesting to note that half of my favorite albums are from California bands.

Top 10 Albums of 2010

10 Ty Segall | Melted | Goner

mp3 :: Ty Segall - Melted

09 Woven Bones | In & Out & Back Again | Hozac

mp3 :: Woven Bones - I\'ve Gotta Get

08 Dead Ghosts | S/T | Florida’s Dying

mp3 :: Dead Ghosts - When It Comes To You

07 Heavy Hawaii | HH | Artfag Records

mp3 :: Heavy Hawaii - Teen Angel

06 The Strange Boys | Be Brave | In The Red

mp3 :: The Strange Boys - Be Brave

05 Fool’s Gold | Fool’s Gold | IAMSOUND Records

mp3 :: Fool\'s Gold - Surprise Hotel

04 Avi Buffalo | Avi Buffalo | Subpop

mp3 :: Avi Buffalo - What\'s In It For?

03 The Soft Pack | The Soft Pack | Mexican Summer

mp3 :: The Soft Pack - C\'Mon

02 Harlem | Hippies | Matador

mp3 :: Harlem - Friendly Ghost

01 Happy Birthday | Happy Birthday | Subpop

mp3 :: Happy Birthday - Girls FM

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Top 5 EPs of 2010

05 Monster Rally | Monster Rally EP | Self Released

mp3 :: Monster Rally - Maori Mai

04 Unouomedude | Marsh EP | Self Released

mp3 :: Unouomedude - Buildings

03 Caitlin Rose | Dead Flowers EP | Names Records

mp3 :: Caitlin Rose - Docket

02 Sex Beet | EP | TBA

mp3 :: Sex Beet - Sugar Water

(note: this is totally not the artwork, as this isn’t released yet, but the EP is too good to not be included on this list.)

01 The Growlers | Hot Tropics EP | Everloving

mp3 :: The Growlers - Graveyard\'s Full

________________________________________________________________

Top 30 Songs of 2010:

01 The Babies | Meet Me In The City | Listen

02 Happy Birthday | Perverted Girl | Listen

03 Sex Beet | Stay

04 Friends | Make It Better

05 The Meanest Boys | Strangest Things

06 Tennis | South Carolina | Listen

07 Spectrals | Leave Me Be | Listen

08 Family Trees | Dream Talkin’ | Listen

09 Cee Lo Green | Fuck You | Listen

10 Sonny & The Sunsets | Too Young To Burn | Listen

11 Beach Fossils| Sometimes | Listen

12 Woven Bones | Wanna Tell Ya | Listen

13 Ty Segall | Bullet Proof Nothing

14 Surfer Blood | Take It Easy | Listen

15 School Knights | Lunch Money

16 Happy Birthday | Subliminal Message | Listen

17 The Growlers | Sea Lion Goth Blues | Listen

18 Unouomedude | Buildings | Listen

19 The Strange Boys | Laugh At Sex (Not At Her) | Listen

20 Mind Spiders | World’s Destroyed

21 Fair Ohs | Hey Lizzy | Listen

22 Fergus & Geronimo | Girls With English Accents

23 French Kissing | You Just Don’t Know What Love Is For

24 Sweaters | Fruit On The Vine

25 Demon’s Claws | Fucked on K | Listen

26 Swampmeat | Brand New Cadillac

27 Gaoler’s Daughter | Meet You On The Other Side of the World

28 Shimmering Stars | I’m Gonna Try | Listen

29 My Pet Saddle | Il Fait Beau | Listen

30 Cults | Go Outside | Listen

mp3 | My Pet Saddle - Laugh At Me

The small flyer does it no justice but the great My Pet Saddle will be playing with another band we like, Dahga Bloom, will be playing at Three Men’s Warehouse on Friday from 9pm. All you need to do is sign this petition: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/justiceforjulian/ and bring a fiver.

For more info: Facebook Event

mp3 | My Pet Saddle - Laugh At Me

Busy this weekend? Not going to Sunset Junction because of the mostly lackluster (and I don’t mean our favorites, Sweaters! Who play at 3pm) lineup? Well fear not because Spaceland has got you covered with this years Conjunction Junction at Malo. With local greats My Pet Saddle, Dirt Dress, White Arrows, The Black Apples, Sunset Darling and Woah Hunx — with a great special guest who I cannot possibly reveal, but you’ll want to see, don’t miss this TOTALLY FREE SHOW! DJs will be spinning all night long, as well.

mp3 | My Pet Saddle - Laugh At Me

Well, yesterday I got my wisdom teeth out. After a whole lot of fighting, attempting to get my heart rate down so low they couldn’t do it (got it down to 41! mind over body, ftw!) I finally had it done. I’ve been sitting at home with an icepack stuck to my face, guzzling vicodin like it’s my job and attempting to eat soup – so naturally I made a playlist. These are songs I’ve been obsessed with lately, and you’re gonna love ‘em. Fact.

01 Come Down Easy (Demo) | Spaceman 3
02 Wanna Tell You | Woven Bones
03 Leave Me Be | Spectrals
04 Il Fait Beau | My Pet Saddle
05 Don’t Think Twice (Messengers Remix) | J.Period and K’Naan
06 Perverted Girl | Happy Birthday
07 Subliminal Message | Happy Birthday
08 Stone Fox | King Tuff
09 Freak When I’m Dead | King Tuff
10  Dreamboat | Hey Sholay

mp3 | Lost My Wisdom – A Summer Mix

Last night was an extremely excellent bill over at Spaceland. It included two excellent local bands (My Pet Saddle and Dirt Dress) playing with two touring bands (Residual Echoes and Happy Birthday) mixing West Coast with East Coast in the best kind of way.

The night started with the quickly rising My Pet Saddle, who I have been digging for some time now. With the impending release of their debut album, they’ve started sound tighter than ever. Their songs have something so naturally likable about their songs, but I’m not sure if its the sweet jangly-pop side, the slight country twang, the ever-more slight surf influence (for a band so close with the Growlers, from the same area – it’s amazing they’re not more beachy), the vocal ‘harmonizations’ or just the general atmosphere of enjoyment that they’ve projected every time I see them, but damn, do I like this band Check them out on July 31st at the House of Blues Anaheim with the Growlers, Dagha Bloom and more for their record release party.

Second on the bill was Dirt Dress, who, with My Pet Saddle, make up some of the most promising young new bands in Los Angeles. I like Dirt Dress a lot but to be fair, I was focused on something else and was pretty sure this was not the gig to fully 100% convince me to get on board – t’was an average showing, they’ve done better and will continue to do better.

Residual Echoes was up third, and from what I can tell, they are an LA band but the bassist of Happy Birthday, Chris, joined them on drums. Again, was pretty distracted during this band (tried to purchase a King Tuff tape, um die of amazingness much?, but will have to go to San Diego to get it – which is fine) but they ripped pretty hard.

Finally, at 12am (oh, god, I’m old!) the band I’d been waiting since March to see again took the stage. Happy Birthday is the full band that Kyle Thomas aka King Tuff put together not too long ago, after laying to rest his solo project. I’d just like to say that it kills me a little more inside every single day when I think about the fact that I missed King Tuff at SXSW 2009 blatantly and brazenly, and now I cry myself to sleep thinking about it. Not really, but I was fucking stoked to see Happy Birthday. After catching their Sub Pop showcase, I wasn’t sure whether or not I was super into it, but then I reviewed their album for Drowned in Sound, I really fell in love. Don’t get me wrong, from the second I heard Girls FM, I was hooked, but live – I needed something more. Thankfully, it all came together last night at Spaceland.

It’s funny to me that King Tuff writes so many songs about being such an awkward dude because he cuts such an awesome figure – he’s got that wild hair (I know something about it, and it’s AWESOME – so sorry if you don’t have it) and the weird baseball hats and the ripped jeans and the fucking cool as hell sneakers – put it all together when he’s shredding through a song like “2 Shy” and it equals a bit of confusion on my part.

They played Girls FM a lot earlier than I thought they would, but perhaps they realized that the song wasn’t the best set closer and moved it up. ‘Happy Birthday’ the album is a lot more polished than I ever thought I would hear King Tuff get – it doesn’t do them a disservice on record but live it’s a lot more raw and something a little bit sloppy in a good way, but Girls FM really benefits from the dingy treatment.

Pink Strawberry Shake, Perverted Girl and Maxine the Eskimo all sounded fucking incredible. Garbus was on top form, only getting distracted by the awesome (read: pointless, but fun) visuals once, which is more than I can say for myself, but I was standing next to the projector. Fun is one of my favorite Happy Birthday song – although it doesn’t have the same fire behind most of the other H.B. songs, it never fails to crack me the fuck up and get stuck in my head, again the contrast between K.T’s image (or I guess, as I percieve it) and his lyrics is hilarious: “Everyone says I’m the one who needs to get a job / But everyone thinks I’m a slob”.

The new set closer, Subliminal Message, was probably the best part of the whole show. We had been listening to that song close to non-stop before hand and I must admit, I wasn’t sure how the song would do without the soaring synths. But fuck me, it RULED. As Mark Bolan once said, it was dirty and sweet, clad in black, don’t look back and I love you. No, but really, it was beautiful and dirty and if anyone is wondering – the person hitting the high note is not in fact Ruth Garbus, but King Tuff, himself. Another highlight of a highlight filled set was I Want To Stay (I Run Away), even without the strings – it’s just all too good.

So now, I’m fully convinced: Happy Birthday is where the fuck it is at. I’m all about them. They ended a really fun night of great bands with the best show I’ve seen in a while.

Don’t miss them when they come back in August. They’ll be in San Diego on August 10th, as will I, but they may return up here. Depends. I’ll keep you updated.

9/10

mp3 | My Pet Saddle - Laugh At Me
mp3 | Dirt Dress - Junk
mp3 | Residual Echoes - Fresh Eyes
mp3| Happy Birthday - Subliminal Message

mp3 | Happy Birthday - Girls FM
mp3 | My Pet Saddle - Laugh At Me

Orange County’s great My Pet Saddle have announced their release party show for their debut album entitled “My Pet Saddle”. We love them and have been watching them for quite some time now and this LP is much wanted and well worth the wait. The band played last week at Origami Vinyl (if you can call a 4 song set a show, but still) and they were so great. Their songs fuse a great portion of what California music is now (upbeat, bright, surf-esque) and a twinge of country (they’re called My Pet Saddle for a reason, I guess) that, combined with the ecstatic nature of their live show makes them one of the most exciting young groups in the LA-area.You guys know us, we hate the OC, and we would never advocate anyone going to the HOB-Anaheim because of its grossness and Disney-child-loudness factor, but My Pet Saddle are that good. Go.

MP3 | My Pet Saddle - Laugh At Me