Nu Rave Brain Wave

So we’ll all be coming down from the live music bender that is SXSW at this point but let’s keep it going and kick off the spring fun with some CTKME-approved bands. Remember, life only gets better and better starting in March (and then crashes and burns in October) so GET READY!!!!!

The Stevenson Ranch Davidians are celebrating the release of their new album Life and Death next Thursday at Spaceland. Also playing are one of my favorite bands The Quarter After and the lovely Miranda Lee Richards.

Please come out as it’s sure to be a great show. I have a copy of Life and Death and it’s beautiful. It’s exactly the kind of sunny, jangly music we need to get us through this horrible time of year we call winter.

mp3 | The Stevenson Ranch Davidians – Feelin’ Good

The Quarter After and the Moon Upstairs are two of the best bands in LA right now. The show at 3 Clubs tomorrow night is FREE, you’d be a fool to miss it. See ya there.

*photo shamelessly stolen from The Quarter After’s myspace.

If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably flipped through your mom’s photo albums feeling slight pangs of jealousy that you missed out on the era of the flower child, tambourines and LSD aplenty, when rock and roll had meaning. Don’t worry, The Quarter After feel your pain. The world that Rob and Dominic Campanella conjure up in their songs may be one that has come and gone, but who says we can’t pretend? To make the inevitable Byrds comparison may be a bit too obvious and overdone, but it is certainly accurate; the Campanella brothers’ warm vocal harmonies capture that 60s spirit beautifully. The sound is rounded out by percussionist Nelson Bragg, who is also a member of Brian Wilson’s band. Yep, Brian Wilson. That should show you the caliber of musicians we have here. And like any musical project that spawned from the Brian Jonestown Massacre, there is an ever-changing cast of musicians on stage, guest appearances, designated maraca shakers and tambourine rattlers. The communal spirit of the scene is what sets it apart and makes it thrive.

They kicked off their set with the song “Sanctuary” from their new album Changes Near; the song begins with a muddy bassline and then suddenly bursts into a melody that sounds positively soaked in sunshine. Other standout songs include “This Is How I Want To Know You”, saturated in their signature harmonies, and the other-worldly “Winter Song” which has an almost medieval or Celtic quality to it in its majestic flute solo and airy drumming.

While some 60s-influenced bands just blatantly rip off the classics to create watered-down Jefferson Airplane covers, The Quarter After builds upon their musical inspirations and infuse their songs with modern instrumentation and style. Songs for forward-thinking modern hippies, displaced in present-day Los Angeles. Check your shoes at the door (oh, if only we still could).

http://www.myspace.com/thequarterafter

http://www.thequarterafter.com/

DOWNLOAD: “This Is How I Want To Know You” by The Quarter After