(Pictured: Singing DJ Jens Lekman at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. For more better photos, check out Brooklyn Vegan’s post)

The last two days of CMJ were jam packed with temptatious showcases, mixers, and panels. Thursday, I went down to the South Side Seaport, and after getting terribly lost, I was only able to catch Bearsuit. The band was a fat waste of time musically. However, the band did tell a zinger related to technical difficulties:

“We’re having problems with American Power.”
“A lot of people are.”

As cute as they were, I wished I had caught the last moments of Brooklyn’s Loose Limbs, who sound a bit like Thee Oh Sees. In the evening, the folks at Matador threw a little party at Stanton Public, with DJ sets by Times New Viking and The Teenagers. Admittedly, it was after some failed attempts to go to other shows. (Piano’s was sold out very early, so we didn’t catch the Dutchess and the Duke and the line for the Vivian Girls was long and static.)

Saturday, AAM threw their showcase which had a great line-up: Crystal Antlers, Ruby Suns, Monotonix, Annuals, and A Place to Bury Strangers. I caught up with Crystal Antlers here, and they gave me a little interview about their tour, CMJ, and some future plans (transcript posted soon). I have their EP, but hadn’t yet seen them live and let me tell you, recordings sell them short. Ruby Suns played percussion heavy, island music with light electronics and I was in disbelief that two young New Zealanders were making all that music.

Man, I thought Crystal Antlers had great energy, but Monotonix was the most shocking, exciting, and unpredictable show I saw at CMJ. The lead singer kicked over trashcans like they were soccer balls, threw water unto the crowd in a manner similar to a mass baptism (he does sort of look like Jesus), and hung off the balcony until security gently pulled him off. He moved like a whack-a-mole machine, frantically disappearing and reappearing in different parts of the venue. The other members had wild antics as well, and I was shocked how perfectly the tunes and vocals were, despite being upside down or having your drumset held up steadily by members of the crowd.

Okay so this is a year old but as I write this I am laughing hysterically at something I just discovered last night. So last year, underground rapper Aesop Rock had his own cable access show on mtv.com called “I’m Trying to Help,” in which he and some friends (producer Blockhead & rapper Rob Sonic) hosted a talk show featuring Irish dancing, a monkey trainer, live performances, and advice on love.

One could compare these episodes to The Tim & Eric Awesome Show except these guys seem like they’re serious about what they’re doing, which makes it all the more hilarious. The awkwardness is not forced, it just exists due to circumstance and also to the fact that it’s a cable access show. Plus, the punch lines are fantastic (”I’m not a player but I do blog a lot”) and at one point this Russian guy calls them saying that he has information from the KGB that “salt and pepper, they may be here, and in effect and may want you to push it. Is this correct?”  Amazing.

With that, I leave you with the whole show in hopes that you may find it as hilarious as I did.

It’s the happiest time of year! A time of generosity, family, and playboy bunny costumes. Every year I look forward gleefully to the Halloween season, with its fantastic television programming and free Milky Way bars, but I have to admit my last Halloween was a bust. So I started researching early this year, to make sure that the campy fun doesn’t end until November.

Here’s something cool to do before the parties around campus get into swing—and you don’t have to pay a cover charge.  From six to eleven on Halloween night, Santa Monica Boulevard will become a party ground for children at heart to troop around in costume. Every year West Hollywood hosts the Halloween Carnaval, which will culminate in an outdoor costume ball of expected raunchiness and glitter. Thousands are expected to roll out, so if you’re going, carpool or take the bus.

http://www.weho.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/detail/navid/339/cid/2183/

For the bus from USC, just take Metro 38 heading west from Jefferson and Royal to Fairfax and Apple, and catch the 105 to West Hollywood.

And if you’re feeling up to going out the day after, celebrate the Day of the Dead on Olvera St., located conveniently next to all the other historic neighborhoods (read: Chinatown and Little Tokyo.) Decked out with handicraft skulls on any day, it becomes a Tim Burton-esque paradise every November 1^st. It’s fun, and again free, and there’s good food all round.

As I was doing my daily perusing around the internet I stumbled upon an article that shocked me.  It read

Chimps: Not Human, But Are They People?.

At first I clicked on the article expecting an article that would finally tell me that chimpanzees are just furry dwarves with hands for feet (something I always suspected after watching videos like this one)

But what I found out in the article was even more frightening than a chimp getting a haircut.  According to scientists, via WIRED magazine, the chimp population has now reached critical levels.  In recent years the number of chimps has fallen from 10,000 in West Africa to only a couple thousand.  I was appalled by what I had read and immediately needed to get a hold of the situation.  To help put things into perspective I listened to a band I had just discovered a band called Buena Vista Social Club.  A collection of all the great Cuban artists of the 40’s and 50’s they joined together in the late 90s with slide guitarist Ry Cooder to form this Cuban Super group.  Their afro-cuban beat helped me put things into perspective and realize that I can’t do anything about the chimp population, but I can dance like an idiot in my apartment to “Candela”.  So to help you forget your worries I am putting the song up here for your enjoyment.  Dance away.

Here’s the top 30 albums played on KSCR last week:

If you find yourself looking for something besides the normal Thursday night fare, come out to 2nd St. Jazz in Downtown LA /Little Tokyo on October 23rd. A bevy of bands, all featuring USC students, will be playing at the hole-in-the wall jazz club with some of the most original music you have heard in a long time.

Cossack
Nebula Explosion
Sock Oom POW
(w/ special sets)

October 23rd, 8:30 pm
$7 (includes a drink)

2nd St. Jazz
366 E. 2nd St.
LA, CA 90021

Stop by to hear some of the music your peers are playing and discover something above average.

In the past decade the record label Elephant Six has turned out some really great bands, but the odds are you’ve probably never heard of them.  If thats the case let me fill you in on some history.  Begun in 1993 by Robert Schneider, William Cullen Hart, Bill Doss, and Jeff Mangum it was only active until 2002 but in that small amount of time signed dozens of bands.  Some notable bands from the Label were/are Apples in Stereo, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Olivia Tremor Control, Of Montreal, Beulah, Circulatory System, The Sunshine Fix, Elf Power and many other notable side projects and off shoots.  These bands all had held the idea that they whould bring back music from the sixties and, to verying degrees, each band attempted to do so before either moving on or breaking up.  If you haven’t already heard some of these bands here is your chance to hear some of my favorite songs by some of these artists. Enjoy!

Apples in Stereo

Neutral Milk Hotel

Olivia Tremor Control

Of Montreal

Beulah

In case you enjoyed some of those videos you will be pleased to know that the Apples in Stereo (one of the founding bands of the label) brought back the Label in 2007. Elephant Six is back in business! Woot Woot.

Rumor has it that during Sigur Ros performances, the sheer overwhelming beauty of their pieces cause grown men to shed all traits of masculinity and suddenly break down and cry. I wasn’t sure how valid this statement was or where it originated from, but I can assure you that when I bought my ticket, I was expecting a good cry to be a part of the experience. With this knowledge in the back of my mind I went into this concert with a box of Kleenex and extremely high expectations.

Having arrived to the show about a bit late, I missed most of the opening act, Parachutes, another Icelandic band that played that kind of dreamy ambiance pop very similar to Sigur Ros. There were several occasions however, when they sounded a little too similar (not that sounding like Sigur Ros is ever a bad thing). Unfortunately, I can’t really say much about this band, but everything I heard for those ten or so minutes sounded very promising. I’d say to definitely give them a shot on recording. After this brief taste of Icelandic magic, my anticipation had only grown. I held my box of Kleenex closely, ready for Sigur Ros. (more…)