If you are holding back on shows because you spent $45 on an Animal Collective ticket or are saving for Coachella, here’s one exception that you should consider. On Thursday, experimental Los Angeles duo Gangi (undoubtedly one of my favorite emerging L.A. bands) will be headlining a show at Spaceland with Daedelus and Gaslamp Killer (KXLU/L.A. Record Presents… 8:30pm, 21+). This should be a spectacular show.

Tuesday: The Cinematic Orchestra (at the Troubadour)
I cannot express how incredible they are live, you will have to experience it for yourself. If you aren’t familiar with their music, its jazzy, electronic, and soothing. My favorite album of theirs, Man with a Movie Camera was written as a soundtrack to the 1929 Russian silent film of the same name. Somewhere on the internet you can find the movie with the soundtrack applied to it (here’s a preview on youtube, where you can watch the whole thing in 9 parts) -it’s the coolest thing ever. Everything lines up perfectly. But I digress, go see them live, you will not be disappointed. 

Wednesday
The Low End Theory is a night at a club called The Airliner in Downtown LA. If you haven’t caught on yet, it is hip hop based yet many electronic artists DJ there frequently. Resident DJ’s incude Daddy Kev, Nobody, Gaslamp Killer, D-Styles among others. This week they are celebrating Big Dada rapper K-the-I???’s (yes that’s his name) release party. Next month, Flying Lotus will be making an appearance that you will not want to miss. (18+) 

Thursday
El Guincho is playing at the echo. He’s a crazy dude from Spain who makes tribe-like worldly pop music. Guaranteed to give you a good show and a fun time.

And for those 21+, a bit of a party will be going down at the Roosevelt Hotel with a pop-up store from my favorite vintage/designer clothes store, Apartment 3. There will be music, swimming, and shopping and it will be happening weekly. Here’s the info. 

Friday 
The one and only DAEDELUS (+  Busdriver, etc) at the one and only Ground Zero Coffee House brought to you by us, KSCR. $5 donation would be nice, yes. And if you can’t appreciate Daedelus’s music, please get yourself checked, and if you haven’t heard him, check him out!!!

Saturday: Hauschka and Tom Brosseau at Largo (i think its 21+)
I’m going to have to oppress my ridiculous fan-girl excitement but OH MY GOD. Tom Brosseau has the most beautiful voice ever. He goes around with a guitar and serenades the world with his woeful songs. And Hauschka put out one of my favorite albums this year - Ferndorf. A mix of classical, ambient, electronic beauty. If there was a genre for him, it would be “experimental piano.” 

And that is all I know of so far. Have fun and be safe people.
 

(Other Lives in Chicago. Photo from Flickr via Robert Loerzel)

Yesterday, KSCR brought in Other Lives from Stillwater, Oklahoma to our studios for a live set, a little guest DJing, and an interview. The ultra-charming, super nice five piece rocked our tiny, yellow Studio B with authentic folk. (I’ll try uploading an MP3 later) The show at the Echo with What Made Milwaukee Famous for the Little Ones CD release party, complete with balloon animals and cotton candy, was ultra fun as well! The three bands play again tonight at the Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa.

Make sure you listen to our Live Show every Friday at 2pm!

(No Age courtesy of Sub Pop)

Shockhound is handing out FREE tickets to see No Age at the Troubadour on Tuesday December 2nd with Titus Andronicus. I have had no reason to go to the Troubadour in over a year, but would gladly take the opportunity to trek to West Hollywood to see these Obama lovers get wild.

Here’s the link.

So Halloween is this Friday. Still don’t have plans? Like electronic music? We can help. 

The good thing is that this Halloween there are plenty of choices of events to go to. You have an opportunity to go to not one, not two, but three places in the same night. 

First off, the most recently announced event is an Ed Banger Halloween Party. 

Sponsored by Nike, the french Ed Bangers DJs will be hosting a Halloween Kick-Off party at the Montalban Theater in Hollywood. This is the same theater that Soulwax will be screening their Part of the Weekend Never Dies on the 28th. The new Busy P AirForces will be unveiled at the event, and you will have an opportunity to meet the members of the Ed Rec Crue, while still outfitted in your Daft Punk knock-off Halloween costume. There’s no RSVP, so just show up. The event starts at 5PM at the Montalban.

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What to do next? Well, of course there’s Hard Haunted Mansion, but if you don’t have tickets to it, or if you intend on showing up late, you could always check out an event sponsored by LA Metromix.

The people who brought you the weekly DanceRight event at La Cita bring you Drop-Dead Gorgeous Halloween at the Natural History Museum directly South of USC. Here you can catch DJ Sets from Treasure Fingers, Classixx, and my pick Holy Ghost. The best part of this event is that it is absolutely free for admission. Don’t want to fork out $60 for a Hard Ticket? This is your best bet. There is a catch, though, to admission: you simply need to RSVP. Easy, right? Open up your favorite email program or webmail site and send your confirmation over to metromix@danceright.com.

If you’re going to this event and staying there, enjoy yourself. But if not, you always have the option of walking over to Hard Fest going on within walking distance. A safe bet would be to pay couple bucks and parking over at the University of Southern California Parking Structure X on Figueroa. This parking structure is located right in between, and is walking distance, both the Metromix and Hard events. That being said, you can head north on Figueroa and find yourself at one of the most epic electronic events that Los Angeles has ever hosted.

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Meet Hard Haunted Mansion. 

With a line-up featuring the biggest names in electronic music, I have no doubt that this event will be the highlight of the night. You will have an opportunity to catch the likes of Justice, Soulwax, SMD, Boys Noize, Crystal Castles, Crookers, and a few others…… all in the same night! If you haven’t bought your tickets for this yet, you should because they may sell out and/or reach capacity early. So get your costume, get your ass to the Shrine on Halloween night, and prepare for one of the biggest nights of electronic music ever to take place in the western hemisphere. 

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But wait…. there’s more. Still not satisfied? Halloween is not just a night… it’s the whole weekend.

By the time you wake up the following morning hungover from Hard Fest, you have just enough time to get yourself and a few close companions in a car, and head east to the northbound Interstate 15. Follow the road for a couple hundred miles, and you will end up in Las Vegas where the party never ends.

The Fabulous Festival is the biggest electronic show in Las Vegas history, where you can catch sets from  MSTRKRFT, Crystal Castles (again), DEADMAU5, HeartsRevolution, and [once again] the Ed Banger Crew featuring Busy P, DJ Mehdi, SebastiAn, SoMe and Mr Flash. Since Las Vegas is lenient with ordinances, curfews and whatnot, expect this event to go on until the wee hours.

And if these don’t satisfy you… I don’t know what else to say.

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.

People Under The Stairs (myspace)

 The legendary Los Angeles based hip hop group People Under The Stairs put out a new album titled FUN D.M.C. and it is BUMPING with flavor. These dudes have been making beats and spitting verse since 1998, with 4 albums under their belts… my favorite of which is Stepfather…. they rock the underground hip hop scene with their jazzy funky beats. Their verse is witty and their production is excellent, every song gives off a sense of indulgence, makes you wanna take a dip in a pool. With such soulful samples complementing topics of bbq’s, food joints, and chill kickbacks, how can you not indulge? 

And if you enjoy their music, you will love their live shows. I just saw them in Long Beach at the ever so intimate but crowded Fingerprints record store. There, they showcased a few new songs off the album and went on to take requests from the crowd. A few loyal fans had driven all the way from afar and already knew every word to every song on the new album. The crowd got so involved and People Under The Stairs returned the favor by providing one of the better hip hop performances I have seen in my lifetime.

Anyway all their albums are 10 bucks so I would buy one… they’re also playing at Fat Beats on Melrose this saturday at 5pm. Its free! You wont be disapointed.

Looking for things to do this weekend that wont hurt you financially (as most events in LA tend to do)?

This Saturday from 1 - 4pm, The Flock Shop, a cute little store in Chinatown specializing in graphic t shirts, jewelry, art, and funky clothing, is hosting an art show for local artist/illustrator Patrick Hruby. There will be complementary drinks and most likely a sale since they are re-opening their store. Here is the location …it’s in the same courtyard as the Grand Star Jazz Club.

The Flock Shop is also located directly underneath Ooga Booga, a great place to find records by local bands (such as the ones playing at the Eagle Rock Music Festival) as well as amazing compilations of African/South American music. Not to mention, they have a huge selection or art zines, books, and clothing. Although the highlight of the store for me is these $10 cassette mixtapes ranging from french chanson to old school hip hop to funk to new wave hits that you have never heard before. 

Also this Saturday, all of Eagle Rock (rather, Colorado blvd) will be glowing and vibing to a music festival from 5pm till midnight. Its free and over 60 artists will be performing- among them are Abe Vigoda, Earlimart, Crystal Antlers, Mika Miko, Pizza!, The Parson Red Heads, One Trick Pony, etc. more info.

On Sunday night, the hilarious hip hop group hailing from Southern California, Sparrow Love Crew, will be playing at Cinespace in Hollywood with The Nights (they are great) and The Yelling. The show is 21+ but admission as well as vodka will be free between 9:30-10:30.

Not everything in life is free but these events are and they are a nice way to support local artists. Not to mention great surprises lie ahead for those who haven’t explored these particular areas of town.