i just had another killer Monday night, courtesy of Valida & friends! here are some pics, first at Scoops then at Bardot in the heart of Hollywood. there's nothing like natural ice cream before hitting the town... further down this page, there's tons more super-lo-fi-mobile pics at Rhonda & beyond...
on another School Night, ANGELA MCCLUSKEY owned the cramped stage with her sexy faux french husband & a fantastic crew of talented musicians... my favourite mermaid, Darryl Hannah, splashed her way to the stage, grabbed a free mic & sang with Angela for the entire first song. this improvised & unrehearsed moment was rather elegant. i have to say that Darryl held her own surprisingly well! she has such a good voice, or maybe her acting skills came in handy?! Joaquin Phoenix & a bunch of other musically inclined Angelenos, all talented if not (yet) famous, participated just as spontaneously, from the stage or in the audience... to take closer pics of the performance i had to lean over Darryl Hannah who was rolling her own cigarette. the blonde amazon grabbed my arm & awkwardly pulled me into frame for a picture of us two... Angela's two sets were mostly acoustic, even her rendition of Breathe which she wrote for french electronic duo Télépopmusik; the song is posted below, along with a newer one she wrote for LMNT - I'm Not The Girl... that's right, Angela McCluskey might be girly but she's a lady; she's all woman & can cuss like one too! her voice is too rich & too moving to convey any less... i then throw in a cool remix by VAN SHE hotties (also in pics below) who got off the plane just in time to make it during Angela's first solo set, and find a new song from band member Matt Van Schie with Van She's Michael Di Francesco's remix of Dragonette... Angela's 2nd set was comprised of songs she wrote for another project - Bernadette is her moniker for a series of songs inspired by the infatuation she's had with Françoise Hardy ever since she was a little girl growing up in Glasgow! it was amazing... when the Van She boys took over the decks, i squeezed in a little dancing before going to bed. if it wasn't for my 10AM shrink appointment today i might have partied on with the group at the Roosevelt... oh boundaries! what a concept, right?! c'est la vie... there's always another night! super lo-fi here we go:
Angela McCluskey ♡ I'M NOT THE GIRL ♡ lmntl
Angela McCluskey ♡ BREATHE ♡ Télépopmusik
Van She ♡ RAPPER'S DELIGHT ♡ Dan The Automator
Matt Van Schie ♡ JOURNEY ♡ Memory Tapes
Michael Di Francesco ♡ PICK UP THE PHONE ♡ Dragonette
more pics of a past school night in here
now, lets back track to the weekend... on saturday, SAM SPARRO got the RHONDA crowd all pumped up with his soulful voice & funky ass moves. Chicago house legend Roy Davis Jr. took over the decks & a sax player joined in for a wild time on the dancefloor... the previous night i never thought i'd see anyone belly dancing to the THE XX - but that's exactly what happened last friday on a Santa Monica rooftop... between the parties, i relaxed on hikes with Chicho & called my mom for mother's day!
...mark your calendars for Xeno & Oaklander @ the Echo
by Clinton Krute... The music of XENO & OAKLANDER seems to come from an earlier time, when the beeps and whirs of the analog synthesizer began to creep up from the underground into the mainstream of pop music (or drag it down to the depths, if you prefer). The late ’70s and early ’80s synth music from which their work draws was a reaction to the sense of the alienation brought about by living in world that was becoming more and more digital. Sean McBride and Liz Wendlbo, the duo behind the project, still find these sounds relevant today, in both theme and means. Xeno & Oaklander excavate a forgotten music, re-imagining its forms for the present with a defiant and romantic nostalgia. Their debut album Sentinelle, out now on Wierd records, is a testament to their skill at “shaping electricity” and is overflowing with icy drones, oscillating tones, and excellent (and danceable) songwriting.
