Showing posts with label Sonos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sonos. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Go See Hear In L.A.: Nov. 30-Dec. 5

It’s looks to be a rather subdued post-Thanksgiving week. More time to get over your holiday indulgences and make up for the short work week.
But there are several notable shows.
Ranking at the top show of the week is the Posies/Brendan Benson double bill at Club Nokia on Fri. Dec. 3. The Posies have long been one of the top melodic rock (don’t just pigeon-hole them as power pop) around. In you need convincing, Posies frontmen Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow served as Big Star sidemen before Alex Chilton’s untimely death. Benson now is known as a Jack White sidekick in the Raconteurs but he could my ear when he released One Mississippi back in ’96.
On Wednesday, the cool vocal group Sonos performs at the Hotel Café. They are known for their covers of indie rock tunes (like Bjork or Bon Iver) but they will showcasing the seasonal songs from their new December Songs CD.
The Hotel Café will also be the site for Julian Velard’s show on Sunday Dec. 6. The young NYC-based singer/songwriter will be at the piano there to play songs off of his quite tuneful debut, The Planeteer.
And just peeking into next week, I wanted to say that Jack White-head should be aware that the Greenhornes, who formed the rest of the Raconteurs with White and Benson, will be that the Troubadours. Their new disc Four Stars is a vibrant slice of garage rock.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

This Week’s “Shows To See” - Nov. 9-14 Edition

L.A. has seen some very impressive double bills of late. I have written about last week’s Over The Rhine/Katie Herzig pairing. Before that, there was the Blind Pilot/Low Anthem show and Hoot and Hellmouth/William Elliott Whitmore gig.

This week again offers some recommended musical pairings. On Monday night, Chuck Prophet and Jason Isbell share the bill at the Echoplex. Prophet first made a name for himself in the Paisley Underground with Green on Red. While he has become an in-demand guitar slinger/songwriter/producer, Prophet also has put out a series of captivating solo discs this past decade that offer his own unique take on soulful roots rock. Isbell, meanwhile, earned his stripes in the Drive-By Truckers before venturing off on his own a few years back. With his own band, The 400 Unit, Isbell serves up his own inspired Americana rock that is dipped in Dixie without being smothered in the South.

On Wednesday the 11th, Via Tania (Chicago-based Australian expat Tania Bowers) brings her ethereal electro-pop to the Bootleg Theater (she's also plays the Bordello on Tuesday). There’s a bewitching quality to this often spare, typically haunting tunes from her album Moon Sweet Moon, with tracks like “the Beginning,” “How Come” and “Light Years.” Also on the bill is the local alt. a cappella ensemble, Sonos. This inventive vocal outfit modernizes the old fashion a cappella style by covering songs by acts like the Fleet Foxes, Radiohead and Rufus Wainwright. They will provide a lightness to balance out Via Tania’s darker musical hues.

Rufus’ dad Loudon appears at UCLA on Friday matched up with Richard Thompson. Billed as “Loud & Rich,” these two esteemed old folkies not only boast lengthy, and impressive musical resumes, but both men share a deep interest in the history of music. A few years back, Thompson released the disc 1000 Years of Popular Music, which covered tunes spanning 1068 AD to 2000 (the latter being Britney Spears’ “Oops I Did It Again.”). Wainwright, meanwhile, has just released a tribute to country music pioneer, Charlie Poole, whose name isn’t as well known today as it should be. Whether they will be performing their own tunes or others’, it all should make for a night of expert songcraft, witty repartee and nimble guitar picking (particularly by Thompson).