Jul
28

Beards, Blazers & Brie: Grace Jones & Of Montreal @ The Hollywood Bowl

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3s1YtQPNPA Everyone compares In Living Color to Chappelle’s Show for the same reductive reason: they both featured talented African-American comedians performing topical sketch comedy to the delight of millions. But more than just the superficial racial parallel,  both transcended merely skewering culture icons to wholly re-contextualizing them. Try listening to “Superfreak” without thinking of “I’m… Continue reading »

Jun
25

Beards, Blazers & Brie: Femi Kuti @ The Hollywood Bowl

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McSzN7n0vM4 Between Randall Roberts’ West Coast Sound post and Reed Johnson’s Pop and Hiss post, you’ll find plenty of specifics, plus pictures. Besides, if you missed Femi Kuti, Santogold, and Saadiq last Sunday, you either live outside Southern California or you’re a huge fan of Million Dollar Password. In other news, Regis Philbin is alive? Who… Continue reading »

Mar
16

Beards, Blazers and Brazil: The Timelessness of Arthur Verocai

The slender hippie wearing jeans and an aloof gesture, was replaced by a crisp suit and the makings of a middle-aged gut. But as the third installment of the Timeless series proved, Arthur Verocai’s music continues to wield an indelible power that will ensure survival until we’re watching music holograms in our own private hyperbolic… Continue reading »

Mar
13

Beards, Blazers & Glasses: Cut Copy’s Ingratiating Simplicity

Photos at West Coast Sound.  Like The Editors and the Shitty Beatles, Cut Copy practically begged for derision the moment they named themselves. Let’s be honest, these guys aren’t exactly re-inventing the synthesizer, openly cribbing from New Order, Duran Duran, and Human League. Had they signed to Island and been unable to wrangle DFA linchpin… Continue reading »

Jan
30

Beards, Blazers & Glasses: The Sinister Minimalism of Wooden Shjips

While inferior but fine noise + noun outfits like Wavves, Women and White Snake, elicit the brunt of blogger bombast, Wooden Shjips stay buoyed if not blotted. Other than Dusted (who consistently get it right), judging from the relative critical and public apathy Wooden Shjips have received, the San Francisco four-piece seem fated for a… Continue reading »

Nov
24

Braces, Boas & Barnes: Of Montreal @ The Hollywood Palladium

More excellent photos from Timothy Norris can be found in slide show form at Play. Of Montreal’s career can be cleanly cleaved into three distinct categories. Emerging as part of the second-wave of Elephant 6 bands, the first incarnation of the Kevin Barnes-fronted band recorded a handful of acoustic-skewing and schizo albums, split between tiny… Continue reading »

Nov
11

Beards, Blazers & Glasses: The Hold Steady

I wouldn’t describe myself as a “happy” person. Not to say that I’m some sort of lugubrious, sepulchral soul brooding over melancholy poems by lamp light,* but rather, I find “happy” one of those banal adjectives that I tend to associate with watchers of CBS sitcoms, I’m From Barcelona fans and protagonists of the last… Continue reading »

Nov
03

Beards, Blazers & Glasses: How Fujiya & Miyagi Helped Mitigate My Pre-Election Anxiety

Larry David articulated the maddening, finger-nail gnawing, pre-election neuroses far better than I can, so no need to reiterate. This final descent towards election day has been excruciating for us all, to the point where it’s nearly impossible to talk about anything else. Hell, on Friday night one of my friends ended up heckling some… Continue reading »

Oct
17

Beards, Blazers & Glasses: Jay-Z

Jay-Z and Memphis Bleek on stage at the Palladium. Click on image to view entire slideshow. Photo by Timothy Norris. The irony of Jay-Z being asked to open the revamped Hollywood Palladium wasn’t lost on the man who calls himself “the black Frank Sinatra.” After all, it was 68 years ago last month that the… Continue reading »

Sep
10

Beards, Blazers & Backpacks: Pacewon, Mr. Green & Outsidaz Nostalgia

Prior to Lee Perry and the technicolor Lucky Charms Coat taking over that Mormon bastion, the El Rey theater, I watched Pacewon and his DJ/producer/token white boy, Mr. Green deliver a capable, simple set of beats and rhymes. It was fine, but the entire time I couldn’t help but wish I was watching an Outsidaz… Continue reading »

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