Tapes 'n Tapes, Wild Light @ El Rey

1st Band
We showed up late and this band barely came on stage. Unfortunately, we didn't arrive late enough because what we thought was the second opener was ONLY the first. They were just 2 kids: one on drums and the other on guitar. Kind of White Stripes-ish, but they sucked. I had to admire them for trying to bring punk back, but they were completely unoriginal and the lyrics were lacking. The only thing entertaining about their performance was them trying to quiet down the drunk girl at the front of the stage who was dancing erratically and yelling at them to take their shirts off.

Wild Light
was infinitely better, but maybe because the first band was so bad? No, these guys seemed really talented. There were actually 3 singers, who were all equally talented (although, I preferred the lanky guy's singing the most. Just seemed more unusual and indie), AND they could play several instruments. They switched off for each song. Some of the songs were catchy. I mostly liked the songs that the lanky guy sang.

Tapes 'n Tapes
It was kind of weird being there without knowing the music really really well. Admittedly I hadn't listened to their music enough to memorize the lyrics, only enough to recognize the songs. They were much better live than on CD. On CD, they had some catchy songs, but some of them sounded really similar after awhile. My fav song off their album Walk it Off is Hang Them All. That's pretty much the fastest song on their album. It was fantastic live and so were their other songs. They really know how to get an audience going and great guitar solos and songs just sounded a lot more bluesy and much faster live. On CD, they sound a bit mellow and sleepy. Great live though.

The Sounds @ Hollywood Palladium

I was excited to see the Palladium after renovation. The last time I had been there was to see No Motiv, Reggie and the Full Effect, and Alkaline Trio. The only thing I could remember about the Palladium was that the sound system was horrific and it pretty much ruined those bands for me. I haven't been able to listen to those bands since. I was praying the sound would be better. I don't understand how they don't notice how bad the sound system is there. It was apparent that they hadn't changed the sound too much. It wasn't as bad as I remembered (even though that was years ago), but that might have also been due to the fact that there had been a few drinks involved and I was too excited about seeing The Sounds. K said that they sounded rusty from not having toured in awhile. The venue looked nicer than it did before. They played a few new songs that were alright. I liked one out of the 3 or 4 new songs they played. Makes me a bit worried about what their new album is going to sound like. They played their most popular songs, which was great. The show was shorter than expected and I was disappointed that they didn't play an encore.

New songs:

Val Emmich, Alyssa Suede, Keaton Simons @ Hotel Cafe

I've been wanting to go back to Hotel Cafe again ever since the last time I was there to witness Grandaddy's last performance in LA.

Val Emmich
I arrived a bit late and missed his first song. I guess 7:30pm isn't a peak hour for the Metro. :\ The rest of his set was good though. He has a really good range and his voice was loud and clear even when he wasn't that close to the mic. He was very entertaining on stage and shared stories and he was appreciative of his fans who showed up to talk to him and take pictures. Here's his myspace.

Alyssa Suede
was pretty bad. She was a blond who took off her wig to reveal hair that wasn't any better than the bad wig. I had to admire the large amount of people they were able to fit onto the stage, but no matter how many instruments they had, it didn't improve their sound. The sound system was also a bit off, but so was her voice and some of the lyrics were really corny.

Keaton Simons
was too country for me. I wasn't really into it. A kind of liked it though. Not sure why she did.

Kaki King, The Mountain Goats @ Troubadour

Troubadour has to be one of my favorite venues. I love the size of the place and the intimacy it provides and best of all, no kids!

Kaki King
was good, just like she was when I saw her at the Roxy. It kind of sucked that she was the opener, so she didn't have as much time to interact with the audience or do any encores, so her set seemed a little more rushed than the last time. Her performance was still great and I loved hearing about her youtube fears. Her show was pretty similar to the last show, but this time instead of the Fashion Tattoo cover at the end, they did a cover of Dogs and Horses by the same band, which wasn't nearly as good.

Mountain Goats
had a great funny intro to the tune of New Edition's Candy Girl. I thought, "OK, good intro. Maybe this won't be so bad." I didn't really have very high expectations with a name like Mountain Goats. W thought they would sound like Band of Horses. I WISH they sounded like Band of Horses. The singer was pretty dorky, but he was amusing. The singing style reminded me a bit of Silver Scooter with the nasally voice that kind of talked through the songs, which wouldn't be so bad if the lyrics were really clever, but they weren't in particular. The lyrics didn't really stand out and I THINK he was singing about everyday things, but I couldn't tell because it was so boring after awhile, I kind of zoned out a bit. They were talented, but not catchy enough for us to stay and enjoy it, but not so bad that we could leave. They were just really bland. I've never seen such a bland band. So, we just stayed because we kept hoping Kaki King would come back out because they collaborated on an album together. Every time she came out, we perked up because they have great chemistry together. The music they played together was infinitely better than anything Mountain Goats played alone. One of their best songs was Supergenesis.



That was the last song they played together. People were actually bobbing their heads and genuinely enjoying the Mountain Goats. I just didn't get it. I didn't find the music appealing at all. We left during their encore. I couldn't take it anymore, especially after I realized drinking didn't help, instead it made me almost fall asleep through one of their songs. I wouldn't actually slept through it if W hadn't woken me up by poking me and telling me that she just slept through 3 of their songs. I regret that we didn't leave sooner.

Sophie Milman @ OCPAC

She performed at Orange County Performing Arts Center: Samueli Theater, which was much nicer than I thought it would be. It was set up kind of like an intimate little jazz club, except the seating arrangements weren't that good. At Catalina Jazz Club at least all the seats are set up facing the stage. There were a few empty tables. I think they should've had 2 people per table because they were so small, but I understand that people want to be closer. They should have offered the option of sitting closer or at an empty table because 4 people to a table seemed pretty crowded and inconvenient with 1 person's back facing the stage.

So, I had only seen one youtube of Milman singing before I had gone to the show. It was a gift for my friend, so I didn't really know what she sounded like. F said he really disliked how she was singing through her teeth. I thought it sounded a little weird and I really couldn't understand much of what she was singing, but I was so used to not really hearing bands' lyrics that I didn't pay too much attention to that. I did like her Russian jazz song and her cover of "It's Not Easy Being Green." The jazz band was really really good. I thought the drummer was really unique and used things I haven't seen too many drummers use.

Check out some of her music at myspace.