[From the clipboard of an Interweb sieve:]
• This almost qualifies as a brazen theft: An upright bass belonging to Mike Ibarra of the local music collective Killsonic was stolen from his van in downtown L.A. about 2 a.m. Nov. 16. There’s a benefit to help replace the instrument at 8 p.m. Saturday at Edgar Varela Fine Arts (542 Alameda St.). Shame on you, thief.
• So what’s the next Trail of Dead album like? My former L.A. Times colleague Casey Dolan, who had a preview of the Feb. 17 release, went to last week’s Echo show and talked with Conrad Keely, says: “The still-untitled album is an enormously expressive work that acts as a summation of everything that came before and points toward a future of greater musical complexity. There is a majesty, a maturity and gravitas that suggests “masterwork.” Dolan’s full discourse at the International Review of Music.
• It doesn’t take much to get Depeche Mode fans excited, apparently, if these in-studio “teaser” videos have them all atwitter.
• Up-and-coming LBC kids Local Natives take to their backyard to show how easy it is to be Vampire Weekend (thanks, LA Underground):
• Speaking of benefits, the annual Christmas Sweater Festival for Doctors Without Borders is set for Dec. 13 at the Echoplex with a fantastic lineup of L.A. bands, including: the Deadly Syndrome, Castledoor, the Pity Party, the Happy Hollows, Amnion, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros and more. By the way, the Pity Party’s Julie Edwards had some interesting things to say about the duo’s recent tour — she diarized over at Web In Front.
• For some reason, I always thought the Get Up Kids were the Hold Steady of their time.
• M83 solicits video help from fans. Hmm.
• And finally, even the mighty Associated Press wire service makes mistakes. This corrective that was sent out this week will amuse music fans — supply your own punchline: NEW YORK (AP) — In a Nov. 6 story about AC/DC, The Associated Press erroneously quoted producer Brendan O’Brien as saying the band’s music was aggressive in a way that’s catchy and “hokey.” The word he actually used was “hooky,” which is music-industry parlance for a song full of irresistible refrains, or “hooks.”
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
The swipe at Local Natives (or at Vampire Weekend) or at Paul Simon or Simon and Garfunkel totally missed the mark whatever it was about.
Joe — It certainly wasn’t a swipe at Local Natives, whom I think very highly of. Or at Simon and Garfunkel.