The latest scribbles in my notebook:
► Word on the smoking patios is that L.A. electro-soul newbies Electric Guest, the Danger Mouse-produced guys who’ve done audience-building gigs all over town this summer, are doing a deal with Downtown Records. The project, the brainchild of songwriter/composers Asa Taccone and Matthew Compton, has wrapped up an album titled “Radical Miracle.” The music [stream three tracks here and another via KCRW] is squeaky-clean funk-soul, catchy in a way that recalls Broken Bells or an R&B Foster the People.
► Also heard that Wallpaper is doing a surprise gig at Bardot tonight. [Earlier, I posted they were signing to Red Bull Records, which was incorrect. Apologies. They're here.]
► How would you like to be on this boat? Something called the Bruise Cruise (billed as a “3-day tropical rock ’n’ roll vacation”) is a Miami-to-the-Bahamas excursion departing Feb. 10 with a musical lineup of L.A. own the Soft Pack, along with F*cked Up, King Khan & the Shrines, Thee Oh Sees, Quintron & Miss Pussycat, the Dirtbombs, Neil Hamburger and others. Interior cabin: almost $700.
► 2 Hearts and Chemicals, the bi-coastal collaboration of Eli Lhymn and Stephen Biebel [see July's premiere], has signed to XD Records, the imprint co-founded by Dean Garcia of the legendary shoegaze band Curve. 2 Hearts and Chemicals have also recorded a bang-up cover of the Placebo song “Teenage Angst” — get it here.
► And a theatrical note: “The Chanteuse and the Devil’s Muse” — a Black Dahlia-themed play with live music by Bauhaus/Love and Rockets co-founder David J (and his collaborator Ego Plum) — makes its world premiere Sept. 8 at the Bootleg Theater.
► Speaking of theatrics, when the annual celebration of French music the Ooh La La Festival lands in L.A. on Sept. 29, it’ll be a bit different. In their appearance at the El Rey Theatre, SoCal faves Nouvelle Vague will perform “Dawn of Innocence,” a musical directed by Jean Charles de Castelbajac.
► Brothers Nic and Cisco Adler — they of the Roxy Theatre lineage — are opening the Roxy Lounge in Scotttsdale, Ariz., in mid-September. It’ll be a 250-capacity club.
► The Vaccines canceled their tour dates for the next two months, including a Sept. 13 date at the Music box, because frontman Justin Young is having throat surgery (his third such procedure of the year). Ouch.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey I don’t think Nouvelle Vague are from SoCal. Unless you meant they are favorites in SoCal, and not favorites from SoCal. In any case, it’s confusaling.
Yes, they’re not from SoCal — they are favorites *in* SoCal. They have a good following here. And I could have worded that better, you’re right.