Kevin Bronson on August 18th, 2014

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With Taix and its two stages out of the picture, Echo Park Rising shrank to a more manageable size on Sunday. But faster than you can down two mimosas, the day was off and running, highlighted by a too-good-for-a-free-festival lineup at the Echoplex, a Lolipop Records vs. Burger Records cage match at the Echo, great bands up the street at Lot 1 Café and Little Joy and too-good-to-be-stuck-on-the-patio Americana artists at the Echo.

Like the rest of the weekend, it was an embarrassment of riches.

• ||| More photographs below

And speaking of the Lolipop-Burger battle of the bands at the Echo, Gateway Drugs won. I’m going to go out and buy every piece of their music, so long as they don’t
make me buy it on silly, environmentally crappy, unreliable, stupidly kitschy, melt-in-your-car and did-I-mention-they’re-freaking-plastic cassette tapes. Sunday afternoon’s set at the Echo (they played again later downstairs) was my introduction to the quintet comprised of Liv Niles, Noa Niles, Gabriel Niles, Blues Williams and Zak Hudson. And it was nice to meet them.

Gateway Drugs comes off as a deliriously narcotic mix of My Bloody Valentine, the Brian Jonestown Massacre, the Cramps and maybe a few more psych-rockers a long life of gateway drugs have caused me to mentally misplace. They were fantastic, surprising and, as opposed to many bands sampled over the weekend, decidedly not one-note.

Of course, a lot of the bands with more compartmentalized sound are very good at it. LA Font packed its typical visceral bite in a 30-minute set, and Rainbow Jackson’s dirty classic rock sounded bigger and better than ever. The Record Company’s timeless blues sounded powerful as ever, and it occurred to me that I’d be interested in hearing “Baby I’m Broken” remixed with somebody rapping over it.

It was also great to see Liz Wight (ex-Love Grenades) back, fronting her new project Silver Hands, who played the Echoplex’s lone dance set of the day.

Meanwhile, in the heat of the patio, the Grand Ole Echo stage twanged with the sound of some estimable roots music. Early arrivals gave Gold Star a gold star for their meticulously crafted blues-Americana, and you probably would have given frontman Marlon Rabenreither a hug afterwards except he was so drenched in sweat he looked as if he’d just done an ice-bucket challenge. His set came early in an afternoon of stellar sets by the likes of the Coals, the Far West, Cal King and JD Bender.

Later in the afternoon, there was time for a jaunt to Stories bookstore for a reading featuring L.A. longtimer Bruce Duff (from his new book “The Smell of Death,” especially recommended for musicians who might think they are the first on their block to endure band tedium, cynicism or drama) and Echo Park newcomer Sammy Winston, who sampled from his striking work (grab it).

Photos: Top photo and gallery by Carl Pocket, courtesy of the Echo; second gallery by Zane Roessell