News bits: Admiral Radley, AM, Sweaterfest, Pixies
Kevin Bronson on
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[File under: Things I have seen, heard or read:]
‣ Riding on Air: Singer-songwriter AM’s recent Hotel Cafe show was pretty impressive – he performed like the kind of guy worthy of landing a big tour slot. Which he has, with the French duo Air, beginning March 13 and ending March 28 at Disney Hall. AM’s album “Future Sons & Daughters” will come out Feb. 9 on Filter’s label. At the Hotel Cafe, he did songs from that album as well as tunes from his EP “Holiday Happiness & Cheer,” including his twist on Vince Guaraldi’s “Christmas Time Is Here.”
And if I plan the evening well, I can hit Space 15 Twenty on Cahuenga to catch the LA Ladies Choir at the “Take My Treasures” benefit for the Children of the Night programs. Besides song, the event includes a silent auction with items ranging from Flea’s bass guitar to original sketches from the film “Where the Wild Things Are.”
‣ Join the Pixies: Want to make music with Joey Santiago and David Lovering of the Pixies? You can. As the Everybody, they have an album called “Avatar” and are selling the royalty-free album stems so enterprising fans can fashion them into their own tunes.
‣ Also forthcoming: Bay Area-based quartet the Morning Benders (three-quarters of whom are SoCal-bred), a longtime Buzz Bands fave, have signed to Rough Trade, which will release their sophomore album “Big Echo” on March 9. The album was co-produced by frontman Chris Chu and Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor. … I’d heard L.A. duo VOICEsVOICEs was working with Prefuse 73, and now Surfing on Steam has connected the dots. … Hardcore fans, note: Joby Ford of the Bronx is producing the album by This Drama, a Spanish punk band that hails from the Canaary Islands. They play Jan. 19 at the Viper Room.
‣ Nights in the museum: The Natural History Museum has announced the lineup for its First Fridays events, which start again after the first of the year. Good stuff, too – Bradford Cox’s Atlas Sound and Tune-Yards on Jan. 8, and Yeasayer and Warpaint on Feb. 5, for starters.
‣ And finally: Hadn’t heard of this collaboration – Broken Bells, which is James Mercer of the Shins and Brian Burton, whom you know as Danger Mouse. Their debut album is due March 9. And I’ve marked Monday on my calendar – that’s when the first single, “The High Road,” is supposed to debut. on Brokenbells.com.
Photos: Jason Lytle by Jeff Hawe; AM by Laurie Scavo; the Pity Party by Bronson
[…] goes about one page deep. I reached out to Kevin Bronson at Buzzbands in LA, who’s blog post is roughly the only online activity beyond the Google search matches for “Boo Radley”: […]