Tonight in L.A.: Matthew Sweet, Mini Mansions, FMLY Fest, the Growlers, Kinky, Gothic Tropic

1

One special show:

Matthew Sweet’s “Girlfriend” remains one of my favorite albums of all time – along with the Posies’ “Frosting on the Beater,” it was the best power-pop album of its era, and deservedly earns mentions on any shortlist of the top power-pop albums ever made. Sweet’s sweet melodies and bittersweet lyrics were juxtaposed on the album with gnarly guitar solos from the late Robert Quine (that’s Quine, who played with Richard Hell, Lou Reed and Lloyd Cole, among others, on “Girlfriend’s” title track) and Television’s Richard Lloyd. Now, 20 years after the album’s release, Sweet is doing a “Girlfriend” album tour that tonight stops at the Echoplex, where he’ll also play material from his recently released 13th album, “Modern Art.”

Three excellent local outings:

The Growlers complete their hat trick of Echo shows with support from the Allah Las and TRMRS.
‣ Day 2 of FMLY Fest – this one at Chucos (1137 E. Redondo Blvd., Inglewood) – includes sets from Ana Caravelle, Verbs, Blackbird Blackbird, Messy Sparkles and Vacation Dad. Avi Zahner-Isenberg of Avi Buffalo does a set on the acoustic stage, too. [Set times after the jump.]
‣ And Mini Mansions headlines the Bootleg Theater, with openers Deap Vally and Harriet.

Also:

Beats Antique at Club Nokia
Tim Reynolds’ TR3 at the Mint
Kinky at the Conga Room
Gothic Tropic and Masxs at the Satellite
Unwritten Law at the Roxy
Bourbon Jones and Jay Buchanan at Alex’s Bar
Asher Roth at the Viper Room
Graham MacRae at Lot 1 Cafe
Kreayshawn at the Observatory (fka Galaxy Theatre)
El Ten Eleven at the Observatory
Mama’s Joy and Sean Shan at Casey’s downtown
The Checkers at the Redwood
Bullet Boys at the Key Club
Raw Geronimo at the Mime
Weyou at Pehrspace

FMLY Fest Day 2
Chucos (1137 E. Redondo Blvd., Inglewood 90302)
Doors at 2 p.m.

4:20 Gibbons and the Sluts (stage 1)
4:45 M31 (stage two)
5:20 Ana Caravelle (stage 1)
5:55 WHITE (stage 2)
6:30 Blackbird Blackbird/Dream Panther (battle on stage 1)
7:20 Verbs (stage 2)
8:00 Kid Static (stage 1)
8:40 Cosmonauts/Cab 20/Lovely Bad Things (round robin on stage 1)
9:40 Messy Sparkles (stage 2)
10:15 Emily Reo (stage 1)
10:50 Vacation Dad
11:10 Dark Sea of Awareness
11:45 Michael Parallax
12:20 TGR BLD/NRK Collective (battle)
1:10 Oh Fortuna

Acoustic stage:
7:00 Salvador
7:30 Li Daiguo
8:00 Avi of Avi Buffalo
8:30 This Machine Kills Zombies