September 2008

In Los Angeles, our electronic and dance scene isn't quite what it could be, and often when a group or DJ comes to town it means trudging to a place you normally wouldn't go. Obviously it could be worse than the Standard Downtown on a Sunday afternoon, but it's not the first place you'd think of to go check out Hercules and Love Affair. 

Louisville-born Chandra & Leigh Watson bring a country soul to Silverlake, harmonizing on pretty songs about love and lovers. Think of it as the pretty midway between Bakersfield and whatever was lost out in Joshua Tree.

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Festival season is not quite over. There's two more, and they're both this weekend. First, there's the eighth year of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Warren Hellman's free three-day folk festival in Golden Gate Park. Next, we have the fourth year of Lovefest, the electronic music extravaganza that parades through town as well as snaking its tentacles through clubs all over town. In order to help you choose which to attend, I've tried to sort out what should appeal to which specific kinds of people.

 

For Buckcherry, it's better the second time around

In 2002, Buckcherry had had enough. While its 1999 self-titled debut album went gold, the band's 2001 follow-up, Time Bomb, fizzled out due to a lack of promotion. Three members left the band leaving the two founders -- singer Josh Todd and guitarist Keith Nelson -- to pack it in as well.

Todd would go on to release a heavier, more alternative solo album, You Made Me, in 2003, but Buckcherry never left his thoughts. In 2005, he and Nelson got together to discuss some personal issues and the topic of Buckcherry eventually came up.

The result was new bandmates and a new album, 2006's platinum 15. Sparked by the success of the first single, "Crazy Bitch," the band felt a resurgence into the mainstream. A number of singles from the album followed -- "Next 2 You," "Everything," "Broken Glass" and the ballad "Sorry."

"I've always believed in Buckcherry and what we could do," Todd says by phone before a recent show in Lincoln, Neb. "I've also believed that not one of our records was given the shot it needed on radio. We've had a ballad on every album, but this is the first time one got on radio and look what happened."

The Deal: Hip-hop hitmakers release fourth album, follow-up to 2006's gold As Cruel as School Children.

The Good: The band isn't looking to break out of its hit-making mold, combining hip-hop with a live band. The album kicks off with the hook-heavy "Guilty as Charged" featuring Estelle. There are also guest appearances by Busta Rhymes and Darryl Hall. Rhymes is featured on "Peace Sign/Index Down," a song the band played at this year's Warped Tour featuring the chorus, "Fuck you, this is for my family" - reminding me of Rage's "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me." School Children had a lot of weak, filler tracks on it, but this one runs solid from start to finish. "Catch Me If You Can" sounded like an outtake from Outkast.

Skipper's Smokehouse's 28th anniversary weekend celebration wrapped Sunday (Sept. 28) with rousing sets by some of Tampa Bay's top rock acts. Hat Trick Heroes' skilled-beyond-their-years teenage members closed the evening with a performance that offered a proverbial rattling of the venue's famed oaks. The power trio brought the audience to the lip of the stage with Santino Rumore's (pictured) precision guitar attacks, older brother Micheal's full-throttle vocals/propulsive bass work and Christian Peters' no-quarter drum bashing.

The tight threesome offered an unrelenting set marked by finely crafted, cock-strutting originals such as "Chasing My Tail" -- which recently won the band a CL Best of the Bay for Best Hard Rock single. The band also delivered crushing covers of Led Zeppelin's "Dazed and Confused" and The Doors' "The End" before exiting the stage to boisterous cheers around 9:30. Michael's cold kept him quiet in the hours leading up to his performance, but once on stage, the 18-year-old unleashed a rock 'n' roar that made the young women huddled underneath him howl.

I've been racking my brains trying to remember if I've ever made it through a whole show at the House of Blues without encountering some sort of hassle from the venue's security staff. Last night I was introduced to the "no bags" policy, which apparently only applies to men--I saw women inside with "purses" that easily could have accommodated my bag and all its contents with room left for a bucket of chicken.

I ended up missing Low vs Diamond and Plastic Little while I waited for a friend to show up so I could ditch my manpurse in her car. You'd think that the HoB, which has one of the largest and most aggressive security teams of any Chicago venue, could handle the threat posed by a Moleskine pad and a copy of a third-string Philip K. Dick novel, but apparently not.

Santogold's set was worth the trouble, though. I didn't expect her self-titled debut album to age well--it's attracted tons of hype and has been played half to death, so I figured I'd probably burn out on it pretty quick. But even after a hundred listens I still get happy every time I hear the opening line to "L.E.S. Artistes."

In preparation for the release of Mercury Rev's first new album in four years, Snowflake Midnight, was featured on NPR's "All Things Considered" this weekend. During the interview the pioneering avant-psych. rockers from Catskills, NY discussed their experimental approaches to both songwriting and recording amongst other things.

Click here to listen listen to the interview.

Despite their hushed tones and Mr. Collipark's buttered-up tracks, Ying Yang Twins Kaine and D-Roc were never the smoothest members of Atlanta's crunk set. But they certainly competed for most lascivious. And still do.

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