You are currently browsing the monthly archive for May, 2008.
You may have noticed this band called Casxio rocking the funk and dance parties around town recently. As mentioned in other posts, they smartly have been tackling the Silverlake/Echo Park scene and haven’t looked back since they started. Friday, the 23rd of May, Casxio came to the Echo Plex and as usual created a nice atmosphere of greatness. The sound the last two times this band has played there has been great and it seems the Echo Plex, along with many good bands who play there, suites them nicely. So drop your elitist snooty I’m better than music LA attitude and come dance with these fine young gentleman and lady at a club near you.
Sorry fellow Indie Schmarmers for taking so long to get this one on the site, I have been a bit busy recently. But alas, here it is, the weirdest show I’ve ever seen and delivered by no less than MGMT. Back in early May, on some date that I forgot, MGMT played a “secret” show in a parking lot on the USC campus. As one would expect, the show was packed full with douche bags and dirty whores. The entire crowd smelled like a Victoria Secret store mixed with your grandpa’s breath after he smoked two packs of Lucky Strikes. Yum.
Cursive have recently been preparing to enter the studio to record the follow up to 2006’s Happy Hollow. In the mean time, they have been a bit busy giving the fans a few chances to check out some new material both live, on the road, and recorded before the record comes out.
Cursive recently recorded sessions at Daytrotter and WOXY which can be heard here and here. On Monday the 19th of May, they also recorded a live session for Sound Opinions in Omaha. The show will be available as a podcast within the next couple weeks, so keep an eye out because we all know art is hard…boom.
Come on Sufjan do a cheer! Yay! No? Well, alright then. We’ll just pretend you aren’t staring off into the distance like we don’t exist. Asthmatic Kitty is probably best known for the music of (and co-founder) Sufjan Stevens, who better get cracking on his 50 albums in his lifetime project he set for himself some years back. We only have two states since 2003, and in that a b-side record for one of them.
The Raconteurs have announced that they will be playing the Henry Fonda Theater in Los Angeles this Sunday May 18th. Tickets will be available tomorrow at 12 noon PST at the following link: http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/090040A998A047B7?brand=goldenvoice
If you haven’t heard it yet, their latest album Consolers of the Lonely is something you don’t want to miss live.
I have been hearing the name “The Morning Benders” around town recently, and it wasn’t until Thursday May 8th at their CD release show that I was able to really soak them in. As mentioned in our review of their sophomore release Talking Through Tin Cans, they not too long ago played with The Weather Underground and Airborne Toxic Event for their January residency. Since then they have been making good strides, including aquiring an upcoming tour with The Kooks.
So it’s been 4 years now since everyone’s favorite dance/rock/nu-wave outfit The Faint released their fourth and most successful album Wet From Birth. In that time rumors and plans for their fourth have been leaked many times and yet we still had nothing…until now. Fasciinatiion will be released on August 5th via the group’s own label, blank.wav. This means the longtime Saddle Creek artists are going the way of Rilo Kiley so they can do things on their own. It is in that same vein that Fasciinatiion came together, it will be the group’s first album that was written, recorded, produced and released on their own.
We here at the Schmarm can’t wait. No new tracks are up on their site yet but I’d bet if you keep checking something will be going up soon. www.thefaint.com
I first got wind of San Francisco’s The Morning Benders when they played with friends and Indie Schmarm favorites, The Weather Underground back in January as part of Airborne Toxic Event’s January residency at Spaceland. The band was quite impressive upon first impression but part of me wishes I had this album at the time because I’m sure I would’ve tried finagling my way up closer to sing along with each and everyone of their indie-pop gems.
The Music:
Paul Simon - Graceland
I wanted to do a whole post dedicated to this, and I will most likely some day, but I want to say now that this is seriously one of the best records within the last 30 years. I’ve had it for a bit and enjoyed it, but it wasn’t until a friend recently had really sworn by it and couldn’t stop listening to it that I really gave it a shot further than I ever had. It’s very close to becoming a perfect record for me, which there aren’t many of, and it is my favorite solo work Paul Simon has done to date. The album has the 80s sound, slap bass, and as you all know, a sort of an African theme about it (though only a few songs really embrace that), but I’d expect nothing less. I look forward to more time with Graceland and I still find secrets hidden within with each listen. So do yourselves a favor and delve in headfirst and don’t look back (if you haven’t done so already).