Is it going to Bat's Day at Disneyland in your best PVC jumper and stripey tights? Is it your velvet Victorian waistcoat and matching knickers? Who the fuck knows anymore? But with those questions in mind, I offer two funny images:



and this.

In Bullet Point Form:

• "Apparently, everyone has forgotten the rule about concert t-shirts," I said to my brother and sister as we took our seats. "Yeah," John, the brother, agreed. "That Guy is everywhere." John pointed out the That Guy Girls in front of us, three blonde girls of about sixteen with matching Franz Ferdinand t-shirts and lime green and hot pink striped belts to match the type on said t-shirts.
• There was a high number of fans from the Too Young Too Drive age group accompanied by parents. I saw their slouched shoulders and faces covered in embarrassment and thought of when I was part of the Too Young Too Drive group and my mom took my sister and I to see both Morrissey and the Cure (and my mom will say that the Cure show was the best concert she ever attended, better than anything she saw as a teen). I was mortified that some older kid I knew might spot me with my mom and crack jokes. It never happened. To those young people at the show, I would like to say, it's not that bad. Really, it isn't. Years from now, you will be in your twenties and bragging that you actually got to see Franz Ferdinand when others your age were stuck at home because their parents had crappy taste in music and refused to drive all the way out to Los Feliz.
• Australian trio Cut! Copy were a treat. The vocals are a bit weak in that Bernard Sumner sort of way, but the music is all intense house, some of which seems to be more of the acid variety. They are playing on the evening of 10/10/05 at the Echo. If you have time, I recommend catching this show. Apparently, Alex and the gang were in the audience dancing to the set.
• In between opening bands, I chatted up the guy at the KROQ booth hoping to get some good dirt on a KROQ/Indie feud. All I really found out is that there are some issues regarding who gets to sticker which show and who gets credit for breaking which band. I hope neither is trying to take credit for that "Gangsters and Thugs" song. It sounds like a bunch of my former high school classmates (the ones with Sublime scrawled on the binders) decided to form a drum'n'bass project while cruising in their Chevelles down Rinaldi Blvd. Tragic. Let's sweep that song back under a rug. Oh, and the guy reminded me that KROQ broke such bands as Sublime and No Doubt. Um, I was thinking more along the lines of them playing Depeche Mode, the Smiths, the Cure, New Order, Oingo Boingo, Red Hot Chili Peppers and so many more before everyone else.
• TV on the Radio is much more of a stoner band live than recorded. It seemed as though none of the songs cut off before the six-minute mark with long stretches of fuzzy guitar work and drums that seem to catch the beat of an intoxicated mind (which, unfortunately, mine was not that night). Tunde Adebimpe's voice is large and perfect for a mid-size, outdoor venue. It was a very enjoyable set.
• The bulk of Franz Ferdinand's set came from the new disc, You Could Have it so Much Better. Fortunately, I bought the album when it was released last Tuesday and my brother and sister and I were lame enough to listen to it lapse twice while heading to the Greek. It seemed likely that most of the others in the audience did the same thing as everyone in our vicinity was quite capable of singing along to the band's entire set.
• When I first heard "Do You Want To," I thought of a specific Beatles' song (whose name escapes me at the moment, but will probably come back after I post this), all cut up and pieced back together. Oddly enough, Alex Kapranos spent most of "Do You Want To" bobbing his head back and forth as if he were one of the Beatles performing on Ed Sullivan.
• Kapranos reminds me more of David Bowie than John or Paul or George or Ringo, though. Maybe it's his style of dress or the huskiness of his voice. Maybe it's that "Michael" reminds me of "John, I'm Only Dancing." Whatever it is, I want more of it.
• There is something of Jarvis Cocker in the lyrical content of the band's new work. "Walk Away" is the song that is and will continue to be endlessly quoted. For those who haven't heard it, the line, which everyone in my area screamed, is "I love the sound of you walking away." It's the sort of brutal remark we all wish we had said at some time or other, something so harsh I would have expected to hear it on a decade-old Pulp album. Combine this with an intro strongly reminiscent of Kraftwerk's "The Model" and you have the raise-your-lighter-in-the-air ballad of 2005.
• The guy sitting next to me had deep psychic powers. During the encore, the crowd was roaring with please for "This Fire." Dude next to me hollered, "The last song on the new album." Despite the fact that we were pretty far back and that band's probably can't hear what the audience is saying anyhow, Franz Ferdinand bust into the house beat of "Outsiders," which is my favorite track on the album. Is this what people mean by serendipity?
• Franz Ferdinand closed with "This Fire." I can't for the life of me understand why "This Fire" is the second big hit from the last album. "Michael" is much better and "Matinee" is the bee's knees.

Editors Note: Chances are, you will be reading a lot on this blog about Depeche Mode in the coming weeks, particularly since it appears that multiple contributors will be catching the tour on multiple dates. If you have a problem with this, get over it. We take Depeche Mode very seriously in Los Angeles.

I have a confession to make. For the past two months, I have been privately basking in the glow of knowing that I have the Depeche Mode's latest disc, Playing the Angel. Really, I wanted to brag, but had to refrain because I didn't want anyone to start bugging me about making copies, which I couldn't do even if I wanted. Anyhow, if you pick up the latest copy of Outburn Magazine, you can read my official review. You can either order the magazine online or look for it at your local magazine rack. Since I can't publish that review anywhere and since I don't want to inadvertently plagiarize myself, here are some track-by-track notes. I think the release date is Tuesday, October 18, 2005.

The whole story starts with yours truly receiving a package from her editor, which seemed odd because I thought I had received all of the cds I had requested for review. The band was called Black Swarm. The cd was entitled Dark Force. The label was Mute. I figured it must be some new electronic cd. Two days later, I put the disc into my cd player. It opened with a buzzsaw. Interesting, I thought. Post-buzzsaw, the song got all dark synthpop, similar to something you might hear at the local EBM dance night. I noticed the vocals.

Why the hell would Mute sign someone who sounds exactly like Dave Gahan when the label has Depeche Mode?

I listened further. I had heard Dave Gahan soundalikes before, but not like this. This was scary.

I picked up the press release, which I normally don't do until I finish listening to the cd in full. I jumped up onto my bed.

"HOLY SHIT! I HAVE THE NEW DEPECHE MODE!"

This is no exaggeration, dear reader. Those who know me personally, know that I have a tendency to scream fanatically when Depeche Mode enters the picture.

Reviewing the latest cd by one of your all time favorite bands is a terrifying experience. There is the fear that you might hate it, the fear that you might be too forgiving and the fear that there is no way that you can say everything that needs to be said about this band for whom you have learned every intimately nerdy fact within the context of a 230 word count. My first draft was closer to 600 words. I literally spent more time editing the review than trying to find new ways to say this cd is pretty cool, which has never happened before in my past eight years of writing reviews for magazines.

But what about the cd?

That first song with the buzzsaw intro is called "A Pain That I'm Used To." It is, perhaps, the quintessential Depeche Mode stadium song with an enormous chorus that brings back images of Gahan prancing around in white jeans and a black leather jacket in 101.

"John the Revelator," the second song on the album is listed as a traditional track, but, for some reason, some of the lyrics sound different in DM's version. Creative license, I suppose. Either that or I never paid attention to the lyrics before. Followers of the band might recall the use of gospel singers on the post-Violator albums and that aspect is again present on this number. Personally, this is one of my favorites on the album. It packs a dancefloor punch without being too obvious and proves to detractors that there is a bit of soul lurking underneath those tight jeans.

"Suffer Well" starts off with the bleeps of a minimal techno piece, but the bleeps soon move to the deepest layers of the piece. I wonder if the guys have been listening to Kompakt records lately. This is one of the three Dave songs on the album. You will probably read more about that everywhere else. This is the first album where Dave contributed songs, it has something to do with the success of his solo album.

"The Sinner in Me" moves slow, plodding, dark and twisted like a Project Pitchfork song I remembered dancing to at all of the spooky clubs back in 1997. You could choreograph an excellent bat dance to this one: Step one: turn, two; drop contact, three; bend forward, four; do odd yoga move to get back against ground, five; stand up while sitting in lotus position, six; prep, seven; pirouette, eight.

"Precious" is the single. Most likely, you have already heard it. I just want to mention that my friend, Shok, said that it reminds him of Bronski Beat's "Small Town Boy." That's a nice reference. There is a story behind this song. You can read it if you find my actual review. Most likely, it will end up in every Depeche Mode interview this time around as well. It was in the press release.

"Macrovision" is a Martin-sung number. It oozes Black Celebration. Black Celebration is my favorite Depeche Mode album.

While one might hear the title "I Want It All" and think that Depeche Mode might actually be covering Queen, one might also be wrong. It's a Dave song. It has a static-snare driven beat that one might have referred to as trip-hop back in 1998. However, in 2005, we might need to think of another term.

"Nothing's Impossible." Remember the goth club reference earlier in this entry? Well, "Nothing's Impossible" is more goth than that. Dave really outdid himself with the song. It is, by far, the best of his contributions and one of the best portions of the whole album. If you have ever danced to Marc and the Mamba's cult-classic "Black Heart" while wiping glitter from your eye, you will cry MAC-eyeliner tears over this. The beat is almost identical. It is stunning.

"Introspectre" is an interlude in the vein of side two of Music for the Masses.

"Damaged People" has Martin written all over it. It could be "World Full of Nothing" Part Deux. How many Black Celebration references have I made in this entry? Are you getting the picture?

"Lilian" is my favorite on the album. The melody reminds me of "Sea of Sin," the b-side for "World in My Eyes." Those of you who grew up in LA might remember how "Sea of Sin" became this massive KROQ hit despite the fact that it was just a b-side. (Those were the days.) I have set my expectations high for "Lilian."

The album's finale is noted as "Change" on the press release and "The Darkest Star" on the cd. I think the latter might be the correct title. (FYI, the album's title comes from this song.) It's slow and moody and sort of ties the whole album up into a nice little conclusion.

Knowing that diehard Modies need no encouragement to get this album, I would like to mention that this is going to have a heavy appeal towards fans of Black Celebration, Music for the Masses and Violator, in particular. If you are a passing fan of the band, or really don't know much about them, get those three album and this one. You'll have fun drawing connections between the albums.

For the past few months, I have been working with two other journalists on an hour-long report for KPFK's Indymedia on the Air on homelessness in Los Angeles. Perhaps it is a bit of good luck that our story is airing right when the LA Times can't seem to go one day without reporting on "drop offs" at Skid Row. Our story is actually very different from what you might read in the paper, but I can't give you any details. You just have to listen.
Said story will air Monday October 10, 2005 at 3:00 p.m. PST. If you are in Los Angeles, you can tune in at 90.7 F.M. If you are in Santa Barbara, it's 98.7 F.M.
For those outside of LA, you can listen online at www.kpfk.orgIf you are back east, it will be 6:00 p.m. your time. In London, it's 11:00 p.m. Berlin is midnight. If you are in some other city somewhere, check this for the time difference.
Thanks.
Liz

Our friends from Sterile Eden are hosting this soiree, set for Saturday night. If you aren't taking in Night #2 of Franz Ferdinand's two-night stand in LA (for the record, I'm going to Night #1), or doing something else of note, consider this a fun option.

I just read this story on Underground's blog, in which a 15-year-old band called The Wyrd Sisters is suing multiple parties for trademark infringement regarding a band in the upcoming Harry Potter film of the same name. Now I wonder, how is it possible for a band to sue for trademark infringement when it's own name is also the name of a book that was published a decade before it formed and when the "Wyrd Sisters" is itself a reference to Macbeth?

See that sidebar with the interviews? Well, we need to update. If you think you can help, keep reading.
Basically, we are looking for people who are interested in researching and interviewing bands for articles that will appear in the aforementioned sidebar. This is a volunteer gig. As you have probably noticed, we don't run ads, so we have no revenue and cannot pay anyone. I figured we should get that out of the way first.
If you're still interested, keep reading:
We are essentially looking for two types of stories: Interviews with up-and-coming artists and beginner's guides for established, cult artists who might be unfamiliar to many of our readers. You don't need to interview a band to write a beginner's guide, although if you can score an interview with [insert super cool obscure band here], we will love you forever.
We do not assign stories ever. We prefer that people write about what genuinely interests them. We are not limited by genre, but we aren't big fans of rap-rock and trance either. Make sure you can get access to the band before you pitch the story. If you have some sort of connection to the band (i.e. you're sleeping with the drummer, best friends with the bassist or work the merch booth) tell us up front. Most importantly, please do not flake. If you say you will send the story to me by October 31, send it to me by October 31.
Finally, you do not need professional experience to be a part of our team. However, we do need to know if you can write a grammatically correct sentence. When you send a query, please send links to any blog entries or articles you might have online. If you do not have anything online, either send us a writing sample in the text of the email (NO attachments) or make sure your query is tight.
Still interested? Drop me a line at lizziegolightly@gmail.com

I remember seeing something about this show last week, but for some reason it just didn't register. I think perhaps I thought it was sold out, as her LA show was. It wasn't until 8 that I got a call from my friend Bri saying that she would have a ticket for me if I showed up. It took me all of five minutes to be on the freeway headed towards Pomona.

Once I had arrived, I immediately met up with everybody and went in. There was no line, and there were still tickets at the door. We got in and shortly after nine the first act took the stage. I'm not sure what they were called, but there were three guys, and they had two or three tuntables, a CDJ player and a laptop. Their set consisted of breaks, hard electronic beats, and oldies (like the Archies et al.). It worked surprisingly well I must say, although people were starting to file in and nobody dances to turntablism, the crowd's response indicated that they were enjoying it. After about 20 minutes, they announced Spankrock, who was to MC while they did their thing. Although I might of heard of the guy maybe once, for a relative unknown, Spankrock was up to the task of warming up the crowd for M.I.A. By the end of the performance, there were girls from the audience all over the stage dancing with him.

By this time the place was full and we were ready for M.I.A., whose dj (think his name was Contra) had gotten started first, playing some hits to keep the audience satiated while Maya got ready to make her entrance. Once she set foot on stage, everybody went nuts. In fact, we were nuts for the duration of her set. She played nearly everything from Arular, minus the skits and "Hombre", instead opting for URAQT (which my copy doesn't have). While at the beginning she stuck to album versions of her songs, later in the set the dj mixed in songs that were on the Piracy Funds Terrorism mix like "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)", "Push It" and Dead Prez' "Hip Hop". M.I.A. didn't even seem to notice as she kept going perfectly, even as the beat under her kept changing.

For an artist surrounded by controversy, like MTV not playing her video due to certain political lyrics and imagery, she wasn't there to preach anything. In fact, between songs she succinctly stated her role in the whole affair (and forgive me for paraphrasing): "It's too much, it can be confusing at times. I'm just an agitator. I don't want to tell people what to think, I just want them to start asking questions." Freedom fighter, terrorist sympathizer, or whatever you want to call her, she'll just as soon deny it. And while I've heard the whole "Just trying to raise awareness" line before, in her case I believe it.

The whole night sounded great as well. For some reason the Glass House is a great place for electronic music, despite the fact that they mainly book rock bands. The bass was incredible, so deep yet so clear. I swear it loosened some congestion I didn't even know I had. (It might have had some other effects as well.) All I do know is that I felt much better at the end of the night than I did earlier, which is ultimately the mark of a good show.

P.S. Thank you M.I.A. for giving such short notice for the show and giving me a chance to see you, and thanks Breezy for inviting me.

Greetings, comrades on the left coast,

I hope your homes have not caught on fire and that your governor is not an asshat. Will I settle for one out of two? Yes indeed!

Have the journalists developed a catchy word for gimmick-rock yet? Do you even know what I mean when I say "gimmick-rock"? It's like the proverbial good art, you know it when you see it, and the gimmickry of the gimmick is noteworthy enough to surpass the music itself in most discussions. I don't just mean "pre-fab" or "premeditated," as in media-ready boybands. Examples:

Gimmick: Hot Russian lesbians (T.A.T.U.)
Gimmick: Hot Japanese cartoons (Puffy AmiYumi)
Gimmick: Nakedness, cowboy hat (the Naked Cowboy)

Y'know, it's their gimmick, it's their thing, their schtick. Now, I am totally opposed to this gimmick-rock. Totally opposed. It's gone way too far. But I'll make an exception for Bling Kong, whom I was reminded of the other night when I ran into Cocksucker at the deli on 7th Ave. (I am not a journalist. I did not notice what he was buying.)

Bling Kong began, as these things so often do, as a joke ("I know, let's have a band with, like, twelve people... cheerleaders... Cocksucker... heh hehh... let's write songs about, like, how awesome we are and then... yeah. Cheerleaders"). Gimmickry? Sure. They know it, you know it, I know it, CMJ knew it well enough to invite them to present a panel about the "art of the schtick." However, you should also know that their songs are damn catchy, infectious even, and a feistier, sexier, funnier group of people you will not find on a stage in New York. Their full-length drops like a bushel of bananas on October 18th.

Three hours later, over and out and I'll be back.

Way back when I worked on ad campaigns for a record label, my co-worker and I would joke that no issue of Exclaim! (Canada's Music Authority) was complete without a reference to Sloan, although we would admit to ourselves that we knew next to nothing about the band.
My only knowledge of Sloan comes from a Cute Band Alert in Sassy Magazine circa 1991 and a handful of videos aired on Much Music, back when we could actually get Much Music in the States. Needless to say, I'm not well-versed in the Canadian indie icons.
All this brings us to last week, when I interviewed another band from Canada who recently finished a tour with the northern legends. We talked about Sloan and how big the band is for our neighbors and how, in the U.S., the band has a small cult following. After I transcribed the interview on Saturday morning, I went to Sloan's site and started watching videos, listening to songs and realizing, over a decade too late, that I really dig Sloan. Still, I would not know which cd to purchase should I head to a record store in the near future (probably tomorrow because I want the new Franz Ferdinand).
That said, I humbly request that any Sloan fans reading this please post your recommendations in the comments section of this entry. In return, I can make numerous listening suggestions in line with your tastes.
Thanks!
Liz

"Just when you thought it couldn't get any tackier, there go the lights," Carlos whispered to me as we stood pressed against the wall in the smoking area of Avalon.
He referenced a twig-thin blonde who walked into the room a few moments before, a girl whose face could have disappeared easily against the crowd, but whose outfit did not.
She hiked up the skirt of her skintight dress in time to Ellen Allien's set as she walked into the room, which seemed a bit odd given that the dress extended a mere inch below the nether region. It was a Bebe Does Dallas sort of ensemble, with a neckline that plunged almost to her naval and a back that cut into a V clasped by a rhinestone pin somewhere right around the crack. When her clonelike friend, whose own gold sequined tube top looked like something I saw on clearance at Harlot Russe three years ago, moved, we noticed her shoes-- five-inch lucite stripper heels with blue and red lights that seemed to move in time to the 4/4.
Hers was the last in a long line of fashion tragedies we witnessed last night. There was the girl who, thinking that electroclash-style irony was ever fashionable, showed up in dolphin shorts and leg warmers. Then there was the buxom brunette in a black halter top and skin-tight white bellbottoms offset by a large silver and turquoise belt that looked as though it came from a souvenir shop in New Mexico. An exceptionally short blonde bought into the recent trend for military-inspired clothes by wearing a camo hot pant-jumpsuit. Plenty of girls seem to think that urban cowboy is still the way to go, as made evident by the blonde in the pink cowboy hat, matching boots and fringed jeans. Add this to the proliferation of what Mary refers to as "action suits" (skin tight jeans, tank tops and stiletto heels) and men in Stanleys (another Maryism) and the scene turned into an all-too-real fashion nightmare.
Blame it all on Ferry Corsten, the turntable troubadour of the "I Wish I was in Ibiza" set who headlined Avalon's main room that night. Corsten is apparently much bigger than I had imagined as I had not seen so many piss-drunk weekend warriors in one club since Labor Day Weekend 2002 at Beat It. Every bar inside the venue boasted a half-hour wait and the bathroom lines were even worse. That said, Carlos and I did not even entertain the thought of a beverage, which I suppose just made us more irritable. Since the Droid Behavior party was relegated to the smoking patio, it seemed as though the bulk of the crowd had wandered in from the main room. This seemed to be our biggest gripe of the night because Droid Behavior put together a really incredible bill and, from where we were in the midst of the crowd, it seemed that there were more people stumbling about looking for lighters than dancing and really appreciating the music. (Case in point: I didn't hear so much as a scream when Allien worked in "Stadtkind," her signature track.) Both Richard Devine and Allien played stellar tracks. We only caught the last half-hour of the former, but Allien started out with an old house track, moved into minimal techno and then towards the synthpop realm before getting a bit acid on everyone. All we wanted to do was dance, but it proved to be impossible. Over the course of her two-hour set, I took more ass nudges than I could count and one stiletto heel to the top of my foot. I dodged the whack of a beefy forearm and was pushed over twice by the same asshole, who didn't even bother to say "excuse me." The whole concept of personal space was lost on this crowd. We eventually threw in the proverbial towel at the end of Allien's set and left before Matthew Dear, aka Audion, took to the decks.