POPTIMIST - FEBRUARY by Blink Media LLC

CONTENTS 10 | WISH YOU WHERE HERE 12 | THINGS WE LIKE RIGHT NOW 16 PROFILE

22 PROFILE

18 PROFILE

24 PROFILE

EDITORS HOT CHIP 20 PROFILE

ATLAS SOUND

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FOUR TET LOCAL NATIVES

FEATURES 26 | GIVE A SHIT At Dangerbird Records, Jeff Castelaz works to make his bands’ music a business. At the Pablove Foundation, he’s working to keep his son’s spirit alive. 32 | STEVE AOKI The don of Dim Mak Records and one of the world’s most popular DJs appears in the guise of a guitar hero with his lank black mane, Fu-Manchu mustache, and cool temperment. 42 | RECORD REVIEWS 44 | WE ARE HERE 46 | CLUB PICKS 48 | SHOW LISTINGS

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VOLUME ONE | ISSUE THREE PUBLISHER Blink Media MANAGING EDITOR SoямБa M. Fernandez LIVE MUSIC EDITOR Rebecca Brinegar DESIGN/LAYOUT Anne Grant CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Bruce Dundore Jeff Weiss Amy Lyons Karen Nicoletti Ali MacLean Craig Rosen ONLINE Joseph Ho CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Henry Diltz Steve Gullick BLINK MEDIA LLC ADVERTISING MANAGER Rob Bedell Poptimist Los Angeles is published by: Blink Media LLC 1016 W. Jefferson Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90016 FOR ADVERTSING: (323) 556-4286 FOR EDITORIAL: sf@wearepoptimist.com FOR LIVE SHOWS: rb@wearepoptimist.com WANT TO CARRY POPTIMIST? HOW ABOUT A BACK ISSUE? Shoot us an email: distribution@wearepoptimist.com

THE DOORS LOS ANGELES, CA 1969 This picture was taken towards the end of 1969, when we went to Venice Beach to photograph the Doors for publicity pictures. Before we got to the actual beach, we were walking around the Venice area. I spied this garage door with a number 30 painted on it, which I wanted for my number collection, and it had an enigmatic message in chalk which said, “I think I know the reason, but I can’t spell it.” I suggested we stop right there and take a few pictures, and so we did.”

WISH YOU WHERE HERE FEBRUARY

HYPE MACHINE FEBRUARY

THINGS WE LIKE RIGHT NOW OFFICIAL LINE-UP ANNOUNCED COACHELLA VALLEY MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL will feature a mix of artists ranging from Pavement, Thom Yorke, Vampire Weekend, Them Crooked Vultures, LCD Soundsystem and Phoenix, to Tiësto, Faith No More, Deadmau5, David Guetta, MGMT and Public Image Limited. Set for Friday, April 16, Saturday, April 17 and Sunday, April 18 at the beautiful Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA, the 2010 line-up will include over 130 acts. This year’s COACHELLA will feature a variety of options to make the concert experience an enjoyable one. In addition to expanded camping options - including car, RV and traditional tent camping - COACHELLA will allow, for the ﬁrst time, in-and-out privileges for all attendees. Festival goers will once again have the ability to purchase three-day festival tickets and various onsite camping options via an easy layaway payment plan. Tickets for COACHELLA are on sale at all Ticketmaster locations and www. coachella.com. Three-day weekend passes are $269.00, plus surcharges. More details on layaway, camping options and up-to-the minute information, can be found at WWW.COACHELLA.COM

2010 WINTER OLYMPICS IS ROCK N’ ROLL Bundle up and cross the border - the northern border, that is - for a concert series scheduled in conjunction with the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. Canada’s native daughter Feist, who performed as an Opening Ceremony dancer for the Calgary 1988 Winter Games, plays the Orpheum on Feb. 12; Kid Koala spins at a specially-commissioned Short Attention Span video and music program; DJs Chromeo take over the dance ﬂoor on Feb. 20; and our favorite, Wilco, gives a free Valentine’s Day eve concert at David Lam Park, where Feist just might join in for a live version of her collaboration with the band, “You and I.” Martha Wainwright, Broken Social Scene, K’Naan and Iron & Wine are also playing during the Games. WWW.OLYMPIC.ORG 12 | POPTIMIST

FEBRUARY HYPE MACHINE

SWINGHOUSE STUDIOS We dig these guys and they support our local and emerging music scene. Swinghouse provides rehearsal space, recording facilities, equipment rentals and cartage for bands and musicians of all shapes and sizes. Good people, great space... in-house sound stages, three rehearsal rooms, two recording studios, and it’s also the West Coast home of Sirius/XM Satellite Radio Broadcasting. It is the place to be seen and get heard by the local music industry players and immerse your band in the local music scene: WWW.SWINGHOUSE.COM DJ SHADOW FIGHTS THE POWER DJ Shadow is changing the download game as the ﬁrst major label artist to introduce his own online music store featuring digital downloads allowing the artist to connect to fans less the “middleman.” The site further allows for DJ Shadow exclusives including live performances, mixes, as well as rehearsal demos and downloadable interviews: WWW.DJSHADOW.COM LP33.TV LP33.tv is a digital entertainment network, aka rad website that features music videos, artist interviews, music driven culture and lifestyle content, and what we consider to be a killer online destination for emerging artists and music fans alike. They are not recreating the wheel, just simply adding to it. Check it out for yourself: WWW.LP33.TV PINCHES TACOS BECAUSE IT IS DELICIOUS Handmade tortillas, freshly prepared salsas cooked to order and carne asada sliced to juicy perfection. The best F*****G Taco in Hollywood and that is why we eat there everyday. Plenty of parking, open late, at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Havenhurst (west of Crescent Heights): WWW.PINCHESTACOS.COM

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MUSIC:

YOU SHOULD KNOW 18 EDITORS Editors singer Tom Smith claims that still-active bands like Elbow and R.E.M. are bigger inﬂuences than Joy Division. 20 HOT CHIP Promising to “warm the cockles of your soul right in the middle of bleak mid-winter,” Hot Chip presents their newest release, “One Life Stand.” 22 ATLAS SOUND Bradford Cox’s Atlas Sound has been around far longer than his ambient band Deerhunter, if you count prepubescence. 24 FOUR TET Four Tet is making lots of electronica and post-rock fans smile with the release of his ﬁrst fulllength album in four years, “There Is Love In You.” 26 LOCAL NATIVES With three superb instrumentalists who also sing, and crazygood drumming and basslines, the band is licensed to kill. WEAREPOPTIMIST.COM | 15

2/11 @ THE WILTERN

EDITORS BY: CRAIG ROSEN

When British quartet Editors first burst upon the scene in 2005, they joined a growing list of young bands that seemingly worshiped at the alter of Joy Division. But as the years wore on, and Editors talked, some people listened. Fact was, they were much too young to be influenced by the band that became New Order following Ian Curtis’ death in 1980. Editors singer Tom Smith claims that still-active bands like Elbow and R.E.M. are bigger influences than Joy Division. While I’ll buy Elbow, who like Joy Division, hail from Manchester, England, I can’t really hear the R.E.M. influence, unless you count the bands’ mutual cover society. Editors covered R.E.M.’s “Orange Crush” for the Q magazine tribute CD “Best of 86/06.” R.E.M. returned the favor with an acoustic take of Editors’ “Munich” on BBC 1’s Live Lounge. In an interesting twist of fate, R.E.M. nabbed Jacknife Lee, who produced Editors’ fine 2007 second album, “An End Has a Start,” to helm their 2008 return-to-form “Accelerate.” Later, R.E.M. invited Editors to tour with them, which Smith called a dream come true. On their third and latest album, “In This Light and on This Evening,” Editors still sound a bit like Joy Division and nothing like R.E.M., but they’re definitely worth checking out when they play the Wiltern on Feb. 11. ■ 16 | POPTIMIST

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4/17 @ COACHELLA

HOT CHIP BY: ALI MACLEAN

Promising to “warm the cockles of your soul right in the middle if bleak mid-winter,” Hot Chip presents their newest release, “One Life Stand,” on Feb. 9. It’s a decidedly calmer album that’s more mid-tempo and disco oriented than those before. Perhaps it’s their recent pairing with Peter Gabriel, whom they collaborated with on a cover of “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” by the now ubiquitous Vampire Weekend (seriously, those prepster dudes are pushed harder than the Sham Wow). Or maybe it’s Hot Chip’s work on a Joy Division cover for the War Child charity album that has mellowed them from millennial Moroder party animals to their recent offerings. But don’t despair; the new album will still move you to your feet. The band’s just mixed in a healthy dose of soul and R&B - paying tribute to Arthur Russell, Theo Parish and Prince and blended that with the synthy Upstairs At Eric’s sound that made their Grammy winning album “The Warning” a dance standout. Their most recent artwork features a black and white illustration depicting the guys as common house cats (get it?), so their early house inﬂuences are still there. The lads from Putney are swinging back through North America this April with the xx in tow. There’s a date scheduled in Oakland and a SoCal appearance at Coachella so be prepared to get your suntan lotion on and road trip it to Indio to see them in the Sahara tent again. ■ 18 | POPTIMIST

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4/18 @ COACHELLA

ATLAS SOUND BY: KAREN NICOLETTI

Bradford Cox’s Atlas Sound has been around far longer than his ambient band Deerhunter, if you count prepubescence. The successful solo project goes by the same moniker Cox chose during his earliest bedroom recordings and is the name of the recording device he used when he started committing music to tape around age 10. And the Atlanta native, who seems to generate music as frequently as he breathes oxygen, made hundreds of recordings during that period. Atlas Sound in its current form came about when Cox broke away from Deerhunter’s collaborative environment in the early ‘00s so he could work with a new “palette of sounds,” or in other words, otherworldly music to zone out to. Known for stream-of-conscious songwriting and engrossing live shows, Atlas Sound has played SXSW and CMJ, kicked off the First Fridays series at L.A.’s Natural History Museum in January -- to a packed house -- and has landed a spot at San Francisco’s Noise Pop in February. Cox will then reunite on the road with Deerhunter to support Spoon’s spring tour and take the stage at Coachella. Although it has produced only EPs and two albums - “Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See but Cannot Feel” (2008) and “Logos” (2009) - Atlas Sound had a solid foothold in the recent ﬂood of top 10 lists, appearing on many best-ofs for 2009 and for the aughts. Cox seems hell bent on earning the title of Most Proliﬁc Indie Artist, and there’s no indication he’s running out of steam. ■ WEAREPOPTIMIST.COM | 21

2/27 @ THE ECHOPLEX

FOUR TET BY: AMY LYONS

Four Tet is making lots of electronica and post-rock fans smile with the release of his ﬁrst full-length album in four years, “There Is Love In You.” Kieran Hebdan, the computer mixing DJ from London with the stage name of Four Tet, gave fans an early taste of the album in November with “Love Cry,” a nine-minute tune that starts out with groovy vibrations that wash over you like smoothly rolling waves on a warm summer day and then gives way to a toe-tapping drum beat with a hypnotic impact. All of this smooth sound is underscored mid-song with the two-word titular refrain uttered by a breathy female. “Love Cry” is just one part of an “album experience” that Hebdan wants to share with his audience. As he recently told Pitchfork, “I’ve done quite a few records now, and I look back and think of them as documents of my musical journey. I think the most important thing for me is putting out records that document ideas. I want to be able to look back on all this in the years to come and see how I explored those ideas.” Hebdan is certainly no stranger to exploring ideas, having remixed tracks by Beth Orton, Andrew Bird, Thom Yorke and Radiohead. Kicking off a tour in London on January 22, Four Tet will roll into Los Angeles on February 27 to spread his musical message, laying down sounds with Nathan Fake at the Echoplex. ■ 22 | POPTIMIST

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4/18 @ COACHELLA

LOCAL NATIVES BY: AMY LYONS

Imagine five talented Silver Lake-based dudes hanging out in the rafters of an old barn in Iowa, gleefully playing an acoustic cover of “Warning Signs” by the Talking Heads. Were it a one-off gimmick, the roof gig wouldn’t impress so much. But like that other band that took to higher ground at Apple studios in 1969, the Local Natives make music that sticks in the mind the way steak and potatoes stick to the ribs. The proof is in the band’s self-funded debut album “Gorilla Manor” (named after a house they once shared in Orange County), out on February 16. On it you’ll find “Sun Hands,” on which Matt Frazier’s drums bring to mind an unabashed tribal dance blended with a Keith Moon crescendo complete with symbol crashes you can feel in your solar plexus. “Airplanes” - which keyboardist Kelcey Ayer explains is about “longing to have met my grandfather, a great man and pilot, who died before I was born” - finds the guys harmonizing in a way that will break your heart, if you’re not too busy being smitten with the song’s instrumentation. There’s also a cover of “Warning Signs” that switches David Byrne’s original yelped vocals in favor of a three-part harmony. Says Frazier, “We basically flipped the song on its head.” With three superb instrumentalists who also sing (Ayer, Ryan Hahn and Taylor Rice), Frazier’s crazy good drumming, and Andy Hamm’s basslines, the band is licensed to kill. They’re going to rise far above that old barn rooftop, so try to catch them next time they live up to their moniker and play locally. ■ WEAREPOPTIMIST.COM | 25

GIVE A SHIT “Signing a band is like getting married. There has to be love.” by: Bruce Dundore

Milwaukee can be tough on childhood. The city itself is mostly red brick and the citizens a dark shade of angry. As a kid in the ‘80s, Jeff Castelaz spent his time in his parents’ basement bunker with the stereo turned up to DEAF to avoid the warring of a dysfunctional family in a city pissed that it’s not Chicago. He listened to Black Sabbath. Jeff’s brother, Scott, staged a music intervention by turning him onto Joy Division and New Order. Both ends of those spectrums taught Jeff two things: there was a hell of a lot of music out there, and, it can save your soul. But he wasn’t born with god given musical talent, so at 18, he started managing bands. The first band out of the gate was a group called Wild Kingdom, which begat Citizen King, which begat the song “Better Days,” which went to No. 3 on the charts in 1999. The band got a label and Jeff got some street cred. Jeff defined his role as that of helping artists achieve their dreams, almost as payback for saving his soul. And when 26 | POPTIMIST

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your soul has been saved, there’s only one place to park it: Los Angeles. By the time Jeff landed in L.A., the business was getting wobbly. Music was coursing through the pipes of the Internet and leaving skid marks on the spreadsheets of the big record companies. They stuck to the established bands that could sell tickets and T’s to compensate for the death of the CD. But they weren’t building bands anymore. Jeff views the label business as micro-venture capitalists. “Are labels still important? Yeah, they are,” he says, “We turn the music into a business.” But the establishment was bleeding money with the bad habits that easy money brings. Then Jeff met Peter Walker. Peter is a musician. Jeff is a manager. They turned a mutual respect of music into a decision to control their destinies by joining forces, and so, ladies and gentlemen: Dangerbird Records. Jeff says, “We’re like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, where chocolate meets peanut butter and abracadabra! A whole new taste sensation!” “They must be crazy!” was a common howl they heard in regards to starting an indie label. But that didn’t faze them: In 2004, they opened offices in Jeff’s bedroom in Silver Lake, an enclave for the indie-alt music scene. Jeff and Peter agreed that the Dangerbird family would be one of the new management models, one that puts purpose over profits. They both had to like a band’s sound and players to take them on, and their handpicked staff has to feel the love too in order to turn the music into a business. Jeff says, “Signing a band is like getting married. There has to be love.” 28 | POPTIMIST

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2009: It was the best of times and the worst of times. One of Dangerbird’s bands, Silversun Pickups, had built a passionate fan base and the group’s second album, “Swoon,” landed on Billboard’s Top Independent Album chart and copped a Grammy nomination, putting Dangerbird and Silversun more than twenty Google pages deep. Then, Jeff and his wife Jo Ann discovered that their sweet little six-year-old boy had cancer. His name was Pablo. He was mostly made of laughter. Pablo had a rare form of children’s cancer called Wilms’ tumor. Jeff and Jo Ann spent 2009 lodged at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles where compassionate doctors focused on saving this boy’s life. Worry and fear went to joy and hope and then right back again to despair as Pablo’s case proved incurable. On June 27, 2009, Pablo’s fight with cancer ended. His parents’ pain didn’t and Jeff’s would have to be served. He created the Pablove Foundation to raise money for children’s cancer, then took the show on the road: A 3000-mile bicycle tour to keep the spirit of his son alive. Along the way, he discovered how much people gave a shit. Video blogs went out and money poured in. One man, who also lost a son to cancer, drove 11 hours just to meet Jeff and borrow some of his energy. “You think being an adult makes you tougher. Pablo would go through hours of chemo, then just get up and want to play. He was as tough as they get,” Jeff says as he stares at a photo of Pablo perched on his shoulders. “The point is to give a shit. I care about my people, the bands, my family, and every kid and parent out there who is going through what we did.” Jeff is now back full speed at Dangerbird, working to make his bands’ music into a business. And at Pablove, he’s working to keep Pablo’s spirit alive. ■ 30 | POPTIMIST

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DIM MAK DON, INTERNATIONAL DJ,

PRODUCER, TASTEMAKER, CLOTHIER.

“I JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT EVERYONE GETS THEIR MONEY’S WORTH.” BY JEFF WEISS

ith the nervous energy of a natural-born entrepreneur, Steve Aoki is shuffling cards, absent-mindedly and automatically, on a craps table inside his four-story Laurel Canyon aerie. If the 21st century cliché of the DJ as the new rock star is true, then we’re in the right territory. Ensconced on an evergreen stretch just off Wonderland Ave., these are the old stomping grounds of Graham Nash, Jim Morrison and Joni Mitchell. More recently, the area has become the enclave of young Hollywood, with Alicia Silverstone, Andy Milonakis, electro hip-hoppers LMFAO, and Aoki’s close friends Joel Madden of Good Charlotte and his wife, Nicole Richie, living adjacent. Indeed, the don of Dim Mak Records and one of the world’s most popular DJs appears in the guise of a guitar hero with his lank black mane, Fu-Manchu mustache, and cool temperament. And by all accounts, Aoki’s DJ sets make up for their lack of technical virtuosity through his charisma and punk rock energy, with the 32-year old known for stagediving and pouring Gray Goose vodka into the mouths of comely co-eds writhing in the front row. “There is no one like Steve Aoki; the energy when he performs makes you understand why everyone around the world loves him,” Aoki’s close friend and business partner, Mark “The Cobrasnake” Hunter said. “He’s constantly innovative and continually pushing the boundaries of DJ’ing and music.” It’s a rare afternoon at home for the Newport Beach-raised scion of Rocky Aoki, the founder of the Benihana restaurant chain. Just a few days after the New Year, Aoki has a bit of down time prior to hitting the tarmac to kick off his “In the House Tour,” which will find him rocking clubs from Mexico to Madrid nearly every night until mid-March. This year, he’s scaled back his touring schedule to “only 250 dates,” 34 | POPTIMIST

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down from the past few 300. “It’s a hard grind, but I’ve accepted the life and know that it requires a certain sacrifice,” Aoki says in his capacious living room, just underneath a framed poster of Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat in boxing gloves. “It takes a toll and I’m getting older, but when I perform I just want to make sure everyone gets their money’s worth and has a good time.” The fraternal desire to ensure that everyone has fun is a recurring theme with Aoki, dating back to his days at UC Santa Barbara, when he promoted concerts out of his living room in Isla Vista, a spot known as The Pickle Patch. He originally began DJ’ing at Beauty Bar in Hollywood, where he booked the likes of the Mars Volta, Modest Mouse, the Killers, and the Shins to spin. When the party outgrew the tiny space and moved to Cinespace’s roomier environs, it evolved into one of the city’s most venerable weeklies, the spot known for booking bands roughly three months before they crashed the mainstream, including Bloc Party, Lady Gaga, and Justice. The night also spawned the Banana Split party that Aoki ran with DJ AM until the latter’s untimely demise. During those years, Aoki learned invaluable lessons from AM, who he credits for helping him take the craft seriously, a development that resulted in his being named Best Party Rocker DJ by BPM Magazine and the 2007 DJ of the Year by Paper Magazine. “People started hiring me to DJ because I was known for throwing good parties, not because I was sick at mixing,” Aoki admitted. “But through AM I learned to understand and truly respect the craft. AM was always about being a DJ first. He lived for it. He had a tattoo of Technics on his arm.” 36 | POPTIMIST

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The development also ensured that Aoki and Dim Mak were ideally positioned to capitalize on the sea change towards the electro sound, a development galvanized by Daft Punk’s 2006 Coachella performance and the Justice-led rise of bloghouse the following year. Inheriting the savvy of his father, Aoki displayed an inherent genius for brand building, parlaying his promotional network and record label into international fame, two clothing lines, a line of headphones, and a management company. “My dad wasn’t even a chef, but he was a marketing machine and that’s why he became a successful restaurateur,” Aoki said about his father who passed away in 2008. “Whenever he did his offshore boat races or hot air ballooning treks it would always be branded Benihana. He knew how to get press and it always went back to the brand. He opened nightclubs, he was an art connoisseur; he wasn’t a one track guy.” Unsurprisingly, those who have worked with Aoki tend to describe him in similar terms. “The secret to Steve’s multitasking success is his vision,” Bobby Rifo, one half of the Dim Mak-signed the Bloody Beetroots said. “Dim Mak is his flag. He knows exactly what feels right and just goes for it whatever he does.” At the moment, the most salient among the dozens of distractions vying for Aoki’s attention is his debut solo album, featuring guest appearances from Kid Cudi, Blaqstarr, and Armand Van Helden. Lead single “I’m in the House,” featuring will.i.am. of the Black Eyed Peas -- billed as Zuper Blahq -- is slated for imminent release under the Island Def Jam aegis. It figures to mark a new epoch in his already storied career, but even if it doesn’t, you get the sense that Steve Aoki will be just fine. After all, few people are as adroit at shuffling. ■

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LOS CAMPESINOS! ROMANCE IS BORING LABEL: ARTS & CRAFTS PRODUCER: JOHN GOODMANSON

★★★ Los Campesinos! have unleashed their third recording in two years, proving they’re no slouches in the release department or in their approach to pop music. Romance might be boring, but this album by the U.K. seven-piece is catchier than cooties in kindergarten. Incorporating trumpets, shouts, hand claps, a chorus of whistling and a quirky but tolerable cacophony, LC! and producer John Goodmanson show that heavily populated bands can go loud without going over the top. – Karen Nicoletti

RJD2 THE COLOSSUS LABEL: RJ’S ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS PRODUCER: RJD2

★★★ The man behind the “Mad Men” theme song, multitasking mofo RJD2 releases “The Colossus,” a kaleidoscope retrospective of everything that he’s ever done, bouncing from strains of outer space Esquivel to lots of bright horns with breakbeats (he could have called it “The Horny Album”), to the Bond-like super strut on “The Stranger.” RJD2’s doo wop stroll with Phonte Coleman on “Shining Path,” and his drum kit debut, “Games You Can Win,” are stand out tracks. – Ali MacLean

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RECORD REVIEWS ASTRO COAST SURFER BLOOD LABEL: KANINE RECORDS

★★★ On its debut, this promising quartet manages to straddle the line between today’s indie cool and the big hair-metal choruses of yore. The Afro-beat inﬂuenced “Take It Easy” sounds like a Vampire Weekend knock-off, which would be enough to write Surfer Blood off. Yet “Swim,” the previous track, rocks with a chorus as big and majestic as Night Ranger’s “Sister Christian” (and we mean that in a good way). And opener “Floating Vibes” glides along like a mix of classic Breeders and Weezer, minus the shtick. – Craig Rosen

VAMPIRE WEEKEND CONTRA LABEL: XL RECORDINGS PRODUCER: ROSTAM BATMANGLU

★★★ Everyone’s favorite blood-sucking, indie, African hi-life inﬂuenced Ivy Leaguers return following their hotly debated 2008 self-titled debut. While there’s nothing quite as refreshing as “A Punk” here, “Horchata” is damn tasty, even if they try to rhyme the title with “balaclava.” Elsewhere, the button-downed foursome continues to mine the fertile ground between Paul Simon’s “Graceland” and forgotten ‘80s posers Haircut 100, and even throw in a bit of “Sandinista!”-era Clash trippy world-beating for good measure. – Craig Rosen WEAREPOPTIMIST.COM | 43

LIVE FEBRUARY

WE ARE HERE TUESDAY, FEB 9 ST. VINCENT She’s done vocals for David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, released the lovely disc “Actor,” and most importantly, is an artsy, clever and original voice in a cookie-cutter world. EL REY THEATRE: 8PM www.myspace.com/stvincent THURSDAY, FEB 11 EDITORS In support of their nine-track release, “In This Light and On This Evening.” Expect something old and something new from the band that just might shed its comparisons to Interpol one day. THE WILTERN: 7PM www.myspace.com/editorsmusic SATURDAY, FEB 13 SEA WOLF Silver Lake sweetheart and Dangerbird Records recording artist Sea Wolf play L.A.’s El Rey Theatre in support of their new release “White Water, White Bloom.” EL REY THEATRE: 8PM www.myspace.com/seawolf SATURDAY, FEB 13 ALICE IN CHAINS This outﬁt is rocking as hard as ever with new vocalist William DuVall. Even NPR says Jerry Cantrell and co. have “created an unexpectedly vibrant update of the band’s sound.” HOLLYWOOD PALLADIUM: 8PM www.myspace.com/aliceinchains 44 | POPTIMIST

FEBRUARY LIVE

FRESH CLUB LISTINGS, SECRET SHOWS, FREE DOWNLOADS AND TICKET GIVEAWAYS WWW.WEAREPOPTIMIST.COM FRIDAY, FEB 19 THE DAMNED Contemporaries of the Sex Pistols and the Clash that made their own mark from the start eschewing political posing, illfitting outside rhetoric, they’re still going at it over and over and over again. HOUSE OF BLUES: 7:30PM www.myspace.com/thedamned SATURDAY, FEB 20 SIDESTEPPER If dancing near Latin lovelies while duband-electro-influenced tunes rage from the stage, then head to East Los, where all of the above will be plentiful thanks to this Colombian collective. CAL STATE L.A.: 8PM www.myspace.com/sidestepper FRIDAY, FEB 26 SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES Emerging from the ashes of cult band Union Carbide Productions, TSOOL has since produced 6 stellar albums and numerous tours, with their latest landing at Club Nokia in late February. CLUB NOKIA: 9PM www.myspace.com/officialtsool SATURDAY, FEB 27 DIRTY PROJECTORS Dirty Projectors takes the stage for the latter half of this program following the LA Philharmonic’s performance of pieces chosen by Projectors frontman David Longstreth. WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL: 8PM www.myspace.com/dirtyprojectors WEAREPOPTIMIST.COM | 45

LIVE FEBRUARY

CLUB PICKS TUESDAY, FEB 2 INARA GEORGE Daughter of Little Feat’s Lowell George, young Inara was surrounded by the music of her father and his peers - Jackson Browne, Terry Allen, and Van Dyke Parks. BOOTLEG: 8PM www.myspace.com/inarageorge THURSDAY, FEB 4 THELONIUS MONSTER An all-star collection of L.A. scenesters, musicians and local rock royalty, Bob Forest and crew will rock Eastsiders’ favorite, the Echo. THE ECHO: 8:30PM www.myspace.com/theloniousmonster FRIDAY, FEB 5 YEASAYER The Brooklyn quartet’s songs sound like they could be the lost outtakes from Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” album, or B-sides for Chicago’s “Live at Carnegie Hall.” NAT HISTORY MUSEUM: 5PM www.myspace.com/yeasayer FRIDAY, FEB 5 DAEDELUS/NOSAJ THING Magical Property labelmates Daedelus and Nosaj Thing kick off their aptly named “Magical Properties” co-headlining tour with lots o’ beats, rhymes, remixes and sometimes unidentiﬁable sounds. Jogger completes this bill. ECHOPLEX: 8PM www.myspace.com/daedelusdarling 46 | POPTIMIST

FEBRUARY LIVE

FRESH CLUB LISTINGS, SECRET SHOWS, FREE DOWNLOADS AND TICKET GIVEAWAYS WWW.WEAREPOPTIMIST.COM SATURDAY, FEB 6 VIVIAN GIRLS Retro rock rarely sounds sweeter than in the hands of this harmonious Brooklyn trio. Their songs are short and to the point. It’ll be the best five bucks you’ll spend all month. THE SMELL: 8PM www.myspace.com/viviangirlsnyc THURSDAY, FEB 11 THE THERMALS Portland’s supergroup of sorts features Hutch Harris and Kathy Foster (All Girl Summer Fun Band) of the folk-pop duo Hutch and Kathy, Kind of Like Spitting’s Ben Barnett and the Operacycle’s Jordan Hudson. TROUBADOUR: 8PM www.myspace.com/thethermals FRIDAY, FEB 12 & 19 FITZ AND THE TANTRUMS Songs are influenced by ’67 AM radio, Motown and early Hall and Oates records. This half-French, half-Irish kid fended off the California rays with a lot of sunscreen to emerge as an artist with a vision. THE ECHO: 8:00PM www.myspace.com/fitzsoulmusic SATURDAY, FEB 27 FOUR TET We have high hopes for this live set from Kieran Hebden - he’s DJ’d in Ibiza and has spun eight-hour sets in London, and you know you gotta be good to keep the altered masses going that long. ECHOPLEX: 8PM www.myspace.com/fourtet WEAREPOPTIMIST.COM | 47