Superblast!

Review: Metallica @ the Wiltern

5/14/08, Los Angeles: Rumor had it that they were going to be playing two sets: Master of Puppets all the way through, followed by their soon-to-be-released new album all the way through. This was not the case. It was pretty much 'tallica 101. All old tunes, only one was from the post-"Black Album" era. Strictly old skool. Flea joined the dudes for "Fight Fire With Fire," and hearing him shred that thunderbroom next to Metallica's "new guy" Rob Trujillo was apocalyptically awesome. That sound is faster than light. That Einstein guy was way off. "One" was another intense highlight, complete with the harrowing combat noises from the studio version and some well-timed strobes. Other than that, the group's stage set-up was lean and mean -- no inflatable props or video screens or confetti or what have you. Plus, by playing cordless instruments (and using surprisingly few pedals), the stage is virtually bare.

It was pretty amazing, even up in the balcony (except a bunch o peeps were sitting down! What is this -- Sufjan Stevens?). It was all for a good cause -- the Silverlake Conservatory of Music. Singer James Hetfield seemed genuinely tickled to be playing such a relatively small joint for the first time in a loooong time (Wiltern fits maybe 2,500 human beings). At the end, the group threw enough guitar picks into the crowd to start another conservatory of music. Hetfield even got a few as far as the balcony! He exited with "...and THAT'S why we're in a band!"

After finishing a really difficult tax return, do CPAs stand up, lean out the window and yell "...and THAT'S why I'm an accountant!"?

I was super late (missed at least twenty minutes!), but I only missed four songs. Here is the complete setlist (set list?) from METALLICA's show at the Wiltern Theater in L.A. tonight:

Creeping Death
Fuel
For Whom The Bell Tolls
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
…And Justice For All
Sad But True
Disposable Heroes
One
Master of Puppets
Battery
Last Caress/Green Hell (Misfits cover)
No Remorse
Enter Sandman
Fight Fire With Fire (w/Flea on Second Bass!)
Seek and Destroy

Review: Breeders @ Glasshouse

4/29/08, Pomona: MMMMM...Breeders. Playing to an all-ages joint that was only about 3/4 full, and dealing with some pretty significant sound issues, Kim and Kelley Deal and their partners in crime still softly kicked some ass at the Glasshouse on Tuesday.

Playing selections from all of their full-lengths (Pod only repped two songs though), they seemed gun-shy about playing new tunes until the end of their set and the encore. New single "We're Gonna Rise" sounds awesome, with it's slow, smokey qualities and "German Lessons" was a hoot with Kim Deal singing in Deutsch. They wrapped their warped pop sensibilities around two covers: Beatles' "Happiness is a Warm Gun" (found on Pod) and Guided By Voices' "Shocker in Gloomtown" (issued as a single in, what, 1993?).

About halfway through, during "No Aloha" and again on "Pacer," the sound went kablooey, with Kim Deal's guitar and mic cutting out. The audience (sort of) filled in on vocals on both songs before the band took a little break. During that time, Kelley Deal cracked some jokes to the peeps in the first few rows, until the sound was fixed and things came roaring back to life.

Good times, especially "Divine Hammer" and set-closer "Saints."

Review: She & Him/Lavender Diamond @ The Vista

4/28/08, Los Angeles: Wide-eyed silverscreen starlet Zooey Deschanel and indie guitar hero M. Ward comprise She & Him, an old skool-flavored duo (expanded to a quintet onstage) who play melancholy pop dervied from '60s girl groups, blue-eyed soul and outlaw country. Monday night, they played the first of two sold out, very intimate gigs at the Vista Theater in Los Feliz (on a normal night, it's one of L.A.'s very best movie theaters..now playing: "Forgetting Sarah Marshall." Check Moviefone for showtimes and tickets). Their show was a vast improvement over their appearance at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in January, where they played two not-so-hot covers.

Keeping things at a simmer for most of the show, the group really hit their stride with the one-two punch of "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?" and "Sweet Darlin'," two of the best tracks on their debut CD Vol.1. Deschanel has a strong voice, and despite appearing a little nervous, she was in command, aided immeasurably by Ward's excellent fretwork (how does he move his hand so fast up and down the neck and keep it so clean-sounding?). And the Vista lent the show a magical, cinematic feeling.

With Deschanel standing in dim lights, wearing a vintage dress, in front of a red velvet curtain, it was hard not to imagine a number of David Lynch images.

They pulled out a killer version of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles' "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" (move over, Beatles! Actually, don't -- just stay where you are).*

For the encore, they were joined by Giant Sand's Howe Gelb on piano. And guess who was watching the show? Annie Clark from St. Vincent!

Openers Lavender Diamond play around L.A. a lot, but thery're always a good time, mostly because singer Becky Stark is such a cut-up, dedicating songs to "the planet Earth -- the best planet in the world!" They played one new song, which sounded like their old songs (slow, pretty, vocal-heavy). Deschanel joined them for their final tune.

*Let's take a minute to celebrate Smokey Robinson. The dude wrote or co-wrote over 1,000 songs including: Ain't That Peculiar, I Second That Emotion, Money ("That's what I wa-a-a-ant"), My Girl, My Guy, Shop Around, Tears of a Clown, The Tracks of My Tears, The Way You Do the Things You Do, and 990 more.

Review: Don Cavalli/Eli 'Paperboy' Reed @ The Echo

4/17/08, Los Angeles: Taking the stage just past midnight and playing to a nearly empty room (it was a school night, after all) seemed somewhat appropriate for the middle-aged Frenchman blues guitarist Don Cavalli, whose smokey, electric blues seems better-suited for a deliciously divey bar than a swank nighclub. Backed by two silent-but-deadly sidemen, Cavalli-the-guitarist twisted standard blues-rock conventions and injected them with shots of funk, punk, garage, psychedlica, reggae and whatever else you got. Singing in a jerky, David Byrne-meets-Muddy Waters voice, Cavalli-the-singer often looked slightly unhinged, but seemed to be enjoying his status as rockstar-for-the-night.

The highlight of the show (as on his album, Cry Land, out tomorrow on Everloving Records) was the repetitive robo-rocker "New Hollywood Babylon" which features a rhythmic "meow" sound made by Cavalli's guitar and Cavalli himself. Once it's head your head, it'll be hard to shake.

The evening's lineup also featured a de facto headlining set (at 10:30) by Massachusetts' blue-eyed soul sensation Eli "Paperboy" Reed, in his L.A. debut. Being touted as everything from "the New Otis Redding" to the "Male Amy Winehouse," Reed isn't exactly either of those, although he has a tremendous voice for a young dude (24) and his 7-piece band (including alto, tenor and trumpet) is aces. Reed's "retro" schtick -- ill-fitting zoot suit, old skool slang, hair drowning in Dapper Dan* -- is irksome (so were G. Love, the '90s swing revival and the guy who did that "Fay Wray" song) and his songs are only so-so recreations of '60s-era soul, but he has undeniable chops, and he'll show them off when he and his band play Lollapalooza in August.

*"I don't want FOP Damn it, I'm a Dapper Dan Man!"

Review: Georgie James @ Hotel Cafe

4/16/08, Los Angeles: Stripping down to the duo of frontpeople John Davis (guitar/vocals) and Laura Burhenn (keyboards/vocals), D.C.'s Georgie James are wrapping up a mini-tour of the Western states.

Forgoing their usual full-band set-up, Davis and Behring excelled in the intimate setting of Hollywood's Hotel Cafe, where they played a pleasant hour-long set largely culled from their 2007 Saddle Creek LP Places. Standouts from the album included "Need Your Needs," "Cake Parade" and the title track. The duo also played a handful of covers, including tunes by the Flamin' Groovies and Simon and Garfunkel.

Openers Buddy, a 6-piece from SoCal had a jolly old time blending Death Cab-style pop with loud, distorted shoegaze crunch. They appeared to be having a blast on the tiny, overcrowded stage.

Review: Jens Lekman @ Henry Fonda

3/21/08, Los Angeles: After releasing three albums, this charming man Jens Lekman (he's Swedish and single, ladies) is ready to take America by storm. His witty live set Friday was akin to a low-key musical variety show, in which he told stories to the audience and alternated between playing solo (on an acoustic and, on one song, an electric thumb piano) and rocking with the full band. Backed by three Swedes and two Americans (4 of the 5 are ladies, fellas), Lekman led his band through a carefully constructed set lasting just over an hour and smartly paced between slow jamz, (disco-) rockers and between solo songs and full-band tunes (he brought out two horn players toward the set's end). And they threw in a few bars of the Chairmen of the Board's "Give Me Just a Little More Time." Hard to hate that.

Openers The Honeydrips consists of one Swedish dude with a good voice, strong songs and a pre-recorded band playing from a laptop. His songs were good, but too homogeneus and, even at 25 minutes, his set went on far too long. Then, for some unkown reason, Lekman didn't take the stage for nearly an hour, even though his band's gear was already set up. Not really a bargain for $30.

Review: Bon Iver/Phosphorescent @ Echo

3/20/08. Los Angeles: Wisconsin's Bon Iver, led by fuzzy-faced Justin Vernon are quickly exploding on the "indie" scene, although their music is short of explosive (well, maybe emotionally explosive). Selling out the Echo (in fact, overselling the Echo) the same night that even buzzier dudes Vampire Weekend are in town* is no mean feat, but Bon Iver was up to the task, with the trio playing a relatively short set to the rapt, sweaty audience. Vernon plays one acoustic, while his cohort plays another (no bass? Jerks) and a low-key drummer round out the lineup. With a strong, high-register voice (including some very welcomed forays into falsetto territory), Vernon's aching vocals suit perfectly his songbook that lands somewhere between freak-folker Devendra Banhart a subdued TV on the Radio and Unrest's softer side (please, for the love of God check out Unrest's 1992 album Imperial FFRR -- I'll wait). In the intimate live setting, tunes like "Flume" and the (relatively) upbeat "Lump Sum" feel like a warm hug. And some of the folks in the crowd had some decent pipes as well, as they proved on the "Wolves" singalong.

No encore, but that seemed right. With only one album under his belt -- For Emma, Forever Ago (cop it when you pick up Imperial), Vernon is poised to become one of the leading lights in senstive-sounding soft pop.

Openers Phosphorescent (from Brooklyn) are also blowing up, but have a long way to go before they get the mega-important Superblast! Seal of Approval (hey, Aerosmith have been trying for thirty years). They can play, sure, but their obvious pretentiousness (something that will likely make them popular) and their shallow bag of tricks -- slo-core-song-turning-into-epic-sonic-climax -- seriously detract from any of their positive attributes. And while it's nice to see a band attempt something ambitious like a 5 minute+ wordless, close-harmony a cappella, five minutes is a loooooong time, dudes. Really, it's just not that fun to sit through.

*Please read this review; it includes the soon-to-be-legendary line "they [Vampire Weekend] have all the appeal of rooting for the Omegas in Animal House."

Review: Carbon/Silicon, Matt Pond PA @ El Rey

3/19/08, Los Angeles: Two best fwends Mick Jones (The Clash/Big Audio Dynamite) and Tony James (Generation X/Sisters of Mercy) are touring the U.S. with their new punky pop band Carbon/Silicon, and boy oh boy, did they look like they were having the time of their lives Wednesday night at the El Rey. Backed by two quite capable young men on drums and bass, Jones and James tore threw an hour's worth of songs from their debut Last Poet.

Stating it was his first time touring America in 15 years, Jones looked ever so happy onstage, dressed in a casual suit and playing his guitar leads with surprising ferociousness. His voice sounded aces too, easily recalling his glory days with the Clash. James sounded a bit rougher on the few songs he sang, but it wasn't for lack of spirit; he was obviously having a blast as well. The fun was infectious, especially in their drawn-out encore (which included a take on Clash standard "Bank Robber," which Jones dedicated to the recently deceased Mikey Dread).

Openers Matt Pond PA played to a largely vacant venue, and their energy level never really rose beyond lethargic. They're released several good (even great) albums, but live, they seemed bored and came across as boring.

Review: The Ting Tings @ Jensen Rec

3/11/8, Los Angeles: England's the Ting Tings made their L.A. debut last night at the criminally underused venue colorfully named the Jensen Rec Center. No, there were no pick-up badminton games, nor were there any weird older dudes hanging around the parking lot sniffing glue, but there was a unisex bathroom.

With only a hnadful of singles under their tight little designer belts , the two-person buzzband (dood on drums/vocals, gal on vocals/guitar, sometimes visa-versa) played a sconch over tirty minutes and roughly six songs. "Fruit Machine" sounded muddled (maybe due to the club's cavernous design), but otherwise the duo was in fine form and were quite charming.

Set closer "That's Not My Name" -- an infectiously poppy concoction that recalls Toni Basil and Salt n Pepa -- was a scorcher in the live setting. The previous song was an orgy of pulsing rhythms and hip-hop beats colliding with jangly, girly guitar pop. The duo is heading to SXSW this week, where they will undoubtedly wow all the music industry types in town for the event.

Review: British Sea Power @ The Echo

2/28/8, Los Angeles: After some severe technical glitches that forced the band to just stand around on the stage for ten minutes, British Sea Power finally got started just before midnight.

BSP's albums (especially their stellar debut) are majestic, sweeping affairs with shimmering guitar parts and often hushed vocals. They're clearly influenced by all the usual suspects: JAMC, Pixies, New Order, Velvet Underground. Live, however, they seem to take their cue from more rambunctious groups like the Arctic Monkeys and Art Brut. The sextet played dressed like football hooligans and thrashed around wildly, all the while entertaining the sold out audience with spirited stage banter. Brothers Scott and Neil Wilkinson split vocal duties, while the latter played highly melodic basslines reminiscent of New Order (on a three-string bass!). A violinist (often inaudible, unfortunately) and a burly dude on keyboards/trumpet added to the cacophonous fun.

An hour in, however, the crowd started shrinking (it was a school night), but those who stayed to the bitter end got to witness a scorching rendition of "Carrion" and some raucous semi-crowd surfing from guitarist Martin Noble. He dove into the smallish audience and was propped up by no more than four doodz, and was almost dropped a half dozen times. Through it all, he didn't crack a smile, as if he were the Buster Keaton of British rock.

Openers Color Music played various styles (garage, punk, metal, disco, etc) that clashed with their matching white outfits. Castledoor are not as cool as their name would suggest, playing slightly catchy hippie-indie rock.

Review: The Magnetic Fields @ Henry Fonda

Another review from computer/music nerd Sanjit Patel:

3/2/08, Los Angeles: The Magnetic Fields have been a favorite of mine for a long time, so this review is completely biased and over uses the word awesome. Surprisingly, it was a rare seated show at the Henry Fonda. The openers Interstellar Radio performed a spoken word rendition of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" (with sound effects), which was refreshing to see, instead of sitting through yet another opening band I have no interest in.

The Magnetic Fields opened with the 6ths' "When I'm out of Town." As soon as I heard this, I knew it was going to be an amazing night. It was an all-acoustic show, so people who didn't like all the distortion on the new album, Distortion, would be pleased. They didn't even have a drum set. Claudia was on piano. John on acoustic guitar. Sam on cello. Stephin on a bouzouki, which Claudia explained was a Greek multi-stringed instrument. I once read Stephin doesn't like to play songs exactly like the album, or else the live shows would be boring. With this in mind, he performed vocals on "The Nun's Litany", even though the song's usual singer ,Shirley Simms, was with the band. Other vocal swaps included Shirley doing "Zombie Boy," and Claudia doing "I Looked All Over Town." All of the Magnetic Fields songs came from 69 Love Songs, I, and Distortion, except for one, "Take Ecstacy With Me" from the album Holiday (awesome!).

They played a large variety of songs from the other Stephin Merrit bands. Three from the 6ths: "When I'm out of Town", "All Dressed Up In Dream", and "As You Turn To Go" (awesome!!!). A few from the Gothic Archies ("The Abandoned Castle of My Soul", "Crows"), and the man himself, Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler), made an unusual public appearance to warn children about Count Olaf by performing "Scream and Run Away." A single Future Bible Heroes song made it onto the set list, "No River". They also did a couple songs from the two soundtrack albums, and one from Stephin's "Showtunes" album: "My Little Ukulele", "Dreams Anymore", and "What a Fucking Lovely Day!".

The stage banter between Claudia and Stephin is usually pretty funny. Especially tonight. Any stage banter is going to be great if it includes the line from The Warriors, "Oh Warriors, come out and plaaaay." Also hilarious was when they joked about the demise of Katie Holmes' career after her marriage, because you know, she hasn't had any publicity after that. Stephin mention he prefered her ex-fiance, Chris Klein. The audience was mostly quiet, occasionally laughing at lyrics. At the encore, some one shouted a request for "100,000 Fireflies". Stephin yelled, "Shut up!" which stopped anyone else from shouting out requests.

Overall, for this die hard Magnetic Fields fan, it was an amazing event. They ended the show with "Grand Canyon", which made my night, as it's one of my favorites - hell, they all are. I would've been happy with almost anything. I can't wait til tonight...

PS: If anyone one has an extra ticket for tonight's show, this reviewer would be eternally indebted to you.

Click here to read Sanjit's review of Yo La Tengo from way back in 2007.

Review: Cornelius @ Walt Disney Concert Hall

1/17/08, Los Angeles: Japan's experimento rock lord Cornelius touched down at L.A.'s jaw-dropping Walt Disney Concert Hall for some cinematic, face-melting music kickassery last night.

Performing in front of a large video backdrop, the quartet sank their chops into a little over an hour's worth of tunes, largely spawned from last year's excellent Sensuous (Everloving Records), plus some old skoolers like the caffeine-alternative "Count Five or Six."

Right right, bands playing in front of video screens -- it's been done before. But this was different. This was BETTER. The images acted as a purely visual instrument -- some typical of rock shows (Koyaanisqatsi-lite shots of busy freeways and birds migrating, etc) and others were truly inspired, including some amazing stop-motion and miniature effects ("How'd they do that?" -- A magician never reveals his secrets). And, as per the tour's title, The Synchronized Sensuous Tour, the music really did match the images on a frequent note-per-note basis.

Musically, the space age groop played mashed-up Kraut rock, electronica and good old-fashioned punk/noise. They closed with their jazzy lullaby "Sleep Warm," accompanied by images of a baby doing exactly that.

The night was part of the L.A. Phil's "Concrete Frequency" series (so was this, remember?), but the doodz are also hitting up Chicago, NYC and DC, and then they're touring the Japan in March.

Review: Kate Nash @ Amoeba Records

1/14/08, Los Angeles: Hype, hype, hype, etc., etc., etc. Anyway, Brit songstress/Myspace phenom/Lily Allen pal Kate Nash made a stop at Amoeba Records Hollywood for a free in-store performance on the way to her L.A. debut at the Troubadour tonight. After taking the miniature stage about 20 minutes late (hey, our feet are getting tired! I got a wife and kids to feed!), the thin white duchess played four songs, all culled from her solid debut Made of Bricks. Seemingly unfazed by the "sold out" store and some Beatlemania-lite screaming, Nash looked confident and seemed to be enjoying herself, although she kept the banter to a minimum and played straightahead renditions of her tunes.

The speed-piano pop of "Mariella" was the definite highlight, with her drummer working extra-overtime laying down that Slayer-meets-soft-pop beat. The slow boogie-woogie of "We Get On" sounded sort of naked without the backing vocals, and her live piano skills were slightly smaller than they appear on the album. She skipped playing "Dickhead," one of Made of Bricks' more colorful tracks.

Judging from crowd reaction and already-swift record sales, Nash will likely be issuing a much larger North American tour this spring/summer. Sweet.

Review: Songs of the City @ Walt Disney Concert Hall

1/8/8, Los Angeles: The L.A. Philharmonic's Concrete Frequencies series continued Tuesday night with "Songs of the City" at downtown's gorgeous Walt Disney Concert Hall. 12 artists performed two songs each, all loosely inspired by urban settings (mostly L.A., although the performers came from all over the U.S., as well as Scotland and Norway).

While a number repped L.A., other cities such as Oakland, D.C., New York, Glasgow and Bergen, Norway were represented, and cities from New Orleans to Seattle to Rio to Bristol were name-dropped.

In an extremely intimate setup (although it was a little too dimly lit), all the performers hung out on couches circling the stage, and one-by-one they went to the mic and played. It made the cavernous hall seem smaller, but it also made it feel like a music recital at times.

X's John Doe (longtime L.A. dood) stuck to the implied "rules" the closest, talking about his city and then playing his band's ultimate tribute "Los Angeles."

Inara George (from Bird and the Bee) was joined by Van Dyke Parks (!) on piano, as they nailed a cover of Randy Newman's "Vine Street." The pair are recording together now.

Main man Bob Mould skipped the obvious choices from his extensive catalog (including his time fronting Husker Du and, later, Sugar) choosing instead to play two mid-'90s era solo joints that he penned while living in Austin -- "Thumbtack" and "Surveyors and Cranes." He seemed a little uncomfortable playing the latter, which he labeled as one of the wordiest songs he's ever written.

Zach Rogue, whose band Rogue Wave is spotty at best live, nailed two Windy City-inspired songs from the band's latest album ("Chicago x 12" and "Lake Michigan").

Hottie actress Zooey Deschanel (backed by fab guitarist M Ward) stuck to standards, playing "Lonesome Road" and "I Put a Spell on You." She can sing pretty well, but didn't need to prove it by belting out every single note at the top of her lungs. Now they're recording together.

TV on the Radio frontman Kyp Malone did some cool things with his unique voice and played some mean guitar (including some hypnotic live sampling), but his songs were rather dull.

Belle and Sebastian's Stevie Jackson -- aided by L.A. band Biirdie -- hilariously commented on bored Scottish teens, while songster Sondre Lerche discussed moving from Norway to New York and the feelings such a move invokes.

The main complaint is this: With cities being as diverse as they are these days (especially L.A.), why was 95% of the bill caucasian? And, more alarmingly, why all singer-songwriters playing piano or acoustic guitar? Where was the hip-hop, electronic music, reggae, etc? Even Money Mark just sat at the piano, playing '70s soft pop-style tunes.

Also, you know who would've been good for this thing? Craig Finn. Dude's always singing about different cities.

Superblast's Favorite Concerts of 2007

Year-end list time! Unless you're a heartless, souless scumbag who's more monster than man, you love lists. Grocery lists, to-do lists, Schindler's List, and best of all, Top Ten Lists. Here is the first of a few awesome lists commemorating the end of the year (according to the Roman calendar). Look for end-of-the-lunar-year-lists in March. Not really. Well, maybe.

Superblast!'s Top Ten Concerts of 2007*
*An extremely subjective list, concentrating on L.A.-area shows, heavy on the indie rock. (In no particular order):

10. Hold Steady @ The El Rey, Los Angeles. The dudes played a lot of shows this year -- and I bet 99% of them were awesome -- but this show fell into that 1% where they were SUPER-awesome.

9. Daft Punk @ Vegoose Festival, Day 1, Las Vegas. Everyone in Sin City wanted to grab the two robots that front Daft Punk, run to a makeshift Wedding Chapel and get married. The French dudes rocked it like a robo-hurricane.

8. Boris @ The Echoplex, Los Angeles. Dd-nnea-neaw-yeah-da-DA-DA-DA. That was the sound of two awesome guitars battling it out on stage. Brkkksh!!! That was the sound of every dude's heart breaking when he saw hottie guitarist Wata walk on stage.

7. St. Vincent @ The Echo, Los Angeles. Texas cutie Annie Clark showed her teeth on the live version of "Now, Now," one of the year's most off-the-hook songs.

6. Vooredoms @ Studio Coast, Tokyo. Yeah, being in Japan may have added to the show's value, but the incognito Boredoms burned that spacious hall down opening for headliners Sonic Youth.

5. Deerhoof @ McGuire Theater, Minneapolis. The SF trio is equally goofy and arty, but they rock in a unique Mr. Rogers-meets-Mr. Bungle kind of way. Earplugs -- they're so necessary.

4. The Go! Team @ Glasshouse, Pomona, CA. The best live band in the world (well maybe second best, thanks to Hold Steady) treated L.A. to three shows this year, but this one seemed to have the highest energy.

3. LCD Soundsystem @ The El Rey, Los Angeles. They played three nights there, so it's possible this was the worst of the three. If that's the case then I never would've survived the best night.

2. Melvins @ Henry Fonda, Los Angeles. If the Melvins was a child, you'd be like "Goddammit Melvins, keep it down in there!" Instead you're like "Turn it up, Doodz!" They played Houdini all the way through and then Mudhoney played Superfuzz Bigmuff all the way through.

1. Sonic Youth @ Greek Theater, Los Angeles NY noise gods (and goddess) played Daydream Nation all the way through. It was amazing.

Gorilla vs. Bear recaps the best live shows deep in the heart of Texas.

Muzzle of Bees reminisces about the great Madison-area concerts they caught in '07.

Pitchfork has a massively entertaining year in concert photos spread.

Stereogum let their readers do the voting when it comes to 2007's best live acts. But it's kind of bullshit, since Radiohead is #16 and they didn't even play any live shows this year. Oh well, at least it's not 3 Doors Down or something. Stereogum also picked their own top 30. So much for democracy.

Review: Andrew Bird @ Orpheum Theatre

12/7/7, Los Angeles: Chicago's Andrew Bird is wrapping up his final 2007 tour, and you'd better catch him if you can. With the help of a looper/sampler-type thing, Bird plays violin, guitar, glockenspiel and whistles like a madman all at once, while drummer Martin Dosh lays down funky drum loops and killer keyboard riffs and bassist Jeremy Ylvisaker does his thing. They make a lot of beautiful noise for three quiet-looking dudes.

After Bird performed a few solo joints, his bandmates came out and they delivered a strong reworked version of "Fiery Crash." Songs usually start out the same: Bird plucks some nots on he fiddle, Dosh brings in a phat beat, Ylvisaker bangs the bass and sings backup, and Bird and Dosh switch up their instruments, with the former picking up a guitar and the latter tickling the electro-ivories. The result is a controlled chaos that backdrops Bird's catchy pop melodies and sincere voice (he sometimes performs in a talky, theatrical monologue).

They played a number of tunes from Bird's most recent set Armchair Apocrypha and his 2005 breakthrough Mysterious Production of Eggs, and the trio makes up a well-oiled pop machine, with some sensibly short ventures into jamlandia. They play infront of a large, phonogram-styled noisemaker that spins around and adds a doppler effect to some of the sounds, as well as some interesting projected images. Bird's cinematic -- yet intimate -- songs were perfectly suited to downtown L.A.'s beautiful Orpheum Theatre (a former golden age movie house that's recently hosted several live concerts, including Iron & Wine and Cake).

Openers The Handsome Family -- also Chicagoans -- played minilmalist rootsy rock interspersed with some funny stage banter. Bird, a long time fan, thanked them for opening by playing their "Giants of Illinois".

Review: Cake/Detroit Cobras @ Orpheum Theatre

11/30/07, Los Angeles: Cake seem to have taken the old cliché “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” to heart. Their casually humorous genre-splicing songs try no harder for rapturous applause than they do a simple shrug and maybe a “yeah, it’s pretty cool I guess” from an audience member.

At their peak, they recalled an inferior Beck or Soul Coughing, but those two continued evolving through the years whereas Cake is still spinning its wheels 15 years later, churning out similar-sounding irono-pop and lame cover versions of obvious candidates (Sabbath, "Strangers in the Night," "I Will Survive").

On Friday night in L.A., headlining their own ongoing "Unlimited Sunshine Tour" no less, Cake just didn't seem very into it. They played the hits ("The Distance," "Wheels," "Never There," "Short Skirt/Long Jacket"), but their set was only just over an hour (hey, this was a $50 show!) and they took a RIDICULOUSLY long time bettween their main set and their three-song encore. Plus, lead singer John McCrea spent way too much time talking about stuff (again $50 show!).

Openers Detroit Cobras played to a half-empty (spare me the "half-full" flipside -- when a theatre is half-empty it doesn't look like anything besides half-empty). Lead singer Rachel Nagy is pretty cute and has a smokin'-ly awesome voice (Think Patsy Cline mud-wrestling with Wanda Jackson), but she didn't do much to engage the crowd. The DCs take obscure sides from old soul, RnB and garage bands and inject them with some sexy, dirty Motor City punk.

Review: Iron & Wine/Califone @ Orpheum Theatre

11/28/07, Los Angeles: No longer just a one-man acoustic folk showcase for singer/songwriter/guitarist Sam Beam (with enough facial hair to power an entire regiment of Civil War re-enacters), Florida's Iron & Wine is a biggish, family affair with Beam's sis Sarah on backing vocals and violin and at least two refugees from other great bands (Wilco, Sea and Cake and maybe Calexico).

It's an ace band, who summoned sweet melodies and complex poly-rhythmic sounds, but they drifted into wanky reggae/jam territory once too often last night at downtown L.A.'s gorgeous Orpheum Theatre. The setlist was largely taken from I&W's new Sub Pop record The Shepard's Dog, though they threw in some older joints as well. The best bit was the encore, where Beam accompanied himself on acoustic guitar. Simple and elegant.

Openers Califone pulled off some low-key banjo-guitar folkrock that only really came alive a few times. Their "show-stopper" was a fairly lousy take on Elton's "Goodbye Yellowbrick Road" with the Beams joining them, karaoke-style.

Review: Los Campesinos! @ The Echo

Welsh pop wunderkinds Los Campesinos! played their first West Coast show last night at L.A.'s Echo. With only a pair of short E.P.s in their arsenal, the group's set was predictably on the short side, but was fulfilling nonetheless. Their bright, poppy concoctions recall the Rentals smashed together with Pavement (whose "Frontwards" they cover quite well).

The boy-girl harmonies were a definite highlight. Frontman Gareth Campesino (the bandmembers take a page from the Ramones and share the surname "Campesino") was funny and engaging, and the bandmembers are all easy on the eyes. Live, the songs' heavy reliance on glockenspiel got a little grating, but Tom Campesino's lead guitar fills sounded better than on the record. The crowd was definitely digging the cumbersomely-named singles "We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives" and "The International Tweexcore Underground." In both cases, the title's length is directly proportionate to the song's rockosity.

Openers Most Serene Republic have some serious musical chops (especially the drummer), but their songs are much too proggy as a result.

Review: Spiritualized @ Vista Theatre

11/12/07, Los Angeles: U.K.'s Spiritualized, largely known for their fuzzy, shoegazey noise pop, stripped things down -- way down -- for their limited U.S. tour dubbed "Acoustic Mainlines."

Frontman Jason Pierce was joined by keyboardist Tim Lewis, a cute string quartet and a trio of gospel-influenced backing vocalists. Their two-night L.A. stand found them performing at the Vista Theatre, a gorgeous little indie moviehouse that occassionally hosts live music in its intimate environs. It's a fantastic place for a show like this.

Starting slowly, the band eventually brought the sold out crowd (including Kate Moss! Me-OUCH) to its feet during a medly that included their "Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating and Space" and a few bars of "I Can't Help Falling in Love With You."

The encore had the place quiet enough to here a pin drop onto a pile of cottonballs in the cold, dark vacuum of deep outer space, but they turned down the siren call for a second encore. No biggie -- they had already rocked the joint to its core.

Opener Simple Kid, from Ireland, delivered a smart solo set (backed by a laptop) that included a cover of Kermit the Frog's "It's Not Easy Being Green", which he performed with a video image of Kermit. Sorta like Natalie Cole and Nat "King" Cole.