Lady Gaga at Nokia 12/21

Hate her or love her, Lady Gaga has undoubtidly been
one of the most talked about artists of 2009.

Known for her bizarre and sometimes obscene antics (staging her suicide at the VMAs, breaking whiskey bottles on a piano at the AMAs), people often question whether there lies any musical substance under the kermit and body lace dresses.

I have to admit I bought The Fame expecting nothing more than a pop dance album (which everyone needs in their collection) and it delievered. Tracks like "Starstruck" and "Boys Boys Boys" had bubblegum lyrics such as, "Let's go see the Killers and makeout in the bleachers" that were lighthearted and somewhat laughable. But there were also tracks such as "Papparazzi" and "Poker Face", which gave a glimpse to a more serious side of GaGa. When The Fame Monster was released in November, I was suprised and happy to hear a more artistic side to GaGa. The bubblegum pop lyrics had been left in the gutter and replaced with visions of monsters and sexual inuendos.

I was excited to see which side would emerge on the stage of the Nokia on Monday, December 21st. She emerged solo in a light up leotard muttering De De De de de the begginning of her "Dance in the Dark" track and the electro pop opera began. Every aspect that has molded the image of Lady Gaga was present in this show, from the lavish outfits to the gothic-like vibe in her dancer's makeup. "Do you love me?" she asked the crowd and a wave of approval shattered the air as a response. There is no doubt in my mind that Gaga has popped the bubblegum layer that was once associated with her image and instead replaced it with her artistic visions. Although I do agree with Ann Powers that an underlying theme was sometimes hard to determine, this only the beginning for her and what a high bar she has set. I encourage anyone who can find tickets to the two other nights at Nokia (Dec 22nd and 23rd both are sold out) to go. Do not be afraid to release your inner monster and go crazy. Because for me the show was Am ma ma ma mazing.

Here's "Alejandro" live from last night's show:

New Arcade Fire album in 2010!

There had been some talk circulating the internet that the Arcade Fire was working on some new songs, but the band was careful to not give away too much. Fans, including myself, kept asking the question "does this mean a new Arcade Fire album in 2010?". Well, now it's official. According to Billboard.com, the Arcade Fire is nearly complete in recording their yet-to-be-titled third full-length album, which is due out in the spring.

The band spent six months with producer Markus Dravs, who has collaborated with well-known artists such as Bjork and Brian Eno, and also took part in engineering the band's 2007 release Neon Bible.

Expect a North American tour in 2010!

"Neon Bible" by the Arcade Fire.

Filmed by Vincent Moon for La Blogotheque.

Simian Mobile Disco at the Mayan 11/25

What better way to open up a weekend of eating and purging than to sweat to some heart pumping beats created by Simian Mobile Disco?

Before a breakdown of the show, I will give you a brief history of this English DJ duo and how they came to be. Comprised of two former members of Simian (yes they sang that "Never Be Alone" remixed by Justice for the hipster anthem circa 2006) James Ford and Jae Shaw decided to take on new sound. The majority of their songs feature simple vocals combined with extreme distortion and unique beats. With their debut album Attack Sustain Release in June of 2007, they began to form a name for themselves with hits such as "Hustler" and "I Believe". Their sophmore album Temporary Pleasure was released this May and included some heavy hitting names on the vocals (Beth Ditto of the Gossip, Chris Keating of Yeasayer). Temporary Pleasure featured more variety compared to the first album and most of the songs were either a hit or miss.

Lights decorated the stage and flashed giving you only glimpses of the duo mixing in front of you. The dancefloor was filled with glowsticks and kids hopping up and down to the bass. I have to say the one component I really enjoyed of this show is the originality. It seemed this team used their original songs as only a base for the new songs they created for the audience. They would take the original hook and create a whole new track right in front of you, seeping their creativity into the foggy atmosphere of the Mayan.

Various times they played the isolated vocals to hype up the crowd and then would slowly increase into the excellerated tone of the song. These men knew how to work the crowd and when they left the stage after their encore people were screaming for 15 minutes until they finally turned the lights on. Hands down this concert was worth the $25 and I will be attending their next show in the Los Angeles area.

Here is "Cruel Intentions (feat. Beth Ditto)" live at the Mayan:

New Animal Collective EP

Animal Collective's Fall Be Kind EP is dropping next week. The digital release will be available November 23rd, and a physical copy (either in compact disc or vinyl format) can be obtained in stores on December 15th, according to Paste Magazine,

Animal Collective made headlines this summer by being the first band to gain rights to a Grateful Dead sample. The song, "What Would I Want? Sky," featuring the Dead sample will be available on this EP, as well as "Graze", a more recent live track from the band.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Review

The next installment of the “Twilight” movie series will premiere Friday and tickets are already selling out. 

For The Twilight Saga: New Moon Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, the artist selection strayed from the more mainstream bands featured on the first Twilight soundtrack and compiled a mix of indie-rock heavyweights that do not disappoint.

Perhaps the most interesting element of the soundtrack is not the artists featured on it, but that almost every song on the soundtrack is an original piece made specifically for the Twilight movie.

Death Cab for Cutie’s radio friendly original “Meet Me on the Equinox” opens the album.

The song is classic Death Cab, but its lyrics seem painfully forced. It’s as if the band wrote the song with the objective of including as many clear Twilight references as possible.

Lyrics such as “Let our bodies intertwine / But always understand that everything ends” seem like they could have been taken straight out of Meyer’s book.

Lykke Li’s “Possibility” is a gorgeous piano ballad that will surprise those only familiar with her singles and Grizzly Bear’s “Slow Life,” which features singer Victoria Legrand of Beach House, is a fantastic swirl of harmonies and symphonic bliss.

Thom Yorke’s “Hearing Damage” is the standout piece on the soundtrack. It’s a jittery electronic ballad of sorts similar in style to the tracks on Radiohead’s last full-length album “In Rainbows.”

Yorke also wrote “Hearing Damage” specifically for the Twilight soundtrack, but unlike Death Cab for Cutie’s original piece, “Hearing Damage” could easily fit onto one of Yorke’s or Radiohead’s own albums.

Its chorus of “You can do no wrong in my eyes” is perfectly applicable to the relationship between Twilight’s protagonist Bella and her vampire lover Edward, but is still ambiguous enough to avoid seeing flashes of the movie upon every listen.

The majority of the soundtrack features dreamy and atmospheric songs with hushed overtones and lots of acoustics, but there are a few upbeat tracks.

“Monsters” by Hurricane Bells is sure to get stuck in your head, in a good way, and Band of Skulls’ “Friends” is another toe-tapper.

Though none of the songs on the New Moon soundtrack are representative of their respective artists’ best work, the soundtrack is a great introduction to indie music for all those Twi-hards who haven’t yet experienced it, and definitely worth the buy.

Kid Sister TV Debut

Chicago's Kid Sister (A-Trak's girlfriend and older sister to Josh of Flosstradamus) made her first TV debut on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on Friday with the help of Flosstradamus.

Here's the video, including the same crazy dancers she brought with her at Detroit Bar and the Echoplex.

Videos: Jookabox & Animal Collective

Though Halloween has long since passed, I can't help but enjoy this video.
"You Cried Me" by Jookabox, from their latest album entitled Dead Zone Boys.
Asthmatic Kitty Records 2009.

In other news, Animal Collective has released a new video for "In The Flowers" off of their early 2009 release Merriweather Post Pavillion. It is (quite fittingly) very whimsical and colorful. Click here to view it.

Viva Voce

I've been constantly listening to the song "Octavio" by the Portland-based husband and wife duo Viva Voce for the past few days (although they have added two more members for their latest album, so duo might no longer suffice.)  Though the song was released earlier this year, I can't help but play it on repeat. It brings me joy, and I thought that I might share a bit of that joy with you all.

The song is from the album Rose City which was released this year (2009) through Barsuk Records.

Free Vampire Weekend show!

Vampire Weekend played an intimate, secret show last night (which I luckily won tickets to) in Chinatown, Los Angeles last night at Madam Wong's.

But for those of you who missed out, they are playing another free show today!

Sunday, November 1 - Dia De Los Muertos
Vampire Weekend 3:30pm
HOLLENBECK RECREATION CENTER BAND SHELL
415 S. St. Louis St.
Los Angeles, CA 90033

New Yeasayer track "Ambling Alp"

Brooklyn's experimental Yeasayer has released a new song available for download titled "Ambling Alp," which is the first single off of their sophmore release Odd Blood, due out in February 2010.

It's easily their most radio-friendly song, full of upbeat and bouncy synths. It is definitely a departure of their past album's, All Hour Cymbals, exploration into spacey, funky sounds.

DOWNLOAD HERE. Enjoy

A review of "The BQE"

Sufjan Stevens has outdone himself once again with his latest release. Though the inception of The BQE may have been a simple project commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music, it has snowballed into something more. This is a masterpiece that surpasses all notions and boundaries of what one would expect from a current artist. Perhaps that’s the magic of Sufjan Stevens; we know his sound, but with each release he does something new. One can never know what to fully expect from this man.


As I sit hear listening to the album, I can’t help but envision Sufjan on stage surrounded by a symphony in a beautiful concert hall. The explosions of sound, the arrangement of each instrument—it is all too brilliant. Some pieces are dark and brooding (Interlude I: Dream Sequence in Subi Circumnavigation), while others are lighthearted and playful- calling to mind paintings from the Rococo era (“Movement III: Linear Tableau with Intersecting Surprise”). However, Stevens does not end the musical journey in the 1700s. There is a sense of modernity when electronic elements are showcased in the appropriately titled “Movement IV: Traffic Shock”, with all the samples and sounds creating a mental image of frenzy and confusion, truly mirroring “the BQE’s inexplicable twists and turns,” as Stevens goes on to explain in the accompanying comic book. (Yes, a comic book!)


The ending track, “Prelude: Critical Mass” is a delicate and moving piece. There is a sense of serenity; a stillness and sadness that stirs the soul. It is the most perfect and calm way to end a tumultuous journey through the BQE (and when I say tumultuous, do not think of the negative dictionary definition, for the tumult presented on this album is nothing but the best kind of uproar and loudness. The sounds shift from heavy to light, from calm to bellicose, and that is what I am trying to capture). The BQE is a road that begs to be traveled down again and again.


This album is easily one of the best that I have had the pleasure of listening to in 2009.


You can purchase the album in various forms through Asthmatic Kitty Records.

Posted by Gabrielle Costa

From Dub to Dubstep

This is a fascinating video I encountered online. I'm a huge Lee "Scratch" Perry fan. He revolutionized the dub concept with his recording and mixing techniques with Reggae music. Incredible.

Only lately have I been dabbling into the world of Dubstep, which is considerably different with it's electronic influences. Obviously, though, there is a link in between the two styles.

This video does a great job of relating the origins of the two styles and includes performances and music from Lee Perry, a brief interview with Dubstep monster Rusko, as well as Jahdan performing with Major Lazer (Diplo and Switch's electronic dub/reggae inspired club collaboration.)

Here is Lee Perry's "Blackboard Jungle:" From Dub to Dubstep mini documentary.

Group to Watch: Chauffeur

Chauffeur is the new supergroup made up of eclectic members Theophilus London, Mark Ronson and Sam Sparro.

The group came together and released one track to date. The song, "Soles on Fire," was written by Ronson for Gucci's pop-up Icon-Temporary stores that feature boat-shoe inspired sneakers designed by Ronson.

The track is a spacey, chilled out lounge and dark R&B  fighting it's inner electro/hip hop demons. Dark synths, repetetive Cool Kids inspired vocal hooks and a spacey beat are paired with London's classic breezy, cool and collected flow and Sparro's soaring high-pitched melodies.

Truly an interesting song, but it's got me skeptical. There's room for improvement. London, Ronson and Sparro are distinguished musician's in their own right, but something about this collaboration isn't hooking me. Yet. Hopefully there's more to come from this group. London's style is truly unique in the hip hop world. He embraces electronic music, afro beats and hip hop as inspiration. I think I was expecting a bit more of this group because of London's involvement.  I'd hate to think this song was just a selling gimick for Ronson's shoe.

Photo courtesy of thefader.com

Here is a video of Chauffeur's debut as a group at the Levi's®/Fader Fort at the CMJ festival in New York.

Chauffeur live at CMJ Fader Fort.


Click here to download Chauffeur - Soles on Fire. DOWNLOAD HERE

Flosstradamus Speaks with The Music Pirate, Planning New Album

Flosstradamus and Kid Sister are coming to Southern California! They will rock Costa Mesa's Detroit Bar tomorrow and The Echoplex in Echo Park on Saturday, Oct. 24.


After the tour, Flosstradamus plan to take a month off in their hometown Chicago to wind down and produce a debut album.


We caught up with a jet-lagged and exhausted Flosstradamus before their soundcheck in Portland, Oregon yesterday. Curtis was gracious enough to stay awake and give The Music Pirate a call while Josh was sleeping to talk about their work-in-progress debut album, Yo Gabba Gabba, dental hygiene and more.


Read the full interview after the jump! Also coming soon: video interview with Flosstradamus (and POSSIBLY Kid Sister) for their Saturday Echoplex show. Be sure to check back on TheMusicPirateTV on YouTube!

Lucas: Whats up? Where are you guys?

Curtis: We are in Portland right now supporting this leg of Kid Sister's tour that she’s doing. Josh and I were in the studio and she wanted help on this first part of her tour so we just said ‘Let’s go. Let’s do it.” So we’re out here doing that. We’re playing a few shows as Flosstradamus and playing a few as just Kid Sister shows as well.

Lucas: What do you mean?

Curtis: We’re doing a few Flosstradamus AND Kid Sister shows as well as just a few Kid Sister shows without our set in there as well, as the supporting act.

Lucas: Oh awesome. So I have to ask about her name.

Curtis: Yeah she’s Josh’s sister. She’s actually Josh’s older sister.

Lucas: That’s funny, her name is almost a bit misleading.

Curtis: [laughs] In a sense. I don’t know if BIg Sister sounds really good. It doesn’t flow off the tongue as well as Kid Sister

Lucas: Yeah, haha. So you guys have proven you have amazing production skills with quite a few remixes and you’ve even released an original song with Caroline from Chairlift. Are you guys considering making more music? What’s next for Flosstradamus?

Curtis: That’s what we’re doing right now man. DJ shows and club events are getting kind of over saturated in the scene, or they have been since 2008 to now. Josh and I have been touring around forever. We’ve been touring since 2005. We’ve done a lot of it and we’re just like ‘We need to take a break now. We need to release some stuff’ and it feels good. It feels natural now just to like be in the studio. Before we would have a couple weeks or a few days to work on a remix or an original song, and now we’ve got like a month. We’re taking our first month off since 2005 in December. We’re starting to put out stuff. We’ve just been in the studio right now trying to find our sound because we don’t want to copy anything that’s hot right now. We just want to find our own sound because we haven’t really done that yet. With remixes we can put a sound out on the track but for original songs we want to have something different. We want something unique and fun that reflects Chicago and reflects us. We’re grinding in the studio now and I’m pretty stoked on that.

Lucas: Awesome. I have noticed a few of your remixes having different sounds and vibes. The Matt and Kim - Yeah Yeah remix has a different vibe than the Act A Fool song or Overnight Star.

Curtis: The Act A Fool one was more of a mashup thing we did. We were playing a lot of old school trance at the time and we were also playing a lot of Lil Jon so we put them together. But yeah, with the Matt & Kim remix, I was playing some keys in the key of their song and it just came out like that. Then we remixed Mates of State as well and that remix has a different sound to it too. With a remix, it’s pretty cool because we can apply a sound that’s hot at the time on it and give our own take on what’s going on in the current music game, but for the album we want something that’s a bit more listenable and more timeless than just like a remix that can played in the club for a few months.

Lucas: So with you guys in the studio, what are you guys influenced by? Even outside of a specific style of music, are you guys looking outside of electronic music? What are are you guys really into right now?

Curtis: Even looking outside of music. Josh and I are going into this with lot of free time now at home so we’re reading a lot of pop culture books and movies and things that we’ve missed out on over the years. Cult classics and stuff. We’re just brushing up on everything that’s influencing us in many ways just even artistically like getting different aesthetics from things out there. Things that have happened in the past that have inspired culture, that’s kind of what we’re doing. We’re listening to a lot of new stuff, theres a lot of new music that’s coming out that’s really cool.

Lucas: Yeah, this year has been really great in music. What are your favorite musical acts this year?

Curtis: This year? Hm. The xx are super good. Diplo. The Major Lazer thing is killing. I guess this wasn’t this year, but Friendly Fires are in constant rotation and the M83 album. Those are both from last year but they made it into this year and they’re still killing it. Pretty timeless. Theres a lot of singles I’ve been feeling this year too. The new Chromeo single is good.

Lucas: So back to the original song you released, ‘Big Bills,’ with Caroline from Chairlift, how did that come about?

Curtis: Man, that was a crazy process and it happened super fast. Josh and I can do remixes and stuff, but we haven’t really done an original track and Green Label Sound did a song with Matt and Kim and they did one with The Cool Kids, which are both our friends. They hit us up next and it just kind of worked out. They were like “Hey we have a few artists we’d like you guys to work with. We want you to produce an original song for them” and gave us a list of names. Caroline and us gave the thumbs up and a couple days later we’re in LA in a studio, for three days only and we came up with that song. Just whipped it together in those three days and then two days later we’re filming a video and having a photo shoot. So that whole entire project happened within less than 7 days 

Lucas: Wow.

Curtis: It’s pretty rushed for a single, so that whole process was different and it was fun too. I like being pushed. I’m a huge procrastinator so if they gave us 3 months it probably wouldn’t have happened in 3 days… but it was good. She brought her sound to the table. She brought more of an indie vibe, more of a melodic vibe and we brought a bit of the dance vibe and put it all together in the studio and made this weird little indie-dance cross over thing you can just listen to instead of just another club banger which was a trend for DJs at the time.

Lucas: Yeah when I heard that song, I thought “I don’t think I’ll hear this at a club but I’ll definitely be playing this on my iPod.”

Curtis: Yeah that was kind of the whole point that Josh and I took with it too, because at the time when we made it, the whole the idea everyone was about was ‘Banger banger banger banger!’ It was just like ‘Yo man thats kind of played out. Kinda over it.’ We just took another stance on it and just tried to make something different, that’s one thing a lot of artists are afraid to do. Do something weird and different and we did it. 

Lucas: Yeah, its definitely different and great. With your new album in the works and based off of that experience are you planning on collaborating with outside people or is it more gonna be like a Curt and Josh thing?

Curtis: We are collaborating. We’ve got a lot of friends we’ve made. We’ve been touring for like 3 year straight so we’ve been meeting a lot of people on the road and a lot of people are down to work with us. What Josh and I are doing right now is getting a huge catalog of songs together. We’ve been making different things. We’ll get an idea and we’ll bang it out. Some of them are really rough and some of the tracks are pretty polished up, so we’re going to take the album in progress and send them out to all the people in our family, like Chromeo and Fool’s Gold and Mad Decent and be like “Yo which ones do you like?” We’re gonna send those out and then polish those up then we’ll start sending them out to the artists we’d like to have featured on them. Then yeah, it goes from there.

Lucas: Nice, yeah that’ll be really exciting. 

Curtis: I’m stoked. It’s a good feeling to be doing something different again. I’m super stoked to be working in the studio,

Lucas: For sure. Did DJing somehow get old for you, from touring for so long nonstop?

Curtis: [laughs] Uhhh…. Im going to say yes in a way. All the new music that came out as we were touring kept us inspired. We were like “Oh cool we can fit this crazy song in our sets ina certain way” and still play a lot of the old songs we always play. That was inspiring and that was fun. But having to travel and do it all the time it got taxing man. Josh and I got tired. You can just tell by looking at press photos we’ve taken just how much this has aged us. It’s good to take a breather and it’s good to just be back home, just relaxing. This is an amazing job. I’m not mad that we have this job and this is what I do to make a living. I get to enjoy what I do and I get to do something creative for a living. This is all of the things I would want so I’m not mad at it. I just think it’s time to switch gears for just a little bit and let everyone else do their thing so we can work on our album and work on a whole new way to tour. That’s another thing Josh and I are doing right now. Instead of just having a DJ set we’re trying to flip up everything do more live performances as well as DJing in our new sets when we come back out.

Lucas: Awesome. I’m sure you guys know the Twelves. They do that too, they perform live more than they DJ.

Curtis: They do it really really well. We’re gonna take our influence from that a little bit cause they’re not really like DJing as much as they are playing tracks and playing live to it but doing their own version of it. Like what Chromeo does, they bring live percussion in. They don’t have a drummer or anything. It’s just two dudes. They’ve got P Thug on keys and Dave 1 on guitar and singing and then they have a backing track that they’ll add to. They’ll add a little bit of drums and some cowbells and stuff. We wanna take that as well as a little bit of a musician performance and hopefully, once we established with our album, we can bring a couple of them out on the road with us. If you’ve ever seen Basement Jaxx they do it really well. They’ve got singers and dancers and people on stage with them. They heighten up their tracks. Hopefully we could do that when the albums released. Eventually that’s what we want to do for sure 

Lucas: Sweet. This next question is from one of my writers Eszter.

Curtis: Hey Eszter.

Eszter: Hey whats up? How important is the visual aspect of a live show?

Curtis: It’s huge. We have these people we’re going to bring out too. They’re called Thunder Horse and they help us curate all of our shows in Chicago. They do visuals, videos and effects as well as help us design and build stages. We do theme shows in Chicago and that’s what we want to bring out on the road. For a 4:20 party we built a giant UFO a stage built out of these giant smoking joints that would smoke. I dunno, it was crazy. And I think that’s a huge thing, especially in the DJ game because at the end of the day we’re just playing other people’s music. If you have visual stuff there to entertain the crowd its better than sitting there watching some dudes behind their laptops. Girl Talk kills it with the things he does. He’s killing it musically but he has all these kids around him dancing. He has a balloon drop and beach balls, you name it. Fireworks now. He’s doing all sorts of crazy shit and that just adds to all that element and adds to the night. If you were to go to a show and be like “He was there doing his thing,” it’s not as epic as fireworks and a show. 

Lucas: For sure, it definitely keeps you ahead of the game.

Curtis: Yeah totally 

Eszter: Have you ever had a fan come up to you with a weird interpretation of what Flosstradamus means? The actual word? 

Curtis: No actually. That’s the thing, though. Everyone asks us about that; everyone thinks it some super deep thing. But, no I haven’t had that. I actually want a fan to do that. Maybe we could have like a T-shirt contest or something and have fans illustrate what they think it means. What do you think it means?

Eszter: I kind of thought it was like the future of flossing. Cause you know Nostradamus was making predictions about the future, so I was thinking maybe it’s the future of dental hygiene.

Curtis: [laughs] See there you go! That’s awesome. Uh, I mean, my interpretation isn’t that but it is kind of a play on both those words. Yeah, Nostradamus predicted the future and also if you’re flossin’ you’ve got the best stuff on you. We’re foreseeing that’s hot I guess [laughs] in a weird way. But I like the dental floss idea. the future of dental hygiene. 

Lucas: [laughs] You’ll always be fresh. In both senses of the word .

Curtis: [laughs] Exactly, yeah.

Eszter: They should put you on Yo Gabba Gabba and then you can do a whole thing about brushing teeth. It would be perfect.

Curtis: Dude. That is actually a really good idea. They had Chromeo on there and our friend Louisa from that DJ group Staccato in LA. Her mom works for Nickelodeon so that would be awesome.

Lucas: Actually Curtis, I have a friend that interns there. Maybe I can say something.

Curtis; Dude, put in a word. That would be so awesome.

Lucas; Definitely, I’ll hit him up right after this interview [laughs] I saw that Chromeo clip of the Wash Your Hands song and it was so great.

Curtis [laughs] Yeah, amazing

Lucas: It’s incredible. It’s weird and awesome.

Curtis: Yeah dude, it’s just cool that they involve people in our culture and age group. Like the stuff that we’re fans of are in this little kids show. It’s so cool. They’ve got Biz Markie. Ah, awesome.

Lucas: I’m definitely jealous that I didn’t have that when I was a kid.

Curtis: Exactly. Exactly. 

Lucas: If they’re growing up with all this cool stuff on the show like Chromeo and MGMT, how cool are they gonna be when they’re our age?

Curtis: Exactly. I’m actually really stoked on what kids are gonna be like. I think things are switching gears, and being a creative kid is actually a good thing now. Before it seemed like it was a weird thing, like we were outcasted or something but now I feel like being creative and different is more acceptable in our society now. I’m stoked to see what these kids are gonna do.

Flosstradamus is a not a show you want to miss. Four turntables, two mixers two incredibly creative DJ's are the perfect equation to a buck wild dance floor. 

Detroit Bar is located at 843 W. 19th St. Costa Mesa. The Echoplex is located at 1154 Glendale Blvd. Los Angeles. 

Interview conducted by Lucas Vocos and Eszter Zimanyi.

Interview with The Growlers

Last week The Music Pirate blog spent the afternoon with The Growlers in their Costa Mesa studio/warehouse/party-house. The Growlers are vocalist Brooks Nielson,  guitarist Matt Taylor, bassist Scott Montoya, drummer Brian Stewart, and guitarist/keyboardist Kyle.

Welcomed into the studio by their dog Jonsey and a plate full of carrots, we spent the evening talking about Chubacabras, alter egos, which animal has the best growl and the illogical plotline for Zombieland, though Scott will admit Bill Murray's cameo was the best moment in cinema ever.

When we weren't discussing these heavy topics, we got around talking about The Growlers and their latest album release, 'Are You In or Out?' on Oct. 6.

Here is our exclusive interview with these Costa Mesa surf bums. Check it out after the jump! Also, check out a video of The Growlers performing exclusively for us in their practice space.

Gogol Bordello 10/18 Show Review

Gogol Bordello came to The Grove in Anaheim on Oct. 18 and our writer Taylor Hamby was there to experience the awesome gypsy punk ruckus caused by frontman Eugene Hutz and his crew of ragtag Eastern Europeans.

Read Taylor's review of Gogol Bordello live at The Grove in Anaheim after the jump.

Flosstradamus and Kid Sister come to Southern California! (Interview coming soon!)

Chicago's favorite DJ duo Flosstradamus will be coming to lay waste to dancefloors all over Southern California and they are bringing along Kid Sister (who, funny enough, really is the sister of Josh from Flosstradamus) for the ride.

Flosstradamus are not your average DJ's. Whereas most DJ's use two turntables and a mixer, they've got four turntables and 2 mixers for absolutely unique sets. From small clubs to the main stage at Coachella, Flosstradamus do, quite literally, bring the party.

Kid Sister has been blowing up as of late. From having Kanye West collaborations and redoing The Jungle Brother's house classic "I'll House You," Kid Sister is a force to be reckoned with.

Go go go go go go go. You will not be disappointed. I guarantee it.
They are playing Friday Oct. 23 at Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa and Saturday Oct. 24 at the Echoplex in Echo Park.

Also, be sure to check back soon for an exclusive interview with my buddy Curtis from Flosstradamus. Video coming soon as well.


Check out Flosstradamus on their MySpace.
Check out Kid Sister on her MySpace.

Wolf In A Spacesuit: "Most of our songs are based on antler appreciation."

Wolf in a Spacesuit is a three-piece band from Chicago. The project first gained attention through the support of psych-pop darlings MGMT, who placed Wolf in a Spacesuit in their coveted top friends list on MySpace. Originally, Wolf in a Spacesuit consisted of only one person who posted short, mostly instrumental, songs onto his MySpace page. Since then, Wolf in a Spacesuit has added two members to the line-up and released a 5 song EP entitled Pomegranate Stationary (available for free through their websites). Two of Wolf in a Spacesuit's members, who identified themselves only as "Algebra" and "Commander Mark", took the time to call The Music Pirate's Eszter Zimanyi to talk about how the project started, where they hope to take it, and why they insist on keeping their names a secret. Check it out after the jump! 


Side note: This is the first Wolf in a Spacesuit interview ever!!!

Acoustache, Volume One Out Now!

Huntington Beach's poster boys have graced us, yet again, with a new collection of their pop infused roots rock. Moostache's recent release, Acoustache, Volume One, strays slightly from the distorted string section listeners are used to, hence the title. This six song, no wires attached EP is no let down. The release still seaps with the gritty yet delicate harmonies that have accentuated the style of the Stache in the past and even incorporates new elements such as the southern pluckin' banjo in tracks like "Hold On" and "Basics."

Acoustchache, Volume One is available to download on the band's website, but here's the twist. They've given potential listeners three options to download the EP: Pay $5, "Steal It" or name your own price. Whichever you choose, you won't be disappointed.

Download the EP here: http://moostachemusic.com/acoustache

Also check out the band's other sites:

http://moostachemusic.com/

http://myspace.com/moostachetheband

http://facebook.com/moostache

http://twitter.com/moostachemusic

Mr. Oizo at Avalon Hollywood 10/16

In a world where DJing has become more common through electronic advances, it takes talent and creativity to stand out.

Mr. Oizo's "Lambs Anger" displays a variety of songs both fast and slow. A play on words of Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock's "It Takes Two" turns into a vulgar sex account. There is no doubt that this man loves to mix his French influence with fast-paced sweat dripping beats.

Mr. White performed the opening set at Avalon mixing chart toppers such as Kid Cudi's "Day N' Nite" into bass pumping house tracks which began to get the crowd's heart pulsing.

The dancefloor was full when Oizo took the stage somewhere around 12:30 a.m. This man played hours of fast paced tracks never leaving the audience a chance to breath. The tone was almost similar to a rave. Continous fast paced bass kept hitting the speakers, but the beaded bracelets and ridiculous outfits were absent (thank god). Unfortunately, I did not stay until 3 a.m. to see Oizo's whole set, but when I emerged on Vine Street sweaty and exhausted my ears were still ringing.

Overall I enjoyed this show and it panned out to be what I had expected: a night of sweaty kids jumping to one long electronic song. It definitely wasn't one of the best but it was fun and worth the $10. My only advice to Oizo for his next U.S. show; cut some of the repetitive, flashy tracks and add more vocals. If he slowed down his set just a tad the audience would have had a chance to appreciate the artistic approach to DJing.

Here's a clip of Mr. Oizo's set at Avalon 10/16: