Eastern Conference Champions and Links at Roxy

Eastern Conference Champions is an indie rock band originally from Philadelphia, PA. Once signed with Suretone Records, they have released a handful of EPs and one full length album. They have an interesting sound – reminds me of Coldplay mixed with a toy I had in the 80′s.

The band’s performance was pretty mellow, which meshed well with the slower songs. I liked the music, however, the singer’s, Josh Ostrander, voice drove me a bit nuts. This is where my reference to a toy I had in the 80′s comes in. His voice reminds me of every other “unique” indie rock male singer, with a bit of Beaker (Jim Henson style) thrown in.

I felt like the performance needed a little bit more energy during the upbeat songs. It was a bit too mellow a bit too long. At one point they picked a random guy out of the audience to come up on stage and hold their gear for them. It got a stranger when the singer sang lovingly to the guy. Hmm…

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Links is a band from Silverlake who, well, sound to me like they may be confused. They describe themselves as “Soul with a twist of blues and a shout of rock” – uhm..what does that mean?

Links opened with a very psychedelic sounding song then quickly switched over to boy band-ish sounding (“with a shout of rock”). A crowd of girls screetching at the front between each song was sure to add to the boy band label. I am at a loss for words about how I feel about this band. My notes consisted of “ugly cowboy boots, grinding guitars?, boy band?”.  Guess I can clarify…

Ugly Boots – They all had ugly boots on. The end. I actually did notice the bands “look”. It didn’t really fit their music. They looked like young children dressed as the exact same cowboy.

Grinding Guitars – At one point the bassist and the guitarist went up to each other to “rock out”, but just ended up looking like they were dry humping each other with a guitar buffer.

Boy Band – See above, think Backstreet Boys (see below).

Something that did stand out to me is that, even though the band needs a bit of organization, the leader singer can sing. He has an amazing, powerful voice. The performance was also high energy and all band members gave their all through the whole set. Good job, kids.

I tried to research a bit about this band and found only a handful of info and some crappy videos. Searching for links with information about “Links” is a bit difficult. It’s like searching for the band “The Used” and getting pages of links for used cars. Eh… On that note, the end.

Paolo Nutini with Anya Marina at Wiltern

I walked into the Wiltern, alone this time, but happy to be. As I entered the standing room only I was checked out by a few chicks, as well as complimented. I was then quickly pushed into a corner by 6’7” giant men who I guess were jealous I was getting more action from the girls then they were. Beyond the hippie lesbian experience/atmosphere of the show, I felt awkwardly uninterested as a Lykke Li knock off came on stage as the opening act. Pretending like she knew how to play guitar, Anya Marina began her show by pressing ‘play’ on her 1985 Panasonic tape recorder. Why couldn’t she hire a band? I’d even pretend to play drums for $5 a show. Who knows who this chick is, but she looks like the spawn of Lady Gaga and Christina Aguilera mixed in a bowl with a touch of Yoko. She kept saying her name, which is great for potential fans, but when she says her name so fast that it sounds like “Ave Maria,” it’s going to be hard for people to know who she is. On top of everything she was sure to tell the audience about her life’s journey – Actor? Dj? Dancer? Singer?  Uhh what?  She totally has had twelve abortions, too.

“I wrote this song for myself and I give it to you” “dream come true”… [At this point I felt like leaving]…throw a bit of Courtney Love in there right before a complete OD. Hmmm…. “I have this whistling part to my song it goes like this…’whistle whistle whistle’ (Girl trying to whistle unsuccessfully)” Great!  1985 taped “drummer” named Neo sucks. He’s totally invisible. And the song just ends. Great. The end. Slow and Steady, Seduction, Phase 2 is the name of her new album. At least she is able to clearly say the title. She mentioned that Britt Daniel from Spoon helped produce her album (completely not mentioning that Brian Karscig from Louis XIV as produced), but why didn’t they help get her hire a band?

Anya Marina, a singer – songwriter from San Diego, has an upbeat sound, but the voice of a creepy child. I can see where someone may like this music, but they are probably the same people who thought Twilight was a great movie. Granted, her music would be perfect to fill out awkward silences in dramatic television shows; hence why I am not surprised her music has been featured on shows like Grey’s Anatomy, Gossip Girl and; my personal favorite, How I Met Your Mother. And moving back to Twilight, she will also have a song on the New Moon soundtrack, perfect!

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Paolo Nutini is a singer-songwriter from Scotland, who has the voice of an eighty-year-old smoker and the life experiences of a teenage prostitute (well, not really). His voice is very unique, which I think helps make his music stand out. Paolo grew up with the intention to take over his father’s trade (chip shop business), but was swiped up by his “music loving” grandfather and molded into the performer he is today. At 17, he moved to London where his music career began to take off. These Streets, his 2005 debut album, came out when he was only 19 years old. The album is pretty amazing, the kid can sing and the songs are well written. His most recent album, Sunny Side Up, has received great reviews. I have yet to hear the album, but the live performance of the songs was less then spectacular.

Before the entrance of Paolo Nutini, the audience, full of Twilight fans (aka 15 year old girls with “I love you” signs), rushed the stage in hopes to have the perfect spot to get hit my Paolo sweat. I didn’t originally feel like I was at a boy band concert until this and the text messaging board filled with “Marry me, Paolo”, “You are hot, Paolo”, “Call me, Paolo”, “I can see you, Paolo”, “Have my babies, Paolo”, “Becky sucks”, “Hi Joey, it’s Sally, Paolo is better then you” comments streamed across the screen.

After waiting what felt like a good hour, Paolo Nutini finally came on stage for his opening song – high energy, awesome song, strong voice – he totally got the crowd going. By the third song, his voice started to sound worn down and like an eighty-year-old smoker ready to die. His performance also began to decline along with his voice. Fortunately for him, his band kept the performance going (if only Anya Marina had that support).Unfortuneately, after being forced to watch Anya, waiting in silence for an hour, and watching stupid texts scroll across the screen, I was over the show once the performance started to go down hill. I was a bit disappointed with the sound of the fourth song on and was also a bit surprised. Buy the album and stay for the first handful of songs.

Family Force 5 at the Gibson Showroom

Okay, so this “show” was interesting.

Family Force 5 is a band from Atlanta, Georgia who are categorized as “christian crunkcore”, even though I have no idea what that means. Nothing about this band suggest christian to me. If anything it suggests a prescription for ADD medication and a hold on the red bull. I did a little research and apparently three of the five members are brothers whose father was an 80′s christian artist. The brothers started as a boy band and eventually went through puberty and decided to change their style a bit. Granted, their music is still very pop; but the rock edge widens their demographic. Either way, I like this band. They are the perfect band for high energy, mindless entertainment. Their songs talk a lot about where they are from, how they were raised, dance parties, and mullets. Awesome.

I discovered FF5 years ago when I saw them on Jimmy Kimmel performing. The singer, Soul Glow Activatur’s voice reminded me a bit of  Zack de la Rocha from Rage Against the Machine, which originally developed my interested in this band. In 2006 they released their first full length album: Business Up Front, Party In The Back. I remember loving this CD – ever dance party was hosted by FF5. In 2008 they released Dance or Die, which was a bit disappointing. The album was toned down a bit and almost sounded like a different band. It took a while for this album to grow on me. Now, I do have my share of favorites on this album.

Attending a FF5 show, is like finding a needle in a haystack. This band either tours as an opener for a large band, where tickets are sold out the second they can be purchased, they do not stop near where I live, OR they have some dumb scavenger hunt chance to win tickets. Therefore, after years of royally failing at ever getting to see this band live, I finally won (yes, I had to enter to win tickets) tickets to this show. The show at Gibson Showroom was actually a promo deal with some reality web channel. FF5 put on a concert for the website and the huge crowd of 35 people were there to give the illusion of a huge audience.

I attended the show with a couple of friends. After finding the showroom, we felt like we were in the wrong place; there were barely any cars and it was a dark industrial area. After seeing the tour bus, we felt comfortable that we were at least in the area. We found the entrance and waited in line behind two girls who were wearing plaid flannel shirts and rubber bands around their heads. After overhearing them talking about the homework they still needed to do and being excited about getting their driver’s permit; my friends and I realized that we were probably going to be the oldest people at the show (which explains the abundance of parking). When we got to the front we “checked in” “Yes, I won!! Me and the 34 high school freshmen”. I got my hand “X” (I guess it made more sense to X the – instead of the under-agers), and we entered. The showroom is just that – Gibson uses this area to probably give demos on new arrivals. There were guitars all over the walls and some nicely decked out pianos. Feeling old, my friends and I instantly went to a table (the “bar”) and ordered a beer each. “How much,” we asked. “Free”, said the 12-year-old girl behind the table. “Sweet!” we cheered (yes, we cheered). Free show, free beer – why can’t all shows be like this?

After waiting for an hour the show FINALLY began. The band members with strange names (Soul Glow Activatur, Phatty, Nadaddy, Chap Stique and Crouton) all jumped out and began singing about dance parties, collared greens, and ugly people. The first song was great, but once the lead singer put on blinged out hulk gloves the show took a different turn. I feel bad laughing at concerts, especially when I actually like the music; but once the gloves came out I couldn’t stop laughing…for a long time. Even though there were a few strange incidences (including a random dad who knew all the lyrics and even had his own dance moves – which was awesome by the way) the performance was great – the band was full of energy, they had great sound, and it’s always nice to have the more intimate setting at a show. I’m excited to see this show again; preferably a place where I can put my dance shoes on and challenge some kids dad to a dance off. I wonder when the next contest and/or scavenger hunt for tickets will be?!?!?!?

I would recommend people checking out their first album. Lyrically, the album isn’t very meaningful, but the music has a great beat and is perfect “good mood” music.

On somewhat of a side note, Family Force 5 recently released a Christmas album entitled Christmas Pageant. I’ve only had the chance to hear samples of each songs, which are the typical christmas remakes, but with the typical FF5 sound it’s pretty original and funny (in a good way). Not being a huge christmas album purchaser, I may never hear this full album but if I do I will be sure to let you all know my thoughts.

Hello world!

Music. It’s great and all… well most of the time.