“Do It Like A Dude (Labrinth Remix)” pulls from many worlds of music; electronic-pop, synthesizers, electric-guitar riffs, hip-hop, and is sure to have you getting your groove on.

“P.I.” by Tape Deck Mountain

Tape Deck Mountain is a three piece post-fi band from San Diego, California. “P.I.”, a song from the bands upcoming Secret Serf EP, has recently been leaked to the public. Their EP is due out January 11 on Lefse.

Tape Deck Mountain – “P.I.” by forcefieldpr

“Lillian (Won’t You Play Drums)” by White Fence

Tim Presley the singer of Darker My Love and musician for The Fall has found time to record for his psychedelic pop solo project, White Fence. This track reminded me of Ponds “Annie Orangetree,” a total compliment, check it out!

White Fence – Lillian (Won’t You Play Drums?) by forcefieldpr

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Dominic Lalli and Jeremy Salken of Big Gigantic

Apparently my Friday morning fatigue and less-than-chipper-self at my desk was an indicator as to how my night went (Along with the large stamp still on my right hand and the venti peppermint mocha from Starbucks). My legs were a little sore from dancing a little too hard – I’m not that out of shape, I was just dancing that much.

The show itself kept a smile on my face from start to finish. I was incredibly impressed with the new catalog Dominic Lalli (production and saxophone) and Jeremy Salken (percussion) brought to DC as the last time I had seen them was this past July at a music festival.

Big Gigantic’s show is incredibly unique compared to other electronic acts. Lalli is on production and also plays the saxophone, while Salken is on drums. Big Gigantic has a distinct sound that keeps a crowd moving – and the girls staring. At this show, the duo showcased hard beats, synchronized with Lalli’s soulful saxophone tones, and threw in some dark, wompy vibes that had the crowd going wild and moving until the end of the show.

One great thing about this band is they feature their three albums for free on their website. Grab some of their music, and be prepared to have the sudden urge to break out into a dance party. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

The Red Palace resides at 1210 – 1212 H St NE, and was the former Red and Black bar and the Palace of Wonders. The venue opened officially on Saturday, November 6^th. This particular music venue caters towards indie rocker fans. And please, do not take this as sarcasm; this is something that DC needs. Especially since DC9 still has not reopened its doors.

After walking into the venue, I immediately was happy, as the beer selection was large and the bartenders were friendly; two things that are important to me. People can argue that it’s all about the music, and yes, it is. But what if you have a crappy environment? There goes part of the entire experience (at least for me). And I am not finger pointing at any venues in DC necessarily, but I think it is safe to say that friendly faces DO make a difference.

The downstairs features two different bars in two rooms, while live music simultaneously goes on upstairs. It is fairly intimate upstairs, with a capacity of about 250 (if I needed to venture a guess). I am pleased with the new venue as I am racking my brain the possibilities of what smaller bands could potentially play there. Enter: bands that do not necessarily fill up moderately sized venues, but have a draw in our area.

The Red Palace is a great music venue and I hope the venue will bring smaller, lesser-known acts to the DC area, or even other bands and DJs from the immediate area. If you would like to read more about the venue, please go to their website http://www.redandblackbar.com/. Check out their calendar of events and head to a show!

The Red Palace

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

For years Washington DC’s The Black Cat has provided Washingtonians with a place to see some of the best up and comers from across the globe. Last Tuesday was no exception, when Australian four piece psych-rock outfit, Tame Impala, kicked off their US tour. The house was packed with youngsters from DC’s burgeoning hipster scene who were draped up, and tricked out with the usual hipster garb, flannel, flats, tight jeans, and leather jackets.

It was one of the rare shows where everyone in attendance wanted to be in the front row.

Kuroma, led by former Whigs bassist, and semi-member of MGMT, Hank Sullivant kicked off the show with their thirty-minute set. They were followed by psych-rock band Stardeath and White Dwarfs, who are fronted by Dennis Coyne, the nephew of Flaming Lips front man Wayne Coyne. Both opening acts garnered a good response from the usually boring DC crowd. The trio of bands meshed well together.

When Tame Impala took the stage, the masses compressed like an accordion. They created an impenetrable wall, “There are too many people, I can’t get anywhere close to the front,” recalled Neon photographer, Zack Helminiak.

The band opened with “It Is Not Meant to Be,” the intro track from their album, Innerspeaker. Initially, what stuck out most were Kevin Parker’s atmospheric vocals and his ability to simultaneously play lead guitar. That’s not to say the other members talents didn’t stick out, they did.  Rhythm guitarist Dominic Simper, and bassist Nick Allbrook who make up the bands rhythm section, are the heart of the band. Their precise melodies make way for Parker’s transcendent guitar solos. Typically, the drummer of a band would be included when talking about the rhythm section. However, Jay Watson’s versatility takes him beyond just maintaining a rhythm. His raw power and showmanship were highlighted in songs like “Desire Be Desire Go,” and “Alter Ego.” If Simper and Allbrook are the heart of the band, Watson, is undoubtedly the soul.

Although a majority of the bands set were songs from 2010’s Innerspeaker, including singles “Lucidity,” and “Solitude Is Bliss,” they played “Skeleton Tiger” and “Half Full Glass of Wine” from their self-titled EP. The latter was the bands last song; it featured a long, enjoyable instrumental rock-out that had the crowd screaming, and flickin’ their bics for more. I was disappointed there was no encore, but to their credit, Tame Impala definitely went out on a high note, and left DC wanting more.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

1983: Tom Evans from Badfinger committed suicide by hanging himself in his back garden from a willow tree. Family members said the singer, songwriter was never able to get over his former bandmate’s Pete Ham’s suicide. Evans co-wrote ‘Without You’ a hit for Harry Nilson and Mariah Carey.

1994: Crosby Stills & Nash member David Crosby had a successful liver transplant operation at Dumont-UCLA in Los Angeles. Crosby’s liver was deteriorated from extensive alcohol and drug abuse, as well as hepatitis-C.

2001: Scott Weiland lead singer with The Stone Temple Pilots was arrested after allegedly fighting with his wife at the Hard Rock hotel in Las Vegas. Weiland was booked on one count of domestic battery and was released 12 hours later. The band had performed at the club that night.

2002: Safety experts blasted Michael Jackson after dangling his baby from a third-floor hotel balcony. Jacko was in Berlin for an awards ceremony and was showing his nine-month old baby to his fans outside the hotel.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

1972: Danny Whitten died of a drug overdose aged 29. Member of Neil Young’s Crazy Horse and writer of ‘I Don’t Wanna Talk About It’, covered by Rod Stewart, Rita Coolidge and Everything But The Girl. The Neil Young song ‘The Needle and the Damage Done’ was written about Whitten’s heroin use (before he died of an overdose).

1993: Nirvana recorded their MTV unplugged special at Sony Studios, New York.

2003: Following allegations of sexual abuse of a 12-year old boy, police raided Michael Jackson’s Neverland ranch. Jackson denied the allegations, the search came on the day that his latest greatest hits album, ‘Number Ones’ was released in the US.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Neon American recently met up with Allie Alvarado before her show at the U St. Music Hall. She was kind enough to sit down, have some drinks with us, and tell us about her solo act known as Painted Face.

Neon: Has drinking before a show ever gone wrong?

PF: Yes, one time when I was playing not as Painted Face but, I was playing in the band called Bloodlines. We were on tour and playing in Texas, it was pretty early and no one was there [at the venue] so I was like, this is my night, no one is going to be here! I was playing guitar in that band, not really singing or anything but, I got wasted, and a whole bunch of people showed up, so it was kind of a disaster. I was expecting total freedom, but realized I had to play; it was a lot of fun though.

Neon: How long were you with Bloodlines for?

PF: A year or so, it is hard to remember, we used to practice a lot and a lot of practices, in my mind make it seem like I was in the band a lot longer.

Neon: You were with another band called Telepathy also, which was the more recent of the two?

PF: They actually were happening at the same time, around five years ago…

Neon: Did one band know about the other?

PF: (Laughs) Well, two people from telepathy were playing in Bloodlines, so I went on tour with them back to back one summer, and incidentally left the band after the second tour. In the end it turned out to be the best for everybody.

Neon: What is your opinion on working with other people as collaboration, as opposed to working independently? Which do you prefer?

PF: I think when you are working with other people you tend to write songs a lot faster, because everyone is working together, you are not writing by yourself. You don’t have to think, Oh what is the drum beat going to be like, because someone else is doing that. Another thing I like about playing in a band is you can play off of each other, you don’t always have to be the person who introduces a part, and somebody else may have an idea or a song.

At the same time when your doing something on your own, you have total control (laughs) not to sound selfish but, I think that is the point of doing a solo project, it is entirely your outlet. I think painted face is about self-expression and it’s untainted because it’s only through my eyes. I do collaborate with my brother on this, and I think because we know each other really well and trust each other, we a different chemistry. He gets where I’m coming from, and I try to bring him in where I feel like I can incorporate his strengths.

I think working by yourself is a little isolating; really what is exciting about music is getting ideas and experimenting. It is kind of hard to do that on your own, when you’re the person who is always judging what you do, its really easy to be like, this is just ok.

Neon: Does he do all of your production work?

PF: It’s funny; people have really different ideas about production, in terms of what a producer is. With this project, I am at least a co-producer. I do everything on the computer in logic. As I am writing the songs, I’m producing them, thinking about the sounds I want to use. My brother adds a lot to the process, he sometimes will write parts, but we definitely work together. He does a lot of the mixing and engineering, so in a sense I start things, he finishes them.

Aside from him being my brother, I chose to do work with him because he spent a lot of years producing drum and bass, he is really tuned in to making club music. I don’t necessarily think my songs are made for the dance floor, but I wanted it to be a little ambiguous. I wanted to make pop music, but also something people can dance too.

Neon: Why did you choose it as the name for your solo project?

PF: It just kind of came about, I had thought about it for a really long time, and I had a list of a couple of names I wanted to use. That one [Painted Face] I came up with a while ago. This is super cheesy, I was looking through this deck of tarot cards, these weird Native American tarot cards, one of the cards had a warrior on the front and it said Painted Face, on the back of the card it said self expression. The name itself lends itself to all kinds of references like warriors, clowns, women, I felt like that would lead to a lot of creative avenues later on.

Neon: Are you going to paint your face tonight?

PF: (laughs) we [her and her keyboardist Karen] actually have face paint with us.

Karen: We don’t want to seem too literal.

Neon: It seems like there is a lot of flexibility around the concept of the name.

PF: I have always really liked fashion, and the intersection between music and fashion. I was telling Karen, it would be cool to play at a fashion show or something. I am not necessarily married to always playing in front of an audience at a venue that is for music. I would prefer to play, house shows, art galleries, whatever form it takes. I would love you have dancers at some point.

Neon: Dancers would be awesome.

PF: Do you guys want to volunteer yourselves?

Neon: We would need some face paint.

PF: I can definitely hook you up with that.

Neon: You recently released the Undreamt EP; I read somewhere that Kate Bush’s The Dreaming influenced it in part. Where there any other major influences that helped shape the album?

PF: For this project I was inspired by people who made sounds using early technologies.

Neon: Bowie, Eno?

PF: For a while Brian Eno, and the way he arranges music was a guiding force behind anything I created. At some point that just turned off, I wanted to make music that was much more structured and intentionally pop. That is when I began listening to a lot of 80’s stuff.

Neon: In your experience, which of your songs does the crowd respond to the best?

PF: “Sum of Me,” is definitely the most upbeat song. It is also the closest thing we have to a dance song.

Karen: “Girls In Love.”

PF: Yeah, “Girls In Love” is the most unique; it reminds me of something I would have written if I were in a band.

Neon: What has been the most important show of your career?

PF:I Don’t think it’s happened yet. I play a lot of shows, and there have been some really fun ones, but I have still had better moments watching shows than playing in them.

Neon: What is the next move for Painted Face?

PF: Well, I am definitely going to write more songs. I am also going to look into selling more copies of the Undreamt EP, by possibly finding a label to put it out.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

1968: The Jimi Hendrix Experience went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Electric Ladyland’. The double album included ‘Crosstown Traffic,’ ‘Voodoo Chile’ and ‘All Along the Watchtower’ and featured guest appearances by Dave Mason, Steve Winwood and Al Kooper. Barry Ryan was at No.1 on the Disc & Echo UK singles chart with ‘Elosie’.

1974: John Lennon was at No.1 in the US singles chart with ‘Whatever Gets You Through The Night.’ Elton John played on the session and made a deal with Lennon that if the song reached No.1, Lennon would have to appear on stage live with Elton. Lennon kept his side of the deal and appeared live with Elton. They played three songs together: ‘I Saw Her Standing There,’ ‘Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds’ and ‘Whatever Gets You Through the Night.’ Backstage after the concert, Lennon got back with Yoko Ono after a temporary split.

2001: German guitarist, violinist and composer Michale Karoli with German art-rock group Can died of cancer aged 53.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites