I hope everybody had a great New Year's Eve. As usual, I kept a low profile and hid out in my apartment with my lady watching Jackass 2 (not as good as the first one) and You, Me and Dupree (Owen Wilson saved an otherwise lame movie). I did catch a little bit of Mystic Chords of Memory and Minor Canon on Saturday night. It was a big crowd and both bands sounded great. Minor Canon fills out their lineup with horns and strings; it's always nice to see an ambitious local bands doing something different.
Tonight's Pick:
The Clean Prophets / The Switch with DJs Kevin Bronson and Solid Todd @ Spaceland (Free) - If you're a regular reader of this blog then you know I'm a big fan of the Clean Prophets. They were #3 on my list of top 10 local albums in 2006 and "More Than Enough" was on my best of 2006 compilation that I sent out with my holiday cards. They're inspired by a lot of British bands (I usually say Echo & the Bunnymen, classic Cure or the Chameleons), so it's cool that they're playing an NME night. If you haven't seen them, I strongly encourage you to check them out tonight (plus it's free). They're going out on their first national tour next month; wish them well and pickup a CD and t-shirt to send them on their way. I haven't seen The Switch yet, but the lead singer has great taste in music and he's good people. They've got interesting instrumentation too (which makes me curious to see how they'll sound in person). They've got a new record coming out in a couple of weeks. DJ Kevin Bronson covers the local scene for the LA Times. In most cities, the alternative weekly is where you'd turn for the best local coverage, but I always gravitate to Bronson at the Times. He started a blog this week, check it out HERE. In keeping with the spirit of the NME night, he promises to dig deep in his massive collection for lots of obscure Britpop. DJ Solid Todd is the proprietor and manager of Sea Level Records in Echo Park. He's spent just about every day of the last five years in that store, and he's a huge supporter of the local music scene. It's been really sad watching indie stores like Rhino and Aron's die over the last couple of years (I saw Tower Sunset in a movie this weekend and even got a little sad). Sea Level is about the only non-major chain store left in the city of LA that stocks new, independent music (I'm not counting Amoeba since they branched off from stores in Northern California). I think you should support them. What fun is it to hang out in the iTunes store? See you there.
Download The Clean Prophets' "Praise is Poison" and watch their video for "Tambourine Crown" on You Tube HERE. Along with Kennedy's video it's one of my favorites of the year.
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