Thursday Night Music Options 3/1/07

Veer Right Young Pastor Play the Scene Tonight

TiVo Alert: Silversun Pickups on Last Call with Carson Daly – Tonight they’ll do “Rusted Wheel.” According to this week’s LA Weekly, Silversun Pickups are shameless Smashing Pumpkins rip-offs who “are the current toast of Silver Lake scenesters.” The contempt and dismissiveness in that phrase is indicative of what I’ve come to expect from the Weekly. The truth is: Silversun Pickups are nearing 100k in album sales. They've been at the top of Billboard’s Top Heat Seekers chart for weeks. They get national radio airplay. Their video is in regular rotation on MTV and MTV2. They sell out headlining shows across the country. They have appeared on Letterman and the Tonight Show. They'll be appearing at Coachella in April. It must be sad over at the LA Weekly. Is it really so frustrating and horrible to watch local artists become successful? Like most free "alternative" periodicals they used to make a huge chunk of their money from stripper/massage/escort ads, but now they're forced to compete with Craigslist and AOL chat rooms. Good luck guys. Thanks for reminding why I started this blog.

Tonight's Pick:

Veer Right Young Pastor / Holy Shit @ the Scene ($5) – I clicked on Long Beach’s Veer Right Young Pastor’s Myspace page and realized that I’m friends with one of the guys in the band. Maybe you’re friends with him too? Their music is pretty indescribable (which is a compliment). It reminds me of some of the Trance Syndicate bands from back in the early to mid-1990s. Holy Shit is Ariel Pink and Matt Fishbeck’s new band. Both of these bands are original. The overall experience would probably be enhanced by drugs.

Other good bets:

Josh Ritter / The Submarines @ El Rey ($20) – He’s a singer-songwriter from Idaho who broke in Ireland first. I saw him on 3/22/06 at King King and he was good. Download “Girl in the War” and “Thin Blue Flame” The Submarines are a local group with nice boy/girl, call and response songs.

The Mae Shi @ the Smell ($5) – I haven’t seen local noise rockers the Mae Shi in a really long time. Download “Vampire Beats”

Low vs. Diamond @ Safari Sam’s ($5) – Could this be another LA band that blows up in the UK before they blow up in the States? It’s starting to look like it.

For the indie dance crowd:
Macromantics / The Gray Kid @ the Echo ($10) – Macromantics is a white, female, Australian rapper who records for the Kill Rock Stars label. A lot of people praise her intelligent lyrics. Download “Scorch” I’ve accidentally seen the Gray Kid twice in the past couple of weeks. He’s a local white rapper who is quickly gaining traction with the Cinespace/indie dance crowd. Is he more Eminem or Weird Al Yankovic? You’ll have to decide for yourself. Download “Lonely Love”