Jesca Hoop 3/23/13 - The Hotel Cafe, Hollywood, CA.

Last weekend, Jesca Hoop was back in town and graced us with her presence at her old stomping grounds of the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood. As Jesca has been a resident of Manchester for awhile now, a sighting of her in the states has become a rarer one - on this outing, she was here for SXSW besides this Los Angeles stop. And what a show it was - along with a selection of songs that spanning her catalog (including the newbie "Songs of Old"), if you've been dying to hear Jesca utter "fuck da police," your wish has been granted. Guests that joined Jesca onstage were longtime collaborator Nicole Eva Emery on backing vocals, and Blake Mills on guitar for "The House That Jack Built." Full setlist below:



Murder of Birds                      
"Cop Story"                          
Whispering Light                      
"Northern California Story"          
Born To                              
Hospital (Win Your Love)              
The House That Jack Built            
Seed of Wonder                        
Four Dreams                          
Songs of Old
Hunting My Dress

Full show can be downloaded or streamed here.

Jesca Hoop 8/11/12 - Zoey's Cafe, Ventura, CA.

(Photo taken by blogger via Instagram)

It's been a long time since we last wrote about Jesca Hoop - well, January 2011 as a matter of fact. In the ensuing time, Ms. Hoop released her third full-length album The House That Jack Built back in June, and is currently finishing up a mostly West Coast-area tour to promote it. Tonight's stop at Zoey's Cafe in Ventura was a very intimate one with a crowd of approx 30-40 seated people, and highly reminiscent of her Hotel Cafe shows of yesteryear. While her current tour does feature a band, tonight's show only consisted of Jesca on guitar, with Leslie Stevens (of L.A.-favorites Leslie and the Badgers) providing background vocals on most of the songs performed. As one of Ms. Hoop's mentors Tom Waits has said in the past, "her music is like going swimming in a lake at night," and with this show we are inclined to agree. Setlist below:

D.N.R (song incomplete, fades-in due to battery swap)

Whispering Light                          
"Banter"                                  
Murder of Birds                          
Hospital (Win Your Love)                  
The Kingdom                              
"Storytime"                              
Born To                                  
Dig This Record                          
"Banter"                                
The House That Jack Built              
Tulip                                  
"Banter/Improv song"                    
Peacemaker                              
"Banter"                                
Hunting My Dress

Stream or download the full show here.

Jesca Hoop 1/12/11 - The Hotel Cafe, Hollywood CA.

(Photo: Jeff Koga)

Last week, Jesca Hoop made a now-rare appearance at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood. Before moving to Manchester (U.K.), it used to be possible to see her on a fairly regular basis at places such as the Hotel Cafe - now, while they are less frequent, that only serves to make them more special. Granted, it's been awhile since we have posted about Ms. Hoop on here (we covered her entire "farewell" April 2009 residency at the same venue), so it was a bit of a momentous occasion.

Backed by a full band, the setlist leaned heavily towards her second LP Hunting My Dress (released last year in the U.S.), with a couple of songs from the first one Kismet. The audience was also treated to a preview of some new material - two songs ("The House That Jack Built" and "Born To") were performed for the first time ever; although, it's not clear whether the latter song is meant to be a homage (or have a connection to) the similarly-named Mother Goose rhyme "This Is the House Jack Built." Additionally, we also heard a newer song "Food At Your House," with Ms. Hoop's long-time friends and collaborators The Ditty Bops.

For all Jesca Hoop fans, this show is a must-have.

To download, right click and save as.

1.) Murder Of Birds FLAC MP3
2.) Whispering Light FLAC MP3
3.) Four Dreams FLAC MP3
4.) Feast of the Heart FLAC MP3
5.) Seed Of Wonder FLAC MP3
6.) The House That Jack Built FLAC MP3
7.) Born To FLAC MP3
8.) Food At Your House FLAC MP3
9.) Money FLAC MP3
10.) Angel Mom FLAC MP3
11.) Hunting My Dress FLAC MP3
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Stream the whole show here.

The Finches 1/25/07 - Safari Sam's, Hollywood, CA.

(Photo by Jeff Koga)

From the archives.

Awhile back, The Finches opened (along with Winter Flowers) for Lavender Diamond (fronted by Becky Stark, who is currently a part of The Living Sisters) at the now-departed and often-troubled Hollywood venue Safari Sam's. This Finches show was an older duo incarnation of the band with Aaron Morgan(who's founder/main member is Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs). The Finches have undergone changes in their member line-up since then (and even briefly changed their name to PALMS), so this performance serves as an earlier example of the band.

We first heard of The Finches a few months prior in October at the 2006 Eagle Rock Music Festival. They were on the bill before perennial blog favorite Jesca Hoop (if so inclined, that performance can be downloaded here), so we happened to catch them and quite enjoyed their American folk pop-style music. Fortunately enough, we were able to catch them at this Safari Sam's show a few months later, which was also a good performance. We hope to eventually see them again in the near future.

1.) Introduction MP3
2.) Human Like A House MP3
3.) Nightswimming, AR MP3
4.) The House Under The Hill MP3
5.) Step Outside MP3
6.) Oh L.A. MP3
7.) Daniel's Song MP3
8.) Leviation's Home MP3
9.) Last Favor MP3
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FLAC (lossless) files available upon request.

Leslie and the Badgers 10/03/09 - 11th Annual Eagle Rock Music Festival - Emerging Stage, Los Angeles, CA.

(Photo by Eric Meacham)

Last Saturday, Leslie and the Badgers performed at the 11th Annual Eagle Rock Music Festival. Held the first Saturday of every October along a stretch of Colorado Blvd. in the Eagle Rock neighborhood, I consider it to be one of L.A.'s finest (and free no less!) annual music festivals. Or as the blog Web In Front put it "it was impossible not to compare the Eagle Rock Music Festival to something like the Sunset Junction Street Fair, and equally impossible not to note how much more relaxed, orderly, organized and entirely enjoyable the ERMF was by comparison. It was a music festival that was free to the public, featured a kaleidoscopic array of local bands on 15 stages (with sets that began on-time [imagine that]), wasn’t swelteringly hot, and played host to a bevy of local merchants and food vendors (as well as the beloved Oinkster)–the ERMF epitomized the eclectic neighborhood vibe of its surroundings with class and style." (and yes, I went to the 1st day of Sunset Junction this year - it was not a positive experience by any means)

Ironically enough, I first heard of Leslie and the Badgers at the 9th Annual Eagle Rock Music Festival in 2007, when they were on the line-up that was booked into the Women's 20th Century Club. (and even more ironically, this is the venue Jesca Hoop played at during the 2006 festival, which was the first one I attended) I didn't see them play that year, but since then have seen the band's name pop up in a variety of places, from numerous blogs to numerous concert listings. When I first noticed that Leslie and the Badgers were going to be playing at the festival again this year, amidst friend's recommendations, I made it a point to go see them play.

Their 35-minute set was a good one, culling from material on their newly-released Roomful Of Smoke. Definite highlight would be "My Tears Are Wasted On You" Also, for all those Jesca Hoop fans out there (who I mentioned previously) her back-up singer Nicole Eva Emery also does backing vocals for Leslie and the Badgers (and it was announced at the show that she appears on Bob Dylan's soon-to-be-released Christmas album)

1.) Introduction FLAC MP3
2.) My Tears Are Wasted On You FLAC MP3
3.) Winter Fugue FLAC MP3
4.) The Torture FLAC MP3
5.) Americans In Rome FLAC MP3
6.) It's Okay To Trip FLAC MP3
7.) Salvation FLAC MP3
8.) Don Juan FLAC MP3
9.) Roomful Of Smoke FLAC MP3
10.) That'd Be Fine FLAC MP3
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Tristan Prettyman 4/01/09 - The Hotel Cafe, Hollywood, CA.

(Photo by Jeff Koga)

Last April, Tristan Prettyman played a month-long residency at The Hotel Cafe. On the first night of the month, she happened to share the evening with another person with an April residency, Jesca Hoop. I had known about Tristan Prettyman for some time, and not having seen a show of her's in a few years, I found this be a convenient line-up.

I first heard of Tristan Prettyman sometime back in 2003 through Jason Mraz, who I followed extensively at the time. It wasn't until early 2004 that I got a chance to see her live, as an opener at the Sunset Strip House of Blues. I also saw her again later that year in San Diego at the second (now-shuttered) incarnation of Java's Joe's Pub. In 2005, I caught a couple more performances of hers. One was in January, opening for Jason Mraz at the Ventura Theatre (which would be the last time I ever saw one of his shows) The next one was at The Hotel Cafe, which served as a L.A.-area release party for her full-length debut t w e n t y t h r e e. So, yes, obviously a long time has passed since that last show and this one from earlier this year.

The setlist was short, but good. Tristan had recently released her second full-length Hello...x and mostly performed songs from that - which I didn't really recognize because I've only heard one song off the new album. The only one I did recognize was "Love, Love, Love," but of course that's because it's an older tune, and from the first album.

To download, right-click and save as.

1.)Echo FLAC MP3
2.)Hello FLAC MP3
3.)Just In Case FLAC MP3
4.)Hummingbirds FLAC MP3
5.)In Bloom FLAC MP3
6.)Blindfold FLAC MP3
7.)Love, Love, Love FLAC MP3
8.)War Out Of Peace FLAC MP3

Stream the whole show here.

Jesca Hoop 4/29/09 - The Hotel Cafe, Hollywood, CA.

(Photo by Jeff Koga)

Tonight's show marked Jesca Hoop's final night of her April residency, and the final show in L.A. before she moves to Manchester, U.K. It was quite the extravaganza, featuring several people Jesca has performed with in town over the years, and a longer-than-usual set.

A good mix of older material from Kismet and newer songs from the next album were showcased. It was definitely interesting hearing "Hunting My Dress" and "Tulip" with a full band in contrast to the more stripped-down versions played at previous shows. She closed with an seemingly haunting version of "Love and Love Again" (well, given the theme of the show at hand), and with the audience not giving up and wanting more, for an encore did the solo a cappella "Storm."

As an ode to Jesca's friendship and history of performing with The Ditty Bops, Amanda Barrett and Abby DeWald joined her on stage for two songs, "Baby Boy" and a Boswell Sisters cover "Crazy People." The former was a staple that Jesca and The Ditty Bops performed a cappella at each others shows in the past. Both were good, but it would have been also nice to hear the other standards they did "Big Fish" and/or "Fix-It Man," but I'm not complaining.

However, Jesca may not be gone for long. Live Nation and Last.fm show that she will be back in town on July 22nd to open for Elbow at The Wiltern.

To download, right click and save as:

1.) KCRW Intro FLAC MP3
2.) Summertime FLAC MP3
3.) My Boo FLAC MP3
4.) Intelligentactile 101 FLAC MP3
5.) Seed Of Wonder FLAC MP3
6.) Baby Boy FLAC MP3
7.) Whispering Light FLAC MP3
8.) Hunting My Dress FLAC MP3
9.) 4 Dreams FLAC MP3
10.) Money FLAC MP3
11.) Crazy People FLAC MP3
12.) Enemy FLAC MP3
13.) Tulip FLAC MP3
14.) The Kingdom FLAC MP3
15.) Angel Mom FLAC MP3
16.) Love and Love Again FLAC MP3
17.) E: Storm FLAC MP3
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Jesca Hoop 4/16/09 - The Hotel Cafe, Hollywood, CA.

The third in series of four "farewell" April residency shows at The Hotel Cafe. Line-up was the same as the one on April 1st, except for the addition of Joe Karnes on bass, which added an extra layer to the proceedings. Setlist wasn't much different than from the previous shows, with the exception of one new song that I didn't recognize that Ms. Hoop played solo. Plus, we did find out the title of one of the newer songs, "Four Dreams."

As of this writing, the final show is this Wednesday, and promises to be quite a big one. It has been promised that there will be a stage full of accompanying players (including Amanda Barrett and Abby DeWald of The Ditty Bops)and a longer set time of 90 minutes (her shows usually don't run as long) Should be a good one.

As always, you can find more Jesca Hoop shows here.

To download, right-click and save-as:

1.)Whispering Light FLAC MP3
2.)My Boo FLAC MP3
3.)Intelligentactile 101 FLAC MP3
4.)Four Dreams FLAC MP3
5.)Money FLAC MP3
6.)Seed Of Wonder FLAC MP3
7.)Murder Of Birds FLAC MP3
8.)New Song FLAC MP3
9.)New Song FLAC MP3
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Jesca Hoop 4/09/09 - The Hotel Cafe, Hollywood, CA.

(Photos by Eric Meacham)

The second of four "farewell" April residency shows at The Hotel Cafe. As previously noted, Jesca Hoop is performing these shows as sort of a "goodbye" to Los Angeles before she moves to Manchester, England; and as a retrospective of her career of sorts.

The latter was well in evidence this night; as well as having Blake Mills accompany on guitar, Sasha Smith played piano on a couple of songs as well. I remember him playing shows with her a lot back in 2006/2007 (and part of 2005 as well), so it was a bit of a trip down memory lane so to speak.

The setlist was a bit of a varied one - some old, some new, and some newer. The aforementioned songs with Sasha Smith ("City Bird" and "Song For Ember") were a couple of never-released older tunes; the latter giving a nod to Jesca's ties to the city of Los Angeles. "Whispering Light" and "Murder Of Birds" are of a newer era, and according to Jesca may be on a future album. Oddly enough, only one song from Kismet was played ("Love and Love Again").

However, it's the more recent material that I found somewhat surprising. These songs (currently not sure of titles) almost suggest that Ms. Hoop may be heading for an "alternative rock" sort of sound - especially with "For/Four Dreams" (need to confirm title), which starts with "Come and bring your stereo". While these songs were played acoustically, you could definitely hear the rock edge peaking out.

As of press time, there is only one show left before she leaves the U.S., so if you're reading this - go.

As always, more Jesca Hoop shows can be found here.

To download, right click and save as.

1.)Whispering Light FLAC MP3
2.)My Boo FLAC MP3
3.)Murder Of Birds FLAC MP3
4.)Four Dreams FLAC MP3
5.)Song For Ember FLAC MP3
6.)City Bird FLAC MP3
7.)"New Song" FLAC MP3
8.)"New Song" FLAC MP3
9.)Love and Love Again FLAC MP3
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Jesca Hoop 4/01/09 - The Hotel Cafe, Hollywood, CA.

(Photo by Jeff Koga)

I was first introduced to (and basically first heard of) Jesca Hoop in early 2005, when The Ditty Bops opened for her at the now-shuttered Tangier's Restaurant. (which can be found here) I found it to be a good show, but I will admit it took me awhile to really "warm up" to her music (even though I continued to attend some of her shows)

I had not seen/recorded Jesca since July 2007 (when she opened for The Ditty Bops at The Fonda) Well, that's not technically true - I tried to see and record her at the Earth Day Festival in Topanga Canyon last year, but experienced battery failure. Anyway, when I heard Jesca was moving to Manchester, and that her four April residency shows at The Hotel Cafe may be her last in the U.S. for awhile, I knew I had to go.

For this show, Jesca was accompanied by Blake Mills on guitar (I know he's been performing with her for awhile, but this my first time seeing him with her) and Nicole Eva Emery on back-up vocals (also has been performing with her for some time, but again, I hadn't seen her with Jesca) I've seen Ms. Hoop in a variety of incarnations, from solo to full band to with just Sasha Smith on piano to with just The Ditty Bops on back-up vocals, and I've never been able to pick a favorite - they're all good in their own way.

This nights set focused a lot of Jesca's 2007 full-length debut album Kismet, with a couple of a newer songs "Murder Of Birds" and "My Boo," along with older, yet-unreleased "Whispering Light" For this entire residency, Ms. Hoop has promised to try to showcase "five years worth of material/performing in Los Angeles," so it will be interesting to see (as of press time) what the remaining shows bring.

For more Jesca Hoop live recordings, go here

To download, right-click and save-as.

1.)Murder Of Birds FLAC MP3
2.)My Boo FLAC MP3
3.)Intelligentactile 101 FLAC MP3
4.)Dreams In The Hollow FLAC MP3
5.)Summertime FLAC MP3
6.)Money FLAC MP3
7.)Enemy FLAC MP3
8.)Whispering Light FLAC MP3
9.)Seed Of Wonder FLAC MP3
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Artichoke Heart Souffle 3/07/09 - Synchronicity, Los Angeles, CA.

Artichoke Heart Souffle is another one of those bands I heard about in a roundabout way. Back in 2006, they were playing on a bill with Jesca Hoop at The Hotel Cafe (more about her in the future), and I thought that was an interesting name for a band. Unfortunately, I didn't make the show, but the name stuck and I made a mental note to check out their music later.

However, that ended up being quite awhile later - about 2 years later to be exact. Part of the reason it took so for me to see them was because they are (or were, not sure about this) based in Orange Country, and mostly played in that area. In the past, I've driven the long distances for concerts, but these days I've been finding it difficult to do so (fluctuating gas prices have also had an effect on this)

Anyway, I did finally see Artichoke Heart Souffle live last November at the New Image Art Gallery out here. Twas a good show, but due to the semantics of the venue I choose not to record that night. I did pick up their two releases (their self-titled debut and the more-recently released "Who You Know") and have been listening ever since.

Now we come to this recent show, which turned out to be someone's birthday party. Artichoke Heart Souffle were part of the line-up that included LA-based The Chapin Sisters . They played a good set of older and newer material, with covers of the Spice Girl's "Wannabe" (also on the debut album) and Whitney Houston's "So Emotional." Indie-folk-rock covers of pop songs almost always equal the awesomeness.

This one turned out pretty well I think, levels may somewhat extreme. (when I do post-mastering, I prefer not to try to "normalize" the music to a uniform level because it's distracts too much from how the show sounded in the first place) The last song of the night was performed unplugged, so it will sound quieter than the others.

1.) Fell In Love At The P.O. MP3
2.) Wannabe (Spice Girls cover) MP3
3.) Doctor MP3
4.) Who You Know MP3
5.) So Emotional (Whitney Houston cover) MP3
6.) The Coast MP3
7.) Icing On The Cake MP3
8.) Tarantula Hawk Wasp MP3
9.) Whatever It Takes (false start) MP3
10.) Whatever It Takes MP3
11.) Don't Confuse This MP3
12.) Sunup to Sundown MP3
13.) Love Makes You Soft MP3
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FLAC (loseless) files available upon request (by e-mail)