Little Red Lung - 1/30/12, The Echo, Los Angeles, CA.

(Photo courtesy of Zoe Ruth-Erwin)

Last week, Little Red Lung helped headliners Seasons close out their January Monday night residency at The Echo. We've been meaning to catch Little Red Lung for quite some time, and have been listening to their music as of late (available to stream or download here), so we were happy to see them share a bill with one of our favorites. Little Red Lung is fronted by photographer and musician Zoe Ruth-Erwin, who has worked with bands we have featured before such as Death to Anders and One Trick Pony.

Little Red Lung has been described as "a seductive witchery of waltzes that would incite even the most devout crossbearer to do the devil dance" (La-Underground), which is high praise indeed. Buzzbands LA has also described them as an "inviting hybrid of chamber-pop and folktronica as well. We would also like to add that we did find their sound in this set quite eternal and melodically bewitching, which should be evident to the listener.

Little Red Lung's debut E.P. will be released in late March. In the meantime, locally they are performing at Home Room February 10th, and for our readers in Northern California, they will be embarking on a mini-tour in the region next month (March 10th in Merced at The Partisan, March 11th in San Francisco at The Hotel Utah Saloon, March 13th in San Francisco at the Brick & Mortar Music Hall, and March 14th in Oakland at The New Parish)

Full show download here.

Setlist:

50 Fingers
Porcupine Sheet
Bad Blood
Into a Landfill
Fangs
Ink Blot
Little Drop Of Poison (Tom Waits)
Dead Weight
Get on the Boat

FLAC files available by request.

Little Red Lung - Little Drop Of Poison (Tom Waits cover, live 1-30-12) by recordingla

Seasons 1/30/12 - The Echo, Los Angeles, CA.

(Photo: Seasons facebook)

A few days ago, Feed Your Head presented the final night of Seasons's Monday night January residency at The Echo. And what a night it was - joined by guest including a trombone player and string section, it was a fitting cap to that month's succession of performances - previous shows had the band performing each night one of their "season" (see what I did there) titled E.P.s in their entirety. (the fourth in the series, "Autumn," was release January 2nd) We have been supporters of Seasons for quite some time, and it's been far too long since we last saw them.

Taking a festively decorated stage that included microphone stands wrapped in calla lilies, colored lights, a cardboard sun (that ended up in the audience towards the end of the set) and a festooned pumpkin near the foot of, Seasons played a set that was a sampling of their four aforementioned albums. The addition of the guest musicians added an extra layer and texture that was almost hypnotizing - particularly the calypso sounding "Number Of The Beat." For fans old and new, this recording is a must-listen.

Full show download here.
(FLAC files available by request.)

"Introduction"
Of Our Discontent
Number Of The Beat
Open Your Eyes
India
Monday Night
Real Dreams
The Sea
E: ???

Songs 1-6 featured the Josh on trombone, and Morgan, Corinne and Karen as the string section.

Seasons - Open Your Eyes (live, 1-30-12) by recordingla

Manhattan Murder Mystery 12/26/11 - The Satellite, Los Angeles, CA.

(Photo: Last.fm)

Last month Manhattan Murder Mystery held the Monday night residency slot at The Satellite, a fitting bookend to what ended up being a banner year for the band (which included the release of full-length self-titled album and the E.P. Woman House)It's been awhile since we last featured Manhattan Murder Mystery (okay, a lot longer than awhile), but we'll try to make up for that right now.

This show was a good cap to end their December run at The Satellite, performing selections from the aforementioned Woman House E.P. to the always crowd-pleasing "Parking Lot" Good times all around.

Recorded by Mark P.

Edit 1/06 - Thanks to Zach for filling in on a couple of song titles.

Full show download here.
(FLAC files available by request)

1 - Introduction
2 - Stadium Way
3 - Sancho
4 - City Hall
5 - ???
6 - Ambulance
7 - Christmas Day
8 - Owen Hart
9 - Parking Lot

Manhattan Murder Mystery - Stadium Way (live, 12-26-11) by recordingla

The Henry Clay People NYE Extravanganza 12/31/11 - The Satellite, Los Angeles, CA.

(Photo: The Henry Clay People facebook)

To say that the 3rd annual Henry Clay People NYE concert (after an absence last year) at The Satellite/ex-Spaceland was an extravaganza might be considered an understatement, especially to those of us who were there. It was quite a show for old and new fans of the band (for this reporter it was their second, after seeing them at the Hammer Museum last July), which culminated in almost two hours of music almost evenly split into new material and the band's greatest hits, and the second half devoted to self-proclaimed "shitty covers" (which were quite the opposite actually)

Before the clock struck midnight, the band ripped through a collection of tunes that were mostly new (a standout was the newbie "Every Band We Ever Loved Is Selling Out and Breaking Up" - a mischievous commentary on some of the happenings in the music world over the past year?), with songs from previous albums sprinkled in. It seemed like all bets were off after ringing in the new though, when the cover set commenced - as noted bellow, the selection ran the gamut from The Beatle's I Saw Her Standing There" to Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" to Prince's "When Doves Cry" - quite a selection indeed. Many of the guests that came onstage during the included Manhattan Murder Mystery's Matthew Teardrop (who sang on a couple of songs that included Dead Kennedy's "California Uber Alles") and a surreal cameo from The Undertone's Paul McLoone on his band's hit "Teenage Kicks" (sadly, Johnny Rotten was not in the house to assist on the Sex Pistol's "Holiday in the Sun")

I did the best I could on the setlist, please let me know if you have any corrections, thanks.

Edit 6/20/12 - we've got most of the setlist identified now, thanks Angelle and Joe!

Full show download here. (link updated 6/19/12)
(FLAC files available by request)

1.) The Honey Love He Sells
2.) The Fakers and the Fakes
3.) Andy Sings
4.) Two By Two
5.) Slow Burn
6.) Hide
7.) Every Band We Ever Loved Is Selling Out and Breaking Up
8.) Those Who Know Better
9.) California Wildfire
10.) Switch Kids
11.) This Ain't A Scene
12.) Fine Print
13.) "NYE Countdown"
14.) Working Part Time
15.) Something In the Water
16.) I Saw Her Standing There (The Beatles)
17.) Summer Of '69 (Bryan Adams)
18.) Teenage Kicks (The Undertones)
19.) Holidays In the Sun (Sex Pistols)
20.) California Uber Alles (Dead Kennedys)
21.) I Think We're Alone Now (Tommy James & the Shondells/Tiffany)
22.) Ruby Soho (Rancid)
23.) It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)(R.E.M.)
24.) Disco 2000 (Pulp)
25.) Just Like Heaven (The Cure)
26.) When Doves Cry (Prince)
27.) Basket Case (Green Day)
28.) Don't Stop Believin (Journey)
29.) E: Born To Run) (Bruce Springsteen)

The Henry Clay People - I Saw Her Standing There (The Beatles) by recordingla


The Henry Clay People - Just Like Heaven (The Cure) by recordingla

Reflecting on 2011: Year in Review

So, as many of you are aware and are still following this blog, this year's "year in review" will be a bit truncated due to my life "off-line" getting quite busy this past few months. However, there were some notable highlights from this past year, and hopefully there will be more to come in 2012.

Back in January, we were fortunate to attend The Monolators residency at the now-departed LaBrie's lounge in Glendale, recording nights one, two, and four. It ended up being a memorable series of shows.

In February, we caught an interesting Sara Lov show at the Bootleg Theatre that served as a release party for her latest release I Already Love You, a album of covers. Also that month, we put up the second half of C-Horse's residency at Casey's Irish Bar - a band who was a new discovery for Recording L.A.

May brought us our great presentation of the third night of the Seasons residency at Casey's Irish Bar. (with Odd Modern) This month also saw the return of Agent Ribbons to Los Angeles, with tour stops at Bardot and Origami Vinyl, playing very good back-to-back shows. (rumor has it they will be returning to our fair city next spring, so keep your eyes peeled for that)

In June, we caught the second night of C-Horse's residency at the Redwood Bar & Grill, which featured a strong line-up that included Ema and Her Lady Parts(full band effort from Ema and Her Ghosts) and The Damselles and the TC4. June also brought us the intense and memorable tribute to the The Movies, which featured several area bands and musicians paying tribute to the now-disbanded band in the form of covers of their most well-known songs.

Finally, in July we caught The Henry Clay People (which was a long time in the making) at the closing night of the Hammer Museum's yearly "Also I Like To Rock" series. Tomorrow night, they hold their semi-annual (after skipping last year) NYE show at The Satellite, and it promises to be a fun time.

And that's all for now, folks. Stay tuned for next year, where I will try to post more often, pending other obligations. First order of business though, is a Facebook page, which has been long overdue on my end.