Happy post Valentine's Day & Presidents day. It was an interesting weekend. On Friday, Valentines Day, I took a 1/2 day so I could beat LA traffic and see Bat For Lashes at the Ace hotel. What I didn't know was that it was gonna be a rough journey. I had to stop and get a new IPhone as my previous 6s screen shattered and it no longer wanted to charge (and yes I did lint cleanout and still no charging action) On the way down my battery on my new iPhone went down to 67% and am now convinced I have a busted battery on my new phone so I have to deal with this fiasco later this week. While in stop and go traffic on the 405 someone decided to give me love tap on the highway. It sounded and felt way worse, no scratches, no damage so I high fived the white grandma that decided to greet my rear bumper and drove off to meet my hommie. I had an extra Bat for Lashes ticket and after 2 attempts to get someone to go with me and them flaking out I decided to give my ticket to my friends date's girlfriend who was meeting us up at the show. We parked, I copped my pair at the door (thanks for the hook up, you know who you are) and left my future plus 1 ticket in her name. We are in the venue and my friends date asked me to look over to snap a pic of my mug. Apparently that was the deciding factor for my plus 1 to come to the show, she did not which did hit the ego a little bit. Then the show started, Bat for Lashes was incredible. Instead of Natasha Khan bringing out the whole band she elected to make this hometown show much more intimate by only bringing on 1 person and proceeded to do a storyteller type show. The setlist was much shorter BUT before every song she gave a little story behind the song. She did one of my favorite songs, "Close Encounters" and I had no idea that this song was about alien abductions. It's moments like these where you learn the genesis of songs that make these types of moments infinitely memorable. It was kinda awkward sitting alone at a packed show all about love and making out but the realization that I'm dating myself solidified throughout this Valentine's Day set. Too bad for my non-existent plus one. We maneuvered for some late nights sustenance at Bestia where my friend and his date tried their best not to make me feel like a 3rd wheel. A few pink mezcal drink and some gold rushes later we headed to a late night warehouse party where Seth Troxler was spinning.
—Side note. My friend came across a pair to see Four tet & Jamie XX do a back2back set but those tickets fell through when the provider got a much better monetary offer. —
If I was Seth Troxler I would have been pissed. We get to the warehouse at 1am-ish. It's ultra cold for LA and we are outside way to long. For some reason (I still do not know) but the line was ridiculous. We finally get in and my goodness this was a terrible layout. Clearly overpacked/oversold the space was WAY TOO SMALL, as well as the entrances. Whoever did the layout clearly has no sense of direction. The dance space was terrible and they set up the monitor speakers in the back of the crowd?!?!?! I have never seen that and I hope that I will never see that again. We left within an hour.
Moral of the story, humans beings can be terrible and you are allowed to leave dumb shit.
This past long weekend also brought us a brand new New Noize. This Sunday had a number of deep dives on some full length records including the record we have been waiting for 74 years, the new Tame Impala record. I thought this record was gonna truly suck as Kevin Parker already release a good 4/5 tracks which were all bangers. Usually when this happens the album release is filled with just filler to support the already released tracks. To my relief I WAS TOTALLY WRONG. The Slow Rush is long record and every song is fantastic. The album is meant to be played cover to cover and you should stop everything and get down on this. The Lee Ranaldo & Raül Refree colab record is a great experience if you are looking for some post Sonic Youth goodness with a twist. The new Rejoicer record, Spiritual Sleaze, is solid if you like amazing producers doing what they do best. The Texas Sun colab EP by Khruangbin & Leon Bridges is not fair! It's 4 tracks that leave you wanting more, so please Khruangbin & Leon Bridges if you are reading this I implore you to make a full length and go on tour once more.
