Demand Health Care Reform Now!
Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration Bldg. - Los Angeles, CA
9/4/09
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Join one of the many health care rallies across the country and send Congress back to Washington, D.C. with the message of reform ringing in their ears. Young people — who have the most to gain from the success of reform and the most to lose from failure — are standing up and being seen in support of fixing a system that has left us uninsured, discriminated against, and broke.  →

“Brothers in Arms” Exhibition
Carmichael Gallery – West Hollywood, CA
9/10/09
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Carmichael Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of all new Hollywood-themed paintings, video and photography by British artist collective The London Police. Internationally recognized for their artwork, toy design and street interventions, this is their first solo show with Carmichael Gallery.

“Brothers in Arms” is a celebration of The London Police’s ten year anniversary. The show features works on canvases, a photographic montage, a site-specific installation and a short film documenting the artists’ creative process. →

HEALTH
Lovepump United
(2009)
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A few weeks ago, my friend Jon got really sick and was lying in bed trying to get some rest. Being an obnoxious friend and inconsiderate roommate, I put on Get Color in the living room with the bass up high (it’s the only way to listen to HEALTH). “Uh, dude, that’s probably not the best music to play right now,” said my other roommate who had been nursing Jon’s semi-conscious state. I’m not sure what exactly counts as “sick” music. Classical, baroque, jazz, easy listening, silence? Whatever the case, I told him, with no pun intended, that HEALTH is what Jon needed to get his white blood cells pumped up (if white blood cells had ears and a predilection toward music), that the sound of ass-kicking and metal-ripping would knock the sick out of him. →

La Boum with Devandra Banhart + Nick Valensi
Bardot – Hollywood, CA
9/2/09
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Tonight, La Boum is very happy to announce the DJ pairing of their good friends, Devendra Banhart and Nick Valensi of (The Strokes) and it’s surely going to be quite the set!  The night will also be presented by host, AJ English and BJ Panda Bear.  Introducing guest DJ’s Devendra Banhart and Nick Valensi (of The Strokes.)  With resident DJs and co-hosts: Myles Hendrik and Ana Calderon.  →

As much as it tries, America will never be a thin country. Despite Americans’ appreciation for the Food Network and Travel Channel, I sometimes suspect that oftentimes the enjoyment of healthy, home-cooked foods ends after flipping the channel or turning off the T.V. I’m not going to lie. As a kid, I used to indulge in the Double Western Bacon Cheeseburger, a Carl’s Jr. (or Hardee’s for those of you to the East) monster of a burger with two beef patties, onion rings, cheese, bacon slices and BBQ sauce. Considering those ingredients, they don’t seem all that bad when you compare them with what the mad scientists at KFC have come up with next. →

Ilad
Syjip
(2009)
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If the music of Ilad can be reduced to the label of “art rock,” the band can be credited with making use of a variety of paints and textures that amount to highly listenable pastiche. Stick to the first half of the record, and you’ve got a worthwhile collection of genre-mashing renditions with a psychedelic bent. The psychedelic bossa nova of “TV Sutra” isn’t as contrived as it sounds. →

Georgia Anne Muldrow
SomeOthaShip/E1 Music
(2009)
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Georgia Anne Muldrow sings, raps, plays her own instruments, produces her own beats and writes her own lyrics. What’s even better is that she accomplishes all of it with style and grace. Her latest record Umsindo is not only a demonstration of her prodigious talents — it clocks in at 24 tracks and 70 minutes — but also medicine for the mind and soul. →

Photo by Joseph Cole of SIFF, licensed under Creative Commons

Silent Movie Theater – Los Angeles, CA
Live Review: 8/30/09
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This past Sunday night, I managed to get into the No Age performance at the Silent Movie Theater on Fairfax. The above image is a shot taken of Dean Spunt at the Seattle International Film Festival, where No Age debuted their live score for Jean-Jacques Annaud’s 1988 film The Bear. Tickets sold out by early evening, so my friends and I hightailed it through the 5 Freeway to get on the waiting list just in time. The folks at the Cinefamily were kind enough to let us in, and luckily there were a few empty seats left over. →

The Polyamorous Affair
Manimal Vinyl
(2009)
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There’s so many ways you can dress up music, especially when the songs by themselves don’t carry enough weight. The Polyamorous Affair seem to be well-aware of this fact, as they sing in one of their “bolshevik disco” songs, “Push your fashion to the limit.” The lyrics here make an accurate point about the role of appearances. Relying on soviet-era costumes and gimmickry, the Los Angeles duo plays contemporary electro with a vaguely soviet feel — the beats sound like the drums of a military propaganda song and the vocals like the soulless chorus of a party-line automaton. →