A week ago, San Francisco treated us to a lovely weekend of music for Outside Lands 2010. This year though, I was blessed by Big Hassle PR’s Chris V. We got to bring the Canon to jump in the photo pits to make the visuals coincide with the verbiage. The entire weekend was great, but there were a few stand-out acts I want to share with you. Join us won’t you?

My buddy Kurt used to talk at length about the live show of Gogol Bordello, and I’m sad that I didn’t take his word for it before. This band of energetic gypsy travelers got me and the entire Land’s End crowd up and dancing early on in the weekend. Lead singer Eugene Hutz has a new place in my musical heart, with his passion for the gypsy culture emanating at every guitar strum. Gogol Bordello is something that is so off the walls, yet so familiar to our very nature. I think that’s why the band can make it so easy to get along with them. Rumor has it they played music for friends and onlookers backstage even after their set was over. True musicians.

Janelle Monae was one of the main reasons I made the 800 mile trek to the foggy city. At only 24, her list of achievements is quite impressive. Already joined by industry heavyweights Big Boi (on her single Tightrope) and being signed by Diddy, she’s just getting the party started. Her dramatic theatre training plays out perfectly on the main stage, becoming something more than just a simple musical. The android made us all dance to the notes of yesteryear, with her band being just as excited as we all were. Above being an amazing singer and dancer, this girl has a flawless look, which you’ll see in the pictures I took. The only bad part of her set was its length, as the band had travel delays that threw us all off a little.

The living legend Al Green was probably the most fun I’ve had as a concert photographer yet. He was so greatful to be in our world, and the feeling was reciprocated accordingly. He hasn’t lost his sex appeal, as the girls were moments away from throwing naughty articles of clothing in return for the roses he threw out. Reciprocation squared. He played all his greats, and even paid tribute to those before him who helped him along the way (Marvin Gaye and the Four Tops to name a couple). His band really brought the noise, and I had the chance to give em dap backstage after their set.

Paramount to the weekend though, was the discovery of Empire of the Sun. As I had already seen Kings of Leon recently, I followed the wise words of beautiful Cascade Wilhelm (a bay area photographer), and hit the Twin Peaks stage with camera ready. I had never heard of the band, but apparently they had done four sold out shows in Los Angeles just before Outside Lands. Their stage show is something to admire, with frontman Luke Steele living up to his superhero name. Dancers in wild costumes, pumping bass, and videos of starships sailing across interstellar seas flew past, with a crowd screaming “DON’T WANT TO TALK! ALL I HEARD IS NOISE!”  made me wish I was a diehard fan prior to the show.

It was the perfect way to round out the weekend, and give us enough energy to carry us back home to Los Angeles. We look forward to being a part of the festivities next year, and we hope you do the same.

I leave you with the gallery of the festival below!

Until next time my friends,

~Flak

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Last weekend, a few of the BTH crew and I were lucky enough to attend a show of drumming prodigy Thomas Pridgen’s new band, The Memorials. After his recent leave from The Mars Volta, Thomas returned home to get into something a little different with friends and former music school colleagues Viveca Hawkins and Nick Brewer. Joining the principal band members were Brad Ackley on guitar, Uriah Duffy on bass, and Randy Emata on the keys (although they’ve played with one other keyboardist).

I spoke with Uriah and Nick briefly before the show, and judging from their humble and friendly personalities, it was easy to tell we were in for a good show. As far as what kind of sound you can expect from the band? Imagine a sultry R&B singer with a sailors tongue, a shred dreaded guitarist, and Animal brought to life, with a wild team behind them.

I’m happy to say that I haven’t quite heard a sound like The Memorials before, especially with a frontwoman like Viveca. Their intro was bone crushing, with deafening bass being my favorite feeling of the night (couldn’t hear anything for days afterword). But the best part of the night by far was the band breaking out their hot single, West Coast. If you haven’t checked it out, I’ll leave you with the video and some pictures from the show to hold you over until November when the album drops.

Lead singer of Incubus, Brandon Boyd has been busy. Simply put, Brandon is one of the most interesting and talented lyricists in the game. From the sunny hillsides of the community college in my hometown Moorpark, to sold out shows on the shores of Dubai, he has remained an inspiration not for just my musical creativity, but challenge of literature as well. He has come a long way, and has recently released a solo album that he says is “music for the sake of making music”.

I’ve taken the last week to really think about how The Wild Trapeze can be defined. This album is very organic, intelligent, and holds a certain tinge of strange creativity that Brandon Boyd is known for. I’ve come to think that this album is what happens when you ask Brandon Boyd to score an old Wild West film, with a world music, spiritual perspective. I’ve had the honor of meeting and hanging out with Brandon at the TOMS Shoes collaboration party that he did last year, and just by our little converstation, you can tell where his head is creatively.

Upon the first few listen throughs, I noticed that heavy echoing bass kicks were prevalent throughout the album. Also, strumming an acoustic guitar is a must have staple for Brandon. It’s a little strange not hearing Mike shred away on his guitar along to Brandon’s voice, but it really does still work.

The album is chock full of goodness, but I’m not without a breakdown of my favorites. Let’s discuss.

The oddly timed A Night Without Cars has a catchy guitar throughout and the same can be said about its chorus. Whether or not you believe that Brandon took one singing lesson and learned everything he needed to know, this song was a good one.

Second up was a song that can be easily dedicated to my lady friends who don’t quite have the strength to make it through those tough ones in life. Courage and Control keeps the instrumentals simple, and lets Brandon get to work with that kill chorus:

It’s time to let your hair down
and give yourself permission
it takes courage and control
but you start by letting go

My favorite track was a tie between the 7^th track, Runaway Train and the 9^th track Mirror of Venus. On the former, a great use of channel bouncing (when the sound goes from one speaker/headphone to another) on the guitar, coupled with a beautiful piano and flute combination. The echoing voices, and chorus structure was something to be admired.

On the latter, the drums sounded like Jose was in the room coordinating its production. The strings and xylophone were an excellent touch, giving a little more feeling of an epic feel to the track. Also, the distorted, high treble bass guitar is powerful, but still plays its role in keeping the smooth groove. Lyrically a short song, but a powerful one in regards to make a play on imagery, this rounded out my favorites of the album.

When Brandon Boyd said that his best work with Incubus was ahead of them, I didn’t know how I felt, but this album told me that he still has it in him; and this is the solo album! I look forward to their future work, and recommend this album to Incubus fans, and fans of interesting music in general.

Until next time my friends,

~Flak

This year was the first and possibly last Electric Daisy Carnival for us here at Behind the Hype. Why you ask? Not because it wasn’t incredible, but because of the tragedy of the 15 year old young lady that took a walk on the wild side. Reports are saying that they might not do it again next year.

Personal feelings aside, I think we can all agree that this is one of the most visually impressive music festivals in the world. With a combined total attendance of 185,000 over two days, Electric Daisy Carnival 2010 was the highest attended two day festival in US history.

The two nights took us for a wild ride of lights, bass, and scantily clad women, that shan’t soon be forgotten.

I took my trusty Canon 7D along for the ride, to bring you some of the most impressive pictures I’ve ever had the pleasure of taking. Shout out to MSO for making us feel so welcome as always. Also shout out to my homegirl and amazing writer Aubrey Beck for living it out with us (go get her book, you’ll actually LOL).

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Until next time my friends,

~Flak

For the first time, Behind the Hype is welcoming its first guest writer. Sarah has the fire in her heart to write, and wanted to share her show experience of Matt Pond PA with us from a couple weeks back. Thank you Sarah!

Orange County may have a reputation for trophy wives and Lamborghinis but the area is fast becoming known for its surfacing music, art, and fashion obsession.  Enter Detroit Bar of Costa Mesa, a hip hangout somewhere between a bar, lounge, and intimate music venue.  The scene is famous for featuring rising indie talent.  Detroit Bar certainly scored with Matt Pond PA on June 16^th.

The concert was one of eighteen shows of Matt Pond PA’s tour for The Dark Leaves, released in April.  I have been a fan of Matt Pond PA’s work for some years now as were my accompanying besties, Negien and Cheryl, and my man, Long.

Kicking off the night was Lanterns of San Diego, California.  Their sweet punk tunes and all-star performance had a seductive garage-band flare. Tour-mates Wintersleep, of Canada came on next.  Vocal front man Paul Murphy wooed the audience with his Paul Banks of Interpol-esk voice.  The group’s excellent harmonizing and haunting melody energized the crowd.

The atmosphere in the bar flipped and electrified as Matt Pond PA stepped onto the stage.   Matt’s greeting was informal and to the point – he was going to play some songs, by him.  The first song, “Everything Until the East Coast Ends” from the 2007 EP If You Want Blood softly introduced the bands trademark steady, sorrowful allure.

Matt Pond PA’s songs stood in stark contrast to the opening two bands’ comparatively harsher sounds.  Each song was like a melodic oasis, trickling over the listeners’ ears.

The band’s tunes are infused with wisdoms and humility.  Matt’s humble nature was evident in his nonchalant investigation of an audio issue at the start of the show.  He got down on his hands and knees in search of the problem, despite having the tech crew already on the case.  The songs’ sincere and deep lyrics drive home Matt Pond’s own humbleness.

Chris Hansen’s perfect picking-style was seriously impressive.  Matt would occasionally glance over at Chris, apparently in awe of his fiery guitar skills.  Bassist George Souleidis and drummer Aram Deradoorian anchored every song.   The two were also occasionally the subjects of Matt’s playfulness when he decided to shake and rattle their instruments gleefully.

In the middle of the concert Matt had to defend his green shirt (the Lakers were set to play the Celtics the next night for the 2010 playoff championship).  The singer surprised the audience with his witty reply discussing the unanimous support Lakers fans lend to a certain star player of the team despite his infidel behavior, dubbed by Matt as “the big rapist.”  He then insisted on not bothering much about sports typically, glugged some beer, and explained that he was going to “play some more songs we play”.
The harmonizing between Matt Pond and Leslie Sisson was completely captivating.  Leslie Sisson’s super-rich guitar notes struck deep in each song, particularly in the song “New Hampshire”.  The band performed a treat of songs across a wide array of their albums.

The set list for the gig:

Everything Until the East Coast Ends

The Dark Leaves Theme

From Debris

So Much Trouble (probably their most famous /popular)

KC

Grave’s Disease

Closer

People Have a Way

New Hampshire

Giving it All Away

Brooklyn Stars

Sparrows

Ruins

Wild Girl

Halloween (my personal favorite)
By the end of the performance the fans grew brave and began to fervently shout requests to the surprise of the band members.  Matt even asked how the audience knew of some of the songs. For the encore the band played two of these requests including the upbeat single, Lily Two. It was bliss.

It was such a trip witnessing the members of Matt Pond PA play out their art in person.  Please don’t hesitate to catch this chill band and their fresh, exhilarating sound in concert.

See you there.

-Broke in the OC

Last year at Outside Lands Music Festival up in the bay, I had the pleasure of meeting a lovely lady named Nataly Lola. As fate would have it, she was more than that chick that was hanging with the Portugal. The Man dudes, and was on her separate path of music badassness.

Time passed, and singer/songwriter/guitarist/contortionist Nataly would come to record an album on Harvest Road Music; where she would stage her complete domination of the contemporary adult music world. Her self-titled album just dropped, and I had a plethora of great points to get you hyped before you cop yours.

The first thing I thought when listening to the album was “damn, she’s like a good Jessica Simpson”, and I dare you not to think the same. She hits notes beautifully, holding them without wavering, while strumming away at her guitar. Also, the band is quite polished as well, with some of the most finely clipped notes I’ve heard in quite a while on an album of this caliber.

Theme wise, it’s a love/hate story, but told in a fresh way (albeit not too fresh for hearing on the radio). I think the second track; Meet Me at Midnight could have EASILY been on the Sex in the City 2 soundtrack, with its sultry Middle Eastern instruments to compliment the upbeat sounds. Ever Since and Cryin’ Shame reigned supreme as my favorite tracks instrumentally, while Daddy’s Shotgun was my overall favorite. As you all know, I’m a sucker for bass, and this one had me hooked.

I see big things in the feature of this bombshell, and if things go the same way they did when I called that Letron was gonna blow up, then we’ll be hearing more from Nataly VERY soon.

But don’t take my word for it; go get yourself a copy over at her website!

Until next time my friends,
~Flak

Over the last two and a half decades, we have gone through an astounding range of sounds, subject matter, and drumsticks. From the humble beginnings of the early 90’s and Do You Want More?!!!??!, to the album Phrenology that got me hooked, The Legendary Roots crew has been nothing short of that.

And now here we are, just days after the release of the groups’ eleventh studio album, How I Got Over. Themed as just that, I have tagged this album as the comeback album of the year, if not the last ten. For me personally, I felt like it came along at the perfect time for the hard times that I and millions of other people of all races, religions, and ages are going through. Yeah I know it sounds farfetched, but let’s give credit where it’s due.

The usual crew is here, with the new additions Tuba Gooding Jr. on the Sousaphone and Owen Biddle on the bass getting a better moment to shine. Another strong contender on the album musically was Kamal Gray. I feel like as time goes on, he becomes a stronger presence in the band. Also as most of you know, The Roots have been the house band for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon since March of last year, and have since proved themselves as the most badass house band in history. How I Got Over is debatably my favorite Roots album thus far, with an impressive (albeit odd) array of guest stars jumping on tracks.

But I’ll end the digression, and talk about How I Got Over and how it helped me do just that. The weight and tone of this album is very political, calling out a certain shitty president, and giving praise to another. Also the ghetto is red hot, and the crew is still stepping on flames all over the track with a few new friends that I never thought would be doing collaboration with the crew.

Those mega-cuties from Dirty Projectors kicked the album off with their acapella harmony in A Peace of Light, as the band one by one jumped into the groove before bleeding into the deep and dark lyric second track, Walk Alone.

God 2.0 was a favorite of mine, with super group Monsters of Folk providing the chorus vocals and instrumentals. Blackthought takes the time on this track to give us a state of the world all while easily rhyming over a dozen lines in his flow. There’s something to be said about an MC being able to do what he did on this track, as he stayed relevant, and just plain asked a plethora of good questions for the big guy above.

Musically, the best track on the album easily goes to the tenth track, Doin’ It Again. The band perfectly samples the sultry sound from the John Legend track Again. Questlove held it down throughout the song, with Blackthought going harder on his rhymes than he’s gone in many an album.

Overall though, my favorite track was the eighth track, The Day. Both Blu and Phonte jump on this track, with the lovely blonde songstress Patty Crash singing the chorus. The game these rappers bring to the table with Blackthought made this an essential groove for the summer; trying to push through working through the beautiful weather of Los Angeles. It’s a song about change, something we all need a little bit of. The lyric that stuck out to me the most came from Phonte saying: “Even a three legged dog still has three good legs to lose”. Too true.

For you new Roots listeners, understand that this is an album unlike anything they have done before, with guests that most rap lovers have never heard of. What I like about that though, is the subtle stab at getting you to check out what say, Joanna Newsom is up to.

For the long time fans, the Legendary Roots crew hasn’t even come close to losing their edge, and will probably find this album more enjoyable than their last few albums. I’m still debating if it’s the best album of theirs, but it’s definitely my favorite since Thing Fall Apart. There’s too much for me to speak on in one feature, but as always, you shouldn’t take my word for it. Go get it.

Until next time my friends,

~Flak

As you may remember from that little shindig I did with these guys, Poketo/Kitsune Noir are hosting a fairwell party, and a chance to snag some of the beautiful artwork. Also, the gang is getting together a ping pong tournament, complete with Umami Burger right next door for food, drink, and DJ action! Check out the deets below…

Oh and also: Poketo and Kitsune Noir will also introduce its first Ping Pong tournament in the Space 15 Twenty courtyard! Participants who have signed up online will go head-to-head for the ultimate grand prize of the Los Angeles, I’m Yours trophy, free swag and ultimate bragging rights. To sign up: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=127413180608689)

Poketo x Kitsune Noir present “Los Angeles, I’m Yours” Ping Pong Tournament and Closing Sale/Party

Where: Space 15 Twenty Gallery, 1520 N. Cahuenga Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90028

When/ Time: Saturday, May 22nd, 12-4PM.

With a hugely successful 4 week run at Space 15 Twenty Gallery in Hollywood, “Los Angeles, I’m Yours” art exhibition will officially close its doors Saturday, May 22nd from 12-4PM with an everything-must-go blowout sale and the first ever “Los Angeles, I’m Yours” Ping Pong Tournament!

In true flea market fashion, this will be the public’s final opportunity to view and purchase an eclectic mix of found objects that have been given new life by over 30 Los Angeles artitsts and also be given the chance to “haggle” select pieces in the gallery as well. Select limited edition Poketo items will also be discounted up to 15 % off for the closing party. Everything must go!

The first ever “Los Angeles, I’m Yours” Ping Pong Tournament will also be in full effect, as competitors who have signed up online and on-site will go head-to-head for the grand prize of the LA I’m Yours Ping Pong Trophy, free swag, and ultimate bragging rights! To sign up participants can sign up here.

Rounding out the Saturday afternoon party will be music by Los Angeles djs and beverages provided by Umami Burger. So come hang out in the sun with us for this Saturday afternoon celebration as we drink, be merry, and bid our final farewell to an amazing exhibition!

Participating artists include:

Alex Krastev \ ASHKAHN \ Bijan Berahimi \ Brian Wade Scott \ Chris Bettig \ Cole Gerst \ David Browne \ Eamon Ore-Giron \ Eric Trine \ Erin Burrell \ Florencio Zavala \ Gary Baseman \ Gina Osterloh \ Hannah K. Lee \ Ian O’Phelan \ Jared Andrew Schorr \ Jason Schwartzman \ John Pham \ Jordan Crane \ Leah Chun \ Marco Zamora \ Mark Todd \ Neil Doshi \ Neil LaBute for Significant Objects \ Portugal.The Man \ Saelee Oh \ Sarajo Frieden & Marci Boudreau \ Scott Barry \ Steven Harrington \ Tim Biskup \ Tom Vadakan \ Ye Rin Mok

Poketo is a design studio working in collaboration with international artists to create wallets, accessories, stationery, housewares, and apparel. Poketo is art for your everyday! www.poketo.com

Kitsune Noir is an art, music, design and culture blog run by designer, Bobby Solomon. www.kitsunenoir.com

For press inquiries please contact:

Janet Lee

Press and Events

Poketo

Email: media@poketo.com

PH: 213.265.9522

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