Inflight At Night

Tonight while in the middle of updating this thing I stepped out to catch The Little Ones set at the Prospector.

If you are familar with the Prospector you know it holds about 40 people comfortably and can squeeze maybe 50 or so in on a busy night, tonight the bar was on the uncomfortable side. The Little Ones played first, perfect for the Tuesday following Labor Day, where most people I suspect are still trying to catch up on sleep after their Memorial Day weekend activities.

Playing songs from their recently released Sing Song EP, The Little Ones filled the room with a full tight sound that reminded this listener of The Shins mixed with a little Neil Young, Mates Of State, and early Built To Spill. Comprised of former members of Sunday’s Best and brothers-singer/guitarist Edward and bassist Brian Reyes’, keyboardist Lee LaDouceur, drummer Greg Meyer and second guitarist Ian Moreno, The Little Ones sound is perfectly rounded out through the use of some pop music instrument staples. Spotted was a Rickenbacker guitar, Hofner Bass, vintage keyboard (didn’t catch the brand) and standard Fender Telecaster, and a various array noise makers.

This was their last Southern California performance for the time being, they are heading to NYC to play the Bowery Ballroom on July 1st and will begin a Monday night residency at Spaceland in August. For a little more insight into this young band, check out Radio Free Silver Lake and Cakes and Waffles to read a couple short interviews.

Darker My Love who recently signed to Dangerbird Records have announced that their full length debut will be released on August 22nd. The band recently had to cancel a high profile show with Angels & Airwaves due to their drummer Andy Granelli getting hit by a car while riding his bike. Though the band hasn’t canceled their performance at the KXLU Fundrasier on June 11th and should be good to go for their July Monday night residency at Spaceland.

Camera Obscura tour dates and mp3 [The Tripwire]

Street Scene 2006 lineup announced [Autopia Music]

Spoon added to Death Cab For Cutie California shows [Pitchfork]

Pete Yorn announces summer acoustic tour [I Am Fuel, You Are Friends]

Sound Team headliner tour dates [Metro Distortion]

Who are Whale Bones? The mysterious band that is the opening act on the Pretty Girls Makes Graves tour this June.

Whale Bones are loose knit group of musicans that are led but Justin Deary and Jon Treneff and includes Ben Cissner and Kenneth Carl Gates. They play folky psyched out blues jams that can most closely be compared to Black Mountain.

Seattle’s The Stranger had this to say about Whale Bones, “the band pulls from Neil Young and other assorted dirty groove-oriented acts, formulating a soulful, pastoral sound all their own—a spell they help bind with some especially lysergic guitar and keyboard parts and extended improvisations.”

Justin Deary is a Seattle musician that played with Rocky Votolato in Kentucky Pistol before Rocky moved on to from Waxwing. Kentucky Pistol released a split 7″ with Sharks Keep Moving on Henrys Finest Recordings. Justin also released a 2 song 7″ as part as the Redwood Acoustic Series, it now out of print.

Ben Cissner played in Windsor For The Derby from 2002 to 2004 on the albums, The Emotional Rescue and We Fight Til Death, respectively. Cissner is also involved in another even more mysterious project called, Mother Reptile.

In yet another Pretty Girls Makes Graves connection, Whale Bones did a West Coast tour with Dutch Dub and Moon Rats in September last year. Dutch Dub is Nick DeWitt’s (PGMG drummer) solo project and Moon Rats is Nathan Thelan’s (ex-PGMG guitarist) new band with girlfriend Aska Matsumiya and Jason Echeverria.

During that tour the Moon Rats performed double-duty as Nick’s backing band for Dutch Dub and Nick played with Whale Bones, who at the time had Steven Balogh (Baron Samedi ESQ, Pink Mountaintops, Anemones, Capozzi Park, The Countless Jibes) touring with them as Ben Cissner had yet to join the band.

Was that confusing enough? Well that only scratched the surface of numerous connections that could be made between these musicians and this small sampling of Pacific Northwest bands.

You can listen to 3 Whale Bones tracks on their MySpace page.

Whale Bones play Anaheim May 29th @ Chain Reaction as well Pomona on June 2nd @ The Glasshouse and Los Angeles on June 3rd @ the Troubadour with Pretty Girls Make Graves

Are you tired of reading about Whirlwind Heat yet? If you are, go ahead and skip to the next post and bypass this weekend’s festivities in Long Beach, no not the Gay Pride Parade, the Neighborhood Music Festival brought to you by Dimmak and a bunch of other dudes.

Whirlwind Heat are definitly the hot act to catch at the festival (especially now since Cold War Kids have canceled), and we at IAF agree with the OC Weekly that headliners Moving Units and IMA Robot are so 2003, not that there is anything wrong with that.

Whirlwind Heat next will embark on a nationwide tour in support of their new album “Types Of Wood” with youngsters Be Your Own Pet.

Download Reagan from “Types Of Wood” and check out a few more tracks on the band’s MySpace page.

Whirlwind Heat play Long Beach tomorrow for the Neighborhood Music Festival @ Queen Mary Park and then in Pomona on June 25th @ the Glasshouse and Los Angeles on June 27th @ the Troubadour.

Hailing from the Tucson, AZ, home of University of Arizona and the only Titan II Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile launch silo left intact in the U.S. (according to Go-Arizona “thanks Cold War”) - Calexico is a band whose sound I would best describe as a less apocalyptic, and more rural version of The  Blackheart Procession (they happen to even be touring together). Formed in the mid 90’s by Joey Burns and John Convertino, Calexico plays a unique blend of indie/folk/jazz/mariachi rock that is marked by an authenticity absent from many of the recent rock gone folk bands.

Their latest album “Garden Ruin” on Quarterstick is their 7th release, and though the jazz/mariachi infusion that has stood out on past albums is somewhat muted on “Garden Ruin,” many of the songs boast a great mix of acoustic, electric, piano, strings, and more…

Download Cruel off “Garden Ruin” and get a couple other cuts from their prior albums on their MySpace page.

Calexico play Los Angeles on June 13th @ the Henry Fonda Theatre

Polus who I have written about before have since lost founding member and former Eskimo guitarist, Richard Tampa, played their first show the other week at Deelux in Costa Mesa and yesterday announced that they are entering the studio today to begin recording a proper demo.

Now a 3-piece Polus has also lined up a couple more shows in May at the Plush Cafe in Fullerton on May 24th and the Knitting Factory in Los Angeles on May 31st.

For now download the 3 demos the band has offered up via their MySpace page.