LA / LBC / OC
Long Beach’s Magic Lantern have finally gone and released a new sonic document after what seemed like an eternity of waiting. Eagerly anticipated by those who have been biding their time waiting for the band to get on with their uber limited cassette only and CD-R releases (their Self-Titled CD-R was limited to 30), “High Beams”, the band’s latest opus [...]
News Bytes Twitter Next Week’s New Releases
The Nashville duo Magic Wands have spent the last 6 months touring relentlessly, opening for Black Kids and the Virgins on the East Coast and supporting CSS in the UK, and tonight they wind down their current tour with The Kills and The Horrors at the Henry Fonda.
This coming Tuesday, May 25th, will see the release of Magic Wands U.S. debut, an EP entitled, Magic Love & Dreams, recorded with John Hill (Santogold, Lykke Li, Nas) and released through Bright Antenna.
I’ve had various versions of some of the songs on Magic Love & Dreams for a while now, from Chris and Dexy’s early demos from 2007 when the duo began playing together and sent me glitter filled package in the mail to their their sold-out 7” UK release, so it is nice to hear the final versions of these songs. “Black Magic”, “Teenage Love” and “Kiss Me Dead” shine brighter than ever and the new song, “Starships” totally rocks.
There is a whole bunch more I would love to tell you about the mystic duo called the Magic Wands, but I have been sworn to secrecy, and will have to leave it up to you to try to unravel the mystery yourself.
MP3: Magic Wands – Black Magic
The folks at Filter gave me an extra copy of the EP and medium Magic Wands T-shirt to give away, if you want it, email me at info (at) inflightatnight (dot) com with Magic Wands in the subject field, and I will randomly pick a winner.
Friday, May 22nd: Magic Wands w/The Kills and The Horrors @ Henry Fonda Theatre (6126 Hollywood Blvd.)
Extra Golden descend upon The Echo tonight in support of the legendary Meditations for a show presented by Dub Club. Extra Golden are touring the States right now behind their new album, Thank You Very Quickly, a six-song wonder of a record that was released back in March by Thrill Jockey.
Extra Golden was formed in May of 2004 when Ian Eagleson went to Nairobi to do research on benga music, it was there in an apartment in the Buru Buru neighborhood of Nairobi with Alex Minoff and Otieno Jagwasi that the three began tinkering. Eagleson who was already recording local benga bands live, recorded the first Extra Golden album, Ok-Oyot System, at the Annex Club and Restaurant in Kariobangi South Estate in just three hours using his laptop and mixing board, a broken-down drumset, a couple of amplifiers and several microphones. But it wasn’t until a year later after Otieno Jagwasi passed away from liver disease, that Ok-Oyot System would see the light of day when Thrill Jockey agreed to release the album in May 2006.
Now with their third release, Thank You Very Quickly, Extra Golden find themselves surrounded by international acclaim and bevy of loyal fans. Tonight’s show with The Meditations and LA’s own Fool’s Gold promises to be a spectacular one. Get there before 10pm and it’s only $10.
Wednesday, May 13th: The Meditations, Extra Golden, Fool’s Gold @ The Echo (1822 Sunset Blvd) 9pm | $10 before 10pm, $15 after | 21+
Just received word this morning that Sun Araw (the name Magic Lantern’s Cameron Stallones uses for his solo work) will be doing an extensive European tour with Pocahaunted next month (routing here). To coincide with the European tour Sun Araw will be releasing a new LP called Heavy Deeds, that is being prepared right now to be committed to wax (marbled baby-blue) and will be available on the tour and then online sometime after the tour has ended around July 5th. There will also be a CD version of Heavy Deeds available that will include the bonus track, “Hey Mandala!”, which was previously only available on the 12″ split with New Jersey’s Predator Vision.
Also included in the announcement of the Sun Araw/Pocahaunted Europe tour is the impending hiatus of Stallones other the act, Magic Lantern. Stallones says that the next two Lantern shows, May 14th at The Prospector in Long Beach and June 1st at The Blue Monkey (next to Relax Bar) are going to be their last live shows for “quite a while”, though he assures us there will more in the future, just maybe a further away future than we’d like. While sad that soon there will be no prospect of seeing Magic Lantern live in the not too distant future, we can be content they are continuing to record on their next LP, which currently is about half way completed.
Out next Tuesday (May 12th), Big Business are streaming their new album, Mind The Drift, in it’s entirety, sans the commentary they posted prior to this.
Big Business are out on a massive U.S. tour and return to Southern California later this month, playing the Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa on May 28th, followed by the Troubadour on June 1st.
Folks like LA Underground and Rock Insider have been singing the praises of Avi Buffalo for months now, but in just the last few weeks, adoration for the band has begun to pour in from all the local LA blogs. What is mentioned everywhere is that three quarters of the Avi Buffalo are still in high school (for a couple more weeks at least) and Avi’s seeming ability to write songs that feel years beyond than that of high schooler.
For me it’s Avi’s voice, it’s captivating, part Frank Black part Neil Young, just listen to “What’s It In For?” and try not to tell me this kid has something special going on.
MP3: Avi Buffalo – What’s It In For?
Avi Buffalo will have their debut release, Settled Tigertail available for the first time a CD-R available at their Tuesday night Echo residency. The album was record by Amnion’s Aaron Embry at his own Hunter’s Hollow Recording Studio.
Read the Future Sounds and LAist interviews with Avi Buffalo for more insight on how the band started and how they try to juggle school and the band.
Every Tuesday in May: Avi Buffalo @ The Echo (1822 Sunset Blvd) | 9pm | All Ages | Free for 21+, $7 for under 21